AutoMag (pistol)

The .44 Auto Mag pistol is a large caliber semi-automatic pistol. It was designed between 1966 and 1971 by the Auto Mag Corporation to bring .44 magnum power to a semi-automatic pistol.

The pistols were costly to produce and ammunition was never readily available, leading to the demise of the Auto Mag Corporation by 1982. The pistol's reputation and looks have made it popular in cinema and novels and several versions are listed as "Curios and Relics" by the BATFE.

Function
The short recoil operated Auto Mag pistol featured a rotary bolt with locking lugs located at the front similar to the M-16/AR-15 rifle. The Auto Mag is a heavy pistol designed to give handgun hunters .44 magnum power in a semi-automatic pistol. The .44 Auto Mag was designed to shoot .429 inch, 240 grain bullets at about the same velocity as the .44 magnum revolver.

History
In 1970, Auto Mag Corporation president Harry Sanford opened a factory in Pasadena, California. The first gun was shipped on August 8, 1971 and the factory declared bankruptcy on May 3, 1972 after making fewer than 3000 guns. Production guns were made in .44 AMP (Auto Mag Pistol). Experimental pistols were made in .45ACP, .30AMP and .357AMP. Except for the .45ACP guns, changing calibers required only the additional barrel and cartridges. The same frame, magazine, and bolt could be used on both.

Auto Mag Corporation was short-lived for several reasons. The design team, which took the Auto Mag pistol from a fully functional and working Chrome-Moly steel prototype designed by Max Gera, to a more complicated and less reliable stainless steel pistol, disagreed with Harry Sanford about how the company should proceed. The design team was convinced the Auto Mag pistol was not ready for production and could not be produced at a profit. The design team believed that even with the correct finished design, the wholesale price of the gun had to be greatly increased or the company would go bankrupt. The design team was unable to convince Sanford, and they all resigned. The pistol was then rushed into production by a group that were not concerned with the gun making a profit but only that it got into production immediately. This led to expensive manufacturing processes, and later Pasadena guns were not fitted well as there was a constant push to get product out the door.

Severe underpricing of the Auto Mag pistol to indicate huge market demand to potential investors made success impossible. A final analysis showed that the Auto Mag Corporation lost more than $1,000 on each pistol (as was predicted by Max Gera when he sold his stock in the company over one year earlier); each pistol sold wholesale for around $170. The pistols originally sold retail for $217.50 (about $1200 in today's dollars). Used Auto Mag pistols now sell for around $3,000 - $4000

Specifications
Auto Mag Pistol
 * Chambering: .44 AMP (Auto Magnum Pistol) [10.74x33 mm] (1970), .357AMP [9x33 mm] (1972), .41JMP (Jurras Mag Pistol) [10.41x33 mm](?).
 * Barrel Length: 6.5 inches.
 * Overall Length: 11.5 inches.
 * Weight: 57 oz (3 lb 9 oz) (1.62 kg) [.44 AMP]; 54 oz (3 lb 6 oz) (1.53 kg) [.357 AMP].
 * Magazine: 7-round single-column box magazine.
 * Sights: Adjustable target sights.
 * Finish: Stainless steel.
 * Furniture: Two-piece black polyurethane (AMP models) or holly or ebony wood (JMP model) grips.
 * Features: Ribbed barrel.
 * Production: 1970–2002
 * Price: Original retail $217.50 later increased to $275 ($425 for a paired .44 AMP and .357 AMP barrel kit)

Designations
Between 1971 and 2002 the Auto Mag would wear eleven different names:
 * AM, Pasadena, California (Made in Pasadena, Calif.)
 * TDE, North Hollywood, California (Made in El Monte, Calif.) There was never a North Hollywood factory.
 * TDE, El Monte, California (Made in El Monte, Calif.)
 * TDE, El Monte, California, High Standard (Made in El Monte, Calif.)
 * TDE, El Monte, California, Lee Jurras (Made in El Monte, Calif.) Most custom work by Lee Jurras
 * TDE, El Monte, California, Kent Lomont (Made in El Monte, Calif.) Custom work by Kent Lomont
 * TDE / OMC, El Monte, California (Made in El Monte, Calif.)
 * AMT, Covina, California (Receivers made in Covina, Calif. and guns assembled in Irwindale, Calif.)
 * AMC, Covina, California (Receivers made in Covina, Calif. and guns assembled in Irwindale, Calif.)
 * AM, Irwindale, California (Made in Irwindale, Calif.)
 * AM, Sturgis, South Dakota (Some made in Hesperia, Calif. and some were made in Sturgis, S.D.)

