The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Conference Center > General Discussion Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old September 28, 2018, 12:13 PM   #1
TXAZ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 5, 2010
Location: McMurdo Sound Texas
Posts: 4,322
Defense Distributed 3D Gun libraries sold

Defense Distributed shipped out their library of (lawfully purchased) printable guns yesterday.
Curious if anyone purchased them and has a printer?
Or any plans to purchase of print.

Note that the federal judge's order that stepped in and stopped the free distribution of the plans did not stop the sale of the plans.
__________________

Cave illos in guns et backhoes

Last edited by TXAZ; September 28, 2018 at 04:57 PM.
TXAZ is offline  
Old September 28, 2018, 09:53 PM   #2
jag2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 30, 2009
Location: dallas
Posts: 773
One of the local TV stations printed one. Fired at an indoor range with a very long string. Blew up. Nuff said.
jag2 is offline  
Old September 30, 2018, 07:46 PM   #3
Andy Blozinski
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 31, 2013
Posts: 525
Let's assume for a moment the 3-D printed gun worked flawlessly and with 100% safety. It's still a single shot .380 the size of a couple of bricks.
Andy Blozinski is offline  
Old September 30, 2018, 09:57 PM   #4
TXAZ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 5, 2010
Location: McMurdo Sound Texas
Posts: 4,322
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Blozinski View Post
Let's assume for a moment the 3-D printed gun worked flawlessly and with 100% safety. It's still a single shot .380 the size of a couple of bricks.
You're only 10% correct, 3D plans also include:

10-22
1911
AK 47
AR10
AR15
VZ58
Beretta 92FS
Sig 228
STI

and of course the "Liberator"
__________________

Cave illos in guns et backhoes
TXAZ is offline  
Old September 30, 2018, 11:46 PM   #5
dakota.potts
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 25, 2013
Location: Keystone Heights, Florida
Posts: 3,084
Quote:
10-22
1911
AK 47
AR10
AR15
VZ58
Beretta 92FS
Sig 228
STI
If we're talking receivers, the bolded ones are very very bad ideas.
__________________
Certified Gunsmith (On Hiatus)
Certified Armorer - H&K and Glock Among Others
You can find my writings at my website, pottsprecision.com.
dakota.potts is offline  
Old October 1, 2018, 12:22 AM   #6
Nickel Plated
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 17, 2010
Location: Brooklyn, NYC
Posts: 610
You're not gonna get anything that resembles any of those guns with any of the 3D printers you're thinking of. And some of them you're not gonna get with any of the 3D printers that currently exist.
Nickel Plated is offline  
Old October 1, 2018, 09:59 AM   #7
Metal god
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 10, 2012
Location: San Diego CA
Posts: 6,872
They are using powdered metal now in 3d printing but are laser welding rather then printing . As of 2 years ago the machines were like a million dollars but that will drop fast . They're likely only $500,000 now so 5 to 10 years we all can have one .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwFspzVGUF4
__________________
If Jesus had a gun , he'd probably still be alive !

I almost always write my posts regardless of content in a jovial manor and intent . If that's not how you took it , please try again .
Metal god is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 09:24 AM   #8
Fishbed77
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 23, 2010
Posts: 4,862
Quote:
They are using powdered metal now in 3d printing but are laser welding rather then printing . As of 2 years ago the machines were like a million dollars but that will drop fast . They're likely only $500,000 now so 5 to 10 years we all can have one .
But CNC milling machines are already cheaper than that and can actually produce safe and usable firearms.

The fuss about 3D printing of firearms has been invented by the media to generate artificial drama, demonize firearms, and sell advertising. Nothing more.
Fishbed77 is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 10:19 AM   #9
Metal god
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 10, 2012
Location: San Diego CA
Posts: 6,872
As much false hype that there is . I think the undetectable firearm is a real concern for homeland security . It really will only take one more step to figure out how to make them and they not blow up . My first thought would be wrap the barrel and chamber in carbon fiber . The issue there would seem the carbon fiber needs to be heated to set . The question would be is the polymer barrel able to withstand that heating process with out melting or losing it's spec ?
__________________
If Jesus had a gun , he'd probably still be alive !

I almost always write my posts regardless of content in a jovial manor and intent . If that's not how you took it , please try again .
Metal god is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 12:09 PM   #10
44 AMP
Staff
 
Join Date: March 11, 2006
Location: Upper US
Posts: 28,701
Quote:
The fuss about 3D printing of firearms has been invented by the media to generate artificial drama, demonize firearms, and sell advertising. Nothing more.
You're leaving out the originators of the fuss. Various childishly foolish individuals doing the Utube/social media equivalent of thumbing their nose at the govt, chanting "neener, neener, I can make a gun you don't know about!!"

Quote:
I think the undetectable firearm is a real concern for homeland security . It really will only take one more step to figure out how to make them and they not blow up .
Undetectable anything is a concern for homeland security. As far as not blowing up? Already done, you just need to use material strong enough to withstand the pressure.

