AMT .45 ACP Back-up

[flyandscuba]

Anyone have any experience with these?  I wanted to step up in caliber from the P-3AT, but home renovations restrict available funds -- so the R9S wasn't an option.

I came across a NIB AMT Back-up in .45 ACP today for a little over $200.  Surprisingly, it rides in the front pocket of my Eddie Bauer-cut blue jeans comfortably with the 20+ ounce weight loaded. (I'm carrying the 165 gr. Pow'Rballs to keep the weight down)

One of the first things I did was remove the ugly "Caution" warning printed on the right side of the slide.  A little Brasso on a felt Dremel wheel took it right off.

RJ is going to work up a front pocket holster for me during my next business trip down his way.

One of the things I don't really care for -- actually, the only thing I don't like -- is the 17 lb. DAO trigger pull (no chance for an AD or ND).  In looking things over when I stripped it for cleaning and lubrication, I see that the design utilizes a hammer spring in the backstrap that also serves as the magazine release spring.  This spring is compressed somewhat on the spring guide and the coils are pretty heavy guage.  I'm wondering if trimming a coil or two off of the spring would lessen the trigger pull appreciably -- while retaining the strength necessary to give the hammer the force to ignite the primer.

Thoughts?  I'm hesitant to go ahead with the trimming because Numrich has no replacement hammer springs in stock in the event I screw it up.  I did read a SHOT SHow report somewhere that said the AMT BAck-up series pistols are to be re-introduced this year, so maybe a parts source will come back to life.

Previously, they made a .400 Corbon barrel    -- it would be nice to grab one of those too...

[BillinPittsburgh]

I wouldn't go trimming springs.  The spring needs to have a certain strength in order to make the gun go bang, and it will weaken with time, although I don't think hammer springs weaken that much.

Instead, see about getting a gunsmith to make sure all the parts that slide against each other in the trigger mechanism are slick and smooth for minimum friction.  My recommendation would be Teddy Jacobson (Actions by T) but call him before sending your gun, as he is now semi-retired.

[tracker]

Contact Teddy Jacobson- Actionsbyt.com. I think he
would advise you to never cut a spring.

[flyandscuba]

I'm sure an action job would improve things -- a little.  I can do the polishing of the internals myself.  But the spring seems overly strong for the pistol.

The only additional funds I'm going to invest on this, is an RJ Hedley pocket holster.

[tracker]

In the case of AMT for $200.00-you get what you pay for-
or don't pay for in this case.

[DDGator]

I will be curious to see what you think of this gun...  My dealer had one in the case -- CHEAP a while back and I thought about it.  But, my web research turned up almost NO positive reports.  I decided to pass -- but it is a nice sized package.

I am still awaiting an R-45...

[flyandscuba]

In the case of AMT for $200.00-you get what you pay for-
or don't pay for in this case.

Price paid versus MSRP can vary widely -- especially on a weapon no longer in production.

The MSRP on these was $500 during their existence.  The quality of this particular weapon could jusitfy that.  It was a "bargain" on a discontinued weapon, and parts availability is a concern.

I plan on taking it to the range today and see just how bad the 17 lb. trigger pull is on close-in accuracy -- given that it was intended to be a close quarters defense pistol (i.e. no sights -- just a groove in the top of the slide) and not a target piece -- just like the mighty R9s.

[pocketman]

Cool little gun , I had one for about a year maybe 10 years ago. I put about 1000 rds through the little sucker, I shot it weekly.

I found it accurate at the 15ft distance I practiced and that heavy trigger does lighten up smooth out after a few hundred rounds. At 500 rds the springs failed and I was getting light hammer strikes, sent it to AMT and they replace all the springs and my mags, after anouther 500 orso the same things started happining again, there were not using quality springs IMOP and wolff had non available at the time.

I ended up tradding it off..I carried it IWB in an allessi talon clip on and even had eagle buffalo horn grips on it!  

[flyandscuba]

After locating a replacement hammer spring on line at Brownell's, I decided to do a little spring-ectomy -- by trimming 1.5 coils from the spring and re-installing it.  The trigger pull weight dropped noticably -- from 17 lbs. down to about 12 lbs.

I'm going to try it like this for a bit to see if it eases up any from use -- then, possibly trim one more coil in an attempt to get the trigger pull below 10 lbs.

The little gun likes the +P Pow'Rballs better than standard FMJ loads.

I also picked up a pack of Hi-Vis sight inserts from Walmart and trimmed one to super glue into the U-shaped sight channel forward of the chamber as shown below.  Covering the target with the red dot places the bullet at the proper point of aim.