Ok, "thoughts" is a little strongly-worded. More like a thought.

A while back, my mini-Grip springs broke, and I posted a thread about my (very good) experiences with BM support. In that thread, Doug mentioned one of the big benefits of the Axis lock system: If the lock did happen to fail, you could still use the knife by putting a twig or stick through the mechanism to hold it open.

I just realized something I hadn't known about the Barrage: It has a lock that serves this same purpose. I'd never really looked closely at this knife before b/c I'm not really a fan of assisted openers, but this seems like it'd be a very good feature.

So, just thought I'd toss that out there. Would love to hear from anyone who has a Barrage, too, as I'm considering one for my next folding knife purchase.

Link to BM page:

http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=580