Poulin auctioned off one of these earlier this month: IRWINDALE ARMS INC. AUTOMAG III SEMI AUTO PISTOL - Poulin Auctions
The hammer price was $1,815.
The hammer price was $1,815.
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AutoMag III in .30 Carbine
- Thread starter Hawg Rider
- Start date
Never shot anything in .30 Carbine, but I’ve always heard it was really loud. How does it compare to the .327 Fed Mag? I’ve shot some pretty stout rounds out of a Ruger LCR and an SP-101. Similar round, shorter barrel…has to be close in SPL.
Kind-of sort-of half correct.
Both the Auto Mag (two words) that Dirty Harry showcased and the AutoMag III and the others in the later AutoMag series were the brainchildren of the same guy, Harry Sanford.
As for "completely different company...", that's a whole conversation all on it's own. Harry Sanford was a fantastic gun designer and you could argue that he was a natural at marketing, but his luck and decisions at the business operations were infamous, so he ran countless different brand names and multiple companies in multiple locations. The original Auto Mag was produced under different company names itself including Auto Mag, TDE, OMC and maybe even AMT at the end?
Sure, the Dirty Harry pistol and the much later .30 Carbine chambered pistol are absolutely completely different guns, but it's wholly incorrect to suggest these guns have no relation at all.
Glad you brought this up. I think a lot of folks may not realize that the .327 Federal Magnum is really, really, really similar to the .30 Carbine. It's slightly shorter and it has a rim as it was designed as a revolver round.
The diameter isn't exactly the same, the .327 Federal uses the .32 handgun class of bullets (.312") while the .30 Carbine uses the .30cal rifle standard (.308".)
Why they are so similar is the SAAMI standard for max pressure which is 40,000 psi in the .30 Carbine and 45,000 psi in the .327 Federal.
I agree with you that if you had similar barrel lengths to compare, you would find that these two rounds are similarly loud.
hkcavalier
US Veteran
The "little" AutoMags were a pretty common sight in those informal "gravel pit" shoots of the 1990s. Regular guys could afford them and ammo wasn't a killer, especially when there was still .30 Carbine milsurp available. Pretty sure this was where I first shot a II and a III. Have never shot the original or the later big bore AutoMags. While fun to shoot, the ergonomics were less than impressive and the cast stainless and plastic grips just had a cheap overall feel to it. If someone wants to pay $2k for one...go right ahead!
Fishinfool
Member
My only experience with AMT was one of those SA hideout .380's, the Backup, I think? Chunky, heavy, and worst of all, unreliable. Ran maybe 85%? It was NOT a replacement for my Walther PPK/s
It went down the road. I had read AMT had issues with metal galling between the slides and frames of some guns. Might have been the issue with mine as the slide always seemed a little "sticky".
Larry
It went down the road. I had read AMT had issues with metal galling between the slides and frames of some guns. Might have been the issue with mine as the slide always seemed a little "sticky".
Larry
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