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3-D Gun Printing: People Already Making Their Own AR Lowers
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September 28, 2012
3-D Gun Printing: People Already Making Their Own AR Lowers
By Phil Bourjaily
Last year I blogged about 3-D printing and the possibility that someday soon we could print firearms parts and, possibly, whole guns. That future is arriving: people have already printed plastic AR 15 lowers.*
Defense Distributed, a group that hosts the Wiki Weapon project, is trying to make a whole, functional, printable gun. Their goal is modest: a .22 pistol that will fire at least one shot. Think of it like World War II’s “Liberator Pistol” for the 21st century. They then intend to make the information and plan available anywhere so anyone with a hobby grade 3-D printer can make a public domain pistol.
Your thoughts: is this idea good, bad or just weird? And how long do you think until we can print guns?
*On the one hand, the lower half of an AR can be nothing but a piece of plastic. However, it’s significant because the lower half has the serial number and is the one AR part that requires an FFL to transfer. Theoretically you could buy the rest of a rifle by mail or in person without a NICS background check then print out your own lower and build a rifle.
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Comments (23)
Wasn’t this called a Replicator on Star Trek?
my friend calls the fp 45 liberator a "metal hinge"
I'm sure the ATF super excited about the possibilities that this opens up for investigations.
I think you would soon be in trouble with the BATFE for possession of a firearm without a serial number.
Great device.
I have relatives that would love this. Especially if you could print one with a cartridge already loaded on the chamber.
I suppose this'll put a whole new spin on Orwell's thoughtcrime.
Great device.
I have relatives that would love this. Especially if you could print one with a cartridge already loaded on the chamber.
I suppose this'll put a whole new spin on Orwell's thoughtcrime.
Anyone getting caught manufacturing or possessing a firearm without a serial number will get a hard prison sentence.
idahoguy101, WRONG! Only if you cross state lines of State the action/frame was Manufactured in.
Some may chuckle at printing something, but I guess the first valve-type flush toilet was introduced in 1738 by a man named J.F. Brondel and Thomas Edison making the light bulb replacing the candle industry was suppose to be the doom to America workers.
Serial Number, easy assign one and keep a log of it!
remember;
what we do know, is minute to what we don't know.
what about a look-a-like of dave's lady friend ?
Idahoguy101 I have a 1964 H & R 12 gauge with no serial number as those weren't required until the 1968 gun law was passed. So no-- you can own a gun without a serial number on it. If you make your own receiver-- you probably should assign it a serial number. But if you don't have a FFL to manufacture you cannot sell that gun ever.
Sounds like a whole new world of Wildcatting.
All very good posts. But I only counted 11 so far and what's the chance of getting those 11 on the same jury of your peers. To paraphrase a 50's TV show "Lucy you got some splanning to do".
PS For all you analog guys that did well in shop class firearms and suppressors have always been available in parts sets IE. Sten, Sterling, AK-47, and Hollywoods favorite Cobray MAC-10 or 11. The only problem is the Gray Bar Hotel
With a quality drill press, the right "tools" and some machining sense, one might be surprised at what's possible!
From what I've read it is legal to manufacture a gun for yourself, but you cannot transfer it to anyone else.
And in all practical purposes "gun control" has been virtually impossible since the invention of the Smithy machine. And now CNC machines make it even easier for anyone with enough bucks to crank out as many guns as they want.
Hardest part to make is the barrel. I don't see how a plastic barrel could ever hold the pressure of a round firing. Hell, steel barrels blow up, think plastic is up to it? No way, and rifling? Forget it. Plastic cannot force grooves into a lead bullet, now it you found a softer but heavy material mabey, but I seriously doubt you could do it without at least a steel barrel liner molded into the plastic.
Zermoid is right. The plastics that are available to these 3D printers is in no way able to endure the pressure of a bullet firing, not to mention the heat generated, if not from the ignition of the powder then of the friction of the barrel and the bullet. plastics are terrible materials when exposed to heat, they melt and deform. I also noticed that embedding a barrel into the plastic as a solution. The problems with this is that almost all metals are great at conducting heat so the plastic frame would also be exposed to excessive heat. Plastics are also amorphous materials and have very little elastic deformation, that is why "cheap" gear has a fair amount of plastic parts that wear out. So with the recoil, the barrel would become dislodged and render the weapon unreliable at best. Finally, these 3D printers are primarily used for prototyping, as such there are more efficient industrial process that would do a better job of this. There is a reason that no major firearms company has done this.
Everybody wants to look to "plastic" these days. With todays technology, plastic cookware? Remember the Winchester (Mod 51 I think?) had a fiberglass barrel with a steel liner.That was the late 50's, early 60's!
Lot'sa technology now available on the web! Careful saying "can't" or "won't"!
