Laugo Alien - Thoughts?

[benenglish]

I'd buy one at a 75% discount!

Ditto. In a heartbeat.

 

[Maverick44]

When I first read a description of the Laugo Alien, I thought it was a great idea.

• It employs the gas retarded blowback action that I love so much in my H&K PSP but moves it atop the barrel to keep the heat away from the hand.
• The interchangeable top plates make it easy to go back and forth from irons to red dots.
• The fixed barrel should make for good accuracy.
• The super low barrel axis (see the pic) and gas operation should greatly mitigate recoil.
• The simplicity of the design should make it very affordable.

Just based on the first paragraph I read about it, I wanted one.

Then I come to find out they've decided to push it to the top end of the market with expensive external machining to make it look cool.

And they slapped it with a $5K MSRP for the initial production run that will be strictly limited to 500 units.

Now when I look at the Alien, for some reason, the Bren Ten keeps popping up in my memory.

What do y'all think?

View attachment 164247

Photo credit: recoilweb.com

For less than $1k for a simplified (no fancy machining) version, it would be a gun I would probably want to take a good look at. For $5k, I wouldn't even look in it's general direction.

 

[Coyote9]

When I first read a description of the Laugo Alien, I thought it was a great idea.

• It employs the gas retarded blowback action that I love so much in my H&K PSP but moves it atop the barrel to keep the heat away from the hand.
• The interchangeable top plates make it easy to go back and forth from irons to red dots.
• The fixed barrel should make for good accuracy.
• The super low barrel axis (see the pic) and gas operation should greatly mitigate recoil.
• The simplicity of the design should make it very affordable.

Just based on the first paragraph I read about it, I wanted one.

Then I come to find out they've decided to push it to the top end of the market with expensive external machining to make it look cool.

And they slapped it with a $5K MSRP for the initial production run that will be strictly limited to 500 units.

Now when I look at the Alien, for some reason, the Bren Ten keeps popping up in my memory.

What do y'all think?

View attachment 164247

Photo credit: recoilweb.com

Other than the trigger safety, I want it! Carried the P7 psp in Iraq twice and Bosnia 3 times.. looks like great ergonomics... when the price gets less stupid I'll jump!

 

[benenglish]

Other than the trigger safety, I want it! Carried the P7 psp in Iraq twice and Bosnia 3 times.. looks like great ergonomics... when the price gets less stupid I'll jump!

One thing that's become clear (that might make you re-think your position if you want to carry it like you did your P7) is that it's a pure competition gun. It's for putting holes in paper and smacking steel targets so it's not made to feed anything but FMJ. It might do it and there are already people who claim they can modify it to do so. However, out of the box it's a piece of equipment for playing various shooting games on square ranges. No attempt has been made to make it feed anything other than round-nose FMJ.

If I had one, it would never occur to me to carry it under the sort of circumstances you cite.

Of course, it's not like I'd ever be in the sort of circumstances you cite...

 

[Coyote9]

One thing that's become clear (that might make you re-think your position if you want to carry it like you did your P7) is that it's a pure competition gun. It's for putting holes in paper and smacking steel targets so it's not made to feed anything but FMJ. It might do it and there are already people who claim they can modify it to do so. However, out of the box it's a piece of equipment for playing various shooting games on square ranges. No attempt has been made to make it feed anything other than round-nose FMJ.

If I had one, it would never occur to me to carry it under the sort of circumstances you cite.

Of course, it's not like I'd ever be in the sort of circumstances you cite...

Me neither now, Ben I am mostly a hole puncher shooter now.. I carry a Kimber Covert II or a Sig 320 VTAC.. looking for a rec target pistol maybe the Walther 32 GSP. or a 1911 NM mid-range (both are wad cutter guns). This is way outta my league. I do love the low profile sight picture and a gas gun rocks.

 

[Axxe55]

Just watched this video on the Laugo Alien, and it's very impressive.

 

[Byrd666]

https://lancer-systems.com/product/alien-full-kit/

 

[Coyote9]

Just watched this video on the Laugo Alien, and it's very impressive.

Also impressed,Inever had issues with my P7 PSP overheating and LOVED the low bore axis, this baby is sweet and I may have to want one!

 

[benenglish]

Just watched this video on the Laugo Alien, and it's very impressive.

Saw that video when it first came out. Some of his later videos using the gun are even more interesting to me. Specifically, in that original video he talks about how the design moves the gas block away from trigger to prevent overheating of the parts of the gun you must touch. Unlike Coyote9...

Inever had issues with my P7 PSP overheating

...I have lots of trouble with my PSP overheating. After just a few mag dumps, letting my trigger finger drift high can result in blisters. I've gotten in the habit of putting my safe trigger finger on the front of the trigger guard. That caused me a bit of a problem the last time I took a class where the instructor insisted that the trigger finger, when not on the trigger, must go high on the frame. After a while, I asked him to touch the pistol and he cut me a little slack from then on.

But what's interesting about the later videos are a couple of things I didn't expect. First, he threw a bunch of mud and dirt on the gun and found that it still worked. I expected (and I think he did, too) for this to be a close-tolerance competition piece where any extra dirt on the gun would cause malfunctions. That didn't happen. It wasn't perfect under bad conditions but it was a LOT better than I expected.

