need peoples opinion

[phillip]

I have the opportunity to purchase an AMT Backup .380 with 2 magazines for $150, do you think this is a good deal? I am new to guns and there values so any input would be appreceated. Thanks in advance!!

 

[wchandler]

I don't know what they go for in other states, but that seems like a good price to me. I got one last year and paid somewhere in the $200's for it. Great little pistol!!! Fits great in the pocket of cargo shorts in the summer. Go for it!

You should get yourself one of those gun value books. Of course I think it is just a guide line. I have paid way over and way under the prices listed in them. I asked my local gun store what he uses and bought myself the same one.

Hope this helps!!!

 

[centermass181]

no no no let me talk to him , Ill sqaure him away.

 

[jhrosier]

I have a first generation AMT Backup (70's vintage) that is carried some and shot seldom.
It tends to throw the brass into the next county and is shoot at a range that is grass at the firing line. I loose about half my brass and am getting too lazy to go on an easter egg hunt for the rest.
With FMJRN bullets, it is perfectly reliable.
The maker had some QC problems for a while and some of them are rumored to be less reliable, although I have not personally found anyone who had a problem. I would run a couple of boxes of ammo through the gun to be sure.
I think that you have a good price as there is nothing else available like it for anywhere near that price.
The sight system is a bit rudimentary, so you'll want the target to be at powder burn range.
BTW, take-down is nearly impossible. You have to drive a pin out of the slide and then drive the breechblock out of the top of the slide with a brass drift thru the mag well, to remove the slide. It's much easier to hose it down with carb. cleaner and then a good spritz of oil, after removing the grips.

 

[Len-2A Training]

I bought one of the first OMC Backup .380s out there back in the late 1970s. The trigger pull would make Tom Reilly grin! Terrible gun to shoot . . . of course I was shooting at 50' as required by the club that I belonged to back then. I put a lot of rounds thru it. The safety broke on mine at one point and the factory repaired it. Replaced the gun with a PPK/s with NO regrets! Finally sold it a few years later.

Price-wise it is a good price. Fits in a pocket, yes. Shootability, terrible.

 

[Weerd Beard]

Bumped into a guy with an AMT .380. Don't know how old it was, or what, but he hated it....I popped off a few rounds from it, and I had to agree with him.

I had one failure to feed, and one failure to extract.....and since the slide doesn't lock back it was a team effort getting the spent out of the chamber.

He bought it used, so I don't know if it's piss-poor performance is indicative of design, or just a previous owner who didn't love it right.

I'd say from what I read here, put a box of ammo through it, and let yourself be the judge before dropping the coin.

-Weer'd Beard

 

[Len-2A Training]

I was told that the trigger pull was somewhere in the vicinity of 15#, that and the 1.75" bbl makes it a belly gun only!

 

[phillip]

Well I thank everyone for all the input. Went back today to buy and it was gone, dealer said they are very popular and when he gets one in it goes quick, at that point I figured I was there to buy a gun so I bought Smith and Wesson Cheifs Special .40 insted.

 

[Len-2A Training]

I think you made a much wiser choice!!

 

[PatMcD]

You bought a nice handgun.

But was it necessary to register on this board with that name?

 

[dreppucci007]

The S&W was an excellent choice.

 

[dwarven1]

Good move. I've only had one AMT (a Hardballer), and I hated it.

 

[phillip]

You bought a nice handgun.

But was it necessary to register on this board with that name?

Sorry Pat, but that is my nick name. I left out the C to be some what civilized!!

 

[PatMcD]

Phillip, a gentlemanly move on your part. I work in the construction trade, so I have heard everything (and said everything) on a daily basis when on the job site, but this is a public forum.
I hear the "F" word multiple times when the compressor breaks down (or whatever) and never think about it, but when I hear it at the supermarket in a crowd of people I don't know, I inwardly wince.

Good luck with the new Chief's Special! Once you go .40, it's hard to go back to 9mm. Of course, once you go 10mm, it's hard to back to .40!

 

[Moderator]

Phillip, welcome aboard. I say you way better off with the S&W. Hope ya like it.