The Hardballer derives its name from round-nose hardball G.I. ammunition . This is the round the pistol was designed to shoot. The Hardballer series of pistols all share a brushed stainless steel finish and a wide target style trigger with adjustable trigger stop. The later Galena-made pistols have an elongated "beavertail" grip safety and a beveled magazine well.
Variants
AMT Hardballer: an all stainless steel version of the ColtGold Cup, fitted with Micro rear sights.
AMT Combat Government: was developed as a sports pistol but in 1978 AMT marketed the Combat Government, an M1911 clone with fixed sights for police departments. Since 1985, this model has been called the Government with the term "Combat" omitted.
AMT Longslide: a version with an extended barrel, introduced in 1980. It has the same qualities as the Hardballer but with slide and barrel lengthened by.
AMT Skipper: a compact version of the Hardballer introduced in 1980. It features a barrel. In 1984, the Skipper disappeared from AMT's range.
AMT Commando: originally offered by AMT then improved and reintroduced in 2000 under the Galena Industries brand. The original AMT Commando was a barreled version and did not have a loaded chamber indicator nor beavertail grip safety. The improved Commando is a compact model of the Government with a barrel but retaining the frame of the Government model. It is chambered in.40 S&W and has an 8-round magazine capacity.
AMT Accelerator: a Galena-made Longslide chambered for the powerful.400 Corbon cartridge featuring a barrel and an elongated beavertail.
AMT Javelina: a Longslide variant chambered in the 10mm Auto caliber with an 8-round capacity magazine.
The Longslide version was the pistol used by Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator character in the 1984 film, The Terminator. The pistol used by Schwazenegger also comes with a laser sight. In the Hitmanvideo game series, dual custom AMT Hardballers are Agent 47's signature weapons. In the movie The Phantom, Billy Zane portrays a mysterious hero who is armed with two matching AMT Hardballer Longslide.45s in this 1996 cult classic. In the video gamekiller7KAEDE Smith uses a scoped Hardballer. In the video game Resident Evil 4, the AMT Longslide makes an appearance, named the Killer 7. It is the second "Magnum" type pistol obtainable in the game. In Lee Child's Jack Reacher book Bad Luck and Trouble, AMT Hardballers are the weapons used by two drug dealers in an ill-advised attempt to recoup $900 stolen from them by Reacher. In the anime Black Lagoon, Mr. Chang wields dual custom AMT Hardballer Longslides.
