The later DAO Backups are not as bad as people say. I just bought one in .38 Super because, like you, I couldn't get the thing out of my head. I gave $350 for it, brand new, unfired, in the box with all of the paperwork and two mags. I found 5 50rd boxes of silvertips at a local gun shop for $25ea, apparently nobody around here shoots .38 Super because they'd been gathering dust for awhile, and I ordered 13 50rd boxes of Aguila FMJ from ammunitiontogo for $13.95ea. I'll probably buy more of that because I can shoot it out of my converted S&W 360J, too.
Anyway, to get back on track, I'm very impressed with the gun. It's well put together and very nice looking, the tooling and finishing is very clean. Because of the "euro" style mag release and the fact that it doesn't have a slide lock it is very narrow and there's nothing protruding from the sides. There's no sights, just a channel cut in the top of the slide. I'm going to look into to maybe getting a big dot installed so that it sits in the groove if the slide is thick enough to do it. It weighs 23oz empty, so it's not a lightweight by todays micro-gun standards but it's comparable to a steel j-frame or a baby Glock. It's pretty small - 5 3/4" long, 4 1/16" high, and only 1" wide (the .45 is the same size and weight).
Shooting it is a blast, literally. The recoil is stout and the grip is small so you have to hang on tight. The action is very smooth, the trigger pull is long and I'd say in the 10-12lb range, it stacks up a bit before release and has a fairly long reset. It actually feels alot like my Beretta 8000D, just heavier. Also, it is second strike capable. In spite of the pullweight it is easy to keep on target because it's so smooth. I just got it a couple of weeks ago and I've only put about 75 rounds through it, a box of FMJ and half a box of silvertips. I've had no malfunctions and it shoots to point of aim, though I've only shot it out to about 7yds. The lack of sights makes shooting tight groups an effort in futility but if I try I can keep 7 in a fist size group without much trouble (the mag holds 6).
So, in conclusion, I like it alot. It looks good, shoots good, and is reliable so far. I don't know that I'll carry it because my usual off-duty guns (the 360 and a Kahr CW9) are so much lighter. I will probably use it as a car gun because it seems pretty rugged and is ideal for close range work.
That's what I think about the AMT Backup DAO. I say you should buy it and shoot it and then tell us all about it.
Oh, one other thing, from what I've read, the frame is the same on all of them except the .380 and you can swap calibers by changing the barrel, slide, and mag. These later, large frame models came in a number of hot calibers for a gun it's size - .45ACP, .38 Super, .40 S&W, 400 CorBon, 357sig, and 9mm - so you could mix and match if you wanted to hunt up the parts.
