Automatic pistols have slowly encroached on the spaces previously owned by revolvers. Automatics pushed revolvers out of the police and military markets. They have taken over the concealed carry space and now own the home defense space as well. One place where revolvers have remained the dominant selection, however, is anything that involves magnum power calibers. Magnum power revolvers in calibers ranging from .357 Magnum to .500 S&W are the dominant choice. That doesn’t mean we don’t have any magnum automatics.
Magnum automatics have never really caught on like magnum caliber revolvers. Most that have risen have fallen, and only one magnum-powered automatic seems to have any staying power.
So what’s the deal with magnum automatics? Why haven’t they succeeded? Why have they failed so often? Today we will explore the pros, cons, and notable weapons in this niche category.
The Upsides to Magnum Automatics
When I hear the word “Magnum,” the 1st thing I think of is recoil but magnum automatics can help with that. The movement of the slide can absorb some of the traditional magnum recoil and help reduce it significantly. That’s the biggest advantage.
Another advantage is capacity. Most revolvers limit you to five or six of these beastly rounds in a massive package. In a pistol, the magazines typically hold at least seven rounds and up to nine, depending on the caliber.
The use of a cylinder and big fat magnum rounds often makes the weapon wide. With a magazine, the size shrinks and is thinner overall. A S&W Model 29 is 1.69 inches wide, and the Desert Eagle is 1.25 inches wide. That’s a significant difference in width.
Magnum automatics also offer more diverse firing systems, with single-action only being the most popular. This offers you a consistently lighter trigger pull without the need to manually cock the hammer like a revolver.
Why aren’t magnum automatics pistols more popular?
Why haven’t automatics taken over the magnum caliber role? Well, there are a few reasons. Big bore revolvers aren’t cheap by any means, but magnum automatics are quite pricey. They tend to be considerably more expensive than revolvers. Shopping around right now, I can buy a S&W Model 29 for around $1,200 but a Desert Eagle goes for over $2,000.
These autos are more finicky and more complicated, which increases the price and can decrease the reliability with the numerous versatile loadings common to revolvers. A revolver doesn’t need a minimum of feet per second or power rating to ensure it properly runs. A .44 Magnum can eat lightly loaded rounds and heavy magnums without issue.
Heck, a .44 Magnum revolver can fire .44 Special, and a .357 Magnum revolver can handle .38 Special rounds. Revolvers tend to be much more versatile. Also, magnum automatics have to be absolutely huge. No one makes a compact .357 Magnum automatic, but I could buy a concealable J-frame in .357 Magnum.
Notable Magnum Automatics
Desert Eagle
If you want to see proof that pop culture drives gun sales, just look at the Desert Eagle. It has over 600 roles in film and TV. This big imposing pistol is a household name, much like the AK47 and Glock. It’s the most successful magnum automatic ever made. Magnum Research produces the gun in .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .50 AE, .429 DE, and likely some other odd calibers I’m missing.
One of the interesting aspects of the gun’s design is that it’s gas operated much like a rifle or some SMGs. It even has a rotating bolt which is much more common with long guns. These big pistols hold between nine and seven rounds and have been produced for decades now. These big beastly guns are the most common magnum automatics. Its intimidating appearance and big bore power certainly aid in its success.
Coonan
Dan Coonan set out to take America’s favorite .45, the 1911, and turn it into a .357 Magnum automatic. He started with the idea in 1977 and, by 1983, was steadily producing Coonan .357 Magnum 1911s. These big guns were fairly successful and lasted until 1998. In 2009 the company made a comeback that lasted until 2019.
The more modern Coonans were big, beastly, beautiful guns with the appeal of a 1911 and the power of a magnum. The 24-pound recoil made charging the weapon interesting but not impossible. A replaceable 10-pound recoil spring even allowed reliable shooting of .38 Special rounds. These guns proved to be extremely reliable and quite accurate but were also very expensive.
L.A.R. Grizzly
Coonan gave you a .357 Magnum 1911 the L.A.R. Grizzly gave you a 1911 in all the magnum calibers. This includes .44 Magnum, .50 AE, and even 10mm Auto and 9mm Winchester Magnum. Some of these calibers turn the svelte 1911 grip into a 2×4, but by God, they made it work. While the gun looks and functions like a 1911, it features enough unique parts to classify it as something else entirely.
The L.A.R. Grizzly guns were produced from 1983 to 1999 and continually evolved and embraced new rounds, including the 357/45 Grizzy WinMag. The L.A.R. Grizzly used an extended, often compensated barrel to help with recoil and muzzle rise to make a hard shooting gun a bit easier to control.
Wildey
“Death Wish 3” could have been easily forgotten if not for the Wildey pistol. This big beastly gun was designed by Wildey Moore in 1973. The gun and company have come and gone time after time, with five different companies beginning and ending. Along the way we saw Wildey guns in a weird mix of magnum calibers, like .357 Wildey Magnum, .475 Wildey Magnum, and a whole lot of Wildey magnums.
It turns out it’s a lot easier to create new calibers than adapt revolver rounds for automatics. The Wildey guns used gas operation and an easily swappable barrel to make caliber and barrel conversions simple. The Wildey is a neat design but seems to be a tough sell at over $3,500 a pop, currently.
AMT Automag
The AMT Automag is another 1970s invention attempting to bring the magnum automatic to the mainstream. Production began in 1971, and the AMT Automag was just one of many guns being produced by the innovative and underappreciated AMT. The Automag fired a proprietary .44 AMP round, and later versions included .357 AMP and .41 JMP.
The Auto Mag guns were short recoil-operated hand cannons and reportedly quite accurate, although reliability was a constant factor. These guns were also expensive, and expensive and unreliable don’t mix well. In 2015, a new company began producing Automags, but the jury is still out on their quality.
Big Mean Magnums
The world of magnum automatics pistols is a small one, admittedly. Outside of the Desert Eagle, it’s tough to say one was ever successful in the long term. While neat, the world of Magnum cartridges seems to be firmly planted in the revolver world for now.
