This post is about the semi-auto pistols that have been made over the years to fire magnum cartridges. I started down a rabbit hole when looking up info on the Wildey Survivor and discovered a few tidbits that I thought I would share with you.
I have never really understood the allure of a magnum auto pistol.
Typically the advantage of a self-loading pistol over a revolver is increased capacity. In a magnum auto you might get a one or two round advantage over that of a six shot revolver. The magnum auto is certainly not more reliable or less complex, in fact the opposite is true. Magnum revolvers are bulky, but so are the magnum autos...
So why have so many people tried to build something that isn't any better than the revolver?
This post will not answer that question, it is simply a look at the history and development of the magnum auto pistol.
For the purposes of keeping this post to a reasonable length I will not be including cartridges that are lower powered than the .357 Magnum....I know the .22 WMR is technically a magnum round......
Well start with a this gun which was designed before the turn of the century.
The Mars Pistol
The Mars pistol was designed by a British gun designer Sir Hugh Gabbett-Fairfax. His hope was to design the most powerful handgun ever. Did he succeed? While his biggest cartridge (450 Mars Long) probably did exceed the power of the 44 Colt Walker, it wasn't by much.
My research didn't uncover why he named it the MARS, perhaps it looked like a pistol a Martian might wield?
It actually looks a little more futuristic than Marvin the Martian's Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator
The MARS were designed around a long recoil operation in which the barrel and four lug rotating bolt retracted backwards after firing.
Fairfax designed 4 proprietary cartridges, the largest of which, the .450 Mars Long, fired a 220 grain bullet in excess of 1,200 feet per second which is much more powerful than the .455 Webley or the .45 ACP, which qualifies it as the first Magnum Automatic.
The prototypes and first production units were produced by Webley & Scott in Birmingham, England. Webley & Scott wanted to make some changes to make the gun more viable and Fairfax would have none of it. He got the same feedback from the eight or so military trials in which his gun participated in: "the gun is too large and too complicated". One critic wrote that "no one who fired the gun once, wished to shoot it again". I guess the men of the "Gilded Age" didn't see the potential.....Ol' Fairfax was just ahead of his time.
Fairfax continued to produce limited number of the pistols at various gun manufactories around England until 1903 when he ran out of money. Creditors took over the company and attempted to build and sell them for another 4 years until they too were short on funds. Only 80 or so pistols were ever produced.
The North American Arms Brigadier
After World War II two gunsmiths at the Canadian firm North American Arms Corp (not to be confused with the American maker of tiny revolvers) were tasked with creating a new pistol for the Canadian military.
They chose to build a magnum automatic, starting with a new cartridge. They took the venerable .45ACP and stretched the case from .898" to 1.198", which nearly doubled the speed of the 230-grain ball. They named the new cartridge the ".45 NAACO".
They then took the FN P35 Browning Hi-Power pistol and "super-sized" it to fit and handle the larger, more powerful round.
They named the gun the "Brigadier Pistol" and while only one prototype was made, it was another step towards a controllable magnum automatic pistol.
The story doesn't end there....in the late '70's Winchester revived the cartridge calling it the .45 Winchester Magnum, which was later a chambering available in several magnum autos.
Kimball Arms Pistol
Next up we have the J. Kimball Arms pistol, introduced in 1955 and built in the Motor City.
The original Kimball pistols were made in .30 Carbine, which some might not consider a magnum round.....well in a pistol it is. Considering its 110-grain bullet delivered more than double the energy of both the 9 mm and the 45 ACP, this qualifies it as a Magnum pistol cartridge, and yes it does exceed the speed and energy of a .357 Mag, which doesn't matter because they also made them (or planned to make them) in .357 Magnum.
The advert below shows that you could order a model chambered in .22 Hornet, .30 Carbine, .38 Special and .357 Mag.
Only a few prototypes in .22 Hornet, .38 & .357 were built.
The delayed blow back design didn't work out. The rebated portion of the chamber, which was designed to force the case to swell would fill up with powder residue and fail to work.
The result was the slide velocities that were way too high, the guns failed, and the company went out of business in 1958 with less than 250 of the .30 cal pistols being built.
The .44 Auto Mag 180
The next attempt came out of Southern California in the early 1970s.
