Man Makes Guns with a 3D Printer

Is this technology actually real? Seems impossible to make something so detailed. If it is real, this could help a lot of people, then again it could be used for bad things.

Who invented this technology?

Yeah he used the printer for the upper but the lower is where the serial number is really he has broken federal law by manufacturing a firearm. Don't get me wrong i have guns, and im proud he had the knowledge to do this. I just wouldn't put it online for the world to see.

Originally posted by zompoc
Yeah he used the printer for the upper but the lower is where the serial number is really he has broken federal law by manufacturing a firearm. Don't get me wrong i have guns, and im proud he had the knowledge to do this. I just wouldn't put it online for the world to see.

Yep, this ^^

So if you want to use the 3d printers to manufacture guns or gun parts you have to have a Gunsmithing license. Or it's "knock knock! Who's there? ATF!"

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
Boring out a barrel is probably the easiest part, and there will undoubtedly be 3d metal fabricators.

Barrel making is most definitely not the easiest part, arguably it's the most difficult part of producing firearms.

Pretty much anybody with slight machining skills, mechanical aptitude, some basic machining equipment and the knowledge of how a gun works could build a working receiver, bolt, stock, etc.

To construct a barrel is much more difficult on the other hand. First, there is the specialty tools needed to rifle the barrel. The advanced knowledge required to accurately rifle it. Then there various processes to go through in order to strengthen the barrel so that it can fire without blowing up in your face. You have to know what types of rifling twist for what types of rounds being fired. Making barrels is the most advanced part of the gun. I could build a simple recoil blowback operated rifle with some milling equipment, a lathe, some hand tools, and the proper materials. Making a barrel that actually passes as a gun barrel I would have no idea where to start.

Yes you can just make an EXTREMELY thick piece of hollowed out stainless bar stock and have a smooth bore rifle. But then the rifle won't shoot worth a chit, and you still run the possibility of the rifle blowing up in your face. Such a gun wouldn't be any better than "zip guns" which have been made for decades, which are just handmade one time use guns out of standard parts.

Now combine that with the fact that this guy didn't actually even make a gun with a 3D printer, he made a lower receiver and assembled all the real parts on it and you see that this isn't anything groundbreaking. He already made the CAD file of the receiver, so he could have simply used a CNC milling machine and made an aluminum receiver.

Once again I'll say this just isn't anything new, groundbreaking, impressive, or anything else. Why is a guy making a cad drawing of a receiver, and having a computer print it out really much different than making a cad drawing of a receiver, and having a CNC milling machine carve the thing out of an aluminum billet? It's the same concept, draw parts on computer, then have a computer controlled tool turn it into a real object.

The only reason this is getting as much attention is because of the extremely misleading article. The author obviously knows very little about firearms or manufacturing.

There is nothing here that would effect gun control or people's ability to construct firearms in any way.

Now, say, 20 years down the line when we have much more advanced integrated printers that can print with polymer and different types of metal all on the same printer at the same time, and the way they fuse layer upon layer of metal gets strong enough to match a heat treated and hardened barrel made in the traditional way, and also make metal parts with different properties (such as spring steel) THEN you got something groundbreaking.

Then you could quite literally download a gun file, press print, and pull a fully functioning firearm out of your printer. This would actually allow stronger and lighter guns than we have now. Polymer could be used even more extensively and be reinforced internally in a key areas with metal or even such materials as carbon fiber (we are assuming a highly advanced future model capable of printing in a number of different materials simultaneously here)

I'm thinking something along the lines of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer barrel with a steel lining containing the rifling. The steel liner which contains the rifling would stand up to the wear and tear of a bullet screaming down it thousands of feet per second. It could be made very thin as to dramatically lower weight.

Then the carbon fiber (or even carbon nanotube) reinforced polymer barrel would be the part that actually imparts the strength to the barrel, to fight against the massive pressures. Imagine a barrel capable of taking a load much higher than any current barrels, but also being 1/8th the weight. Then consider the ability simply print such barrels instead of requiring highly skilled people, expensive and specific equipment, and lots of time.

That would be very exciting. A compound barrel like this just might be a reality in the future if such technology keeps developing. You could have a .50BMG rifle with a 30" barrel, and the whole gun would be equal in weight to an M4.

reply to post by Shadow Herder


Depends on how it plays out; It could well be that in this case, the Common Man no longer needs an elite

Reply to post by zompoc

Manufacturing a firearm as long as it doesn't break any NFA rules (AOW, SBR, Full auto, etc...) is perfectly legal provided you never transfer it.