An intriguing fictional account can be found in the movie In The Line Of Fire, where the bad guy casts a non metal gun from resin. NOT 3D printed, cast in home made molds on the kitchen table.

The gun is double barrel, and fires what appears to be the .38 S&W round. However, the bad guy has to use conventional ammunition, which he gets past the metal detector by putting the 2 rounds inside a hollow "rabbit's foot" fob on his keyring (which does NOT go through the detector).

It is entirely plausible that the right resin could be strong enough, when thick enough (the movie gun was very "clunky" much thicker than metal would need to be) to survive multiple firing of a low pressure round like the .38S&W.

If I understood it right, the whole flap over the Defense Distributed gun wasn't over the gun itself but over the intellectual property (plans/printer code), its distribution, and court rulings concerned with that.
__________________
All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.
44 AMP is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 12:53 PM   #11
Skans
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 20, 2008
Posts: 11,132
Quote:
I think the undetectable firearm is a real concern for homeland security . It really will only take one more step to figure out how to make them and they not blow up . My first thought would be wrap the barrel and chamber in carbon fiber . The issue there would seem the carbon fiber needs to be heated to set . The question would be is the polymer barrel able to withstand that heating process with out melting or losing it's spec ?
Undetectable by whom? Certainly not TSA! If you leave a piece of paper in your pocket the machine will detect it, so this polymer brick of a gun is ridiculous.
Skans is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 01:52 PM   #12
Metal god
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 10, 2012
Location: San Diego CA
Posts: 6,872
It’s not worth going deep here but the big brick is only because it needs to be . Wrap the barrel in carbon fiber and the size may only be a third of its curent size . Seems some are excluding what new technology “may” bring to this .

TSA is not the only place homeland doesn’t want firearms .
__________________
If Jesus had a gun , he'd probably still be alive !

I almost always write my posts regardless of content in a jovial manor and intent . If that's not how you took it , please try again .

Last edited by Metal god; October 2, 2018 at 03:33 PM.
Metal god is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 02:05 PM   #13
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skans
If you leave a piece of paper in your pocket the machine will detect it,
If that's even close to true it's hella new technology... nothing even close enough to that to be mentioned was one the horizon when I worked for TSA...

and detecting "invisible" guns was a routine part of our training.

That "polymer brick of a gun" would presumably be carried in your carry-on bag, not on your person... and I've seen enough stuff that made it through to have no doubt that gun could make it.
__________________
Nobody plans to screw up their lives...
...they just don't plan not to.
-Andy Stanley
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 02:16 PM   #14
TXAZ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 5, 2010
Location: McMurdo Sound Texas
Posts: 4,322
The real issue with printable guns is the ability of anyone with a 3D printer to make a weapon that is not controlled, registered, taxed or otherwise regulated by a central governmental authority. Not just felons, terrorist or mentally unstable persons. Anyone. It's a
Very little hoopla in gun friendly states, outrage in gun grabbing states.

In reality, there is a significantly greater threat with WMD's crossing loose borders into the US undetected than plastic guns. But politicians don't want to admit they can't control either.
__________________

Cave illos in guns et backhoes
TXAZ is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 08:32 PM   #15
FrankenMauser
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 25, 2008
Location: In the valley above the plain
Posts: 13,408
Quote:
The real issue with printable guns is the ability of anyone with a 3D printer to make a weapon that is not controlled, registered, taxed or otherwise regulated by a central governmental authority. Not just felons, terrorist or mentally unstable persons. Anyone.
I can do that with files and a hacksaw.
3D printers change nothing.
It just makes fantastic headlines and a great political talking point.

I own a 3D printer, and have prototyped quite a few gun parts with it. But, do you know how many of those parts were used in critical areas? Absolutely zero.
Short of $120,000+ powdered metal SLS machines and complicated post-production process (such as multi-stage heat-treating), 3D printed guns pose a greater threat to the operator than the intended target.
__________________
Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.
FrankenMauser is offline  
Old October 2, 2018, 09:39 PM   #16
TXAZ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 5, 2010
Location: McMurdo Sound Texas
Posts: 4,322
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenMauser View Post
I can do that with files and a hacksaw.
3D printers change nothing.
It just makes fantastic headlines and a great political talking point.
...
And so can Pakistani gunsmiths in a day for $50 with hand tools.

But your Sir FrankenMauser, have ballistic, gun and fabrication skills the average (bad guy) couldn't spell.
And, at least for a few anti politicians, they're not letting this "molehill-into-a-mountain" crisis go to waste to raise emotional $$$$$.
__________________

Cave illos in guns et backhoes
TXAZ is offline  
Old October 3, 2018, 10:00 AM   #17
4V50 Gary
Staff
 
Join Date: November 2, 1998
Location: Colorado
Posts: 21,824
Even if you printed one out of plastic, it would be useful for a mould for investment casting. Just saying.
__________________
Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt. Molon Labe!
4V50 Gary is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:48 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.05227 seconds with 10 queries