The AMT Lightning pistol is a

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

chambered for .22 Long Rifle which was manufactured by

Arcadia Machine & Tool Arcadia Machine & Tool, commonly abbreviated to AMT, was a firearms manufacturer from Irwindale, California. The company produced several weapons, primarily clones of existing firearms, but made from stainless steel rather than the standard steel ...

(AMT) of

Covina, California Covina ( /koviːnə/) is a city in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles The population was 51,268 according to the 2020 census, up from 47,796 at the 2010 census. ...

during the 1980s and early 1990s. The pistol was an unlicensed, stainless steel clone of the Ruger Mark II pistol, that was updated from the Ruger, by the addition of target sights, target trigger, and Pachmayr target grips as standard items. The Lightning had the receiver grooved for

scope mount Scope mounts are rigid implements used to attach (typically) a telescopic sight or other types of optical sights onto a firearm. The mount can be made integral to the scope body (such as the Zeiss rail) or, more commonly, an external fitting t ...

ing and the trigger guard was designed to allow a two hand hold. At the time of the Lightning pistol's introduction, stainless steel Ruger Mk series pistols were rare. The Lightning pistol, along with the

AMT Lightning 25/22 The AMT Lightning 25/22 was a .22 LR-caliber semi-automatic rifle manufactured by Arcadia Machine & Tool (AMT). As is alluded to in the nomenclature, the Lightning 25/22 is functionally a clone of the Ruger 10/22 with the substitution of a larg ...

rifle, prompted a successful

trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may occ ...

lawsuit by

Ruger Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., better known by the shortened name Ruger, is an American firearm manufacturing company based in Southport, Connecticut, with production facilities also in Newport, New Hampshire; Mayodan, North Carolina; and ...

that forced AMT to discontinue the model line.

References

Semi-automatic pistols of the United States .22 LR pistols {{Pistol-stub