# The AMT .45 Backup is Back-Up!



## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

The most powerful and effective, pocket-size mini-pistol, the _AMT .45 Backup_, is back! Not only that, but it's available in 9mm, .38 Super, and .40S&W, as well as .45 ACP.
It's now made and sold by Hi-Standard(!). It's not the old, original Hi-Standard, but a company which bought the name and, evidently, the tooling for a couple of old-line brand names.

To see this new iteration, click on: High Standard - AMT-45

As many of you already know, I carried an AMT .45 Backup in my pocket (in a holster, of course) for many years, until creeping arthritis made it impossible for me to comfortably fire a small, powerful pistol.
From that long experience, I can recommend the AMT .45 Backup unreservedly to anyone who has taken the time, and put in the effort, to become a completely competent defensive shooter.

I just wrote "unreservedly," but that isn't really true. My original, low-number AMT .45 Backup, made in Irwindale, CA, needed some kitchen-table gunsmithing, to make it "unreservedly" useful.
I polished all of the contact points throughout the DAO trigger-action's path, even including where the trigger bar rubbed against the pistol's frame. I also smoothed and polished the surface and the edges of its trigger, where my finger contacted it. Further, I polished its feed ramp and its chamber.

It came to me already quite accurate, right from the factory. No accurizing was necessary. Although its sighting equipment is only a groove cut down the long axis of the top surface of its slide, I could make reliable cardboard-silhouette head shots with it at 20 yards. If the tooling hasn't changed, the new ones should be just as accurate and effective as mine is.

I admit that my original copy has a very hard, long, double-action-only trigger pull. As I see it, that is not a bad thing, in a pocket pistol. Given reasonable care and attention, no AMT .45 Backup should ever experience an unintended discharge.

Take a look: You might like it.
(I have no idea of what the current price might be.)


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## hud35500 (May 8, 2010)

That's interesting info Steve! I had one back when they were first introduced. While small, they were heavy, had a horrible trigger, and didn't care for most HP's! Of course, back then the choice of HP's was very limited and virtually nothing would function with the old "flying ashtray"! I recall using Win Silvertips without trouble. They were well made shot well with RN bullets though. I'm curious to see if High Standard have updated them in any way.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

My reason for doing a ramp-and-chamber polish job was exactly so that my little pistol would reliably feed _all_ HP bullets.
It worked quite well.


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## Tenmagnet (Apr 17, 2014)

I'd only get one to pretend to be Sunny Crockett from Miami Vice

They are beautiful looking pieces, now adays tho I feel like the XDs 45 fills the role pretty nicely. My P290rs is good too


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Who is Sunny CrackHead? Just what is the Miami vice?

The XDs 45 is much too big for pocket carry, at least in my personal pocket anyway.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Is The AMT a full dao and not a partially cocked dao ,,like a glock or an XD


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

The AMT Backup line is entirely DAO, with double-strike capability. That is, the hammer follows the slide down after each shot, but it doesn't need to be pre-half-cocked by slide action the way Jean's Kel-Tec P3AT does. Whenever you press its trigger, its hammer "does its thing."

*"Features" That I Forgot to Include in My Write-Up:*
• There is no slide stop at all. After you've fired your last shot, the slide closes on an empty chamber. If you want to "lock" the slide open, place an empty magazine laid sideways into the open ejection port.
• The magazine release is at the heel of the pistol's grip. If you practice the moves required, a magazine change can be done almost as quickly as with a 1911. Because of the release's position, you can't use longer magazines for reloads (_e.g._, a 1911's). A good technique to learn is to count your shots, always.


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## nrd515525 (Feb 12, 2007)

I would have liked my old Backup, if it fed reliably and if it didn't have the most amazingly stiff trigger I've ever had the displeasure of shooting. Getting a cramp in my finger after shooting it was kind of a shock, since I didn't think it was possible. Even after a major cleaning and polishing by a gunsmith, it was still pretty bad and FMJ ammo was all I could trust it with. I sold it and moved on with my quest to find a dead reliable back up gun, and I finally ended up with a Beretta 950 Jetfire .25, which I still have. I might be interested in a new one, if things have improved.


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