You could certainly print up something like the liberator.
A polymer one shot in every pocket is a game changer for oppressive regimes.
Posted on 08/06/2012 7:03:09 PM PDT by JohnPierce
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The lower receiver of the gun pictured at the top of this article was not purchased from a licensed dealer, nor was it purchased from an individual.
This lower was ‘printed’ using a 3D printer and it may spell the beginning of the end for the gun control movement.
3D ‘printing’ is an emerging technology that has been commercially available for some time but is only now achieving inroads into the consumer market. 3D ‘printers’ are in fact computer controlled material handling systems that lay down successive layers of polymer or other material based upon a computer model to make a 3D object; in this case, a lower for an AR.
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Once costing tens of thousands of dollars, advanced 3D printers such as the MakerBot Replicator are available today for under $2,000 and the price is expected to keep dropping as consumer damage increases.
And thanks to engineer Michael Guslick, who ‘printed’ the lower pictured above from a design of his own creation, 3D printing of functional firearms has moved beyond the realm of the possible into the actual; and things will never be the same again.
Michael first posted details of his creation on AR15.com but the story quickly spread across the internet where numerous commentators, myself included, have discussed the legal and public policy ramifications of this inevitable step forward.
One of the comments on the AR15.com thread summed up my feelings quite nicely; ‘‘If we can spread this core technology to every kitchen tabletop, there will no longer be a meaningful way to restrict and infringe on the private civilian ownership of modern firearms.’’
Even Mark Gibbs of Forbes magazine couldn’t help himself from noting that, from this day forward ‘‘if guns are outlawed, outlaws will have 3D printers.’’
>>Does this mean that a person with a 3D printer can basically print out a zip gun?
An open bolt design like an Uzi is pretty easy to make - the barrel would be the toughest part. 3D printing would make it easier yet.
It won’t work.
Really.
OK, let’s say that they do this. This means that the amount of data required to be entered into the FFL’s book to transfer a rifle will explode upwards... with no benefit to anyone, least of all the BATF.
Further, the issue here is that anyone can make a lower with a 3D printer. Well, anyone can (and do) make lowers right now from castings. All you really need is a good drill press and some skill with a hand file. There are places you can get raw forgings or castings of a lower (or upper) for $30. Because these castings or forgings have no features necessary to the function of a gun (yet), they’re not serialized or controlled by the BATF.
You can then get a fixture to hold them in a vise on the drill press or mill and commence to removing the aluminum you don’t need.
They were available through the mail until the early 80’s. Then BATF said they were machine guns and required a 200 tax on them.
But one still had to have a lower that was machine for full auto. The early Colts had the same receiver as the m-16.
Receivers now days are made not to take the full auto parts and take machining to make them full auto.
Somebody needs to come up with a modern day Liberty gun design, a design using all of the above equipment to build basically a modern day Liberty gun, capable of firing either single or double shot such as a derringer.
I have no idea what that is, but I just finished watching an older episode of American Guns. What a great show! They built a .45 Long Colt SAA out of a steel ingot, so I guess they could do a Liberty gun for you, might cost $10-$15,000 though!
I can build a zip gun out of anything, the meaning behind my post was that anyone with this type of a printer can make a Liberty gun, and that includes the barrel.
With a disposable untraceable gun its posible to use that to move on up gathering weapons from the enemy.
Its a WW2 gun air dropped to the French Resistance. many made by Guide Lamp USA.
Now you have a idea and the simple prototype will usually cost you between 5 and 10 thousand to make and you end up with a 1000 part run. And you have to have a prototype to pitch your idea.
With this you just rent time on one of these printers and pop out the one you need. If there is a oppsee just refine the design and reprint.
Thanks for the info. Not sure why anyone would want a full auto AR15 anyway. Folks would just burn through their ammo, probably not hit what they are shooting at, and end up with near red hot barrels. IMO, the three round burst is what really rocks!
In all honesty should America be at war in any fashion I would look at what the Afghanistan rebels did and what weapons they used successfully against the Russians.
First off the simple RPG comes to mind, granted it requires specific materials but push comes to shove a red neck version could be designed.
And the their is the strategy of using dummies with a thermal heat source and fake guns to lead in an opposing force into a kill zone comes to mind.
