Since the craziness began in early 2013, 3D printed guns have become a controversial, and an incredibly interesting subject. Whether you like guns or not, the idea of printing a gun at home is both insane, yet intriguing at the same time.
Vice published a documentary on 3D printed guns earlier this year. If you have 20 minutes, you should check it out:
As 3D printing becomes more and more real, politicians are already worrying about plastic guns not being picked up by metal detectors. This is obviously a normal concern however, the guns are not made entirely of plastic. The firing pin has to be made of metal or the bullet primer wouldn’t go off and the gun wouldn’t fire. Along with the firing pin, there are several other pieces of guns that just can’t be made entirely of plastic. For example, the various springs that allow a firearm to function, cannot be made with plastic.
The main force behind 3D printed guns is a company called Defence Distributed. The company was started by Cody Wilson, a 25-year-old Law student. Wilson believes that his efforts to print guns and gun parts are securing our second amendment rights.
In the video below, a man fires the “Grizzly 2.0” single-shot rifle successfully several times.
It should be noted that while the 3D printer files are freely available, the printers are not. A good 3D printer is not inexpensive and will put you back thousands of dollars.
The experiments don’t end with plastic though, a company in Austin Texas called Solid Concepts has successfully printed a metal handgun. Of course, metal printers and the metal itself are a lot more expensive than printing with plastic.