Dangerous and irresponsible are my first thoughts.
talk about opening up the proverbial can of worms! wow. this would be fantastic for the run of the mill criminal. never have to worry about stealing a firearm again. just find a place with a 3 d printer, and he (or she) would be in business. same with any high school kid who decides he has taken enough from a bully. not everything that can be done, SHOULD be done.
$20,000 for the prototype? In my day it was called a zip gun and you could build one for about $2.50 worth of parts.
I remember there used to be an older machine. I remember it went by the title Computer Numeric Control [CNC}. You could even make things in metal.
Don't they do the same thing with body parts?
Post a Comment
Wasn’t this called a Replicator on Star Trek?
my friend calls the fp 45 liberator a "metal hinge"
I'm sure the ATF super excited about the possibilities that this opens up for investigations.
I think you would soon be in trouble with the BATFE for possession of a firearm without a serial number.
Great device.
I have relatives that would love this. Especially if you could print one with a cartridge already loaded on the chamber.
I suppose this'll put a whole new spin on Orwell's thoughtcrime.
Great device.
I have relatives that would love this. Especially if you could print one with a cartridge already loaded on the chamber.
I suppose this'll put a whole new spin on Orwell's thoughtcrime.
Anyone getting caught manufacturing or possessing a firearm without a serial number will get a hard prison sentence.
idahoguy101, WRONG! Only if you cross state lines of State the action/frame was Manufactured in.
Some may chuckle at printing something, but I guess the first valve-type flush toilet was introduced in 1738 by a man named J.F. Brondel and Thomas Edison making the light bulb replacing the candle industry was suppose to be the doom to America workers.
Serial Number, easy assign one and keep a log of it!
remember;
what we do know, is minute to what we don't know.
what about a look-a-like of dave's lady friend ?
Idahoguy101 I have a 1964 H & R 12 gauge with no serial number as those weren't required until the 1968 gun law was passed. So no-- you can own a gun without a serial number on it. If you make your own receiver-- you probably should assign it a serial number. But if you don't have a FFL to manufacture you cannot sell that gun ever.
Sounds like a whole new world of Wildcatting.
All very good posts. But I only counted 11 so far and what's the chance of getting those 11 on the same jury of your peers. To paraphrase a 50's TV show "Lucy you got some splanning to do".
PS For all you analog guys that did well in shop class firearms and suppressors have always been available in parts sets IE. Sten, Sterling, AK-47, and Hollywoods favorite Cobray MAC-10 or 11. The only problem is the Gray Bar Hotel
With a quality drill press, the right "tools" and some machining sense, one might be surprised at what's possible!
From what I've read it is legal to manufacture a gun for yourself, but you cannot transfer it to anyone else.
And in all practical purposes "gun control" has been virtually impossible since the invention of the Smithy machine. And now CNC machines make it even easier for anyone with enough bucks to crank out as many guns as they want.
Hardest part to make is the barrel. I don't see how a plastic barrel could ever hold the pressure of a round firing. Hell, steel barrels blow up, think plastic is up to it? No way, and rifling? Forget it. Plastic cannot force grooves into a lead bullet, now it you found a softer but heavy material mabey, but I seriously doubt you could do it without at least a steel barrel liner molded into the plastic.
Zermoid is right. The plastics that are available to these 3D printers is in no way able to endure the pressure of a bullet firing, not to mention the heat generated, if not from the ignition of the powder then of the friction of the barrel and the bullet. plastics are terrible materials when exposed to heat, they melt and deform. I also noticed that embedding a barrel into the plastic as a solution. The problems with this is that almost all metals are great at conducting heat so the plastic frame would also be exposed to excessive heat. Plastics are also amorphous materials and have very little elastic deformation, that is why "cheap" gear has a fair amount of plastic parts that wear out. So with the recoil, the barrel would become dislodged and render the weapon unreliable at best. Finally, these 3D printers are primarily used for prototyping, as such there are more efficient industrial process that would do a better job of this. There is a reason that no major firearms company has done this.
Everybody wants to look to "plastic" these days. With todays technology, plastic cookware? Remember the Winchester (Mod 51 I think?) had a fiberglass barrel with a steel liner.That was the late 50's, early 60's!
Lot'sa technology now available on the web! Careful saying "can't" or "won't"!
Dangerous and irresponsible are my first thoughts.
talk about opening up the proverbial can of worms! wow. this would be fantastic for the run of the mill criminal. never have to worry about stealing a firearm again. just find a place with a 3 d printer, and he (or she) would be in business. same with any high school kid who decides he has taken enough from a bully. not everything that can be done, SHOULD be done.
$20,000 for the prototype? In my day it was called a zip gun and you could build one for about $2.50 worth of parts.
I remember there used to be an older machine. I remember it went by the title Computer Numeric Control [CNC}. You could even make things in metal.
Don't they do the same thing with body parts?
Post a Comment