I'd forgotten about these guys. They were well-known for making the huge Auto Mag Pistols, as featured in one of the Dirty Harry movies. The Auto-Mag was hot shinola in 1972 when I got out of the army. Featured on magazine covers, etc.
On another thread, I've been discussing the overhaul I'm engaged in with my old firearms paper records. I'd forgotten that I owned two AMT products. Not Automags, but their 1911 product, the "Hardballer." They made guns in stainless steel, a material that wasn't yet in use by mainstream gun manufacturers. Randall was another one, but that's another story.
How I happened to own two Hardballers was a fluke. I wouldn't have gone out looking for them. One of my former co-workers of the time was a kinda wild-eyed survivalist. He'd bought a Hardballer, then convinced a pal of his to buy one. After a fairly short time, they both tired of the pistols. My co-worker asked me if I might be interested in buying his, and I did so at a rather distressed price. Three months later, he approached me and asked if I might be interested in buying his pal's. The guns were consecutive serial numbers, A16700 and A16701. I kept one for a while and moved the other one along to my cousin. I fired the one I had; it seemed to work okay.
Sorry, no pictures, at the time it didn't occur to me that I might want to have them for future reference.
AMT also made a stainless steel .380, I think it was called the Backup.
The Randall pistols, I'd forgotten about these until several years ago and I was shopping the "Library" in Cabelas. When they still had a constantly changing, good selection. I went in there one day and they had two Randalls under glass. They were two different models, one was a kinda rare version. BUT: I wrote down the serial numbers, and the "rare" one had a SN that wasn't in the range of known numbers for the model. So perhaps it was a made up from parts piece that had been done after Randall went out of business circa 1985. As I recall, the prices on the two guns weren't bad, but I wasn't interested in becoming a Randall collector.
Both AMT and Randall were southern California-based firms.
On another thread, I've been discussing the overhaul I'm engaged in with my old firearms paper records. I'd forgotten that I owned two AMT products. Not Automags, but their 1911 product, the "Hardballer." They made guns in stainless steel, a material that wasn't yet in use by mainstream gun manufacturers. Randall was another one, but that's another story.
How I happened to own two Hardballers was a fluke. I wouldn't have gone out looking for them. One of my former co-workers of the time was a kinda wild-eyed survivalist. He'd bought a Hardballer, then convinced a pal of his to buy one. After a fairly short time, they both tired of the pistols. My co-worker asked me if I might be interested in buying his, and I did so at a rather distressed price. Three months later, he approached me and asked if I might be interested in buying his pal's. The guns were consecutive serial numbers, A16700 and A16701. I kept one for a while and moved the other one along to my cousin. I fired the one I had; it seemed to work okay.
Sorry, no pictures, at the time it didn't occur to me that I might want to have them for future reference.
AMT also made a stainless steel .380, I think it was called the Backup.
The Randall pistols, I'd forgotten about these until several years ago and I was shopping the "Library" in Cabelas. When they still had a constantly changing, good selection. I went in there one day and they had two Randalls under glass. They were two different models, one was a kinda rare version. BUT: I wrote down the serial numbers, and the "rare" one had a SN that wasn't in the range of known numbers for the model. So perhaps it was a made up from parts piece that had been done after Randall went out of business circa 1985. As I recall, the prices on the two guns weren't bad, but I wasn't interested in becoming a Randall collector.
Both AMT and Randall were southern California-based firms.
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