Steyr Assault Weapon, banned in Highland Park

Steyr is one of the prototypic assault weapons desgners and manufacturers.  In the WWI era, their "straight pull" bolt action rifle was a major competitor as an assault weapon (in the true sense of the word), for infantry assaults on fortified positions and field postions.  About as accurate as the Mauser, the firing rate was faster due to the Straight pull.  However, the interlock did render it more susceptible to dirt.  Like the Swiss rifles of the era, precision could be good, but accuracy was more marginal.

At this time, Steyr is famous for their AUG rifle, which was designed "in concert" with the assault weapon pictured in this sales ad.  The AUG has a number of intresting design features, and is a true assault weapon, primarily for infantry and marine assault use.  The short length of the "bullpup" system and the increased accuracy are helpful.  The problems in use for left handers are major.  The rifle also requires an offset scope mount, similar to the old M1 Garand system, or the current Tanner system.

Most of the other "handguns" by Steyr are true assault weapons or submachine guns for police use now.  They also make an number of rifles for various purposes, and larger caliber assault weapons.  And some of the best air rifles and air pistols.  For a while the company was owned by Daewood of Korea, but now is partially owned by Anschutz, partially Austrian owned (more or less).

Although not in common use, Tanner has found the offset sight mount to be optimal for maximum accuracy, and Gruenig and Elmiger has added that as an option (with expiration of Tanner patents). 

This assault gun is not the AUG.  Due to vague wording in the Highland Park assault weapon ban, whether or not it would be ruled an assault weapon at trial is open to question, if things were to reach that point.

This pistol is perhaps the most accurate handgun in the world except for the Wasser 7mm handgun.  It is "banned" from international Silhouette competition, as is its general design.  The accuracy is so high, no gun can compete with it.

The barrel is precisely at the level of the index finger and radius head, when the gun is held correctly.  As a result, it has absolutely no rotation about the wrist when fired, before the bullet leaves the barrel.  Parts are very well made, but disassembly and cleaning is more complex than other guns.  It's a read the manual first situation (and one in English is available).  Only 1000 of these guns were made, all by one person who now is the technical services director at Steyr.

The weights serve a minor role in adjusting the feel of the gun, and a major one in barrel tuning by setting up countervibration.  This is similar to the noise cancelling headphones from Bose, and now others.

Trigger weight adjusted down to about 1 oz, and can be 1 or 2 stage.  The sights can be canted, but are very high like the MC-55 rather than like the Hammerli and TOZ35 guns.  This does change the sighting technique somewhat.

The muzzle brake is totally symmetric, overcoming the problems of the asymmetric blast muzzle brakes that worsened accuracy significantly.

These guns can be used with any velocity .22lr cartridge, from the Zimmer and CB, to the highest power rifle cartridges, effectively.  Clearances at the breach are tight, resulting in softer brass being more difficult to extract.  These guns use an extractor, but no ejector.

Left and right hand versions will be for sale, including a RH XL grip.