AMT Action

[quigley257]

Greetings. I am looking for information and opinions about an action that I have come across. Very little info found thus far in my research. It is made by AMT Rifles, Inc. of Irwindale, California. It is a model SS-.450 Stainless Steel single shot, solid bottom receiver with trigger shuttle and side bolt release. The bolt is quite slick and smooth. It appears brand new/unused. The bolt face is .450" so I assume it was designed to be used for PPC cartridges back in the day. The action screw spacing is same as R700 short action. The scope base holes are also identical spacing but the receiver is full round at the rear holes. While a 700 short action is about 0.900" from the center of the front action screw to the recoil lug face, the AMT is 1.825". Anyone have experience with this receiver before? Good, bad or otherwise? I'm considering buying it to build a 6mm ARC bench gun. What would be a fair price to offer for this? Thanks for any input. - Quigley

 

[BillLarson]

I bought 2 of those actions 30 years ago when they were still in business...... good quality,straight hold up good.....
I bought a right hand s.s.ingle shot... 223 BF single shot and a lefthand 308 BF s.s.single shot....for my brother....

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

I worked closely with AMT and the AMT Custom shop on those actions back in the second half of the 90's and early 2000, those actions were the dream of Harry Sanford owner and founder of AMT, he sadly passed away while the Rifle project was still in its infancy, it was his dream to produce both single shot and repeater, he intended to target the custom varmint and bench rest market with single shot actions, the repeater was to be produced by AMT themselfs, the project was put on hold with his passing, for a short while they attempted to produce the action only targeting custom rifle makers, those left in charge had a unbelievable lousy quality control system in place which caused production issues, they would produce several hundred actions followed by production of the bolts, only then to find the two wouldn't match, once the errors were weeded out, production of properly matching bolts were produced, now they had several hundred useless bolts so decisions were made to machine a receiver to match the remaining bolts, to make matters worse they're inventory system sucked worse than quality control, all the parts were mixed with no inventory records of witch bolts or receivers were which, this caused production problems for those in assembly, I worked with the custom shop boys to hand fit bolts to receivers as well as firing pins as bolt changes in the production line meant not one size firing pin was going to work, and then again they were misplaced in inventory, were assembled a good number of actions as well as a number of custom varmint and bence rest rifles and even a pair of Palma rifles for the Sidney Olympics, only 3 bolt faces ever left the production line 222, PPC, and 06, I opeed the bolt faces for a couple of rifles chambered for the WSSM mags, your receiver is indeed for the PPC line of cartridges, my personal varmint rifles featured rifles built on nesieka bay and kelby panda, both were replaced with amt actions, the thread shank for the AMT action is quiet a bit longer than most and in my opinion made for a stiffer and more accurate lock up, bases for the Remington 740/760 series rifle will fit the AMT, I have several millet bases if you need one and are ok with Redfield style turn ins, if you are wanting a rail type mount, then you will need 2 front 700 bases, these receivers need 8-40 base screws rather than the more traditional 6-48's

 

[quigley257]

Wow! That's what I'm talking about! Right from the horses mouth so to speak. Very cool info presented there. Like I said in the original post, the bolt is very smooth. On par with some of the custom actions of today. I'm tempted to make a lowball offer and see what sticks. It shouldn't be too hard to hog out a standard Rem 700 stock and bed in a lug farther out.

 

[BillLarson]

I worked closely with AMT and the AMT Custom shop on those actions back in the second half of the 90's and early 2000, those actions were the dream of Harry Sanford owner and founder of AMT, he sadly passed away while the Rifle project was still in its infancy, it was his dream to produce both single shot and repeater, he intended to target the custom varmint and bench rest market with single shot actions, the repeater was to be produced by AMT themselfs, the project was put on hold with his passing, for a short while they attempted to produce the action only targeting custom rifle makers, those left in charge had a unbelievable lousy quality control system in place which caused production issues, they would produce several hundred actions followed by production of the bolts, only then to find the two wouldn't match, once the errors were weeded out, production of properly matching bolts were produced, now they had several hundred useless bolts so decisions were made to machine a receiver to match the remaining bolts, to make matters worse they're inventory system sucked worse than quality control, all the parts were mixed with no inventory records of witch bolts or receivers were which, this caused production problems for those in assembly, I worked with the custom shop boys to hand fit bolts to receivers as well as firing pins as bolt changes in the production line meant not one size firing pin was going to work, and then again they were misplaced in inventory, were assembled a good number of actions as well as a number of custom varmint and bence rest rifles and even a pair of Palma rifles for the Sidney Olympics, only 3 bolt faces ever left the production line 222, PPC, and 06, I opeed the bolt faces for a couple of rifles chambered for the WSSM mags, your receiver is indeed for the PPC line of cartridges, my personal varmint rifles featured rifles built on nesieka bay and kelby panda, both were replaced with amt actions, the thread shank for the AMT action is quiet a bit longer than most and in my opinion made for a stiffer and more accurate lock up, bases for the Remington 740/760 series rifle will fit the AMT, I have several millet bases if you need one and are ok with Redfield style turn ins, if you are wanting a rail type mount, then you will need 2 front 700 bases, these receivers need 8-40 base screws rather than the more traditional 6-48's

Boy..... good history lesson rite there..... I built the small action in 222.... for 100 yd. BR..... my brothers LH has been a 308,6.5x284 and a 284..... he has shot 1000`s of rnds and so have I with no problems....
The pistols AMT made have been unduplicated for quality and accuracy....

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

Oops sorry I totally overlooked the important part of the question, cost, obviously it does not have the same value as many other actions, although in my humble opinion its as good any, I personally feel that 500,00 would not be to much and I might even go higher, its been a long time since I've paid attention to what things cost these days, probably like everything else, to much, I realize you can certainly find a more expensive action but feel it won't be anymore accurate,

 

[quigley257]

Thanks for the input. I appreciate all the info!

 

[BillLarson]

Oops sorry I totally overlooked the important part of the question, cost, obviously it does not have the same value as many other actions, although in my humble opinion its as good any, I personally feel that 500,00 would not be to much and I might even go higher, its been a long time since I've paid attention to what things cost these days, probably like everything else, to much, I realize you can certainly find a more expensive action but feel it won't be anymore accurate,

Back 35 yrs ago I paid 550$ an action..... new..... if your actions been used.... less $$

 

[LongRangeJumper]

I have to ask if you decided to use that AMT action or did you decide to go another route? Any updates on your rifle project? Trying to learn so will be asking more questions as you post any updates.

 

[LongRangeJumper]

Bret, very interesting story about AMT rifle history, I would like to hear more if you don't mind. New here but not to firearms, been into them for 20+yrs and not much is known about this AMT brand.

 

[quigley257]

Still undecided on direction I'm going with it.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Old post and will wait for an update from the OP.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

Still undecided on direction I'm going with it.

Looks like a beautiful piece of history (mans dream). I would not be scared to jump on this if you decide not to.

 

[LongRangeJumper]

Wow, line forming up fast. Hard to believe you found one in good shape, was it ever used/barreled? I been looking for years for these odd receivers. Seeing Bret post about issues getting them to work because of specs and having to match up bolts to receivers wonder how many ever made it out. Anybody wanting to give AMT info feel free to contact me.