The AMT .380 Backup

It makes a lot of sense to buy used guns. Many are hardly used at all. Some shooters buy a gun for whatever reason and never even shoot it once before trading it off for another whim that strikes their fancy. There are pitfalls to buying used, just like anything else, but a shop-wise shooter can find lots of bargains. The AMT Backup is one such gun that could be a diamond in the rough. AMT stands for Arcadia Machine and Tool.

In the early eighties this company, based in Irwindale California, produced the Backup and several other guns. Changes in fortune for the parent company meant bankruptcy and the company was bought and sold until it disappeared into High Standard. Today it is a nonissue as none of the original guns are still in production. That being said, there are still plenty of Backups out there. A quick check on Guns America auction site offered several at prices running from $350-$450 for NIB specimens.

Another peek on the usual Internet forums rate the guns from the worst junk I ever made to the best gun worth owning, about what you’d expect from some of this crap online. Having personal experience with several of the models in .380 (they were also made in 9mm and .45ACP) I make the observation that these are some of the best little autos ever made. They are sturdy and always go bang if the right ammo is used and are kept properly lubricated—just like any other well-made gun.

A question from one of our readers about the disassembly of the Backup and some of the buzz on the Net convinced me that an article concerning these guns is in order. Although I consider our readers to be an astute bunch (or they wouldn’t be reading this magazine) a lot of you were not born by 1980 and, therefore, cannot remember firsthand the situation in small-framed handguns at that time.

The dearth of suitable firearms for deep concealed carry was laughable compared to the plethora of specimens we have available today. Most cops had to be content with Jand D frame 5 and 6-shot revolvers from Smith and Wesson, Colt, and Charter Arms with such revealing names as "Undercover and Off Duty", "Agent and Detective Specials" and "Chief’s Special and Bodyguard" to tuck behind their waistbands and fit in ankle holsters.

Some foreign manufacturers: Bersa, and Beretta (not yet associated with our military) had some small semi-auto .380s in their catalog but few American shooters jumped on that bandwagon. Besides, these pistols were much larger than the AMT Backup and more suited to James Bond types or Inspector Clouseau’s duty gun than a hard-boiled NYPD cop in need of a small, concealable, yet powerful, handgun. As a matter of fact, this little pistol created quite a stir when it was first introduced right around 1981.

With the nominal specs of 4.25 inches long by 3.48 inches in height and a weight of just 18 ounces unloaded it was the answer that many of us were waiting for. Hence the name: Backup, which says it all. Shove it in a pocket and it is out of sight. The available .380 caliber was icing on the cake. Feel free to correct me, but I can’t think of any auto at that time that was smaller with the same firepower. Most of the little guns like the baby Browning were chambered in .25 ACP.

Colt’s 1903 in .32 ACP and the 1908 variation in .380 ACP were significantly larger. Compare the Backup with the current darling of the media, the reintroduced Colt

Mustang Pocketlite, which originally debuted in 1987. The Colt boasts an overall length of 5.5 inches and a nominal weight of 12.5 ounces, made possible with the use of an aluminum frame and parts. The Backup, smaller and constructed of stainless steel which increases its weight, is competitive. Many favorable reviews on the Backup sprouted in the gun literature at that time.

As new guns were introduced and the writers moved on the buzz faded, but I can’t remember one article that had anything but praise for this weapon. Americans like small guns in large calibers. I do too, but I don’t like shooting them for extended sessions without wearing Past gloves to protect my arthritic hands. For all the smaller guns bought in this country I wonder how many of them are regularly seen at the range. They can be a bear as far as recoil is concerned.

The Backup, depending on the load used, can be compared to a Jframe snubbie firing Plus P .38 Specials. Forget about full-house .357s in those small revolvers. So, love it or hate it, this little gun is still being used and may come across your bench anytime. Some parts are available from Numrich Arms and Brownells, but with anything major you’re on your own and it’s doubtful many of us have the shop to make some of the parts on this gun. Barrels have to be fitted by the non-existent factory.

We might be able to come up with some of the springs and pins and screws. The good news is that there is not a lot to go wrong with these guns and they are not usually shot except for small doses of practice. Disassembly, cleaning, and putting back together, the amateur’s handiwork, is probably all the bench work we’ll see. The .380 comes with a caveat in its factory-supplied manual that states, "Your AMT Backup is designed to function with hardball ammo.

