Now that the lame stream media has moved on from trying to scare the hell out of Joe the Plumber and his neighbors with wild tales of streets run red with the blood of innocents caused by 3D printed guns in the hands of wild eyed Libertarians bent on mayhem, we can once again begin to take a realistic look at the technology.
These guys manufactured a complete rifle on a 3D printer. They call it the Grizzly, named after Canadian models of the Sherman tank from World War Twice. It’s a .22LR contraption based on the Defense Distributed Liberator design, and like that model, uses a roofing nail as a firing pin. The Winchester Dynapoint round split both the barrel and receiver for about 2″ but I’d say this has a lot more to do with the materials than the construction.
Of course, I have to add a caveat. I always take pause with anything accomplished by a guy who wears a ring on his point finger. There’s something sketch going on there, one way or another. But in the end, it’s outliers like these guys who will drag us all kicking and screaming into a micro manufacturing society.
World War Twice?
I guess it’s an age thing.
I know there is an inclination to use .22 lr because of its ubiquitousness, but I wonder if people experimenting with 3D printed guns might not be better served by chambering them for standard .38 special cartridge, which operates at a significantly lower chamber pressure. The chamber pressure on a .22 lr is way higher than most people think it is.
I believe the original Liberator that DefCad released was chambered for .38.
Besides the cost of the computer, software, printer and time, I wonder what the materials cost is. That’s gotta be an expensive way to both shoot 1 round of cheap ammo and prove an essentially moot point.
Have none of these guys heard of zip guns, or the guys in Pakistan who can make a manually operated AK47 in 8 mm Mauser out of a leaf spring with a hand file?
Have you ever seen a man eat his own head?
Well, it looks as though these guys proved that with a good amount of time on your hands, an expensive printer, and the materials, you can fire one round. Hooray. When the materials improve we’ll be seeing something to reckon with, but until then, it’s just a neat trick, save some very limited (and probably very unfeasible for a variety of reasons) special applications.
The technology is here now; I had a couple of parts 3D printed in sintered stainless steel and the parts were so strong that I had a very hard time drilling and tapping them…
Learn something new every day. Excuse me whilst I remove foot from mouth.
WW2 Liberator pistol? Instructions; (paraphrasing here),,,,,get in close shoot enemy, take his weapon. that easy.
Great way too prove a weapons ban is totally useless.