My question would be why a .44 mag?? Home defence? Bad idea in my eyes. The gun with it's regular ammo is heavy and has enough force to knock down your opponent but also go through the walls and have enough force to hit a person in another room by accident... Or on purpose who knows

Precisely what I was going to say.

IMO any pistol round bigger than good old .45 ACP is more a novelty than anything else.

As far as rabbits goes, well I guess it does make making stew out of them a bit simpler

The automag was designed and built in California by the designer Harry Sanford. The Pistol is built very well but if you shoot it much it needs to be tuned like a Ferrari. Lee Juras helped keep the firm afloat when they approached bankruptcy and special ordered 1000 Juras signature .44's. These are real collectors items today. The first 500 of the originals bring the most money. In 1981, the state of California confiscated 27 Automags that where very early serial numbers and in both .357 and .44 from a collector, and before any ajudifucation took place on this man, torched them in half and threw the parts in the ocean. The market hit $2500 for unfired models and has pretty much stayed there. Automag went bust in the 70's and bounced around between several owners. In later years AMT owned the patents and rights and produced a .22 version!

Zindo

[edit on 9/1/2008 by ZindoDoone]

Well, crap. If I'd have known Zindo was on, I'd have kept my mouth shut. I apparently got my Jurris spelling wrong and misidentified him as the designer.

You listen to Zindo.

When he speaks, it is with authority.

What is it with "why do you want it?" questions?

If he wants the Automag he wants the Automag. Not a good "D" gun, so what? Too big to carry, so what? A pain to get ammo, so what?

The dude wants an Automag. Posing alternatives doesnt help him get an Automag.

It's like watching a movie and wanting a WRX all rallied out and everyone asking why do you need that? You cant open it up on the freeway. It's expensive. A pain to maintain. Pricey to insure. Then suggesting he buy he a Ford Focus.

Sometimes you just want something. Given the ridiculous amount of debt so many seem to be floating on I find it hard to believe that Americans are so focused on only having what they need. I have an M1 Garand I dont need. It's heavy and expensive to shoot. I dont hunt with it. But when I saw Gran Torino the other day and I looked over and said "that's what I got hanging on the living room wall" it sparked interest and a dialog and somebody learned about the gun that may not have otherwise had the opportunity to do so. (Note: it wasnt some stranger in a theater)

Though, I could be wrong and the "why do you want that?" replies could be coming from the most frugal and thrifty people on the planet.

Some great info and opinions in this thread. I still want one and HAVE come across a couple, but was unwilling to fork over the cash at the time. Definitely would be strictly a convo piece and not for real world use.

I want a Jimmy Lile Rambo knife too, same reason.

BTW, "unwilling to fork over the cash" = "buy that thing and kiss your sex-life goodbye".

Peace

Harry Sanford's son just recently put some of Harry's own Auto- mags up for auction on GunBroker. I didn't keep a close eye on the auctions or even if he managed to sell them but the reserve prices where high, I can tell you that. He had a complete set of prototypes of like 14 calibers that could be used on one lower reciever. From .22 all the way to .45 Winchester magnum. Harry Sanford was a true, self taught, genious with the inner workings of firearms.

Zindo

Watched Sudden Impact for the billionth time a couple days ago and it reminded me of this thread I made not too long ago.

I STILL WANT ONE DAMNIT!!!!! Man what a collector's piece!

Peace