A Working Assault Rifle Made With a 3-D Printer




Get ready. It's now possible to print weapons at home.

An amateur gunsmith, operating under the handle of "HaveBlue" (incidentally, "Have Blue" is the codename that was used for the prototype stealth fighter that became the Lockheed F-117), announced recently in online forums that he had successfully printed a serviceable .22 caliber pistol.

Despite predictions of disaster, the pistol worked. It successfully fired 200 rounds in testing.

HaveBlue then decided to push the limits of what was possible and use his printer to make an AR-15 rifle. To do this, he downloaded plans for an AR-15 in the Solidworks file format from a site called CNCGunsmith.com. After some small modifications to the design, he fed about $30 of ABS plastic feedstock into his late-model Stratasys printer. The result was a functional AR-15 rifle. Early testing shows that it works, although it still has some minor feed and extraction problems to be worked out.

All he made was the lower receiver, which is technically a "firearm". All of the other parts are standard off the shelf pieces. It is also not illegal to make your own firearm, unless of course you are prohibited from owning them because of being a felon, or living in a state where ceratin firearms are prohibited.

the thread title made me think this would be about "hi-point" quality

I hear one can even make their own re-loaded ammo.....at home!!!!

Seriously dumbest article I've read in the last 3 minutes.

Almost as good as the articles where people are "shocked" that someone could buy ammo on line....and why on this Earth would anyone ever need to buy 1,000 or more bullits at a time.......

I can't wait until they all turn in to zombies....

Plum Crazy, Calvary Arms, and a number of other manufacturers have been making lowers out of plastic. I wouldn't use them though.

I might be guilty of ordering 40lbs of smokeless powder a time or two, 10,000 primers a time or two, a few thousand cartridge cases a time or two, and upwards of 30,000 projectiles a time or two. Of course, when you load ammo commercially, these things tend to happen.

recently read an interesting quote...

"those most prepared for the zombie attack seem to be least prepared for real life..."

interesting because it's true..?

1967: 20# of H4895, 20# H4831, 10# 3031, 6000 primers, assorted.
Some large rifle some small rifle.
Now it is all used up and the prices have gone orbital.
The pain of it all.

A rifle built by your printer. BS

Bushampster Carbon 15 is another one.
A "Polymer" upper and lower which disintegrates into hundreds of pieces if exposed to a kaboom.
Bushmaster should start a buy-back program immediately on the POS.
n00bs get sucked in because C-15 hits an attractive, entry-level price point.

polymer = plastic
kaboom = chamber over-pressurized for various reasons which happens from time to time. An alloy receiver set can usually hold it together enough to protect the shooter, but the weapon is destroyed.
The C-15 flies apart.

Polymer works in some weapons that were designed for it but not so much for the AR whose receivers were designed to be of aluminum alloy.

Before Professional Ordnance sold the Carbon-15 to Bushmaster it was total junk that had feed and extraction problems.

After Bushmaster bought Professional Ordnance it became even more expensive junk with feed and extraction problems.

If I want an over-priced POS polymer firearm to blow up in my hands I'll stick to the FN 5 and seven.

IMO

Glock is the only reputable company that uses alot of poly or "plastic" in their weapons that wont hurt you...

RvDub, i was seriously looking into getting a FN 5-7, i trust what you say, thank you....

RH---I've shot that pistol a lot and get a kick out of it. It's accurate and mild mannered so to be fair it's not all bad. I've read and heard some horror stories about them firing out of battery which would suck azz.

For $1000+ I'll get my kicks elsewhere....besides I'm an accurate rifle guy and find pistols to be akin to hammers; useful tools that don't need to be expensive or dressed pretty to be effective for their intended purpose.

I knew you were lying when I got to the second word there......

If it wasn't a pop-up book or a magazine with naked chicks in it, you didn't "read" anything.

Taking the kids shooting tomorrow. And by kids, I mean the M1, the M1A, Remmy 700 .270, A-Bort .300, and the lastest addition, the ArmaLite AR-10. Never fired 3 of the 5 guns and the other two got new glass.

Not too sure what being prepared for real life is all about, but at least my long rifles will be sighted in.

Did goof around a bit with my Ol Man's 870 Wingmaster.



Kinda converted it to a defensive shotgun....minus the 18.5" barrel that I still need to get. My 6 round strategy is 2 slugs to start the party, 2 .00 buck to finish up, and if anything is still moving, 2 Dragon's Breath rounds just because they are way COOOOOL!

I've shot a 1000+ rounds out of my 5.7 without issue.

The issues surrounding the 5.7 horror stories usually all involve improper hand loading.

This specific cartridge is very technical and should only be reloaded by people that truly understand the cartridge and it's design features.

Failure to do so WILL result in a ka-boom......

Parker---Did you scope the M1A? If so what mount and glass?

OK now im confused, because i trust your word too BD...


i actually dont like the idea of plastic on pistols,with the exception of Glock tho, their track record is beyond proven... if one has blown up, i highly doubt it was manufacture issue, and likely some moron hot loading thinking he could get more punch...

then again, ive been wrong before...

The M1A is naked. Just open sights.

Haven't really looked in to mounting or glass for that rifle.

Off hand, are the sights similar to the M1 Garand in that 12 clicks should be about right at 200 yds?

Parker, shame on you for raping a Wingmaster like that... thats sacreligious man....

That 870 was left on top of the truck when I was a teenager. Took a nice tumble on the concrete.

My Old Man was pissed.

Spent the entire summer pulling weeds, bucking hay bales, and other farm jobs saving up the coin to replace the parts on it.

Barrel, stock and forearm are all replacements. Costly Remington parts.... Receiver still has some road rash.

So.....seeing how I have my own Wingmaster 870 Magnum, and this older one was just sitting in the safe taking up space, figured I might as well make it in to a tactical shotgun complete with a baby killing hand-grip stock, side saddle shot holder, extended tube, a forearm with rails galore and nice Surefire LED flashlight to light 'em up!

Don't worry RH, I still have all the left over parts and wood if I ever want to return it back to a hunting gun.

Just need that 18.5" door breaching barrel.......

i think Cabelas has one not sure, if i remember right they were just under 150 or something... a Moss 500 18.5 is under 100...

if it got banged up, understandable...

IMO the 870 Wingmaster and Magnum are the greatest pump shotguns ever produced...

i have shot trap rounds with 4000 dollar SKB's and to this day, a 48ish year old Wingmaster (my dads, mine is from the 80s) is still winning the count at 24 of 25 (one round), and 92 out of 100 (4 rounds)....

havent shot the CZ712 yet, but WANT one, likely will be the next gun i buy, then a 700 and go crazy on it again...

Without a doubt poor reloading is always an issue but less margin of error in a round of those pressures in a polymer pistol.

If I need my pistol to defeat body armor, armored glass or go over 2000fps I'll stick to my 9,40, 357, or 45 (my .380 keltec is just shy of 2000fps at 10ft) with (you know what ammo Randy).

The pentration tests I've witnessed with my own eyes with factory ss190 (etc) 5.7 vs any of the 'good stuff' by the company down south has convinced me. Full penetration in bank glass from the southern company in standard calibers vs 'almost' full penetration with the 5n7 in the same medium.