Well, it looks like I'm going to have to give up on getting my big fuck-off semi-auto magnum. It looks like USA Firearms, who are the IP owners and manufacturers of the Wildey Survivor, have gone tits-up much like Auto Mag has. I have tried for two weeks to get ahold of them just to ask how long the wait times are. I've called, I've emailed, and I've even sent messages through their "contact us" feature on their website. Nothing. I decided to look around online and I've gotten a lot of negative results. Their website is apparently allowing customers to place orders and make a deposit, but no one is getting their pistols. Needless to say, this has me very depressed. The Wildey and Auto Mag were my most attainable "grail guns" and I was really hoping I'd be able to own at least one. I could get an older one, but they go for big money and the older ones have some known issues that were solved with the newer pistols, so I'm reluctant to get one of the older ones and potentially have problems that I won't be able to fix.
So its looking like I'm going to take a different path. One option I'm considering is getting an SBR'd pistol caliber carbine/SMG style weapon. I'm considering either the new B&T TP9 Pro, which costs about the same as a Wildey pistol at around $2800, or one of the new Gen 3 Kriss Vectors, which are about $1700. I like how compact the TP9 Pro is and think it would make a wicked little backpack gun, but it takes a proprietary sound suppressor and options for magazines are a lot more limited. The Vector Gen 3 is more affordable, is available in 9mm, .45 ACP, and 10mm Auto, is a lot more flexible with sound suppressors, and it will take virtually any GLOCK magazine for its respective caliber that it's chambered for, including drum magazines. However, it is a larger weapon than the TP9 Pro. The nice thing about this option is it would be fairly cheap to shoot, but it would still be a practical self/home defense weapon.
Another option I have is to send my dad's beat up old Ruger Super Blackhawk in to Gary Reeder to have him restore and customize it. Part of that customization is being able to have it chambered for a wide variety of heavy magnum cartridges like .454 Casull, .475 Linebaugh, or .500 Linebaugh. He offers several different packages that have set features for $1750-$2000 depending on the package, plus there are some add-ons you can select for an additional price like octagonal barrels or a barrel band style front sight (much like on the Ruger No. 1 rifle). Getting my dad's Ruger restored and customized into something he would have been proud to own is something I've wanted to do for many years now, and it would give me my big fuck-off magnum handgun fix...just not semi-auto.
Another option is that Luger Man is apparently offering restored Mauser C96 pistols in 9mm. I think he's sourcing rough vintage C96s, doing a full mechanical restoration and refinishing them, and boring out the barrel and sleeving them for 9mm, or perhaps rebarreling them entirely. He's asking $3700 for just the pistol, or $4000 for the pistol with a reproduction shoulder stock/holster. These are 1930s made pistols so they may even originally have been 9mm pistols instead of 7.62mm Mauser. It's a bit more than I was looking to try to save for this year, but it would be the next most "attainable" grail gun for me. After that, it jumps up to about $7500-$8000 for one of the semi-auto FG42 reproductions, or an OOW M1918A3 semi-auto BAR.
The last option I'm considering is going back to my original plans for the year of getting a second Nightingale Leather shoulder rig for my Staccato P, since it's my favorite way to carry, and getting my FosTech Origin 12 registered and converted into an SBS and get a Slavo 12 sound suppressor for it. And possibly one of the new Marlin 1895 SBLs.