If you choose to shoot hollow point ammo, it may be necessary to increase the Sometimes, one shot in the belly is all you need. Remember what John Wayne told his assailant in the beginning of The Shootist when he plugged him with the concealed derringer? "Here’s a little something extra." distance between the feed lips of the magazine. This allows the cartridge to engage the feed ramp properly. Opening the feed lips can be accomplished quickly and easily with an ordinary pair of pliers.

The lips of the magazine are grasped by the pliers, one at a time, and spread open approximately the thickness of the metal. This procedure applies only to .380 caliber Backups." Oh boy! I’m not sure we would see instructions like this from a modern manufacturer, lawsuits being what they are. I can imagine the testimony now. "I got shot because my gun refused to fire. It had not been modified except for what the company recommended for hollow point ammunition." Any half decent lawyer could make hay with that.

Regardless, the Backup in my shop will shoot hardball and Fiochi hollow points equally well, and it hasn’t been modified. I’m sure some other ammo may not feed and you could have a gun brought in for this reason. A little careful tuning and range time may be in order to correct these problems, whether in an unmodified magazine or one with self-induced problems from a heavyhanded amateur. I think I would take great pains to detail exactly what was modified and exactly what ammo was used.

One good thing, the magazines for most of the Backups are listed as available, albeit expensive as all get out. Another sign of the Backup’s times, the .380, before the advent of super bullets and loadings that we now enjoy, was thought to be anemic and the full-patch bullet was needed to give adequate penetration. Other small weapons in calibers .22 and .25 were also used for this purpose and "aim for the eyes"—another questionable legal Pandora’s Box—was a common mantra.

The popularity of the current .380 craze is a direct result of such thinking. I’m not sure some of the pundits who complain about the .380 being weak and ineffective have actually used one. After shooting my little Backup extensively, as well as other guns in this caliber, I don’t want to stand in front of one. Now is the time to insert this disclaimer: I know this was not the only small gun on the market at that

time. Detonics, Walther and others come to mind. I know that as soon as firearms were invented someone started making them smaller and smaller. This article is not about all hideout guns. It would take several books to cover that subject, so please don’t write saying, "Hey, Stupid, what about…!?" The fact of the matter is, the Backup was produced not only as a good idea but as a product of its time. There is some confusion on how to field strip the gun for routine cleaning. Indeed, it is an unusual process.

However, simplicity is a word I think the Backup exemplifies. It only has 49 parts on its schematic and seven or eight are parts of the magazine and grips. I quote the manual. To disassemble, remove magazine, inspect chamber to ensure that weapon is not loaded, drive out bolt retaining Notice the recoil spring and guide. The extractor is held in place by a small pin through the bolt which also captures the firing pin. Both of these parts are spring loaded so be careful if you have to take them out.

No wonder the barrel has to be fitted at the factory; it’s welded to the frame! pin from left to right, pull slide back slightly and insert an ordinary paper clip between bolt and breech of barrel. With gun upside down, insert brass or aluminum rod into magazine well and drive bolt out of the slide. If hammer is cocked, slide will not fall forward enough to release from the frame.

To drop the hammer and release slide, pull slide back to normal position and pull trigger (slide should fall forward) then lift slide off of frame. Quoting again, to assemble, cock the hammer, replace recoil rod and spring into recoil rod hole in frame The punch is 3/32". The bench block isn’t really needed but is nice to have when driving out pins.

Instead of the aluminum or brass rod recommended by the manual to drive out the breech block, I used a 3/8" wooden dowel, held the gun in my hands and tapped the dowel on the bench. No problemo. and insert front of recoil spring into spring hole in front of slide. Pull slide back over barrel, then down and back past the cocked hammer, pull slide back slightly so bolt can be inserted into top of slide.

Once bolt is started into slide, it will be necessary to insert paper clip, as before, to separate the breech of the barrel from the front of the bolt. Drive bolt back into slide until retaining pin holes in slide and bolt are aligned. (Use a soft face hammer to avoid damaging top of bolt or slide), replace bolt retaining pin from left to right and check for proper functioning. The disassembly/assembly instructions are straight forward and clearly written, but one thing puzzled me.

The bolt retaining pin is supposed to be removed and replaced from left to right. I measured the pin and it is the same diameter on both ends, however, the left side

Notice the delicate springs. The rear of the grip houses the mainspring and grip safety spring among others. Notice the hair-like spring supporting the disconnector. A pin on the underside of the disconnector holds the trigger and its spring in the frame. Best leave these alone if you don’t have to go there or be prepared to make your own parts. It removes rather easily.

