by Inspector Harry Callahan would approve. It seems that the Auto Mag Pistol in .44 AMP, the pistol used by Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in 1983’s Sudden Impact, is set to make a comeback. According to a press release that came out yesterday, an investor has purchased the rights, plans, and spare parts for the Auto Mag Pistol from the original developer’s family.
In 2015, after 40 some odd years of cult status, a private investor purchased the rights, plans and spare
parts from the Sanford family. The new company, Auto Mag LTD, Corp., based out of South Carolina, has
spent the past year reengineering the iconic pistol using advanced materials in a state-of-the-art
manufacturing facility. Auto Mag is also now an officially registered trademark as of this month. As the
prototype process continues to progress, Auto Mag engineers are working to bring back the Auto Mag,
better than ever, while taking advantages of the improvements in materials and manufacturing
technology advances available today.
The Auto Mag was last made in 1982. The new Auto Mag is still in the prototype stage with no set release date of which I’m aware. According to their website, they have produced about a dozen prototype guns for testing. Below is a computer rendering of their prototypes.
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| Computer rendering from Auto Mag LTD Corp. |
You can keep up with their progress here. If you are one of those folks who actually has an Auto Mag Pistol Model 180, they also are selling spare parts and you can find those here.
In an era where most new handguns are polymer based, it is nice to see someone coming out with something made of steel and wood.