Laugo Alien: Real Innovation in Modern Handgun Design
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ธ.ค. 2021
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The Laugo Alien is a pistol developed recently, and only introduced in 2018. Its lead designer was Ján Lučansky, who was also heavy involved in the CZ Scorpion carbine/SMG. The Alien is a significantly different take on modern handgun design than what we are used to seeing. It uses a fixed barrel, gas delay system (similar to the H&K P7). It has an extremely low bore axis, excelled single-action hammer-fired trigger system, and its clever slide designs puts the sights (either iron or electro-optical) on a fixed top strap that does not move during cycling.
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Despite slow continuous production, the fact that Laugo actually delivered the first batch on time is already an incredible feat in firearms industry, where massive delay and empty promises are the norm.
This is true for more than the firearms industry. Much more.
I doubt there's an industry that does otherwise. An industry that always delivers on time is an industry where the deadlines aren't set at enough of a mental murder pace.
I can imagine they sold more than they expected in Europe. The shooting scene in Europe is 99% competition (it's by law the only way to do it in a lot of countries) and a lot of people in this sport shooting scene have a lot of disposable income and always want the latest and greatest competition guns. If you turn up with a stock CZ Shadow II at a German range, you will probably be the "poor guy" with the "cheap gun". So the Laugo Alien was just the right product for that market - it looks good, it's innovative and precise and everybody knows its really expensive.
A bit like the cycle industry. 🚲
@@maximilianmustermann5763 Gotta love the "don't defend yourself just die" countries!
@@NachozMan ye. Then theres the czech republic with "self defence must be stronger then the attack"
When your business is knowing what makes weapons get forgotten, you start to notice reoccurring patterns with failed designs. The fact that Ian is optimistic about this design says a lot. Also, it looks weird and I like it.
I like the fact that it looks very distinct from the glock-style tactical pistols that have dominated the market for decades. Brings it being different across even better
Yeah, but he was also very excited about the Hudson, so....
Yeah, but the Osborn effect is what kill Hudson before they could get on their feet. The design had merit though. You can see the main feature of the H9 live on in the new FK BRNO. It has the same oversized dust cover to drop the recoil spring and some of the reciprocating mass lower in the gun. The 7.5 also adds a weight to enhance the effect.
@@Cthippo1 I think the key difference is that Hudson , while having a relatively competent design, basically jumped straight into the market with their pistol and no suitable business structure, and then collapsed under the financial and management trouble. Laugo are equally boutique in terms of what they offer, but at least seem to have an established business structure considering they've been around since 2001
You say, “weird,” I say beautiful: another example of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Unfortunately, I am sure that I'll never be-holding it.
The Czech firearms industry has been hugely innovative for centuries.
Chechoslovachian!
@@dsheshin Czechoslovakian*
@@azmanabdula *Чехословакијан
Even the word "pistol" itself is from Czech language by the way.
@@osiris3103 that doesn't surprise me.
They call it the Alien and the barrel looks like the head of a xenomorph. Just based on that, I already want to see more from this company.
the "Alien" script on it is also exactly the same style as from the alien resurrection movie posters
If they get sued for using that script... it would be excellent publicity.
I am envisioning an extended magazine called the eggsack.
@@FriendlyNeighborhoodNitpicker i think you just owned this chain
Well it make take a while but CZ Scorpion EVO was done by same gun designer. And the looks sort of have this signature look.
It is good to see a modern firearm with actual innovation.
I sure hope this won't follow the "Hudson H9" route, being featured in FW and all that.
@@WingMaster562 if I’m not mistaken, h9 was mostly just low bore axis. This thing does a whole lot more, and it’s hyped by competition folks who throw money around.
Plus, I think the h9 folks announced a new future version, perhaps a polymer frame, so people stopped buying the h9 until the polymer came out. So the company ran out of money to even make the polymer version!
My details could be a little loose, but there’s a lesson somewhere.
Agree, ACTUAL innovation; not a solution to a problem that doesn't exist!
Im just searching for the glocktard in the comments that is butt hurt because yet another better gun exists.
Your right, it's a phenomenon called the Osborne effect: named after Osborne computers.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
It's where you announce a future product that's far from completion to the detriment of the sales of your current products.
I guess H9 could be added to a Wikipedia list of future examples
When Ian McCollum himself accidentally lets a part fly off of a gun under spring pressure, you *know* you're dealing with an innovative and unique design.
I launched the plunger and spring from a 1911 mainspring housing for the first time the other day. 🤦♂️ I'm so lucky it didn't hit a window or my eye. Took some paint off a wall corner and I found both so it ended alright but man those things have some velocity! Happens to us all.
@@LifeisGood762 lmao I remember doing something like that, luckily only launched my guide rod cap once. Found it on the dryer and put it back in luckily, I plan on getting a standard length guide rod and a normal cap soon. The full length sucks because it kinda cuts into your thumb when you press it down. Also it’s more aesthetically pleasing to not have the guide rod sticking out of the front.
@@Andrew-hs8ri I only use the original guide rod. The full length ones are an unnecessary change that offers no real improvement.
@@LifeisGood762 Every 1911 owner has to do this at least once.
@@LifeisGood762 yep
I was pretty confused about the Czechoslovakia (which hasn't existed in 30 years) print, until I found it was a conscious decision by the developers (Czechs and Slovaks both).
We like to switch it around every couple decades to confuse the foreigners.
I think that is because of ingeneer. He is slovak.
@@Lawor00 EUR ING is the european registered pre-nominal for professional engineer.
Yeah as a Czech I kind of dont like it. I understand it but think its bit cringy. You can name your company whatever you want tho, even using the name of not existing country in it.