By 1970 the 44 Magnum had been on the market for more than a decade and the first stainless handgun, the S&W model 60 had been around for 5 years. These two innovations (along with some others) inspired the next Magnum Automatic.
Beginning with a conversation in 1966, the idea brewed for a while in the mind of gun shop owner Harry Sanford. He along with Max Gera and some other gunsmiths designed a new pistol and a cartridge to go along with it.
They wanted a 44 Magnum automatic, why not a .45?
In the 1960's the .44 Magnum was the king of the handgun cartridges and perhaps they didn't know about the Canadian .45 NAACO cartridge?
It was immediately apparent that using a rimmed cartridge like the .44 Remington Magnum would cause feeding issues in a typical pistol magazine.
So, they looked at what rifle cartridges were readily available that had a rimless case as well as an inside diameter close to the .429 bullet. They found that both the .308 Winchester and the .30-06 Springfield could be cut down to just under 33mm, then reamed and resized to seat a .429 bullet.
The 44 Auto Mag and .44 Remington Magnum
What they created was a legend....the gun did have some issues, but it functioned...it was the first successful magnum automatic and the first all stainless-steel handgun.
When we call the pistol a "success", we use the word loosely, the company folded after only 2 years in business and less than 3,000 pistols delivered.
The company was revived a few more times before finally giving up in 1982. This was due to the high cost of production and the fact the company was initially selling the pistols for $1,000 LESS than it cost to build them.....not a good business strategy.
Then in 1983 the 4th Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact (starring Clint Eastwood) was released....in the movie Dirty Harry uses the pistol which created additional demand for the now out of production gun.
Harry Sanford died in 1996 leaving what was left of the company (name copyright and parts/tooling) to his son Walter.
In 2015 Walter Sanford sold the rights and everything that was left to a new group of investors who are now building the guns under the name Auto Mag Ltd. See their website here.
Wildey Survivor Pistol
Our next gun came on the heels of the .44 Auto Mag. Wildey J. Moore was working in the gun industry since the 1950's. He decided to design his own magnum automatic and set himself on a course.
With the help of Robert Hillberg (of Whitney Wolverine fame) they designed a gun that used a gas system with an adjustment apeture, allowing the shooter to adjust for different loads.
Like the .44 Auto Mag the barrel was fixed, which helped make the gun more precise. Also like the Auto Mag it uses a single action trigger.
The design also allowed for the top end of the gun to be traded out for different barrel lengths or a change in caliber.
Either wanting the gun standout in a crowd or mimic the 44 Automag, they went with stainless steel for the material and added a vent rib to the barrel.
The first prototypes were made in 9mm Winchester Automatic (a rimless version of the .357 Mag) and the aforementioned .45 Winchester Automatic.
By 1979 the gun was ready for prime time, as is customary, samples were sent to gun writers for testing and review.
The chamber was designed to handle more than 48,000 psi, allowing Moore to chamber these guns in new magnum cartridges. For instance, the .475 Wildey Magnum....Moore took a .284 Winchester rifle case and cut it down to 1.198" (same length as the .45 Winchester Magnum) and fitted a .475" bullet.
Below, from left to right: .44 AMP, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Wildey Magnum and .475 Wildey Magnum
In 1983 the .475 Wildey Survivor was used in the third installment of the Death Wish series (starring Charles Bronson) and just as in the case with the .44 Auto Mag, sales jumped every time the movie aired.
Production of the Wildey Survivor ended in 2011, then in 2015 United States Firearms announced they had purchased the rights and would resume production of the famous pistol, see their website here.
The 44 Magmatic
Around the same time the Wildey pistol was being developed another fan of the .44 Magnum named Jon Powers was working on one of his own.
The gun resembled the 22 caliber Hi-Standard pistol, but was supersized, used a rotating six-lug bolt and was gas operated. The grips were borrowed from the S&W model 39 pistol.
The pistol was also designed with interchangeable barrels so the gun could be used for self-defense or perhaps silhouette shooting with the simple turn of an Allen wrench.
Jon Powers was a tool and die maker living in Holly, Michigan, his shop was in the town of Warren, Michigan.....strange coincidence, I wonder if Mr. Powers knew John Kimball?
While the guns were both reliable and accurate Powers didn't think the concept was marketable or at least didn't want to produce the gun. Only six prototypes were built including one in .45 Colt.
