The design team, headed by Mark Lovendale, took the AutoMag pistol from a fully functional machined chrome-moly steel prototype designed by Harry Sanford & Max Gera and created a more complicated and less reliable cast stainless steel version. Īuto Mag Corporation was short-lived for several reasons. Changing calibers usually required only exchanging the barrel – the frame, magazine and bolt could be used with all calibers except. His son Walter continued to sell the remaining parts online through.
Sanford continued to sell spare parts until his death in 1996. Īn additional 6,000 pistols were produced and sold during this period for a total of about 9,000. The company opened and closed several times from 1973 through 1982 under several different names: TDE (Trade Deed Estates), OMC, Thomas Oil Company, High Standard, and AMT ( Arcadia Machine & Tool). The first pistol was shipped on August 8, 1971, and the factory declared bankruptcy on May 3, 1972, after making fewer than 3,000 pistols. In 1970, Auto Mag Corporation president Harry Sanford opened a factory in Pasadena, California.