He probably wanted to point out that enginers were from both countries (didnt look into it so idk)
but it is usual for czech and slovakian individuals to cooperate on projects (for example, schools support it very much)
It will be interesting to see if costs come down if a “duty” version emerges . It would be neat to have an edc or service pistol evolve from a race gun as all the things that make it good for sport would possibly be adventitious in the street
Not too sure about the street usage, the top looks very open and it seems a lot of stuff can get in there and stop the weapon. But, maybe I could be wrong and honestly I'd love to be!
thats how Arctic Warfare (fictional one is in counter strike - AWP) sniper rifles got to be. Ian have few videos on those as well
Not very likely. A lot of complex machining goes into this design, especially the hollow reciprocating frame with rails and captive sprung trigger pin. Multi-axis CNC mills or additive mfg mandatory.
Would still be cool. At the very least, a fixed barrel pistol would have no problems firing and cycling with the muzzle pressed into something, which is a real problem for Glocks in hand-to-hand combat.
Yeah, it’d be nice to see something similar that doesn’t have those gay zoomer race gun lines.
That’s the part for me that caught my attention. It’s a beautiful firearm and the innovation is very interesting, but the local price here (quick online search) in western Canada is CAD$4800 +taxes. That’s a hard sell.
The scope of “forgotten” weapons has shifted a lot over the years, but as someone more interested in unusual than forgotten I’m really glad it has - particularly when really clever new ideas like this thing come along!
(Edit: Please note that this isn't a complaint. You'll notice that I said I'm *glad* the scope has broadened.)
Today on Let's-Hope-It-Won't-Be-Forgotten Weapons...
"scope", heh, relevant
After Ian ''remembered'' allo those weapons who were ''forgotten'', you need to look something different to post some videos...sky is NOT the limit, there is a finite numbers of weapons types made.
yeah, most forgotten things are forgotten for a reason
@@mitchf.4450 Ah yes. The before times.
This is actually a very clever pistol from a mechanical perspective. Looking forward to the range video.
It's also a testament to Browning that over 100 years on, his system is the standard.
Yes, it is going to take a very long time for us to top Browning's firearm designs. We might have to move away from firearms and start using energy weapons before we really stop using this designs, ha.
@@Jesses001 Not really. Delayed blowback is superior in every way except for cost, and toggle-locks have a lot of advantages. The real reason short-recoil, tipping-barrel, slide-operated designs are the norm is that they're just cheaper to make.
Unless you use die-cast slides to make a super-cheap direct-blowback pistol, of course.
His tilting barrel locked breech pistol design stuck because it's simple (for a locked breech) and it's not hard to make decently. It's literally only a step up from a direct blowback pistol. It's not like the Laugo Alien is new in its thinking or design either - ideas (lots of ideas, a lot of them very good ideas) on how to improve the pistol have been floating around for ages. It's just that militaries just adopt the simplest and cheapest thing that has already been around and working for 20 years and keep it for 30-50 years, and the way the civilian market operates isn't much better.
@@Bacteriophagebs So yes really then, cost is one of the most important factors (after ensuring that the gun works in the first place). Don't get me wrong, this Alien is awesome but it's like a Ferrari or some other supercar. It's ultra, ultra niche. It's great that they push the limits of firearm design and I'm sure most people would love to have one if they had unlimited money but for 99% of people something like this is just there to be admired. I mean, come on, it's a pistol.
@@TheCheat_1337 It's niche _now,_ but that's only because of the ludicrous price. According to one guy in another comment thread, $5K is "cheap" for a competition gun (it's not, that's the high end of race gun pricing).
However, many features of the design are applicable to cheaper designs, especially the static top-strap. I actually found out about the Alien a couple years ago because I had the idea for the static top strap and did some research to figure out why no one had tried it. Turned out that someone had, but on a $5000 gun.
I'm really optimistic for the Laugo. It has already done what the H9 was unsuccessful at, which is breaking into the competition scene internationally. They have a direction and a niche they want to fill, rather than releasing a model that's pretty much good at nothing. The Hudsons also were rather inaccurate, somewhat similar to first Gen M&Ps, while the Alien is quite the opposite
The H9 failed on the marketing side and perhaps they could've started from the get-go to offer competition models, wasn't for it they would have had the time to break in.
I remember when Karl and Ian tested this at Shot Show. They were both optimistic and pleasantly surprised by the pistol. However, the sticker shock was real. Glad to see this is sticking around. Actual innovation (not just whiz-bang tacticool junk) is rare and helps the industry as a whole.
I really hope we see a carry/duty version of a gun using that gas delayed blowback system. Not really for any practical reason, it's just really cool lol.
My favourite words from Ian "We're taking this to the range tomorrow"
No holier words have ever been uttered 😇
I always love the "they took a step back and found a better way" stories. I look forward to seeing it in action!
@@vendomnu No, the Red Army doesn't disagree. Even just in AFV designs, USSR completely reimagined heavy tanks 2 times, mediums once, went through 3 completely different light tank designs and at the end abandoned them all and figured out an entire boatload of different ways to mount the same weapons to the same platforms in their numerous SPG designs.
The TH-cam channel Honest Outlaw has two video's reviewing the Laugo Alien. A first impression/first 100 rounds video and a 1000 round review.
@@vendomnu Will you please tell me what significance an order about strategic retreats or rather the lack thereof holds to designing equipment for the military?
As I pointed out, they were quite keen on completely reimagining weapons systems already in use as long as it made sense.
Ah I C a pun
@@miskakopperoinen8408 It's a joke.
Someone thought about this for many years before they put pen to paper and built a prototype. I say this because it feels like all of the problems were considered and remedied with solutions instead of compromises. Once you have a prototype in hand a designer is more likely to compromise to enact a fix instead of redesigning.