The Desert Eagle
The next magnum automatic to come along was the Magnum Research Desert Eagle, by far the most recognizable gun on the list...
Work began in the late 70's on a gas operated pistol design and by 1982 the gun was ready to go into production. Magnum Research contracted with Israeli Military Industries to build the guns in Israel.
Like the Wildey the Desert Eagle uses a rotating bolt and gas operation. The original chambering was in .357 Magnum. The first model is pictured below:
Also like the Wildey (and the 44 Auto Mag) the Desert Eagle uses and exposed hammer and single action trigger.
Production of the Desert Eagle remained with IMI until 1995 when a contract was struck with SACO Defense (part of General Dynamics), then it went back to Israel until 2009 at which time Magnum Research began production in house, stateside.
The .357 Magnum chambering led the way for both the .41 Magnum and .44 Magnum models and later the Mark VII was chambered in the then new .50 Action Express round.
Also like the Wildey, a Desert Eagle owner can easily change calibers with a swap of the slide/barrel assembly and the correct magazine.
To date the Desert Eagle has been used in over 500 movies and TV shows, more than any other on this list.
In 2010 Kahr Arms purchased Magnum Research and continues to produce the Desert Eagle, see their website here.
L.A.R. Grizzly Win Mag
The early eighties saw three more entries into the magnum automatic arena. We'll start with the L.A.R. Grizzly. Developed in the late 70's/early 80's by Perry Arnet. Arnet licensed the design to L.A.R. Manufacturing who then refined the design.
The gun is based on the 1911 platform, again upsized to handle the larger and more powerful 45 Winchester Magnum cartridge. The slide had extra material added to slow it down, this was in addition to the 27 lbs. recoil spring (a standard 1911 uses a 16 lbs. spring).
By 1983 the gun was ready for sale and L.A.R. produced them in 8 different cartridges including the .50 Action Express.
After 16 years and 15,000 guns the sales had slowed to the point that the company quit producing the pistol.
The Coonan 357
Dan Coonan had a similar idea to Perry Arnet. He took a 1911 and modified it to work with the .357 Magnum cartridge. Coonan made his guns from stainless steel and was known for being of exceptional quality. The monolithic frame and wider than a 1911 grip frame gave it a distinctive look. Like the Grizzly above the gun debuted in 1983.
After just two years (in 1985) Coonan sold the company to Bill Davis but remained an employee until 1990 or so.
Then in 1994 the company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, assets were rolled into J.S. Worldwide, both of which were dissolved in 1998.
Then in 2009 Dan Coonan, Dave Neville and Gordy Davis revived the company and brought back the original .357 model, calling it the "Classic".
They followed that up with options for Cerakote and a compact model.
By 2019 the new Coonan inc was also out of business.
Bren Ten
I know what you are thinking.....the 10mm isn't a magnum round....or is it? A full power 10mm is more powerful than a .357 Magnum and it does have a weaker brother in the .40 S&W, so in my mind it qualifies.
For the sake of keeping this short, I will only include the first gun chambered in 10mm Auto, the Bren Ten.
Developed from a conceptual round, the 10mm was designed to replace the 45 ACP with a bullet that weighed almost as much and traveled twice as fast. The designers, Dornaus and Dixon along with Lt Col. John Dean "Jeff" Cooper cut down a .30 Remington case (a rimless version of the .30-30 Win) and loaded it with a bullet from a 38-40 cartridge.
Once they had the cartridge they needed a pistol, they chose to use the design of the CZ75, which is a derivative of the Browning Hi-Power. As many of the guns above, they "super-sized" the frame of the gun to handle the size and power of the 10mm round.
Once the gun was ready, production began in southern California. After three years the company was going under. Plagued by production problems and a complete lack of magazines, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1986. An attempt to save the gun was made by the owner of Voit Sporting goods, but that didn't last long.
The gun did get a boost when it was chosen as the side arm for Sonny Crocket (played by Don Johnson) in the TV show Miami Vice, alas, the boost was too late to save the gun.
Vltor Weapons Systems purchased the rights to the gun and had planned on producing them, as of this writing none have surfaced.
The 10mm went to live on, Colt introduced the Delta Elite 1911 pistol, followed by S&W with the 1006, 1026 & 1076 and the Glock 20. Today there are dozens of models in 10mm to choose from.