Lee Jurras of Super Vel Ammunition commissioned a limited run of Auto Mags to be given the LEJ-prefix on their serial numbers. They were to be custom-made to his specifications and were chambered in .44AMP, .357AMP and for his wildcat .41JMP (Jurras Mag Pistol). Some of Jurras's custom guns had custom leather holsters and magazine pouches, shoulder stocks, high polish jobs, gold plating, engraving, etc.

Calibers
The Auto Mag design gave birth to three new cartridges: the .44 Auto Mag (.44 AMP), .357 Auto Mag (.357 AMP) and the lesser-known .41 JMP. There were barrels made to shoot other cartridges:


 * Harry Sanford


 * .44 AMP [Uses the .44 Magnum bullet]
 * .357 AMP [Uses the .357 Magnum bullet]
 * .300 AMP [Uses the .30 Carbine bullet; necked down at a different shoulder angle than the .30 LMP]
 * .45 Win Mag
 * .45 ACP (experimental only)
 * .475 Auto Mag (experimental only)[Uses the .475 Wildey Magnum bullet].


 * Lee Jurras


 * .41 JMP [Uses the .41 Magnum bullet]


 * Kent Lomont


 * .30 LMP (Lomont Magnum Pistol) [Uses the .30 Carbine bullet; necked down at a different shoulder angle than the .30 AMP]
 * .25 LMP (Lomont Magnum Pistol)[Uses the .25 ACP bullet]
 * .22 LMP (Lomont Magnum Pistol)[Uses the .22 WMR bullet]
 * .45 ACP Magnum (experimental only) [Uses the .45 ACP bullet]


 * Eric Kincel and Brian Maynard

Kincel was an editor for Gun World magazine and Maynard was a technician who worked at AMT's service department.
 * .40 KMP (Kincel-Maynard Pistol, experimental only) [.45 Winchester Magnum case necked down to accept a .40 S&W bullet] Created in October, 1990.
 * 8mm KMP (Kincel-Maynard Pistol, experimental only) [Based on an unmodified 7.92x33 (8mm Kurz) rifle case to accept a .323 diameter pistol style projectile] Created in 2010, Introduced in June, 2012.

AMT AutoMag
AMT (Arcadia Machine and Tool) manufactured several firearms under the AutoMag name, not the Auto Mag name, including the AMT AutoMag II in .22 WMR, AMT AutoMag III in .30 Carbine, AMT AutoMag IV in .45 Winchester Magnum and AMT AutoMag V in .50 Action Express.

Ammunition
The .44 Auto Mag Pistol (AMP) cartridge was introduced in 1971. Its rimless, straight wall case was originally formed by trimming the .308 Winchester or .30-06 case to 1.30 inches (33 mm). Loaded ammunition was once available from the Mexican firm of Cartuchos Deportivos Mexico and from Norma (a Swedish firm), which produced empty cases.

The .357AMP round went into production in 1972 with the North Hollywood guns. It is similar to the .44 AMP, but is necked down to accept the smaller diameter bullet. The same is true for the .41JMP, .30, .25 and .22LMP.

Presently, loaded ammunition is available from Cor-Bon, and new .44 AMP brass is available from Starline Brass. The dedicated handloader can form AMP cases from .30-06 or .308 Winchester brass, using a series of forming dies and an inside neck reamer.

The Automag in popular culture

 * Mack Bolan of The Executioner (book series) carried a .44 Automag he named "Big Thunder" in his war against the Mafia
 * In 1983 the Auto Mag was featured in the fourth Dirty Harry movie, Sudden Impact. Clint Eastwood's character Harry Callahan uses his .44 AutoMag to kill Mick the Rapist after Harry loses his Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver in a fist fight.
 * The Warlord comic series hero Travis Morgan recovers a .44 Automag from his downed Blackbird and carries it for most of his adventure in Skartaris.
 * In A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane, the protagonist, private detective Patrick Kenzie, uses an AutoMag as his main firearm throughout the book.
 * Richard Camellion of Joseph Rosenberger's Death Merchant book series carried two customized long-barreled .357 AutoMags on most of his missions for the CIA.
 * A 44 automag casing is the clue that Eddie Murphy's character 'Axel Foley' uses to trace the Alphabet bandit bank robbers in the film Beverly Hills Cop 2.