.22 MAG DRUM FULL AUTO

NOAH56

I REMEMBER A LASER AIMED .22MAG WITH A DRUM MAGAZINE MOUNTED ON TOP.
CAN ANYONE HELP WITH ANY INFORMATION ?

rufe-snow

I believe your referring to the "American 180 Carbine" . First production guns were made in Austria between 1972 and 1979. After this carbines were assembled from Austrian parts in the U. S. Then with U. S. fabricated parts after the Austrian parts ran out.
Both full and semi-auto versions were produced until 1984 when American Arms International, the parent company declared bankruptcy.
Interesting enough the laser sighting system the 180 was equipped with, supposedly was the first commercially available firearm mounted laser.

Laredo Lefty

You may be thinking of the American 180. It was 22LR and used a 177 rnd rotary mag mounted on top

I shot one at a training school a few years back. You could actually cut a hole in a brick wall in short order with that gun.

I had heard that they were deployed in prison yards with the laser feature. If there was trouble in the yard, a guard could "light up" the trouble maker, and that would usually put a stop to it.

SilverBox

Finally a reason to get a laser!! To cow the prisoners!! Wait.. I don't guard any prisoners.. Oh well guess I don't need that laser after all..

*Plots on how to get some prisoners*

[:0][}:)]

Pearyw

I remember shooting one in the mid-seventies. It was a gas to shoot. It had almost no recoil and fired around 1800 rpm with the right ammo. It was very slow to load. You have to rotate the mag around and drop one round at a time in the slot in the drum. When you got the first 59 rounds in, you pushed that level down and started put the rounds in the next level. It sounded like you were tearing a sheet of paper when it fired. A dealer I know had one of the semi-auto versions for sale about 5 years ago. I believe he was asking $1800 at that time.

mark christian

The early Austrian rifles were excellent and always seemed to fuction fine. By the time the last production guns were being made (by Ilarco) quality was not so hot and there seemed to be quite a few problems. No matter which version, you always had to make sure that you locked the drum brake before removing a loaded drum from the rifle, if not the entire magazine would empty out in short order and the magazine spring would usually be damaged. The laser sight, mounted under the barrel, seemed nearly as big as the rifle itself, but it preformed pretty well. The American 180 machinegun versions were great fun to shoot and very easy to control. I always felt the semi's were more a novelty and not really useful for much other than showing everyone that you could shoot 177 times without stopping to reload.

Mark T. Christian

pack rat633

I remember shooting one just befor I got out of the Corps in '74. Yes they were Full Auto with Lazer. Designed for guard duty in the brig, would also knock down a cinder brick wall in 1 magazine. I don't remember being told they were foreign made, but they were a little awkward and looked too fragle for a military weapon.

SEMPER FI MAC, SEMPER FI

ameriskin

i swear i just saw one for sale on another site. damn they look cool! cody

if you're in my yard tonight, you'll be there in the morning

redcedars

I remember a couple of stories about these guns which may or may not be true; perhaps someone can confirm or deny them:

1) Salesmen used to take pieces of telephone to demonstrations, and cut them in half with one long burst.

2) In a bank robbery, in Florida I believe, the perpetrators drove past an officer armed with a shotgun, but were stopped cold by an officer with an AM-180. Supposedly both were struck by 40 or 50 rounds.

Again, I am dusting off some pretty old recollections here, not claiming the stories are true. But I remember the gun well; reminded me a bit of a Lewis with the top mounted drum.

redcedars

Sunray

Shot an FA one at Second Chance in '88 or '89, so the '84 closing date is off. Great fun and totally reliable. 150 rounds FA without a problem. Other than loading the mag. They had a video showing the 180 quad mounted on an ultra-light aircraft. Very impressive. Not sure if they made one in .22 mag though. That'd be really expensive to shoot on FA.