AMT Automag III, IV & V
This story is coming full circle. AMT was started by Harry Sanford, the same man who started the Auto Mag Corporation to build the .44 Auto Mag. He started AMT (Arcadia Machine and Tool) as a vehicle to produce other guns, rather than have them under the Auto Mag banner.
The AMT guns were made of cast stainless and had a matte finish on the frame. The design used elements from the M1911, with a slide mounted safety.
The first AMT Automag was the Automag II, in .22 Magnum, then came the Automag III in .30 Carbine, then in 1992 the Automag IV in .45 Winchester Magnum.
You may notice a pattern....Automag II was a 22, the III was a .30 cal and the IV was a .45 cal.
The Automag IV was also chambered in 10mm Magnum for a short time (which is a .40 cal).
AMT followed up the next year with the Automag V in .50 Action Express.
AMT moved several times and even changed names (it was known as IAI (Irwindale Arms Inc) for a time.
The Automag V met its demise in 1995 and the Automag III & IV were disco'd in 2001.
In 1996 Harry Sanford passed away and two years later Galena Industries bought AMT and moved it to Sturgis, SD, then went bankrupt in 2001. The company's assets were purchased by the same parent company that came to own High Standard.
In 2018 High Standard was going under.
Also Ran
I suppose we should make mention of those "magnum level" cartridges that reach magnum power without increasing the size of the gun. The first one is the .357 Sig. Developed in 1994, by SIG and Federal Cartridge, the designers took a 10mm Auto necked down to .357 caliber. They made the cartridge case length and OAL the same as the .40 S&W so that it could be used in any pistol chambered for the .40.
It produces identical performance to the .357 Magnum, but in an automatic pistol of standard size. That is what you call a win-win.
Here is a .357 Sig next to a .40 S&W, photo courtesy of Gun Pros
Besides SIG many other companies chamber pistols in the .357 Sig, Glock 22 & 23 owners can easily convert a .40 S&W pistol to a .357 sig with just a barrel swap. Many companies now make aftermarket barrels.
The next one is the .22 TCM. Developed by Fred Craig and Martin Tuason (The Tuason family owns Rock Island Armory) in 2015/16. It is simply a .223 Remington (or 5.56 NATO) shortened to the length of a .38 Super. It does produce impressive velocities and muzzle energy. In addition, like the .357 Sig it can be fired from a standard sized pistol.
pictures courtesy of Shooting Illustrated
There are others that follow a similar path, but they were just wildcat cartridges fired from existing guns. These include but are not limited to the 9x25mm Dillon, .400 Corbon, .440 Corbon, .45 Super, .460 Rowland and so on....
Time Line
1935 - The .357 Remington Magnum is introduced
1940s - North American Arms develops the Brigadier and .45 NAACO cartridge
1950s - Kimball Arms attempts a .30 Carbine and .357 Mag pistol
1955 - The .44 Remington Magnum is introduced
1961: Ruger introduces their .44 Magnum Carbine
1971 - The .44 Auto Mag is introduced
1978 - J.D. Jones tests the .44 Magmatic
1979 - The Wildey Survivor debuts
1982 - The Desert Eagle arrives on the scene
1983 - The Grizzly, Coonan and Bren Ten are introduced
1988 - The .50 Action Express in introduced
1992 - The AMT Automag IV is produced for the 1st time
1993 - The AMT Automag V is introduced
Sources:
The M14 Battle Rifle Forum (m14br.com)
The .44 AutoMag Pistol: More than a Hollywood handcannon (VIDEO) :: Guns.com
Auto Mag Cartridges – Ian's AMT Information Site (amtguns.net)
Auto Mag Collectables (Guide) - AMT Guns forum - Page 1
Detroit’s Short-Lived Kimball .30 Carbine Pistol – Forgotten Weapons
Home of the Wildey Survivor (usafirearmscorp.com)
The Wildey Pistol is Back - Revivaler
Manufacturer: Coonan (genitron.com)
Manufacturer: Coonan (genitron.com)
Enhanced Performance (rugercollectorsassociation.com)
The arms of Robert Hillberg. Part five (topwar.ru)
Gun Mars (Gabbet-Fairfax Mars Automatic Pistol) (topwar.ru)
Mars Automatic Pistol - Wikipedia
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