If I had a dollar for every time I read a comment about innovation is dead in the gun industry I probably would have purchased a small island, hired Elon Musk to build me a rocket capable of taking me to the moon, and had a habitat built there so I could live out my days in peace like Sam from Moon. The reality is, there is plenty of innovation if you look hard enough. For example, the Bicep Brace.

The Bicep Brace uses a standard carbine buffer tube and allows a shooter to stabilize a pistol with the bicep area of their arm, instead of their shoulder. The inventor says that the brace folds as thin as a traditional shoulder stock. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to compare the brace to a stock when I saw it in person.

Please keep in mind that the version that exists right now is a working prototype that was 3d printed. The design needs more refinement but has served its purpose as a proof of concept.

Now before you chastise this thing, let me tell you about my first-hand experience with the Bicep Brace. Not only did I get some time to talk to the guy that designed it, Heston Kent, but I also had the chance to shoot the Bicep Brace. Heston is sending a prototype out for me to form a more concrete opinion as to its viability early next week when it finishes printing. So look for more on the Bicep Brace soon on RECOILweb.

At first glance, I was as skeptical as you would expect, but after talking to Heston for a while I was becoming more and more impressed by his ingenuity.

Deploying the Bicep Brace on the prototype that I was was slightly clumsy but could be improved with further development. You have to thread the bicep pad between the receiver and brace in order to get the bicep pad to its deployed position. Heston has added an automatic locking feature on the current version of the prototype as seen in the video below where the arm locks into place automatically when the arm is unfolded to the deployed position.

When the Bicep Brace is folded up it appears to take up less space than the Magpul SL-K stock. If you are wondering why the long pokey switch in the back, the ATF asked that he include the long switch in the back to ensure that the stock is not misused by someone attempting to circumvent the NFA cause they are party poopers.

Heston says that it took over a year to get approval from the ATF's Firearm Technology Branch, 10 months of that was tied up in chief counsel. He was rejected twice, presumably due to controversial nature of the brace. In the end, Heston has a letter of approval that states that the Bicep Brace does not change a pistol's classification to a short barreled rifle as long as the shooter does not remove the large tab on the rear switch or attempts to shoot the Bicep Brace from the shoulder.

Here are the letters from the ATF:

With pistol braces that now adjust for length on the market, that was absolutely a feature that Heston felt was necessary to include on the Bicep Brace. Heston went one step further with an adjustable cheek piece that has about two inches of rearward adjustment if you desire it.

Once the Bicep Brace is deployed the prototype that I had the pleasure to shoot a mag through was pretty dang solid. Once I figured out how to use it effectively, the pistol I was shooting was nearly as stable as a short barreled rifle with a traditional stock. Recoil was manageable and I found follow up shots at 25-yards to be reasonably easy even with the unconventional brace.

Below the video should give you a better indication as to how well it works.

I know the question is going to come up in the comments, you are asking yourself why this is a thing. I would counter your question with why not? As hungry as consumers are for something different and innovative, this is what the road to innovation looks like. Innovation is messy, looks weird, and normally comes as the result of a moment of clarity spurred from something a bit out of the norm.

There is no word as to when the Bicep Brace will go into production, if ever. I sure hope that Heston works out all the bugs and is able to get a marketable version of the stock out there for folks that are looking for a solution like this one. You can keep up with his progress on the project on the AR15.com thread found HERE.