$25 Gun Created With Cheap 3D Printer Fires Nine Shots (Video)

forbes.com ^ | 20 May, 2013 | Andy Greenberg

[marktwain]

When high tech gunsmith group Defense Distributed test-fired the world’s first fully 3D-printed firearm earlier this month, some critics dismissed the demonstration as expensive and impractical, arguing it could only be done with a high-end industrial 3D printer and that the plastic weapon wouldn’t last more than a single shot. Now a couple of hobbyists have proven them wrong on both counts.

One evening late last week, a Wisconsin engineer who calls himself “Joe” test-fired a new version of that handgun printed on a $1,725 Lulzbot A0-101 consumer-grade 3D printer, far cheaper than the one used by Defense Distributed. Joe, who asked that I not reveal his full name, loaded the weapon with .380 caliber rounds and fired it nine times, using a string to pull its trigger for safety.

The weapon survived all nine shots over the course of an evening, as you can see in the YouTube video below. (The clip was filmed by Michael Guslick, a fellow Wisconsin engineer who helped Joe with his tests and who is known for printing one of the first working lower receivers for AR-15 semi-automatic rifles.)

[RKV]

Nice! See also your tax dollars at work in TM 31-210
for expedient firearms.

http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/june2007/imhv3.pdf

[ltc8k6]

Maybe the printed items can be tracked back to the individual printer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_steganography

[JRandomFreeper]

if the fascists don't cripple 3D printing.

They can't. You can build your own printer if you are so inclined. This 3-d printing stuff has a large opensource communitity behind it.

Think linux, writ small, like the early days when I was downloading a few disks to build a system.

Linux was international before powers tried to kill it.

I believe FR is running on linux.

This is international. It's global. 3-d printing is here to stay, regardless of the politicos.

The only thing to determine is the cost in blood and treasure.

/johnny

[RKV]

We’re also going to need field expedient ammo - black powder in a cartridge, maybe for use in a multi-barrel setup. Chris Rock anticipated the anti’s next move - bullet control. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZrFVtmRXrw

[marktwain]

I have a 3D printed 4 barrel, legal, non-detectable projectile, gun design in my head. Less bulky than the current single shot, more accurate, quick reloads...

Trying to decide if I want to make a proof of principle single shot....

[dalereed]

My wife’s great grandfather carried a sawed off 10 gauge double barrel with a pistol grip that looks just about like that as a guard in a packing shed in Orange County, CA.

[factoryrat]

I think these 3D plastic models would make a great one time use gun, for emergency purposes. Holds 9 rounds or so, non reloadable, disposable, and cheap to make. Would come in handy if you’re in a real bind. As far as barrel issues go, maybe using a section of barrel sleeve (for repairing old barrels) would work as an insert. Brownell’s has a range of stock for common calibers.

[Iron Munro]

Fires 9 shots?

A magazine with 9 cartridges is enough to get you arrested on a felony charge in New York State.

That’s assuming you have somehow managed to get a state permit to own a pistol in the first place.

[Jonty30]

Sure, until the Democrats win on the gun issue. I’d rather have the 3D-printed gun perfected before then, rather than try and figure it out afterwards.

[Iron Munro]

Re: Post #10 - Your plumbing pipe shotgun idea

When I was a kid we were obsessed with the military and had BB gun wars between the Marines and the Chi-coms all the time.

We also made several smooth bore guns using plumbers pipe and used them to fire marbles and steelies.
We mounted the barrels on small two wheeled carriages made of wood scraps and baby coach wheels and towed them around pretending they were howitzers.

We made some of our own gunpowder and also got gunpowder by emptying .22 cartridges and shotgun shells. In those days a lot of kids had Gilbert Chemistry sets that came complete with instructions on how to make gunpowder and that's what we did. A kid could walk into a hardware store or drugstore and buy different chemicals and compounds and no one batted an eye. It was a normal thing for kids to do in that era.

We drilled a small hole in the back end of the pipe and used fuses from a prank firecracker that was sold in corner stores, 5 and 10 cent stores, etc. The firecracker was an empty red tube that came with 3 or 4 nice fuses.

The guns worked pretty well too and made a satisfying noise. No adult ever challenged us on what we were doing even when they saw us pulling our howitzers around. As long as we didn't shoot out windows or put a BB in an eye we were left to our own devices.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

What gets me is how the liberal fascists ignore sling shots which can F up a person just as much as a gun. Or bow and arrows, which can kill you just as easily as a gun. It tells me this is not about killing to the liberal fascists but more about dismantling the constitution.

[generally]

So many good angles to this story!

[jdege]

“There’s a version of this type of printer that makes metal objects from powdered metal.”

Sintered aluminum makes a barrel that is, if anything, less capable of withstanding stress than extruded plastic.

[generally]

Two points:

1. I’ll take my chances with a dangerous gun in order to protect myself and loved ones from a dangerous criminal. I won’t take this gun to the range for sport shooting.

2. Printed guns will improve, just like all new technology. The Wright brothers’ first flight lasted 3 seconds. The first car wouldn’t qualify for the Indy 500.

[jdege]

It’s only silly because I can make one that’s better from old plumbing leftovers, and it will never blow up.

Free zip guns have been around for as long as there have been guns.

But, zip guns are clumsy, prone to accidental discharge, and slow to reload.

That's why I'm thinking that combining a 3D-printed action with some plumbing pipe might make for something that is actually functional.

[Spktyr]

Aluminum isn’t the only thing they can use for that. There’s a sintered steel and sintered titanium option out there now.

[justlurking]

Everyone should read the article. There are a number things to note:

• They fired 8 shots from one barrel, then switched to a second barrel. But, after each shot, they had to hammer the empty brass out of the barrel -- the brass had expanded so much that it was wedged in.

• They used a different printer (less than $2,000) with a different type of ABS plastic. He believes the plastic is actually stronger than the ABS plastic used in a more expense printer by the original designer.

• In addition to the metal firing pin, they used some metal hardware screws to assemble the parts. During the testing, some of them had to be replaced. The gun also misfired several times.

• Unlike the original design, the barrel was rifled. They also added a piece of non-functional metal. Both were to comply with federal regulations.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

It seems to me that existing 3d printed models, would tend to be very dangerous to fire.

Everybody agrees they only last so many rounds, and I assume one would really not want to be holding it when it fails.

You're right, but as a former mechanical engineer, I wouldn't have expected a plastic gun barrel to survive a single test-firing.

So if plastic guns are already surviving 9 test-firings, it's not unreasonable to expect them to be safe and practical soon.

[bert]

The environmentally friendly barrel plastic can be recycled making it acceptable to a large segment of the leftists that place environmental ideology over anti gun ideology

[tomkat]

With Firefox, AdBlockPlus gets it done.