AMT .380 Back Up Pistol

[triumph]

hey! i just bought an AMT .380 Back Up pistol from a friend, i paid $60 for it, has anyone ever had one of these? the slide says amt .380 (9mm Kurz) Back up pistol irwindale calif, is this a cheaper pistol like lorcin or raven? it looks pretty well made, what does the 9mm kurz mean?

[Beaker]

It's .380. "Kurz" means "short". AMT was a very well made pistol, they made some nice all stainless 1911 models and one that looked exactly like the Ruger .22 autopistol. Also made a nice 22 mag autopistol. They had some problem, quality control was iffy but if you got one functioning it worked well forever. You got a deal, I saw them at the last gun show for $250.

[triumph]

Heres a picture of it :D

[Beaker]

It should have a safety on the backstrap, kind of like a 1911 model 45 but bigger, almost the length of the handle. It looks like it's stuck in the frame from the picture. You may want a gunsmith (or yourself) to look it over and clean it up.

[triumph]

hey it does have the safety, sorry my camera is cheap and isnt good with detail, the safety is working its just hard to see in the pic, o wow $250? so i did pretty good then, thanks!!

[blaster]

in their day, they were one of the better .380 pocket pistols

[DAMN YANKEE]

Had one, but different from yours. Mine was double action only. You have the single action (older) model. They were well made, but heavy as they're all stainless. Don't take it apart! If you lose the drift pins you're screwed!

Spare mags are available, as are holsters. The price is unbelievable! $250.00 seems a fair price for one of these gems. Mine was very ammo sensitive. Try a few different rounds of different makes to be sure.

Good for you! There was an article in an old Gun Digest (?) that covered adding sights to the Back Up.

[triumph]

it looks pretty nice and it shoots great, ive been shooting federals in it and its been doing good, heres some better pictures of it... id like to find a few extra magazines for it

[DAMN YANKEE]

I bought a few from CDNN which advertises in Shotgun News. Shipping is a bit high. Try Midway USA, Natchez Shooting Sports, MidSouth Shooters Supply, Cheaper Than Dirt for aftermarket mags. I think Numrich or SARCO had the bases with the finger tab for better grip, sold for the Walther Ppk, but they fit perfect, and improved my grip, although the pocket snag problem is a concern.

Looks nice! I'd rather have my AMT back than the Kel-Tec P3AT.

[Superhouse 15]

That was a steal! I'd suggest ordering spare magazines and a recoil spring or two whenever you can find them in stock. CTD had mags recently and Numrich sometimes has recoil springs.

[triumph]

yeah ive been looking for some spare parts for it on ebay, havent really found too much, i started taking it apart today for a good cleaning, it is pretty easy to take apart, it looks clean on the outside but the inside was aweful, it is the dirtiest gun ive ever seen, i shot a few rounds out of it when i bought it to make sure it worked, its amazing how well it did with all the gunk and crap under the slide.... its all coming out fine and should be spotless in a few hours :D

[DAMN YANKEE]

Glad you got it apart OK. They can be a devil, holding the slide back with one hand and doing everything else with the other. Some guns are not designed to be disassembled? Gunk galore? Shows how tough they are. Just reinforces how god abuy you made. I bought an HSc Super (by Gamba) a few years back. It's still a beautiful paperweight. A better non-functional piece of crap you'll never find. A buy is not always a buy.

Again, Good for you.

[triumph]

it cleaned up fine and went back together good, i would love to have one of those hsc supers, is there something wrong with yours?

[triumph]

Gave the AMT a little make-over today! I found some cocobolo wood grips online and got them and also got a galco pocket holster for it, it turned out looking pretty good

[DBird]

Looks purdy. Like those wood grips. You can definately see the grip safety with that camera angle. $60 is a steal. Good job cleaning that up, it shall serve you well.

[BangBang]

The Tampa show is just a week or so away.... there is a vendor there who sells nothing but magazines. If you go to the show I would look him up.

It's a nice little gun. Good luck with it.

Don