Posted on 10/23/2007 9:29:21 PM PDT by Neil E. Wright
Greetings fellow gun buffs,
I need help identifying the manufacturer of this weapon:
This is what it looks like broken down:
The receiver is marked as follows:
CHRISTOPHER / ASSOCIATES
GLENDALE - CA A005XXX
MODEL SAM 180
VOERE AUSTRIA .22LR
There is no "CHRISTOPHER / ASSOCIATES" in my Blue Book of Gun Values and a google search fails to turn up anything on this weapon.
Has anyone seen one of these before? and can anyone help me find out what I'm dealing with here????? :)
This weapon is from Glen's personal collection and I'm trying to help his family determine what it's worth so I can sell it for the estate.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Christopher and Associates was the importer. The weapon is a SAM180, also known as an American 180. It is a .22LR rifle made in Austria; the magazine can hold 177 rounds. You could get a 275 round drum for them at one point. There were a number of problems with them; E&L Manufacturing made some upgrade parts kits to fix their shortcomings.
They had an 1800 rounds per minute firing rate in the full-auto config.
E&L Manufacturing is the only place left in the US that supports them.
I forgot the contact info: http://american180.com/am180/accessor/sar180.html
Ping to the ‘gun part’, lol.
Do a Google search for AM180 and you will get plenty of info at the links.
Also, click "Images" at top of page, plenty of photos similar to your model.
You had me at Gun Porn.
It was/is called an American 180. In full-auto guise, it put out some serious lead in short order. It was ( if I recall correctly) one of the very first firearms to have a laser sight as an option. The laser was a big ol’ thing that replaced the forend and hung all the way out to the end of the barrel. It used a gas-type (He/Ne) laser and was quite fragile and a major battery-sucker. But it lead the way....
Transferables are about $9.5k in current prices.
http://www.pmulcahy.com/submachineguns/slovenian_submachineguns.htm
This unusual submachinegun has a long history, beginning in the US in early 1960s as the Casull Carbine, then became the American 180 in the late 1960s (the first weapon at the time to be marketed to civilians with a laser pointer). The license was sold to Voere of Austria in 1972, who sold it to the Slovenian company in the mid-1980s. When the design reappeared in 1989 as the MGV-176, it had been out of production for over 10 years. Yugoslavian special operations forces adopted for limited use, and it was an item of curiosity to some collectors. The weapon is fed by a pan magazine on top of the receiver; this magazine is made from clear plastic. The capacity of this magazine is so large that about 4 minutes are required to fully reload an empty one. Though the .22 Long Rifle round used by the MGP-176 is of limited use on the modern battlefield, the weapon can become quite useful when the silencer is attached, allowing a high volume of quiet firepower to be produced.
I like those round magazines. I’m sure the barrels of these guns get very hot when played with for a long time.
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