The Avenger™ system - Fixed barrel upper for 1911 style frames

[avidone]

I was looking for some Hogue grips and found this nice conversion upper.

http://www.getgrip.com/main/whatsnew/avenger.html

Anyone shot one of these yet?

[dragonbait1a]

I saw that too...

And was wondering "would this activate the 'Barrel Shroud' AW definition?"

(4) A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:
...
(C) A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel that allows the bearer to fire the weapon without burning his or her hand, except a slide that encloses the barrel.

As the upper "Receiver" doesn't reciprocate, does that make this a Assault weapon? It doesn't seem to enjoy the "wrap around" receiver exemption like MAC type pistols because the frame is the legal "receiver" Or would it?

Wouldn't even bother contacting the DOJ because of the whole "58 DAs" thing...

I'd hate someone to spend ~$700 (MidwayUSA IIRC) just to catch a features-based conviction.

RGB

[bwiese]

Dragonbait,

I'd not worry about this one. Hell, I should go get one.

Firstly, this design appears to have a "fixed barrel" and not a fixed slide; I believe the Avenger slide frame does indeed cycle to extract fired case and move a new round into the chamber.

Aside from that, the "shroud" used in the AW pistol definition you refer to is restricted by the statement that it's for allowing the weapon to be fired using a forward hand-hold without burning the hand. There's no appreciable handhold here even if the slide frame didn't cycle; the law was to prevent things like the vented large-diameter tubes around the bbl like that on the Tec-9, etc.

Also, the slide on this Avenger would indeed get hot with extended firing so it would not be a suitable grip even if nonmoving.

Topologically, this appears to not be appreciably different than many .380/.32ACP autoloaders (Walther PPK, Sig P230, Bersa 380, etc.) where the barrel is fixed to the frame and the slide cycles to eject/reload. The only difference would be the lockup system which would have to be robust, unlike these little blowback 380 mouseguns - which are on the Roster of Handguns Approved for sale in CA.

I believe the HK P7 series 'squeeze cocker' 9mm pistols also have a fixed-to-frame barrel as well, though they will have a substantially heavier locking system than a blowback 380.

[SpeedTribe]

There is some more info about this here:

http://www.m1911.org/hogueavenger.htm

Looks interesting.