The pins are held in place by the grips when they are in position. has a small dimple on the end and a scored circle around it about 0.15" from the end. What its purpose is I haven’t been able to determine. Checking the pin hole with a strong light doesn’t reveal anything the scoring could snap into. Never the less, I’ll take the factory at their word and continue to remove and replace this pin as they instruct. See more on this subject below. In the shop at the moment are two .380 Backups.

One is used, the other is NIB. The unfired gun is an early one from the Irwindale plant and the used gun is a later one from Covina, California. What’s interesting is that the early gun has the horrid "Warning read the instruction manual before handling this firearm" stamped on the slide while the later model dispenses with this atrocity and says merely "stainless – made in U. S.

A." Another difference is that the gun made in Irwindale has a roll pin for the bolt retaining pin and regular screws instead of hex-headed ones to retain the grips. The only instructions for removing this pin are to drive it out, nothing about left to right. The average owner would not have been able to handle roll pins, as these need special punches and holders for the job, so I guess that’s why the later models switched to a solid pin.

Sometimes I just can’t figure what these manufacturers had in mind, so I stopped trying. I have not been able to handle any later models than the ones mentioned, so other differences may exist. One small feature I like about these pistols is that, although AMT did not advocate carrying the guns with around in the chamber, they do have a manual safety and a grip safety. When the gun is cocked the grip safety protrudes from the rear of the grip.

When the gun is not cocked the grip safety falls almost flush with the grip. While this does not guarantee the gun is actually loaded, it is a cocked indicator just as seen in some newer designs. Also, the manual safety cannot be moved to its on position unless the gun is cocked. A white dot shows below it when the safety is on. When the safety is off ared dot shows above it. I took the grips off using a 1/16" hex head bit. As the pictures show, most of the working parts are contained in the rear of the grip frame.

Pins hold everything together and small springs are used for tension and function. I didn’t want to take this gun down any further than this as some of these parts are just not available. The small, delicate springs could get screwed up very easily by taking them off their holders and putting them back on. I don’t need that kind of grief. If it ain’t broke I’m not the guy to fix it and I don’t recommend any further disassembly unless it’s a need-to basis.

One thing you should be aware of is the grips actually hold some of these parts in place. Some of the parts that will fall out of the gun are the trigger, trigger spring, disconnector and its spring. I learned this by fooling around with the grips off. The disconnector holds the trigger and its spring in place, and has a small, delicate hair-like spring that was best replaced with a dental pick helping it to function. The grips have small protrusions inside to ensure these parts can’t move laterally.

They also have a small lip that fits in front of the grip frame to hold them flush against the frame since the grip screw is located farther back on the grip than is usual with most guns. It’s a simple design feature that works well. I cleaned the Backup’s barrel with some Hoppe’s Nine. It has very shallow lands, as do most semiautos, and was shiny and bright in no time. The rest of the innards got some canned air and a very small amount of Break Free. I pronounced it good enough.

It shoots fine and will last many hundreds of rounds before any more cleaning is needed. If you can find one of these guns in good shape think about adding it to your collection. AG

2 Slide 3 Barrels (Factory Installed) 4 Bolt 6 Extractor 7 Firing Pin 8 Extractor Pin 9 Grip Safety 11 Sear 12 Magazine Latch 13 Ejector 14 Hammer 15 Recoil Rod 16 Safety 17 Safety Pin Completely Assembled 18 Safety Knob 19 Disconnector 20 Disconnector Pin 21 Hammer Strut 22 Magazine Body 23 Magazine Follower 24 Magazine Floorplate 25 Magazine Floorplate Latch 26 Hammer Pin 27 Sear Pin 28 Magazine Latch Pin 29 Ejector Pin 30 Hammer Strut Pin 31 Sear Disconnector Spring Pin 32 Safety Stop Pin 33 Recoil Spring AMT .380 Backup (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 34 Hammer Spring 35 Magazine Spring 36 Grip Safety Spring 37 Safety Spring 38 Safety Spring Ball 39 Trigger Spring 40 Trigger 41 Firing Pin Spring 42 Disconnector Spring 43 Sear Spring 44 Grip Screw 45 Grips (Black Plastic) 46 Trigger Stop Spring 47 Bolt Retaining Pin 48 Extractor Spring