This could be the basis of some excellent duty pistols and concealed carry pistols. The very high position of the web of the hand would allow for such reduced muzzle flip, that a shorter hand grip wouldn't be as much of an issue. Also, someone should make a red dot for the Laugo Alien that IS the top strap!
yeah that grip looks nice, first thing I noticed 😁
It also has a fixed barrel which is going to greatly increase accuracy.
Something like the P90's integral optical sight would be ideal.
Perhaps concealed carry, but considering the price, I highly doubt it'll be used much, if at all, for any duty or service position.
I don't know if it's worth the $5k price point (or thereabouts), but I don't think I've wanted anything more in my life.
Give it a couple years im seeing multiple Five seveN's for below a grand now
@@herrikudo with 3d printing advancing by leaps and bounds you'll probably be able to print your own in 5
That's how we feel in Australia... about BB guns :(
@@DrJackJeckyl I'm sorry you live in that nightmare island... We'd probably welcome you with open arms to the US, and if you mention you're an Aussie at any range then I assure you people will be lining up to let you fire their guns 😂
I think they're doing the right thing, that is the same route as Tesla, you first make a high-end product targeted at the people looking for premium quality so that you can have a decent profit margin with a small production run and then you can use your profit in order to invest in infrastructure that can more cheaply mass produce parts that so that you can make a product more affordable for the general consumer. If they succeed you can probably expect a version more in line in price with other good quality service pistols in around 5 years.
This feels like the actual future of pistol design
Potentially, there's a lot of moving parts and design there which compliment what you want from such a compact mechanism. I'm not usually that impressed by most pistols except the really weird, esoteric stuff Ian finds from time to time, but this (modern) one is quite remarkable
"Hudson H9"
Sure......nothing like an over engineered, overly complex, overly expensive niche market handgun for military use?
Found the 1911 guy.
it's not. it's a match gun. just like how he peddles his wwsd rifle which is literally a race/match gun yet they try to pitch it like the be all end all reliable rifle. It ain't no reliable rifle if the fucken buffer shakes itself to death.
It's interesting to see this took a different approach to get somewhat near the same result as the now defunct Hudson H9 -- lowest possible bore axis, and a really good trigger. I'd love to have one, but they are eye-wateringly expensive, _if_ you can find one.
A rotating barrel locking system (like the PX4 storm) would allow a fixed top strap design similar to Laugo Alien. It might be a more compact than the gas delayed blowback design with the gas piston sitting above (or below) the barrel.
I swear gun manufacturers always give things the best names. Alien is a perfect name.
Nothing will ever top the YEETCANNON.
@@Tranny_Exterminator_9000 reddit ruined that gun with their yeet cannon BS it one hundred percent should've been problem solver. "Glock 40 problem solver" hipoint meme way outdates zoomer trash word yeet
@@miniaturekitty9679 The stupid name _did_ however give us a great moment in the Taurus Curve shooting vid where Ian goes 'yeet me' and shoots the last stage with it.
@@___meph___4547 well that's the thing about opinions, everyone is entitled to their own whether others agree with them or not
I will agree with you that if naming it yeet cannon lead to more sales that's a good thing
You could say you kinda shoot yourself in the foot by not choosing a good name.
Hopefully we'll see these innovations become more widespread in the next few years, especially considering pistol mounted RDS's are becoming more common.
Give me two more years
I hope this won't follow the "Hudson H9" route, being featured in FW and all that.
…until the controllers and the ATF decides that optics "make pistols far more deadly," and turn pistol optics into NFA items.
Which is such a pity. Pistol red dots are just the ugliest thing, and are mostly a meme. But if something like the Alien that wasn’t so sinfully ugly was made, I might be open to the idea.
This is by far one of the coolest pistols I have ever seen. Of course after watching the video I immediately searched to see where I could get one.. Only to find that they cost in the neighborhood of $5000 CAD give or take, depending on options.... ☹ A little too rich for my blood... Still awesome though. Great video, Ian. Thanks!
I could buy a personal arsenal of guns for the cost of ONE of these pistols. These things are specialist guns for competition shooters.
As far as I'm concerned, for competition shooting 9mm, the cost of this system greatly outweighs it's benefit....that is unless the only benefit that concerns you is the number of people asking you about your Laugo Alien.
It would probably be cheaper to buy a small desktop CNC mill and learn to CAD.
$8165 currently, at 5K it would been a great investment.
@@GBlue12GT Yeah, cca 5,000 USD currently on domestic market (110 000 CZK), which is *really* a lot. I think the main reason would be Laugo is very small company so they could have some serious trouble with production. BTW one of the reason CZ isn't currently making CZ Bren 2 in semi-automatic version to supply on US commercial market is they are (almost) unable to keep up with military orders - they just don't have enough of production capacity. And CZ is the greatest weapon producer in Czechia, Laugo is much, much smaller...
I really like this design. So much innovation going into something that weve come to see as standard really makes me excited to see what comes out next. I do believe that John Moses Browning had a brilliant idea and created a very effective system, but its over 120 years old at this pointand has only had very minor improvements in that time, so i love seeing really good innovation that isnt just some crappy gimmick. Laugo could have created the next big thing in firearms that takes the world by storm for the next 120 years. I can actually see this becoming an EDC and even a duty pistol, not just a race gun or a range queen.
Looks like they really put some serious thought in the engineering department there. Also a big fan of the sort of cyberpunk styling of the frame and slide. Would look right at home in the Deus Ex games.
If u look at closely with a tiny bit of fantasy, it looks like an "Alien"
Polish and Czech love that particular style. Cyberpunk 2077 is from a Polish company I believe, CD project Red.
@@Miller_Time I don’t think the original game that cyberpunk 2077 is based on is polish though.
@@idontwanttoputmyname403 eh, regardless they are great adapters of the medium. If cyberpunk is a legit style haha
I instantly thought of Zenith pistol when I saw Alien.