Mud test here:




Dirt and fine sand test here:




After both those tests, he concluded that he would definitely use the pistol in competition environments where guns get really dirty, i.e. those "Brutality" matches of which he is so fond.

Second, despite the design, he noted that after a while the heat building up on the pistol could be a problem. He didn't really expect that and neither did I. I'm sure it's nowhere near as bad as my PSP but it's still a problem. Ian takes note of that reality at 5:25 of this video:

 

[benenglish]

https://lancer-systems.com/product/alien-full-kit/

Holy crap! The later kits were supposed to come DOWN in price!

I guess when you have a product in such high demand, you can get whatever you want to charge.

 

[TheDan]

Holy crap! The later kits were supposed to come DOWN in price!

I guess when you have a product in such high demand, you can get whatever you want to charge.

Set up and fund an entity now so you can buy the whole company in a few months

 

[koddc]

great handgun !! It's on my wish list right along with the NEW auto mag.

 

[Sasquatch]

I think its a very interesting design, I think it could easily be made into a duty-version without the fancy milling and it could be one of the most accurate duty-grade guns on the market. Lots of advantages to the design already cited. The gun would have to be priced no greater than a Sig or HK to be competitive. If they really want to sell units, it needs to sell at Glock price points, and there would have to be a compact Glock 19 / 48 size gun available.

If I were to start a gun company today - my first gun would HAVE to be a compact / glock 19 sized gun. Full size guns are not in vogue anymore, other than mullet guns and niche competition guns.

The hammer fire design of this gun is really intriguing, you don't look at that gun and say "hammer fired" - everyone would look at it and assume its a striker fired gun.

 

[PinnedandRecessed]

Full size guns are not in vogue anymore,

Concealed carry is hot. Noobs want what is hot. Manufacturers cater to where they think the money is. People that know, still like full size guns.

 

[Coyote9]

Saw that video when it first came out. Some of his later videos using the gun are even more interesting to me. Specifically, in that original video he talks about how the design moves the gas block away from trigger to prevent overheating of the parts of the gun you must touch. Unlike Coyote9...

...I have lots of trouble with my PSP overheating. After just a few mag dumps, letting my trigger finger drift high can result in blisters. I've gotten in the habit of putting my safe trigger finger on the front of the trigger guard. That caused me a bit of a problem the last time I took a class where the instructor insisted that the trigger finger, when not on the trigger, must go high on the frame. After a while, I asked him to touch the pistol and he cut me a little slack from then on.

But what's interesting about the later videos are a couple of things I didn't expect. First, he threw a bunch of mud and dirt on the gun and found that it still worked. I expected (and I think he did, too) for this to be a close-tolerance competition piece where any extra dirt on the gun would cause malfunctions. That didn't happen. It wasn't perfect under bad conditions but it was a LOT better than I expected.

Mud test here:




Dirt and fine sand test here:




After both those tests, he concluded that he would definitely use the pistol in competition environments where guns get really dirty, i.e. those "Brutality" matches of which he is so fond.

Second, despite the design, he noted that after a while the heat building up on the pistol could be a problem. He didn't really expect that and neither did I. I'm sure it's nowhere near as bad as my PSP but it's still a problem. Ian takes note of that reality at 5:25 of this video:

I routinely put three 7 round mags thru the P7 without any heat build up noticeable. Then I never shot more than 3 mags at a time. the larger pistol should have even better heat dispersion ...plus it is a target pistol shooting reduced loads.

 

[benenglish]

I routinely put three 7 round mags thru the P7 without any heat build up noticeable. Then I never shot more than 3 mags at a time.

Yeah, that tracks with my experience. 3 mags is OK. 200+ rounds in an hour or two during a class is another thing.

it is a target pistol shooting reduced loads.

Oddly enough (I certainly didn't anticipate this) Ian makes the point that reduced loads are a potential problem in the Alien. It needs enough chamber pressure to work as designed; super light loads will throw it off. Basically, he said it runs best with run-of-the-mill FMJ practice ammo from any of the normal sources.

I wish I knew any of that from experience but I doubt I'll ever handle an Alien, much less own one.

 

[Axxe55]

Yeah, that tracks with my experience. 3 mags is OK. 200+ rounds in an hour or two during a class is another thing.

Oddly enough (I certainly didn't anticipate this) Ian makes the point that reduced loads are a potential problem in the Alien. It needs enough chamber pressure to work as designed; super light loads will throw it off. Basically, he said it runs best with run-of-the-mill FMJ practice ammo from any of the normal sources.

I wish I knew any of that from experience but I doubt I'll ever handle an Alien, much less own one.

I would love to shoot one at least once, just for th experience. It's an interesting concept and seems innovative, but at $5K, really kind of pricy for a pistol.

 

[PinnedandRecessed]

It's an interesting concept and seems innovative, but at $5K, really kind of pricy for a pistol.

Us poor's will have to wait for Ruger or Palmetto to rip it off...

 

[gll]

Us poor's will have to wait for Ruger or Palmetto to rip it off...

When the patent expires, like in 14 or 15 years...

 

[Coyote9]

Concealed carry is hot. Noobs want what is hot. Manufacturers cater to where they think the money is. People that know, still like full size guns.

View attachment 336119

yep, I am no slave to fashion (girl friend description) my solution to the move to smaller weapons for concealment was to go from a 1913 style 1911 to a Kimber pro covert carry II custom shop 1911. why trash 50 years of training and muscle memory?