Comments on: 3D printed gun fires 6 shots - then falls apart

By: Shaggy

Shaggy — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 21:56:00 +0000

Under BATF regulations, the lower receiver of an AR-15 IS the gun.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:24:00 +0000

They have a far higher likelihood of blowing up in your hand.

By: Lemoutan

Lemoutan — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:42:00 +0000

Wouldn’t a grenade be more efficient?

By: benher

benher — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 07:00:00 +0000

I couldn’t believe this either! They must have had a significant amount of faith in the preciseness of the printer used.

No offense to these gentlemen, but if you’re gunning (heh) for the Darwin award, this is a good way to do it.

By: Wiki-Truths

Wiki-Truths — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:57:00 +0000

Could you print it and then coat it in a stronger material? Fiberglass etc

By: Jaan Q

Jaan Q — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:49:00 +0000

You’re right. The receiver (lower receiver in this case) is the key. In fact, in the latest Sportsman’s Guide catalog, they have a complete AK-74 receiver that you can buy as a part without a license, since it’s classified as a blank. All you need to do to put the rest of the parts in is drill a few holes and put in a couple of pins. The receiver is the only part you need a license to buy.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/ak-74-receiver-blank.aspx?a=1034079

By: LogrusZed

LogrusZed — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:48:00 +0000

Fucking logic. It’s not in the bible.

/and I got three “likes” so I’m not the only stupid bastard, at least.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:38:00 +0000

Failed and successful assassinations both qualify as attempted assassinations. Or can you propose another set that includes both?

By: Johnny Come Lately

Johnny Come Lately — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:26:00 +0000

If you’d ever fired a gun before you might understand that 1 shot does not necessarily equal 1 kill, or even a hit. Firing a gun accurately requires skill and fine motor control, both of which get all kinds of screwed up when your body dumps adrenaline into your system. Firing a gun when you’re jumpy from the loud noises is difficult, firing a gun and doing so accurately when somebody is trying to kill you is significantly harder.

This might be a clue as to why police officers (who tend to have lots of gun-carrying backup) feel compelled to use sidearms that carry 15 or more rounds.

By: B E Pratt

B E Pratt — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:05:00 +0000

Still wouldn’t compete with the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode called Lamb to the Slaughter (starring the lovely and talented Barbara Bel Geddes ;)

By: LogrusZed

LogrusZed — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:52:00 +0000

I was told there would be no reading.

By: Funk Daddy

Funk Daddy — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:35:00 +0000

aight now, yall got to read to the end of my short post to avoid telling me that it’s just the lower, which is what’s at the end of my short post.

By: LogrusZed

LogrusZed — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:10:00 +0000

It’s true, all attempted assassinations failed. Strangely all assassinations succeeded. The people going for the attempted ones really should have read up on this shit beforehand.

By: Henry Minsky

Henry Minsky — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:06:00 +0000

the problem is using a design that was made for metal, and printing in plastic. The whole thing needs to be redesigned to meet the strength parameters of the material. Not too hard, but need thicker walls everywhere.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:12:00 +0000

Attempted assassinations involving firearms don’t have a very high success rate.

By: LogrusZed

LogrusZed — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:52:00 +0000

The lower receiver, which is the printed part here, isn’t where detonation happens. That is taking place in the upper. So the boom is taking place in a factory-made chamber, not a homemade printed part.

The lower houses things like trigger assembly and selector. I think one of the potentially scary issues here is that the selector is where the options for “1, 2, 3, full-auto, safe” live.

One may, IIRC, purchase uppers all day long with no registration because the lower is really the technical part where the magic happens. Uppers don’t even possess serials AFAIK.

By: Kevin Harrelson

Kevin Harrelson — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:56:00 +0000

Wow. Way to be completely ignorant there. It is currently IMPOSSIBLE to sneak a gun past a metal detector. You can make a receiver from non-metal parts. Magazine too (well, you still need a metal spring). Trigger assembly — probably (with metal springs). The barrel (you know, the thing that holds the bullet while it is being fired) MUST MUST MUST be made of metal. The chamber end has to withstand several THOUSAND PSI. Also, the bolt/slide should also be metal.

Sheesh. The whole “plastic gun” thing started to make the rounds when the first Glock was first introduced. The myth is about as true now as it was back then.

By: Daemonworks

Daemonworks — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:23:00 +0000

How many shots do you really need in order to assasinate somebody with a weapon you’ve made out of plastic in order to sneak it past security?

By: arnaudh

arnaudh — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:02:00 +0000

Huh… Actually, Smith & Wesson’s lower receivers are machined out of aluminum, like most metal lower receivers. But there are many manufacturers also making lower receivers out of polymer or carbon fiber.
It’s only a matter of time for the lower receiver design to be reworked successfully to work with 3D-printed material.

By: Eatme Completely

Eatme Completely — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Looking at that vid again, I think there’s good reason to believe it failed at fewer than 6 rounds. He had the butt pulled into his shoulder pretty tightly. It didn’t fall off until he lowered the weapon, so it’s possible that it was held together for a few shots just by the pressure he was exerting on it.

Also, notice that at the very start of the clip, the textover clearly shows the word “reinforced,” meaning they thought this particular receiver was overbuilt to be sturdier than the standard printing. Which means that the product they tested was even shittier than it looks.

By: Eatme Completely

Eatme Completely — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:25:00 +0000

Gee, do ya think maybe there’s a reason why Smith & Wesson has stuck with steel for so long?

By: Robert Cruickshank

Robert Cruickshank — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:06:00 +0000

Did they get any prints off it?

By: zyaddy

zyaddy — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:44:00 +0000

Yup, NFA, ATI and Plum Crazy do. I have the NFA with over 3000 rounds through it and the only thing that broke was a little pin which has been replaced with metal now.

By: Lemoutan

Lemoutan — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:30:00 +0000

Yeah, but I’d still have the nagging doubt that they might start up again. Viola players just don’t care.

By: PhosPhorious

PhosPhorious — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:24:00 +0000

No, you can do that in 4 bullets. By the time the second cello goes down, they’ve all stopped playing.

By: Josh Richard

Josh Richard — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:16:00 +0000

Yes. Check out New Frontier Armory.

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:15:00 +0000

Or perhaps one person in a lot of pain while you stand there and watch, and then finally dead?

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:14:00 +0000

Actually, I was thinking about how to plan the perfect murder and how that might involve 3D printing…

By: Austin Williamson

Austin Williamson — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:56:00 +0000

It isn’t a gun that they printed, it’s the lower receiver. Geebers. A fully 3d printed gun would blow apart on the first shot due to the physical properties of plastic.

By: dustbuster7000

dustbuster7000 — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:55:00 +0000

Does anyone (in the firearms industry proper) currently make this part from polymers? I know a lot of handgun manufacturers make extensive use of, presumably injection moulded, polymers in the receivers and slides. Is this also true of this kind of rifle? If not, that might be a hint to the makers of this printed part regarding the design. As arnaudh pointed out, redesign of the part with the loads and material limitations might yield a better result.