[Bob Wright]

I think now the company is (was?) IMI or something like that now. Are these folks still around?

They made a M1911A1 that was as rugged as a Sherman tank at one time. Never owned one myself, but a friend of min had the Hardballer and a Long Slide, both in .45ACP. The Hardballer accounted for a number of groundhog from thirty to seventy-five yards.

Autopsy of one shot end-to-end with 185gr. Sierra JHC revealed classic hollow-point performance.

With the exception of being stainless steel, these seemed to be fine pistols.

Bob Wright

 

[Shipwreck]

I saw one at the Houston gun show - used - 2 weeks ago. Interesting gun.

Didn't AMT make a 45 magnum, once upon a time?

 

[hberttmank]

I had one of those back in the early 80s and mine worked fine. I remember some problems with the stainless galling on the early ones, but I kept mine lubed with Rig stainless lube, and it worked great.

 

[scoop]

the AMT carry 45acp i tryed was as bad as a handgun gets.made a smith and wesson sigma look like a 5000 doller korth!amt pos...pos amt... repeat :roll:

 

[riot earp]

I have run into a couple of them for sale lately. I want one but, everytime I see one I'm broke. Some day the stars will align and,I will have one.

A buddy of mine had one back in the eighties. the only problem he had was the extractor had to much tension. After a quick adjustment the pistol ran fine for years. He ended up giving it to his kid for his 18th birthday. The kid keep it about a month and pawned for 150.00. Ungrateful little bastard.

 

[waumo]

AMT Hardballer

I have two AMT Hardballers.

They are crude as can be on the inside but they look decent on the outside.

The fit of everything is sloppy also - but they both are 100% reliable and as accurate as any other 45 I have except my Kimber SS Gold Match.

 

[Shipwreck]

I have two AMT Hardballers.

 

[Charlie]

What Shipwreck said.

 

[jimg11]

I have heard of the galling problem but never saw proof but my local dealer got 3 new AMT backups in .380 for 3 customers at the same time early in 1980. One seemed to work fine. the second would bobble a round every couple of magazines. the third was really terrible and the gunsmith that tried to get it to work said that the Stainless steel in it was the worst stuff he efer saw used in a gun. I think that he likened it to Cheese. these guns all had serial numbers close to each other. Why the variation I Do not know.

 

[BEER]

the company was AMT, arcadia machine and tool. they went bankrupt during the plague of lawsuits brought against all the gun manufacturers a few years back.

 

[jwkimber45]

I have two AMT Hardballers.

They are crude as can be on the inside but they look decent on the outside.

The fit of everything is sloppy also - but they both are 100% reliable and as accurate as any other 45 I have except my Kimber SS Gold Match.

Pictures man, pictures!!!!!!

 

[waumo]

Sorry!

Couldn't get the picture file size down to the minimum required.

If I have time to work on posting it later I will.:smt076

Ok -here is an attempt. Note the grip, safety and mag pad are aftermarket and the rest is stock. You can see the finish is a little crude on on the slide release and the finish is heavy sandblast.

I polished the feedramp and throated the barrel (chamber) to make it reliable with 200 GR LSWC ammo. From the factory, it was reliable with 230 Gr Hardball ammo which the pistol name suggests is the ammo it is designed for...

 

[OrangeSkies]

Here's a couple pictures of an AMT Hardballer I snagged off of an auction on Gunbroker.com: (note: auction ends in 2 days)

http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=51914581

Now that's a l-o-n-g barrel for a 1911!

 

[Charlie]

Those are nice pics. I forgot how long that barrel looked.

 

[2400]

Those are nice pics. I forgot how long that barrel looked.

That's why they called that model the "Longslide". :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Bob Wright]

I don't know if that was actually a designation, but I heard that referred to as the "Long Slide" or "Long Slider" model. I handled and shot a few rounds through one of those, but that was the limit of my experience with that model.

A couple of my son-in-law's friend each had the "Hardballer," a more conventional M1911A1. As was noted they both stated that early guns were of the "soft" stainless steel, but had been corrected in their guns. I shot one of these and it proved adequate for groundhog out to about seventy five yards or so. Its owner shot five groundhogs in fairly rapid succession without moving out of position. It was he who did the autopsy on the one pig.

Bob Wright

 

[2400]

I don't know if that was actually a designation, but I heard that referred to as the "Long Slide" or "Long Slider" model.

Bob Wright

I owned one that said Longslide on it. That's where I got the info.

 

[Bob Wright]

Well, that's about as official as it gets.

As I recall the company made another attempt, or was bought, at business as IMI, and it was this company that made the Automag II series of pistols in .22 WMR and .30 Carbine. Think this effort, too, is defunct.

Does this sound right?

Bob Wright

 

[hberttmank]

That sounds right Bob. The Hardballer I had was made by AMT and I also had an OMC Backup a long time ago.
Here is an old picture that I scanned into my computer, it is the best I can do.