Meet The 'