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Went to the In-Laws while in Dallas (Just stepped in from the road) and was helping them ID some Guns and Knives and give them a guesstimate on their value
came across this guy


There was no Magazine, it was in 90% condition and It belonged to my wifes grandfather who died in the early 80s.

Basically I was told that I would be getting this when my father in law passes (Brother-in-law is anti gun)

So, what is it?
It says 38 Special, The Magazine doesnt look big enough unless we are talking Wadcutters only.
Also I searched Hi and Low, where the Heck do I get a magazine for this?
How do I find out when it was produced?

Anyone have any experience with these? How do they shoot, ammo picky, ect?

marksiwel wrote:Went to the In-Laws while in Dallas (Just stepped in from the road) and was helping them ID some Guns and Knives and give them a guesstimate on their value
came across this guy

There was no Magazine, it was in 90% condition and It belonged to my wifes grandfather who died in the early 80s.

Basically I was told that I would be getting this when my father in law passes (Brother-in-law is anti gun)

So, what is it?
It says 38 Special, The Magazine doesnt look big enough unless we are talking Wadcutters only.
Also I searched Hi and Low, where the Heck do I get a magazine for this?
How do I find out when it was produced?

Anyone have any experience with these? How do they shoot, ammo picky, ect?

That is probably a 38 special midrange.

They were built for and used by the Army AMU and competed against revolvers.
They are designed as blowbacks with no locking lugs and fire rimless 38 special brass with wadcutters.

The magazines in your picture are for that gun.
I think they hold 5 rounds.

Both the gun and magazine are very rare. Very collectable.

It is a Midrange, but its not my Photo
There are no Magazines for the gun, know a place?
Thanks for the info, looks like if/when I get this it will become a safe queen

VERY interesting gun! Thanks for sharing.

I ran across this thread when searching for the gun:

http://www.gunvaluesboard.com/colt-1911 ... 20372.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In it one of the posters said(about a year ago) that factory magazines were running about $150.00. ouch!

joe817 wrote:VERY interesting gun! Thanks for sharing.

I ran across this thread when searching for the gun:

http://www.gunvaluesboard.com/colt-1911 ... 20372.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In it one of the posters said(about a year ago) that factory magazines were running about $150.00. ouch!

Ouch indeed!

I'll ask her dad if he has seen it around, if not I guess I can drop 150 to get a magazine, just so its a useable gun

I called Acaedmy they dont have an 38 Wadcutters? Anyone know of a good place?

Check with Colt or Midway USA or CDNN in that order.

CompVest wrote:Check with Colt or Midway USA or CDNN in that order.

Does this look like it would work?
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?p ... ber=363068" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh out of stock
What about this?
http://www.cdnninvestments.com/1938su9rdblm1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Neither one of those would work.

AEA wrote:Neither one of those would work.

To expand, that is because these are for .38 super, not .38 special. They are different rounds.

To expand further.......

The first link is in fact a "Smith & Wesson Magazine S&W 52 38 Special Wadcutter 5-Round Steel Blue". Although it is the correct magazine for the .38 Special round, I doubt it would fit the Colt 1911 frame. I guess you could get one and try, then return it if I am correct.

The second link is for a .38 Super which is (as Keith pointed out) a totally different animal!

marksiwel wrote:

joe817 wrote:VERY interesting gun! Thanks for sharing.

I ran across this thread when searching for the gun:

http://www.gunvaluesboard.com/colt-1911 ... 20372.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In it one of the posters said(about a year ago) that factory magazines were running about $150.00. ouch!

Ouch indeed!

I'll ask her dad if he has seen it around, if not I guess I can drop 150 to get a magazine, just so its a useable gun

I called Acaedmy they dont have an 38 Wadcutters? Anyone know of a good place?

A magazine may not be your biggest problem if you want to shoot this gun.

Ordinary rimmed 38 special cases will not work in this gun.
It fires a basically obsolete rimless 38 special case.

It may be possible to trim the rims down and make it work but
these guns were finicky at best and is the reason why they were used so little by the AMU.

This link has a picture of the cartridges for sale @ $3.75 each.
http://www.ammo-one.com/38AMU.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As for my comments on the Magazine "D'oh" I should have known better, didn't think before a posted.

So basically I'll have a hunk of metal that fires a bullet that no one makes, and would have to drop alot of cash to get a magazine.
Hmmmmmm
Grrr so close to getting a 1911 but so far.
Found out that her Other Grandfather had his service 1911 from Korean War Nickle Plated and threw on some pearl grips
It looks alittle like this

I have a gun similar to the one shown. The slide is marked ".38 Spec Kit." It is a custom gun built by master gunsmith John Giles [Odessa, Fl] back in the 1960s. This is one of the most accurate pistols that I have ever shot. The magazine holds five rounds. They are designed to fire wadcutters that are seated flush with the top of the casing. The cartridge is a normal rimmed .38 Special. The magazine appears to be custom made by altering a factory .45 ACP magazine. Two years ago I picked up a couple of boxes of reloads at a gun show and they functioned without a problem. I believe that they were the hollow base wadcutters.

I have a matched set in .22LR [High Standard], .38 Special and .45ACP similar to those posted in this link.

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?p=662172" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

marksiwel wrote: I'll ask her dad if he has seen it around, if not I guess I can drop 150 to get a magazine, just so its a useable gun

My advice: unless you want to keep this in the family as an heirloom, you should treat the magazine as the cost of creating a good package for sale, not for use. This gun is much too rare to carry or take to the range except on special occasions.

Get the gun and magazine together in one package, float it around the 1911 collector community, and I bet you'll get offered enough to buy several "usable" 1911s.

Google search for ".38 AMU", the proper name of the cartridge. Quite a few links to the history, handloading, etc.