The design's main inspiration (if not duplication) is the gas piston system. If you have ever handled a H&K P7 and seen the gas piston under the barrel the Alien's piston will look VERY familiar. The Alien's piston lays on top of the fixed barrel and the relatively small spring is alongside the piston. The P7, of course, has the large recoil spring over the fixed barrel.
I fired about 100 rounds of 115 grain range ammo through mine offhand at 15 yards. This initial trip was more of a function check and opportunity for me to become more familiar with the weapon rather than a "test" of t he gun. My results on a sunny, cool day in central Texas were very encouraging, as the accuracy was immediately apparent. The adjustable-for-windage open sights were dead on with the range ammo, as it was with the red dot after changing the top rail. I have no doubt that a better class shooter than I would have no problem producing impressive groups.
As I mentioned, the mitigation of muzzle rise is the primary benefit of the low bore axis design. It is really true that you can pretty much keep the sight picture between shots with both sighting systems. My 70 year old eyes did a tiny bit better with the Red Dot, but using my shooting glasses with the bi-focal in the top part of the lens gave encouraging results with the open sights.
Cleaning was a breeze once the take down process is learned. As with the P7 the main area needing attention is the gas piston's carbon build-up. The kit included a small bottle of Bore Tech carbon remover which worked great on the crud left by the cheap dirty range ammo I was using. A little time with the solvent and a nylon bristle brush cleaned it right up. The pistol also come with a special flat L-shaped cleaning tool that doubles as a carbon scraper for the inside of the piston pocket that also allows use of cleaning patches up into that small hole. Me telling it was more complicated than doing it.
We are having a rainy spell now in north central Texas so it will be probably next week before I can shoot again. The issue of "value" is subjective, and I am the polar opposite of a high speed, low drag operator. But the quality, ingenious design, and accuracy of this pistol rivals some of the finest pistols I have had the privilege to shoot. I own Sig P210's, H&K P7's, among others and the Alien, despite its rather lame name is a solid contender for quality and inherent accuracy.