I'd put money on you being right about this gun, I give it a decade and we'll see a lot of these features copied onto other guns from other manufacturers. Its so refreshing to see genuine design improvements in a field as stagnant as pistols. The last time I was this excited for a new pistol, it was the FN five-seven and that turned out to be a groundbreaking design.
It'll be longer than a decade if they get their patents but yeah... I guess other manufacturers could pay licensing. That turned out to be lucrative for other companies in the past. Hope everything works out well for Laugo. I was pretty stoked for the five-seven, too...
@@popefacto5945 those patent lawyers from other major manufacturers will be hard at work finding slight workarounds I’ll bet lol
Sadly this made me discover that Ian has never covered the Five-Seven. I know it’s anything but a Forgotten Weapon but I would have loved to see his analysis on it.
@@TheNonya1 Remember, it's "Five-seveN". I always enjoyed that dorky bit of marketing.
It’s a hammer fired P7 with the piston on top and a more conventional safety. Of course it’s going to be solid.
As a future mechanical engineering major, this video is amazing to me. Just the flawless improvements to a 110 year old design are what I strive to be able to do. I am literally in awe at the ingenuity of the engineers behind it. I would like to personally meet each of the engineers and really talk with them. This is awesome.
What if you flunk out?
@@tsolizilv7491 The worse outcome is actually coming out of your Bachelor's and thinking "huh... it's only about another year if I decide to do my Master's." Take it from a graduate student: the shitty profs you had in undergrad are going to be *excruciating* when they're "teaching" you more in-depth topics.
4.5 year mech eng student, find your college's machine shop asap and learn in there until you can get a entry job in a shop somewhere. That's where you learn to design stuff, the classes 'teach' you specialized math to see if something is going to break. NOT now to design things.
I've learned more about design on TH-cam than school.
Reminder that many of the great firearms designers of the last century had no eng schooling, think Garand and Stoner.
It's cool, but it's glaringly lacking lots of basic and pretty necessary internals commonly found on cheap pistols. Looks like a really cool slick (proof of) concept design.
It not missing anything and thats a production model. If you don't know what you're talking about don't comment.
Recently had a chance to shoot one. Even for someone with little handgun experience (thanks, Trudeau) I was surprised how easy it was for me to keep my sight picture between shots, and easily manage recoil.
Those crafty Czechs (edit: Slovaks). Seriously, some of the best firearms designs to come out of history.
Main designer is Slovak, Ján Lučanský, Czechs are mostly investors in this company, they are branding it as a Czech-Slovak company and colaboration
And hopefully they'll have some of the best quality control soon.
VHS F2 looks like a G36C and Famas had a baby
@@martinfaturik7023 I like that the pistol says “made in Czechoslovakia”!
Slovakia go. Yea arms have always had a big impact on Czechoslovakian(i am combining them because both do)economic history until the collapse of the eastern bloc.
Additional side benefit of the low bore axis and fixed barrel: you can stick a muffler on it and it will cycle just fine, and the sights will easily clear it.
EDIT: Guys, I know what threaded barrels are. I know the version of the gun shown in the video doesn't have one. I am certain that feature can be included if there's a market for it.
That may be difficult to do without a threaded barrel and no easy way to install an aftermarket one.
@@niznikb yeah that’s kinda the downside of non-Browning operating systems, since the barrels are usually pretty firmly fixed to the frame. Hopefully they release models with threaded barrels so we can mount suppressors after the fact.
in case of a gas operating system - not necessarily
I like the term "muffler." Actually way more descriptive than "silencer" (movie guns go pew pew).
@@extragoogleaccount6061 If I'm not mistaken, the muffler and suppressor / silencer were also patented by the same guy!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Percy_Maxim
There's not really too much known about it, but I'd love to see you cover the Triple Action Thunder. It was a single shot, .50 BMG handgun designed by Triple Action. It was shown off at Shot Show 2014, but was never produced beyond the prototype phase because Triple-Action couldn't find a manufacturer who would produce it.
Is the third action breaking your hand?
@@IgorOzarowski Most likely
Isn’t that the three capacity revolver from hotdogs horseshoes and hand Grenades?
Probably no one wanted to do it because it would screw up 50 cal ammunition availability for the civilian market.
@@imperfectlump6070 how?
Ian, I appreciate you showcasing the classics and the less popular classics, as well as sharing innovative models and technology like this one. I hope the continue to expand production.
I've had the opportunity to fire the Alien at the 2A4E Diversity Shoots that I host. We introduce people to firearms, firearms owners and 2A advocates. One of our volunteers brought his Alien to multiple events, I've fired it a lot. Its bore axis is as low as possible on a semiautomatic handgun, the slide's weight is light due to it only being the sides so its recoil and muzzle flip is much less than any 9mm pistol on the market. The trigger weight is light and crisp.
The combination of features results in a soft shooting, flat recoiling, accurate pistol. With that many features shooting it felt different, it took some getting used to by some experienced shooters. Some people absolutely loved it, others thought it ok. We had one shooter that liked her friend's CZ Shadow 2 better. The owner of the Shadow 2 liked the Alien better. It's unique, expensive and fun to shoot. It's priced high because it's new and a limited number have been produced. Maybe one day it will be in the $2000 range and will crush a lot of competition guns in that price range. Can't wait to hear what Ian has to say about shooting the Alien.
So am I correct in assuming this gun delivers on all the promises that Hudson9 made.
@@DDdrifter it definitely delivers. You can mount a weapon mounted light in its normal position, unlike the H9. Finding a holster might take a custom shop though. Hopefully they have better luck than Hudson.
@Florida Man HVACR I don't know. Due to the light weight triggers pull I don't know if most would want it as a self defense gun without a good amount of dry practice and live fire. The Philster locks into the light so it may work.
