After the excitement of over the reports from the Airsoft Media of the IWA 2012 & Outdoor Classics has died down, I went over again the photos that were submitted by Dom when he covered the event for Popular Airsoft. The airsoft industry really have provided us some new technology to make airsoft more fun than ever, with the MIT technology from G&G, the Airsoft Systems ASAR, the ASG CZ Scorpion 3 A1, two M1 Garand versions, the Real Sword SVD GBB, and much more. However, what really got my attention was not an airsoft product, well not yet, and I am looking forward to seeing an airsoft version of this...

... it's the Arsenal Firearms AF2011-A1 Double Barrel Pistol which debuted during the IWA 2012 & Outdoor Classics.

I am sure many would agree with me as it's what you will call a "different animal". All of us at Popular Airsoft are fans of the Colt 1911A1, and even after 100 years, this pistol still remains a heavy favourite among shooters, airsoft and real steel shooters alike. What Arsenal Firearms' commemoration of the 1911, they really did it in style, faithfully maintaining that 1911 look but enhancing it to give us the double barrel AF2011-A1. It's a good thing that what they made is a work on art, rather than coming up with another franken gun.

If you do not agree with me that this is the most interesting firearm for this year, I guess over 800,000 people will as the video of the AF2011-A1 has already breached that number of views as of this writing since it was uploaded last 2 March:

Here is a detailed description of the pistol as written by Arsenal Firearms which I highly recommend that you remember by heart. This pistol can be a very good topic in conversations among firearms afficionados, and not being able to know what this is, well, would just sink you:

The AF2011-A1 Double Barrel Pistol comes actually as the very first industrial double barrel semiautomatic pistol of all times. The original idea came about ten years back to Swiss armourer Vivian Mueller, who at the time experienced cutting and welding together multiple parts of the famous Sig P210: the result was a long slide, double barrel 9mm, highly decorated collector piece, which indeed shot very well.

Our idea took the challenge further: to commemorate the legendary Colt 1911-A1 in the Centenary by making a true industrial market-ready double barrel .45 caliber pistol.

We achieved success in the brief span of 6 months, after intense and round-the-clock 3D designing, stereolithographic modeling and parts machining.

The gun can be handled by any shooter able to shoot with a .45 Acp and it is not only very pleasing, but very accurate and great fun. The AF2011-A1 holds amazing and surprising target performance for the shooter: in fact, it will group all the 8 double .45 caliber rounds (16 bullets) held in the duplex, single columns magazines, in a target of the size of an orange at 15 yards and of a water melon at 25.

The stopping power of the AF2011-A1 is tremendous: 2 bullets for a total of 460 Grains weight impacting at 1 to 2 inches apart (depending on the distance of the target) will knock down a bull, while the whole 18 bullets, for a payload exceeding 4000 Grains, can be delivered to the target in about 3 seconds.

The AF2011-A1 obviously features a number of very special parts, such as the single slide, the single frame, the single spur double hammer, the single grip safety, the single body double mainspring housing and the single double cavity magazine floor plate, the long and double magazine latch, the special barrel bushings and the hold open lever and side lever safety with long shafts: but the most interesting feature of the new pistol which we strived to keep during the development of the project, is the interchangeability of most internal parts, which come as standard 1911 replacement parts. These include the firing pins, the firing pins plates, the sears groups, the triple springs, the inner parts of the mainspring housings, the recoil springs and recoil springs rods, the magazine bodies and inner parts, the sights (including after market adjustable sights) the grips and grips screws and bushings.

The AF2011-A1 ("Twenty Eleven" for aficionados) can be ordered either with 2 independent triggers and one sear group (left or right, with user-interchangeability for right or left operations) or with 2 triggers permanently joined and the choice of 1 or 2 sear groups.

The AF2011-A1 is available in mirror finish Deep Blue or with a 3400 Vickers surface hardness White Ash Nitrite coating.

This is something that an airsoft manufacturer, serious in its business, should immediately make. Either we are looking at Tokyo Marui and Western Arms, or even Inokatsu as these companies lovingly make their 1911 airsoft pistols to the exact detail and finishing. I would love to place a pre-order of this if indeed an airsoft replica would be made, and I prefer it to be put in a nicely made wooden box, not cardboard packaging. This pistol deserves some respect, like the 1911.

Why am I excited to have an airsoft version of this? The answer is obvious: I get to fire two rounds in a single trigger pull, making me an effective shooter in CQB games. Since 1911s have no automatic feature as compared to more modern pistols, the ability to put such firepower in a small package will give the shooter advantage over faster shooting but less lethal 9mms. Just image two .45 rounds hitting you, that'll really ruin your day. In airsoft, having two rounds fire immediately help you make that hit more forcefully, as pistols don't have that punch as compared to AEGs. Two rounds hitting almost simultaneously would help ensure that the player would call the hit; consecutive double round hits would even further motivate the player to leave the playing ground after getting hit.

Even if I don't get to play with an airsoft version of the AF2011-A1, it's a beauty and would surely be part of my favourite pistols and one that I would love to put in a glass enclosure, provided that I have the space to put my gun collection.

I hope the airsoft manufacturers can read this right now, this is a surefire hit amongst pistol collectors in the airsoft community.