Endless possibilities to use in a strategic fashion.
The 'Good Old Days' when Shotgun News was really really fun....;)
The important point to remember here is that while this may be a curiosity to those interested in guns, this shows that the Left’s dream of getting rid of all guns is but a mere fantasy.
Were they able to get rid of them, criminals would still be able to easily make them – unless they can get rid of all the metal and machine tools in the world.
Oh, and ping for reference.
bflr
2 bits of information that everyone needs to know, if the SHTF or the left achieves its goals -
a 1/4 inch steel pipe will “chamber” a .22
a 3/4 inch steel pipe will fit a 12 guage shell.
Break this glass only in extreme emergency, though.
Building a Colt SAA wouldn’t cost $10K in any world but the one inhabited by idiotic reality shows.
Building a “liberty gun” wouldn’t cost but a couple hundred bucks, all-in.
A recent episode had Rich Wyatt building a .338 Lapua for a CO police swat team who had a $5K budget. Wyatt agreed to “lose money” and build it for a promise of more .338 rifles to be ordered. Now there are several off-the-shelf rifles for considerably less than $5K such as from Weatherby.
Same show a customer came in with grandpas old 870 Wingmaster and wanted to make it a home defense gun. Wyatt charged him +/- $800 to ruin the classic 870 when he could have sold him a Mossberg or Remington for less and saved grandpas Wingmaster. He also gave the guy something like $200 for a TC scoped single shot worth about $700-800 toward the project.
True, those folks agreed to the deals, but I don't respect that sort of dealing.
Whoa! I have no idea what we are talking about but I want to put a BIG PING on this page to come back tonight and learn!
A lot of folks on this thread have commented that printing a lower, let alone a full working firearm, would be very, very difficult/impossible, due to the lack of strong enough metal.
OK, me not being an engineer, I might buy that.
But the central theme here is that a 3-D printer provides for more freedom, particularly as related to the firearm issue. I **DO** agree, and here’s why:
First, I am willing to bet that magazines can be printed. That rips the guts out of any magazine ban.
Second, many of the gun grabbers have proposed eliminating ammo. Well, let’s see: I’ll bet that brass cases can be printed, and primer cups and anvils as well. Bullets for sure, but we can always cast them anyway (that’s old technology, and even if lead is banned then one could melt down pre-1982 pennies, which are 95% copper and 5% zinc). Yes, melting down U.S. cents is illegal, but so is printing a gun - proceed at your own risk.
Third, while I don’t think that smokeless powder can be printed, it is quite possible to print the components of a small-scale machine to produce it. Anyhow, as others have brought out here and elsewhere, you just need a reliable single-shot to be able to obtain more modern weapons that you don’t have to manufacture or print.
Fourth, I would imagine that literally every piece of reloading equipment that one could think of could be printed, so if they try to ban/confiscate that, 3-D printers could ride to the rescue.
Fifth, there are a lot of other things that can also be printed - think grenades (sans the powder - which can be made without too much trouble, as it just has to explode, not meter well as with a reloading set-up). Also think about various black-powder guns (assuming that “they” outlaw those also)... I seem to remember quite a lot of people being killed with those over the last few centuries.
FYI, I don’t know why everyone is so high on the Liberator. A weapon with a storied history, no doubt, but if you’re talking about printing a weapon from the past that’s easy to make, what about the Sten gun? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sten I seem to remember reading that they cost something like $6.00 to manufacture back then - so maybe its $100 worth of parts now?
http://www.milsurps.com/content.php?r=422-Blueprints-for-The-STEN-MKII-(complete-machine-plans)
I am very, very happy about the maturing of this technology, as it is quite liberating. Remember the quote from The Weapon Shops of Isher by A.E. Van Vogt: ‘The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.’ With this technology, the only way TPTB could stop the production of weapons by civilians would be to shut off the delivery of electricity TO EVERYONE...and even then, there are enough ways to produce electricity that such an act won’t work in the long run. We humans are a mere few steps away from being able to be free of dictatorships - if this technology spreads, and I have little doubt that it will.
Of course, all the usual multi-lettered federal agencies should understand that I don’t advocate any illegal acts. This entire post is merely a theoretical academic discussion, still protected under the 1st Amendment.
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