@@mrtlsimon
"Due to the light weight triggers pull I don't know if most would want it as a self defense gun without a good amount of dry practice and live fire"
Wait, there's no separate safety switch?
"it took some getting used to by some experienced shooters."
What did they have to get used to? Any elaboration would be appreciated :)
"We had one shooter that liked her friend's CZ Shadow 2 better. The owner of the Shadow 2 liked the Alien better."
If you recall their reasons, I'd be interested!
I hope that it can overcome the gun communities general resistance to change and new ideas. So many ideas seem to have failed because it was too different for a traditionalist oriented market to comprehend or accept.
A supremely clever thing. An awful lot of thought went into this. That gas system alone is worth the price of admission.
Have you seen the price of admission for this thing? Yes I want one, but damn... LOL
I'd say the gas system is a mixed bag. Yes - it's clever and allows them to have all those great things like fixed barrel, low bore axis, lightweight slide and soft recoil spring. But think about cleaning it. Especially considering that it's a competition gun that will be shot A LOT.
In a Browning-style pistol part of the field strip procedure is removing the barrel. Which gives you easy access to the bore and chamber which are the things where most of the fouling accumulates. In the Alien not only do you get more things to clean (the piston and it's chamber) but with fixed barrel, it's actually more difficult to access. Unless you use very clean ammo (which many IPSC shooters don't), I'd imagine many new swear words being invented while doing maintenance work on this gun 😂
@@niznikb the usual rule with gas-delayed pistols is to clean them after 500 rounds, and given the price of ammo these days, that’s not a big ask.
I cannot for the life of my get complaints about cleaning pistols like this when those same people will turn around and circlejerk over the MP5 despite it *also* needing more cleaning due to roller-delayed systems running pretty dirty.
@@Ebalosus saw a review where the dude had to clean it at around 250rds. Honest Outlaw i think
@@Ebalosus Having seen my fair share of people having problems with MP5s (and only some of them related to not keeping the guns clean enough), I can't say I totally disagree. Outside of Hollywood-perpetuated hype, I can't justify the veneration of many (not all) HK firearms, when there are better alternatives nowadays in most cases. Unless your goal is to look cool, MP5/SP5 is probably not the best choice for a PCC match in 2021.
That being said - the roller-delayed action per se is not the main culprit of them being "dirty" guns but rather their fluted chambers (which is how HK chose to deal with high extraction pressures caused by aforementioned action). Either way, the result you get is a gun that needs to be cleaned more often than one using Browning-style system. Which may not be a problem if you like to clean your guns after every range session (I don't) and/or don't shoot them very much.
With current ammo prices and (limited) availability, many more people shoot subpar ammunition which only exacerbates the problem of "dirty" actions.
While I've never owned a gas-delayed pistol, I do own a gas-operated shotgun. Trust me - cleaning this thing is no fun, and the disassembly is the easy part.
A fixed barrel, locked breech, full power pistol has been a holy grail especially for target guns. I would love to see it in .45 ACP. The hammer swinging from above and the very low barrel line remind me of the IZH-35 .22 target pistol a bit. I would love to see you do a segment on the free pistol as used in competition. They have an interesting history and are some of the most exotic and strange looking handguns ever made.
I own a P7M13, and the similarities are striking.
The only thing that would top it off would be a Walther-P5-style cocking/decocking handle (or Sauer 37), and a double action trigger.
They seem to have solved one other of the P7's weaknesses, the extremely hard recoil spring.
With all due respect to Browning, it's refreshing to finally see something different.
Well, you can't rely on one guy for innovation forever. Despite that, It's amazing how much of his work has lasted this long. Most people couldn't say they even had one-hit wonder to last generations.
Lol if I was Browning even I'd be wondering why my design is still used after all this time
The upside down hammer and slide design is actually concept from 1970's - check out IŻ-35M - designed for "rapid pistol" ISSF category.
One thing I don’t think Ian mentioned is that if you change out the dot for the irons and then back to the dot it will retain zero so that’s really cool as well
He mentioned it. That the straps retain zero due to the locking systems.
@@dwerg85 my bad I must have missed it because I usually use his vids as like background noise while I do something else so I can multitask and soak up knowledge
I was sent the link to this video though actually completely ignorant about handguns, but such a clear explanation in such an enthusiastic manner, a pleasure to watch, thanks
It looks like a very practical (if expensive) gun, looking forward to seeing more manufacturers "borrowing" this design style for something more affordable.
I already wanted one just because it looks cool. Leave it to Ian to make me want it even more because of the operating mechanism.
@O F Go to most any other country in the world and you get both the guns and the lack of school shootings.
There are two countries in the world that are irrational about guns -- The UK and the USA.
So did I, then i saw the price.....
Guess i'll have to wait for a while
@@JohnHughesChampigny The USA is not irrational at all we simply have too many gun laws
@O F Enjoy being a slave
@@lucky43113 Oh no, freedom from fear of their school being shot up. You sure showed him how oppressed he is. /s
If this gun gets reasonably popular (even in a niche application, like top end competition), I can totally see aftermarket grip frames and (more importantly) top straps.
I heared there are some problems in competition rules. I am no IPSC shooter even tho its popular in Czechia, but there are some rules that the optics has to be mounted on the slide. Which as you see is not the case here. But I think its tri only in one cathegory only.
There are several competitions with their own rulesets and each has multiple divisions with different limitations.
It's possible some will have an issue with the Alien but you can't really make a general statement like that.
@@stepanmikulica They make a version called the classic with the optic on the reciprocating slide just for this reason.
Or a pcc frame with a 7” barrel
U can start with this pistol in IPSC Production division(without optics).
When u mount optics on this pistol u can't start in IPSC Production optics division (unless u buy "classic" optics mount).
i wanted to buy this pistol but it cost in POLAND 18-20k, to compare CZ75 Shadow2 cost 4,5k, CZ75 Orange cost 7-8k, Glock17 is 3,5-4k
it is to much money.
