AMT AutoMag III: An ideal military sidearm?

[Braith-Wafer]

http://alpinetek.netfirms.com/guns/iaiam3.JPG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaeZjKbly4A

The AutoMag 3, A stainless steel handgun that takes 8 shots of .30 carbine rounds. The .30 carbine round is said to be more powerful than a .357 magnum, and is quite narrow which could be ideal for a double column pistol magazine, Also the fact the ammo can be shared with the M1 carbine it was designed for, This pistol would be a favourite for Israeli security forces who are popular M1 carbine users.

So, could a .30 carbine pistol be the ideal 9mm parabellum replacement?, Has anyone out there came to fire this thing?.

[Stoats]

You are kidding, right?
Oh wait, you are serious...


Short answer? No. Ridiculous proposition.


For "ideal 9 mm replacement", look up the following: .40S&W; .357 SIG.

[Stoats]

Right. To stop you misleading other feebleminded people, here are some facts:

Yes,30 Carbine (out of a rifle length barrel) has a higher muzzle energy and power factor (momentum) than 357 Magnum out of an HANDGUN barrel. 953ftlb / 216pf (110 grain military load) vs 539ftlb / 196pf ( 158 grain factory).

However, the same is not true if the 357 Magnum is fired from a rifle, which ups the muzzle energy to approximately 955ftlb and power factor to 261 (158 grain factory). This makes the two cartridges comparable in terms of muzzle energy, but the 357 cartridge has a higher power factor.

I have not been able to find any ballistics data for 30 Carbine fired from handgun length barrels, but it is safe to say that the performance (external ballistics) will be quite inferior. The terminal ballistics, in any case, of 30 Carbine are well known to be extremely inferior to 357 Magnum (the best "man stopper" in American police experience). It's really a question of cross-sectional area and sectional density, and the fact that more efficient expanding bullets can be used in the larger 357 Magnum.

As to the choice of arm, are you seriously advocating the use of a "custom" long slide 1911 single stack with an extremely deep grip (which will preclude its use by anyone with small hands) as a carry piece? are you seriously advocating the same weapon even as a double stack (God knows how large the grip would have to be to accommodate that!)? Reducing the slide length to a more reasonable size will just result in extreme muzzle blast, muzzle flash, noise, and unburnt powder being chucked out the end: not a good recipe.

Please stop voicing your ridiculous ideas on the Internet -- in the vast majority of cases of your "interesting" designs and ideas, if it had been worth doing it would have been done. I particularly like your impossible feed arrangements, they are always worth a good chuckle. On the other hand, it is great fun, if frustrating, trashing you every time you come up with one! laughsol;