AMT 1911 in 10mm

[7tenz]

Saw one of these on consignment in a store yesterday, $625. Seemed to be nearly new best I could tell. I know they were made in the early 90's.

The clerk took it apart for me to inspect further. I noticed that the slide stop hole is just that, unlike Colt that opened it up to the rail, and the shaft doesn't go all the way through the right side. The barrel is expanded at the end. It's a standard 5".

Anyone know anything about these?

 

[Farmer17]

My memory is cloudy but it seems like AMT was one of the first makers of an all stainless steel 1911. They had some problems with the slide and frame "galling?" as the two surfaces rubbed on each other, which they later corrected with different heat treating methods. I think their overall quality was pretty good but I don't think AMT ever had a great reputation for reliability in the early days.

 

[JcMack]

I looked into AMT about 15 yrs ago. I had a yen for a longslide .45. I was at the range one day when a guy walked in to talk to their gunsmith. He turned in a .45 AMT longslide to be worked on. After the guy left I talked to the smith. He told me AMT had a bad QC control reputation. He told me virtually every AMT they sold in the store came back with an issue not normally attributed to 1911 style pistols. Gauling was mentioned. I had a stainless DE roll marked "One of a Thousand." Frame cracks by the slide stop hole were an issue. I sold it to somebody that made me a pretty good offer. The gun your looking at must have a bull barrel eliminating the barrel bushing. $625 is pretty good for a 10mm 1911 but in this case I think I would take a pass.

 

[NFrameFred]

Having owned more than one 10mm ( no AMT's) but shooting with folks who owned AMT products through the years and selling some to a few guys when I had my FFL ( against my advice they bought them), my advice is to 'pass'.

I'm sure a few good ones got through by accident but on a scale of 1 to 10 using , say, Colt as the benchmark 10 I would have to rate the AMT's I have personal experience with at a 1 or a 2.

Customer service was a joke consisting mostly of the "sunlight treatment" (put the gun a window sill where the sun will shine on it for few days and hope that cures the problem) and I have seen various AMT's of various calibers go back two or three times and never operate like they are supposed to. And though the lack of durability of the early models has been well discussed, even the newer ones I've seen don't hold up.

Best to spend your money on something else is my opinion, since you asked . . . .

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I seem to have gotten one of the good ones, an AMT Hardballer purchased NIB in 1978. Initially it shot too low even with the rear sight at maximum elevation, sent the slide back, don't know what they did, but if was fine after that. I shot some IPSC matches in 1979-1980, after I regularly placed 2nd and 3d-and won a couple of matches against shooters with customized guns, no one said anything.

 

[7tenz]

I think I'm going with the general concensus. Early in the days when they were in business, I read about some of those complaints in the rags. I pretty much made up my mind at JcMack's post. Thanks for all the advice.