This is the first video of Ian's that I got confused when he was going through the internals. A lot of flipping back and forth of the slide top and bottom and then to the frame, got me lost. But that is what the video control buttons are for,
IF I were still shooting, this pistol would be at the top of my wish list.
I was super impressed with all the tiny design details that just make sense. And I'd been noticing that low barrel (right into the web of the hand!!) the whole time!
Actually, the slide hitting further up will keep the barrel down.
this is one of those rare instances where someone tries to do something different and it actually serves a purpose other than just being unique. It looks amazing, all of the unique design aspects justify themselves. This gets you a very expensive handgun however I think if this catches on the price might eventually come down
Recently watched Doug Demuro's reviews of the Rivian pickup, Lucid Air, and Ford Lightning, and all of those excited me in the same way this gun did. Finally companies are letting their engineers REALLY try to innovate and are thoroughly thought-through (whoa) products that incorporate design, aesthetics, performance, and technology in the ways that will actually change their marketplaces by forcing other companies to actually have to be better.
I like the articulation that the reciprocating mass of the slide over the top of your hands is more of a problem in modern autoloaders than the actual height of the bore itself.
And yet despite the actual "bore axis" being so low in the Alien, most of the mass of the slide is still pretty much as high as it is on most other 9mm pistols...
Short of going into the Soviet "upside-down" MTs-3 Rekord territory (which isn't possible without moving the magazine outside the pistol grip), I don't think that much can be done to decrease muzzle flip any further.
Out of all the guns I've watched you show, this is the one I want most. Right up there with the Colt Monitor and the Knight's LAMG.
Hammer in the slide that swings down instead of up. Hammers are always located in the frame, this thing is weird and I love it!
Not only does it look sci-fi, it functions almost entirely different from other modern handguns. This is a super cool weapon, and I really can't wait to see what else this company comes up with.
Imagine they develop an SMG with the same futuristic style of the Skorpion, but it has something that can compete with the performance of the BARS system on the AEK-971 and AK-107 or the KRISS Super V.
It was about time Ian introduced the Laugo Alien. I can't wait for the test in the range
I mean, he introduced it years ago at SHOT show... it's just taken this long to get one in his personal collection.
I bet he will chuckle a little when shooting it, just like old czechoslovakian machine gun.
I think the red dot on top actually enhances a certain aesthetic if you consider its name, Alien. It has a sleek design, with texture done in such a way as to almost approach sci-fi "greebling." The silhouette with the red dot reminds me of various precision blaster or laser type weapons from fiction. Not in a costume-y way, but in a way that just references the concepts.
LOVE seeing such
well-detailed looks at
the operating differences
"They've been around since 2001, so 20 years now..."
That hurts my soul, especially as I turn 28 today. I feel old as fuck, and I ain't even old-old
Funny my reaction was that company hasn't been around that long !
Happy Birthday! And even I with my 22 years feel old sometimes. My mother always says that you are old once you get angry over the younger generation. If thats true, I am old since I was 16. 🤣
@@egomania2792 bro same. Im 26 and i dont understand either generation before and after me.
I'm 40..
..what were we talking about, again? DURN KIDS! GIT OFF'A MUH LAWN!
Living in the UK we don’t really have guns as part of day to day life. For that reason they have always been more of a mechanical / engineering thing rather than a weapon.
With that in mind this feels like the packaging and engine design of an F1 car. Something I’ll never use myself but I can appreciate that it’s very clever and may one day influence something I will use. Very cool. Thanks for the deep dive Ian :)
That's exactly how I feel about it in Germany. Incredibly fascinating, but I actually have little desire to own one myself because I have no use for it
its aimed at competition shooting and those guns look crazy sometime so its nice to see a sexy gun like this. Also coming from an english man where guns are kinda taboo
@@ThomasIsBored If you can work around your
Frankly Garbo laws on the subject
You should give shooting a try sometime
It's rather fun
Truthfully, you shouldn't need any "reason" or "use" beyond that.
I do so hope your rights are returned someday, dear Europeans
@@1stCallipostle I'd like to but it's not worth the effort and money here tbh
@@ThomasIsBored don't have to buy one to try one, though I don't know the status of range rentals there
also a little heads up
Austria has pretty good laws on these things
So if you've any buddies across that border, then it would be rather easy
Not an urgent thing by any means
But it's something everyone should try at one point
I shot 5 mags of 8 rounds on my P7 PSP last weekend and it got HOT!!!! So it is cool that they flipped the gas piston upside down to vent up rather than into the grip area.
The laugos is like every gun enthusiast wish list packed into one pistol, but instead of it being some crazy concept they actually made the damn thing lol
I remember back when these were first announced I immediately thought "a novel setup and operating mechanism? Someone needs to send one to Ian so he can explain how this sorcery works" and now the internet has made that wish come true.
It isn't sorcery, that's for the Germans. This is Czechnology.
I love the clever design elements like the out of battery safety or the cocking indicator, the design is so seamless and clever, hands down my favourite modern handgun, I want one of these, I hope the prices come down at some point
Its obvisous that you have a good taste. Alien!
Thank you Ian for a robust description of how gas delayed blowback works. I've been confused about that for some time as it is usually portrayed as if the slide is completely locked and I always wondered if the gun then requires a goldilocks grip to provide both movement and resistance to impart motion onto the slide after "unlocking."
I gotta say, after watching both videos on the alien, this is one of the best looking handguns I've ever seen. It's so peculiar yet simple, didn't think I'd see the day, in a market where most designs are fairly similar. And mechanically is really unique too, which only adds to it.
With the gas delay, they really looked at what gave the P7 problems and the worked to fix them, but that part isn't really unique.
