What can anyone tell me about the AT-84?

B

B Shipley

New member
What companies made this gun (that is who went bankrupt and who picked up the design)?

How much of this gun's parts were made by Tangfolio? Is this a liability and did the Swiss overcome it? How much is interchangeable with the CZ-75 and/or the EAA Tangfolio guns?

Is it a quality piece of ordnance? What should I pay, according to the finish (SS or blue)?
 
The AT-84 was made by Spinx, a Swiss company. The design is basically a standard CZ-75 with minor styling changes on the exterior. Dustcover, finish, sights, that sort of thing. Versions were made as compacts, full size, race guns and even small .380s. Should be able to use Tanfoglio, CZ parts as spares, can't recall if any parts were jobbed out. I'd venture to say no and that the gun was 100% Spinx.

By all accounts, a very high quality, well fitted and well executed version of a proven design. Imported by Sile Distributor in New York City, the line didn't really take off due probably to price. CDNN out of Abilene Texas sold off the last of them and may still have come magazines left.

As far as price, not sure where the secondary market is at with regards to these particular pistols. Probably not a lot of people buying or selling these. The wholesale price was in the neighborhood of $600 - 900 IIRC with retail considerably higher.

Good luck.
 
Thanks. Action Arms imported the one I'm looking at. Made by a company called IM&T(?) which I think went bankrupt and became Sphinx. I just was hoping to get confirmation that this is the case and that I'm not misleading myself, though I doubt that much junk is exported from Switzerland.
 
I am going to disagree here, but I am going to go from memory because all my documentation is in Texas, 1100 miles away.

The AT-84 was the first version of a CZ clone made by Solothurn in Solothurn Switzerland, later modified and again imported as the AT-88. The 84 corresponds to the year 1984 and 88, 1988, as the years the designs went into production. They were imported by Action Arms who was also the importer of the Uzi and Galil at the time. They were very high grade for a copy yet I believe that the guns, although made in Switzerland, were on Tangfolio castings. The EAA guns are assembled here on Tangfolio castings, but enter the U.S. as complete frames. I believe the Swiss guns also have hardness marks on the frame and slide, as do CZ's, that would lead me to believe that the bare castings were finish machined by the Swiss company. That may not be the case as Swiss firearm and import laws are different from those in the U.S. so they could have been using the Italian machined castings, possibly just heat treating or just doing the hardness test themselves. Though the Sphinx pistol is similar and comes from the same factory, Sphinx is a British company who contracted out the production of the gun just as what we know as a Browning High Power in not made by Browning in Utah, but by FN for them in Belgium.

The pistol was not offered in stainless and all the pistols I saw, whether plain or fancy, were all blue. It is a good pistol, to me in EXCELLENT (95%+) condition it should bring around $300. Remember that you can buy a NIB real CZ-75 for around $329 and it would surely NOT be worth more than that.
 
I just bought it for $350. It is either SS or hard chrome finished. Action Arms imported and made by IM&T Ag of Switzerland.

I seem to get conflicting info about this gun. That is, what finishes are original, did Tanfoglio make any parts for it, etc. The Sphinx is supposed to be a descendant of IM&T, via bankruptcy/receivership and Manurhin has, supposedly, bought them. The AT 2000 comes in stainless. I'm just hoping that enough interchangeability exists that I can use Tanfoglio or CZ parts.

I inquired at CZ for chrome or nickel baseplates for my CZ hicaps and was told they had none and didn't make any. The guy wondered why I needed any, and I told him. His comments were that the AT-84 is a very nice gun.

I'd value this piece more than the current CZs, but I'm not sure if it's any better than the originals.
 
Jeff is mostly right with two exceptions: I believe the first frames may have actually been made in Switzerland with later production jobbed out to Tanfoglio; and while the AT-84 wasn't available in stainless, it did come in satin nickel. I've got one of those. It's a sweet pistol.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jeff OTMG:
...It is a good pistol, to me in EXCELLENT (95%+) condition it should bring around $300. Remember that you can buy a NIB real CZ-75 for around $329 and it would surely NOT be worth more than that.[/quote]

From what I've read about the Sphinx-made guns, they are BETTER than the CZ-75s because of better fit and finish

(Gun Test Magazine tested a Sphinx CZ-75 clone some years back and rated it as the best of the CZ-clones available. A class act, by their estimation. That particular gun sold for a LOT more than the standard CZ-75.)

If I could find one in very good shape in the $300 - $450 range, I wouldn't hesitate. (But then, I have a CZ-75 and CZ-85 Combat, and really like these guns.)
 
True Walt, the Sphinx was about a $1000 gun, but the AT-84 and AT-88 are not Sphinx guns. The Sphinx was not made until the 1990's after the AT guns went out of production. It is finished much nicer than the AT series. The internal workings of the AT, Sphinx, TZ, and EAA are all similar and not the same as a CZ. For a standard grade pistol I would prefer a real forged CZ over any of the clones and in some cases it would cost less.
 
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