Wildey Survivor

The Wildey Survivor was designed by Wildey J. Moore in 1973, and entered full-scale production in 1980. At the time, it was the most powerful autoloading handgun in the world, and in fact still holds that title, possessing about 25% more muzzle energy than its closest rival, the Desert Eagle . 50 AE. It was also the first commercially successful gas-operated handgun in the world, entering production 2 years before the Desert Eagle.

The Wildey is famous for its use as Charles Bronson's sidearm in the 1985 film Death Wish 3. The screen-used firearm was Bronson's personal gun.

The Wildey Survivor is still in production. Manufacture of the gun has changed hands several times over the years, and the Wildey is currently being produced in limited numbers by USA Firearms Corporation.

The Wildey utilizes a unique short-stroke, gas-operated, locked breech system. The slide serves as the bolt carrier for a three-lug rotating bolt that locks into the top-rear of the receiver encompassing the barrel. Six tiny holes several centimeters in front of the chamber vent high-pressure gas into a collared piston, which forces the slide rearwards, camming the bolt open as an angled track on the slide interfaces with one of the bolt's locking lugs. The inertia from the fired casing is then able to open the bolt, the chamber pressure having dropped to a safe level. A ring on the gas piston is able to block off the vent holes, allowing it to be rotated to six different positions to control the volume of gas vented into the collar. This allows for fine-tuning of the gas system for different power levels.

The Wildey has been chambered for a number of very powerful cartridges since its inception. Currently, it is available in the proprietary . 475 Wildey Magnum, . 45 Winchester Magnum, and . 44 AMP (AutoMag Pistol). In the past, it was available in more obscure calibers such as 9mm Winchester Magnum, and several different proprietary cartridges based on the . 475 casing.

Its most popular chambering, . 475 Wildey Magnum, is an incredibly powerful wildcat handgun cartridge. It is made by shortening the case of a . 284 Winchester cartridge, a high-powered rifle cartridge similar to the . 308. the cartridge is not produced commercially and must be handloaded. A typical load will propel a 250 grain (16 gram) bullet to 1,850 ft/s (560 m/s) and develop over 2500 joules of kinetic energy.

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