Quote:
Posted by .50:
Drawbacks to the AutoMag are that it is not easily scoped and since the barrel moves back and forth during cycling it tends to break scopes in the heavier calibers.
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Man, that’s the truth! I tried mounting the lightest scope I could find – the long extinct 1.7X Hudson Handgunner – on the barrel extension of a .357 AMP. The folks at Hudson told me they were interested in the experiment. They wanted to see how well their scope would stand up to heavy G forces and would replace any scopes I wrecked.
When the AM is fired, the barrel extension moves back about ½” and stops against the frame, generating a gazillion Gs. I found that the Handgunner would rotate in its rings a few degrees with every shot. After 6 rounds, the screws sheared off and the scope and mount came off, bounced off my head and landed in the weeds. I remounted with bigger screws. This time, the scope tube broke in front of the front ring, dumping the forward end of the scope on the bench. End of experiment.
I had a machinist friend of mine fabricate a mount out of T6 aluminum that replaced the left grip and held the scope directly over the centerline of the bore. That worked great. I could remove the scope and when I put it back on, it didn’t lose zero. I used that setup for years without a single problem.