The pass-through pin in the slide to link the trigger to the seer that simultaneously acts as a disconnect and an out-of-battery safety is something that I actually haven't seen anywhere else before. That tiny piece might have more impact on future pistol design than any of the rest of the fancy features on the Alien.
That trigger mech reminded me of the trigger and "sear lever" in the Browning Hi Power.
The simple elegance of the mechanisms are utterly inspiring, even if the complexity of the machining operations to produce the damn thing look excessive. Those can be cut down on for non-race guns I'm sure, and matter less now that we have such good and inexpensive CNC machining. The gas delay is hit or miss for future development I think, but as for impact it'll be that clever trigger mechanism, the return of a form of underhammer, and moving away from a traditional full slide.
This is really cool; I saw that hammer hanging down and just assumed it was a locking lug of some kind. This really is some ingenious engineering and design work.
some 22LR olympic pistols have similar construction
When i saw the title and thumbnail i was like “big whoop another low bore pistol” but now its got me giddier than a elementary girl on her birthday. It got my mind racing from practical military application to more out their things like low recoil glock18 esc machine pistols to automags.i swear i wished for a weapons system like this since i was 8th grade but to it real and in my face and PRACTICAL really brings a tear to my eye. I wanna see this weapon succeed and birth a new era of pistols and wider military use of pistols
Super unusual design, I love it. I especially like that the frame, barrel and sights are solidly together so there’s the potential for really good accuracy.
I have seen several reviews about this pistol and I’ll have to say nobody has gone into detail as much about the pistol as Ian, most views show how to take us to top slide cover off and show you a few parts and then all they wanna do is show you how it shoots… Great presentation !!
The most exciting mechanical innovation in handguns in a long, long time. Needless to say, I want one.
I'm really loving the new trend of Single-Action Internal Hammer handguns! Kinda like an AR, AK, AUG, pretty much every modern automatic carbine. SA-DA makes the first trigger pull suck, Striker and DA Internal Hammer makes every trigger pull suck, SA Internal Hammer makes every trigger pull good (if done correctly, AK triggers are really creep-y for example). And it's easier now with modern developments in Striker actions, to implement safety mechanisms into the internal hammer so you aren't having to compromise on safety as much. Even external safeties are making a comeback on some, like the FN Five-Seven for example.
The quality of the final machining and polishing looks very good.
Laugo should think about licensing the Trapezoidal sights from Steyr. They would really fit everything else about the gun and honestly for me at least they are the best possible set up for precision in a handgun without going to some kind of optic.
Well their aim is on IPSC where you want to shave seconds, not extreme precision. Optics are faster. But interesting idea - I would like to try Steyr sights.
@@___meph___4547 I get that that type of sight set up is the time tested standard and yeah they are better than 3 dot style defensive sights, but I would have to ask if you’ve ever tried or even looked at the Trapezoidal sight system. You get to see at least 50% more of your target almost irrespective of how far away it might be and your aim point is extremely fine while still aligning quickly and naturally as the sights come up thanks to the symmetry of the triangles.
Ghost ring and post? Quick aquisition and resonable accurate?
@@ThijsKops Not bad, but difficult to implement and use with handgun sight radius/ eye relief and two points of contact on the weapon instead of three.
I’m convinced from these replies that lots of people just wont get it unless they actually get out and try it.
Maybe if a AAA FPS game can include a Steyr pistol at some point soon then more people will get to have that “lightbulb” moment. Also not helping is the fact that the POI must be properly regulated to print exactly at or just above the tip of the triangle for best effect and if you use the trap sights and the rounds are impacting in the white body of the front triangle the impression will be that the sights aren’t that great.
/ ^ \
Also everyone is different and what is perfection to one is ass to another, so who knows. I would personally love to see a video of Ian going after a spinner with an L9A1 or A2 as I think that would be the perfect demonstration of the trap sights in action.
I was having flashbacks to the Inrange/FW videos on the cutting edge Hudson pistol a few years ago up until he said that this company had been around for years already and has a very popular PCC under it's belt for a well known manufacturer. This pistol is nothing I'd ever own, but man it makes for a neat video like this.
Yeah, the problem with Hudson was they, ahem, shot themselves in the foot by announcing a new product that wasn't ready for release but that everyone wanted. Killing the existing product.
Ian spent this whole video very carefully not saying the word "Hudson!"
@@jeffkemp4392 Hudson -- the Osborne of guns.
@@JohnHughesChampigny Well that wasn't a reference I was expecting to see today, they still teach The Osborne Effect.
Thank you! So forgotten I couldn’t remember the name haha!
For five thousand dollars it might as well be a Forgotten Weapons episode today instead of 30 years from now.
This definitely has a lot of potential. Looking forward to the range video
I love everything about this pistol. You've shown how different it is in operation, and why, very well I just wish I could afford one.
Before I could finish reading your sentence, my brain responded "except for the price" - which you addressed with your 'I wish I could afford one." :-)
I think it should be said that besides the slide being relatively low it’s also super light and dampened by the gas delay system so when it reaches end of travel it doesn’t have nearly as much momentum as a traditional slide.
The distance between the barrel and the line of aim brings to mind some aspects of the Fas57 I used in the military in Switzerland with the round crossing the line of aim twice during its flight to the target.
When shooting to a specific target at a defined distance the precision may be good but when faced with targets at different distances a very complicated regulation system is needed.
Same issue with the M16 rifle and its very high sight-line, at short range as in hostage rescue, you have to aim two inches/5cm low. Being able to accurately estimate range quickly and know your bullet trajectory and use the correct point-of-aim adjustment is a very big deal.
i'm not even a gun guy, never even held one, but damn, the ingenuity of the design made me fall in love...
especially the way they designed that slide. they made a slide that covers less to have the upper part static, but they still kept a grip at both the front and back of the gun. and i feel like they did it on purpose for people who are used to gripping the front part of the slide from under to pull it slightly and check the chamber.
