3-D Printed Gun Only Lasts 6 Shots

thunderfeeds.com ^ | 3 December, 2012 | Robert Beckhusen

[marktwain]

Over the weekend, a group of 3-D printing gunsmiths took a partially printed rifle out to test how long its plastic parts survived spewing bullets. The result? Six rounds until it snapped apart....

[marktwain]

Homemade guns have been around as long as there have been guns.

[C210N]

I’d hope that homemade guns will be around a plenty, or even more so, if/when there are no more non-homemade guns.

[DannyTN]

“partially printed rifle”????

Shouldn’t they have tested a completely printed one?

[rawhide]

Limitation probably easily overcome by adding metal into the printing process at various stages.

[spetznaz]

Not bad. In an insurgency all that would be needed is one shot. That would allow one to (hopefully) kill someone who has a superior weapon. Similar to the single-shot WW2 FP-45 Liberator pistol that was distributed to resistance fighters. A cheap(er) 3D printer can enable ‘printing’ of weapons that, although not the best, would enable quite a lot of freedom fighting (or mischief, depending on which side you are on) to be accomplished.

[Jonty30]

It’s a start.

When guns were first invented, they were only single shot.

[onedoug]

‘O’m goin’ print me out a gun.’

[NonValueAdded]

For more of what Spetznaz is talking about, read What good can a handgun do against an Army.

[MrB]

Beat me to it. Six should be plenty if used correctly.

[Theoria]

'In an insurgency all that would be needed is one shot.'

I always say that willpower is the greatest firepower.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It’s not the gun’s fault that they didn’t use the proper paper bullets!

[muir_redwoods]

I’m going from memory but I think the Wright brothers first flight was about a minute and 28 seconds. It’s a start.

[chris37]

That’s a negative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBTbhSFfuNM

[1rudeboy]

Wrong toner, maybe?

[Navy Patriot]

Replace the printer with a CNC mill, and rewrite the code.

No problem.

[muawiyah]

One of the Russian's more effective recent weapons for stopping enemy movements was the small landmines that had just enough power to maim a foot. Obviously they got in a lot of trouble with them because they were attractive to young children ~ but they worked. They were also cheap. You could probably print them up for pennies ~ then load them.

I was just thinking that if you had a bread truck toting around the 3D printing rig you could spew out 5 round printed firearms just all over the place ~ for the locals to pick up.

You wouldn't need to go to the elaborate lengths you do with heavier full iron weaponry, or with dope dealing ~ just print up the guns, load them on the fly, and toss them along side roads, in alleys, in yards ~ a few people could probably arm a good sized town before being suspected ~ even with a plethora of unmanned drones in the region.

There's also gotta' be a design that's invisible to rader ~ get the specs out on that one now for future freedom fighters to know about.

[muawiyah]

And, they were made out of wood ~ hollowed out tree trunks in fact ~ they tossed rocks ~ everybody wanted one!

Did you know that entire societies learned to stop urinating in ditches and turned to formal outhouse arrangements just so the saltpeter (potassium nitrate) could be harvested from urine?

Firearms changed societal behavior in truly massive ways ~ and improved public health!

[MosesKnows]

Six rounds until it snapped apart

They had me at one round; very impressive.

[kingu]

Slightly misleading title, but that’s Wired for you... Only the lower receiver was printed, all the rest was kit gun with metal parts. Usefulness of this particular design is questionable at best, but it’s a great conversation starter.

[OSHA]

Annie Print Your Gun