#Automag

Over the years TFB has documented the ups and downs of Wildey Guns, up to 2015 when the rights to manufacture this iconic pistol were acquired by US Firearms Corp. (USAFC). We had then to wait until last year to finally see the official re-introduction to market of their improved Wildey Survivor Pistol in .44 Auto Mag.

As I said in one of our previous articles dedicated to the new AutoMag pistol, I really like the way Auto Mag Ltd. Corp. keeps us posted about the development of their ambitious project of reviving the pistol. They tell us the full story including the failures and issues they had during this journey of bringing the legendary hand cannon back. Moreover, not only they are bringing it back but they are improving the design to have a perfectly functioning firearm without any of the issues the original AutoMag had.

Several months ago we talked about the revival of the AutoMag pistol by Auto Mag LTD, Corp. Particularly, we discussed the design changes of the magazine and the feeding system in general. Recently, the company has released an update about the current status of the new Auto Mag pistol’s production process.

For this segment of “ Identify My Guns,” we have another firearm offered up by one of our TFB readers. If you have an older firearm you would like identified, a potential value ascertained or more history gathered, feel free to comment at the end of this article. We will try to cover as many as we possibly can. So far that is what has kept this new feature running on TFB. A special thank you to Andrew for providing pictures of his AMT Automag II .22 Rimfire Magnum pistol. Andrew commented in our last “ Identify My Guns” so we are going to dig deeper on his AMT!

During SHOT Show 2018 we reported about the AutoMag Company and the pistol being revived. The company not only recreates the pistol but also makes some design changes that will eventually result in the more reliable latest iteration of the Automag pistol. They started publishing the progress of design changes  on their website. In this article, we’ll take a look at the magazine design improvements.

The Automag was originally coming back to market in 2010 after a hiatus from 1982, by a company called Auto Mag Company in Alaska. They were going to come out with a Polished Stainless and a Parkerized version, using the original design. However, that company has since folded, their webpage gone for a while now, and is no longer in existence.

Five years ago, we reported that Wildey Guns, makers of the famous Wildey magnum automatic pistol featured in films like Death Wish and Robocop 3, had ceased operations due to the ailing health of their founder, Wildey Moore. Well, Moore is feeling better, and Wildey Guns is back! George Benedict of USA Firearms Corp, Wildey Guns’ parent company, writes:

I always like to see old gun designs put back into production. The original Model 180 AutoMag pistol is going back into production after being discontinued about twenty years ago (please correct me if I am wrong). An Alaskan firm called Auto Mag Company, not in anyway connected with the original now defunct Arcadia Machine & Tool (AMT), will be manufacturing 1350 Automag pistols in 2011.

The Automag was a revolutionary pistol when it was invented. It is recoil operated and uses rotating bolt similar to the AR-15. Despite the gun being a commercial failure (it cost far more to make than the sale price), it was the inspiration for the Desert Eagle and the Wildey autoloader pistols.