This reminds me a lot of my 60 year old High Standard Supermatic Citation, which has a front sight in the non-moving barrel and the rear sight cantilevered over the reciprocating mass of the bolt. Neither sight moves when firing. Granted, this is a .22, but even as a terrible shot, I can tear a ragged hole at 25 yards because of the way it is designed.
This is a well designed pistol.
Simple design and takedown process.
@@SenorBigDong69 much better than a million little springs and crappy disassembly procedures ala Ruger MkI pistol.
@@SenorBigDong69 and why it would never be a combat pistol. Competition yeh. But no one is trust their life on this
@@SenorBigDong69 In a quality firearm like this the likelihood of having to service one of those is slim to none for a very long time.
The only user maintenance for this one is cleaning.
I could tell how excited Ian and Karl were when they first got their hands on this: so pumped to finally see it on the channel!
We have found the local mininum...THE MASTER HAS SPOKEN! Ian, we love you, because you don't just explain guns, but you reveal the whole philosophy behind them!
This is what min-maxed pistol design looks like. Only improvement could be a programmable electric trigger.
Reliability would lower most likely but I see where instant ignition could help
"improvement"
@@RC000000000 Yeha obviously reliability is a concern but we are talking within the context of competition guns where the main priority is lowering the time to fire of the gun to maximize the practical accuracy of guns not locked in a vice. Cause every milisecond the gun didn't fire from where u wanted it to when u were in target is a milisecond it most likely strays off the point. Human arms are not perfectly still even if they may look like it sometimes.
I don’t see where reliability would lower. Electrically fired ammunition has been a technology since WW2 afaik.
Unfortunately,the ATF will not allow a semi-auto firearm with an electric trigger. I believe a few companies have looked at it particularly when higher end paintball guns used that tech, until the ATF put the kibbosh on that idea. The rationale being it would be simple to convert to full auto.
Wow... I never thought of the slide abruptly stopping when hitting the back causing the barrel to rise. I always thought it had more to do with the gas recoil and the wrist.
That's what I love about firearms. You learn something new almost every day.
This is one of your best videos, what an interesting piece!
Elegant and gorgeous engineering. This is the kind of thing I come to this channel for, to see these examples of humanities incredible capacity to create.
Of course, the Czech, iconic since the wagon forts
Slovak design made in Czech republic
IMO this and the FK BRNO PSD are the most interesting and innovative pistols on the market at the moment. For completely different reasons but still, an ultra practical hand cannon with a multi caliber system and this crazy thing with all it does have created some new and interesting space in the handgun market.
Ye, seems like Czech Republic going huge in the market rn lol.
@@thekamotodragon We've been told to develop an industry with high added value. And so we did. ;-)
FK Brno, Laugo and then CZ bought Colt.
I'm hopeful that our folks might yet come with some new weapon as important and unique as BREN, Scorpion or vz.58. :-)
@@m4rvinmartian The PSD is $1600 and comes with 2 different calibers you can interchange. I forget, how much is the base model Alien compared to the one in the video?
Whats so special about the BRNO though?
@@m4rvinmartian it's just a bougie pistol in a good caliber, right? Like, nothing really new technology-wise?
Such a gorgeous pistol I've been eyeing ever since they first showed it. So many neat features!
Wish I had the kind of funds for this kind of fun.
Breathtakingly simple yet effective design for the internals. Nice to see really clever elegant design. It doesn’t happen often nowadays.
Browning looking at the Czech gun:
Finally a worthy opponent!
I am just super impressed with the design and efficiency of this pistol. It is just so well thought out. I've always thought that gas delayed pistols were a great idea, but this is in my opinion the best design I have seen. Having this hammer in the top strap, also a wonderfully efficient idea. I would absolutely love to see a design such as this eventually overtake tilting barrel designs!
Excellent walk-through ! If not for the price this would've been something I'd be interested in ! Looking forward to the range-video next !
What a cool design. I hope your right and more people build off this. I'd love to see some of the bigger companies put some heavy R&D into this.
Wow they really just speedran forgotten weapons, guns barely out
15:01 Countries that no longer exist, and Czechoslovakia in particular, have a lot of appeal. Yesterday my wife went to the flea market and bought a porcelain milk jug to give her best friend for Christmas. When she got home, I said "look, it's made in Czechoslovakia." Then she decided that she would buy something else for her friend and keep the jug.
Most of these businesses bankrupted in the 90s, and faced hostile overtakes and tunneling. By overtakes I mean to buy the company, fire employees and import your own products, tunneling is when management employee sucks all money from it and leaves. Like a glass company holding was sent to bankrupcy with blocked accounts over 50 000 unpaid phone bill, but their property was in billions. Right now the precious white clay for top grade porcelain is exported to germany, where a company piles it on a mountain, now 70m tall.
If you ever hear about czechout from the union, shit like this is going to be the reason.
The way you cover firearms engineering with a regard for historicity and mechanics/design fundamentals reminds of the way the guys at That Works channel talk about swords and axes and the such.
The quantity and quality of the machining work on this is amazing. Oozes quality!
"Czech out the video tomorrow" someone had to do it. If its a Czech made gun, the pun is mandatory
As a Czech I am always waiting for it. I recognized the small jiggle in Ians voice when saying that.
@@stepanmikulica yall make some goodass guns btw
As a gunsmith I am drooling over this weapon. This one slipped past my notice but I am now very interested and will keep an eye on this for a while. The slide setup is amazing and may even get one for a ccw.
Seeing you actually take this thing down and evaluate it gives me a lot of hope for the future of fireark design
As a Browning/Colt/FN fan boy, it's nice to see that 120 years of innovation brings us back around full circle to a shrouded hammer automatic ;)