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Post by potatojudge on Mar 28, 2020 20:11:20 GMT -5
Once upon a time the AMT Backup in 380 was my parent's only pistol. Heavy trigger, heavy safety, unreliable, and would literally leave your hand bloody. I gave it a little trigger work and swapped in Wolf springs and now at least it's reliable and somewhat shootable. I think once upon a time it filled a niche, but now I can't imagine a purpose for owning one. Better than nothing.
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awp101
.401 Bobcat
TANSTAAFL
Posts: 2,634
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Post by awp101 on Mar 28, 2020 21:53:23 GMT -5
I think once upon a time it filled a niche, but now I can't imagine a purpose for owning one. Nostalgia, better than a sharp stick, masochism...
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pokute
.240 Incinerator
Posts: 2
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Post by pokute on Dec 10, 2020 16:23:54 GMT -5
As something of an expert on this pistol, I thought I might add a few things. I own 3 AMT DAO Backups - One in .380, and two in 45. They all shoot 100% reliably. After tuning them I put 300 rounds through each as fast as possible to convince myself that they are reliable. It takes a few days for the skin to grow back.
First, as DB said, (Greetings Dave, I've been shooting with LASC for 9 years), to minimize possible damage from galling, the gun should not be shot dry. But it doesn't need to be "wet" either. All sliding contact areas should be lubed with "Squirt" dry lube. I would not recommend this as the sole lubricant with any other pistol that comes to mind, but it is appropriate for the AMT Backup DAO.
As with any pistol, after a few hundred rounds of hardball have been cycled, all disturbed metal should be filed smooth. It should not recur.
Regarding the very heavy trigger pull; It is by design. The mainspring should not be shortened, and the trigger return spring should not be modified. The trigger pull can be smoothed significantly by polishing the spur on the trigger bar that engages the hammer. Believe me, when you are using the gun for it's intended purpose, you will not notice the heavy pull, or the recoil. In any case, the recoil is much less objectionable than that from a light 38 special revolver.
Many people complain that the gun is unreliable. It's a fact that most of these guns were shipped with the parts thrown together "as cast", and as a result many are poor feeders. There has been more misinformation about how to fix this than about how to tune a 1911. In MOST cases, the problem is one that is seldom or never mentioned - The extractor often does not engage deeply enough to function reliably, and so it slips. A gunsmith can fix this in a few minutes. Aside from that, there are plenty of magazines that release much too early, and those should also be seen to by a competent smith. I do not recommend using modified 1911 magazines.
I load 5.5gr Bullseye under a 230gr bullet for the Backup. New brass is recommended for the sake of reliability. Both my 45 Backups will feed any bullet profile. The gun will shoot to point-of-aim (as much as that is possible with the gutter sighting) with factory hardball.
Note that the .380 is available in a SAO version that is neither safe nor reliable.
The 45 action is a very simple short locked-breech tilt-barrel design as used in the CZ75. The .380 uses a simple blowback design that is much simpler.
The pistol can be made non-functional very easily by an amateur smith who does not understand how the pistol works. Don't buy one if you aren't prepared to have a proper smith fix 40 years of damage done by a shade-tree mechanic.
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pokute
.240 Incinerator
Posts: 2
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Post by pokute on Dec 10, 2020 16:28:15 GMT -5
Once upon a time the AMT Backup in 380 was my parent's only pistol. Heavy trigger, heavy safety, unreliable, and would literally leave your hand bloody. I gave it a little trigger work and swapped in Wolf springs and now at least it's reliable and somewhat shootable. I think once upon a time it filled a niche, but now I can't imagine a purpose for owning one. Better than nothing. That was the SAO version. The DAO has no safety. The SAO was only slightly better than nothing.
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Post by rjm52 on Dec 11, 2020 6:27:37 GMT -5
....I have one...in .38 Super....runs like a top...never a failure to cycle.
Have used it several times in the BUG stage for a local IDPA shoot. Distance is usually under 10 yards and it points shoots well.
These guns were later made by the no longer in business High Standard Corp. of Houston, Texas. They went out about two years ago.
A few months ago there were several LNIB examples in .38 Super that brought $1100-1400 on GunBroker. There is one on there now for I believe $900...no bids.
Mine is very odd in that it has NO MARKINGS other than the serial number. Bought it off GunBroker probably 12 years ago for about $350.00.
Interesting gun but I own it only because I collect .38 Supers...
Bob
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Post by rjm52 on Dec 15, 2020 22:06:26 GMT -5
...checked on that Super for $899.00...it sold...
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Post by 41freak on Dec 16, 2020 16:44:48 GMT -5
I got one when they came out, it had a very heavy trigger and once I got it broken in it ran fine. Then someone wanted it more then I and paid for it, and I replaced it with a Kahr PM45 and never have regretted it. The Kahr PM45 is my summer carry gun.
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Post by squawberryman on Dec 16, 2020 17:47:48 GMT -5
I own a 380 that's in the top drawer of the tool box in the shop. Yeah, the trigger
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Post by bigbore5 on Dec 17, 2020 19:12:14 GMT -5
The lead throwing axe has saved many an a** before.
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Post by apolitical45 on Dec 18, 2020 9:58:25 GMT -5
I owned one AMT Backup and it was in .45. I owned it for about a year and while I wasn't at all impressed with the trigger I never had any issues with it. I ended up moving it as part of a buy/trade I put together to pick up my first S&W Triple Lock about ten years ago and I could still see it sitting in the safe had it not been for the classic I was chasing.
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