Guns are made from scratch in workshops everyday and it's all 100% legal.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

i wondered how long it would take.start shipping to everyone and lets take the power back!

This is one step behind of the replicators thats been used in star trek... If they build a giant 3D printer hangar in space they could build massive star ships... Believe me this has endless potential ..

Originally posted by Shadow Herder
And yes, it actually works; it can shoot bullets just like a normal gun.

Bull@#$&. It might- might shoot a few bullets, each one getting less accurate... and it's only a .22.

Here's a recent news clip from New Zealand TV, discussing how Weta Workshops (Peter Jackson - Lord of the Rings - Hobbit), are using this 3D printer technology to create the majority of their movie props (swords, axes..) etc.



Using Kiwi ingenuity they are creating even bigger 3D printers. I believe that this technology is going to grow very quickly, and the SKY is the limit.

P.S. when affordable to the masses, it will be cool to produce things like replacement keys for example, and so many other numerous everyday items.

reply to post by Shadow Herder


Oh man I can't wait until these things are like an everyday household item!

Love this quote:

Admittedly not a great deal is on the Pirate Bay’s page yet except blueprints for a model pirate ship, a 3D Chris Dodd engraved with the AACS Encryption Key, a dildo and a whistle.

edit on 26-7-2012 by knightwhosaysnih because: (no reason given)

In the future, we can 3d-print human organs and medicine.
That means you don't have to drive to drug store at midnight to buy pills anymore,

So they can print a gun, I can believe that. What I can't believe is that this gun could be used as printed. Maybe it could have been fired one time successfully but it would become more and more risky to fire it after that. The pressures on the walls of the barrel would cause it to crack. A composite barrel would last but I doubt if that would even take many firings without destroying the integrity of the barrel. A twenty two isn't that powerful. The clip isn't printed. The printer can't produce a spring either for the recoil. It couldn't produce a firing pin and it's spring either. Lots of stuff would have had to be purchased or it is a hoax.

A printer would probably have a layered construction making it tend to crack if fired. The guy seems to be a risk taker, risktakers have a lot of accidents.

FOr those who can't or won't read the basic article.

No this is not the end of gun control

No this is not the beginning of a gun grab.

No this is NOT anywhere CLOSE to the first or last gun part made on a 3d printer.

What this is is a thread full of hype and pointless conjecture.

COngrats to the guy for printing a lower from a 3d printer but he's about a year or 5 too late to claim the title of being the first to do so.

The AR 15 lower receiver blueprint is all over the internet and it's been successfully 3d printed I'd guess dozens to hundreds of times already.

What you won't see is these 3d printed receivers taking over the market though because of the plastics being used for 3d printing not really being all that strong. WHile you can make the part with a 3d printer it won't last all that long.

Oh and for those that don't know or think otherwise it's actually perfectly legal in the United States to build your own guns as long as you obey things like section 922r and use rifled barrels in whatever you build other than shotguns. For those that think it shouldn't be legal well y'all can kiss my grits.

reply to post by roguetechie


I read the article and the article leads you to believe that the whole gun was created that way. I don't see that the guy only printed a part of it anywhere in the article from the first original post. I know hat a 3d printer can't print a whole gun, can't do springs.

Yeah, I've known about this stuff for a while now.

Due a google search for an article 3d printing and stock gumshoe, it will lay bare who to invest in now.

Don't be fools, invest now.

reply to post by matthewgraybeal


So that's what it's all about This article was started to get investers for the printer company's stock.

reply to post by Shadow Herder


wow this is awesome, are you kidding me!

3d gun printing machines arming civilians in the next civil war? hahahaaa, nah but really. technology is so out of control. dont know whether to like it or hate it.

Guys, The plastics that are currently used in 3D printers are not strong enough to handle gun-fire. Plenty of other posters have shown how and why this entire article is questionable.

Now Knives and swords may be another story. Plastics have been used to make scalpel sharp knives before. Perhaps we could use 3D printers to create some sort of Projectile knife like the Spetsnaz use. That would be just as crazy as a gun i would think.

Originally posted by fairguy
There are lots of videos on YouTube of these kinds of machines in working process.

3d Spanner

I've seen plenty of pictures/videos of 3D printers, but I thought we were talking about a 3D printer that can print guns. Turns out that was not being said at all, he was only printing parts of a gun.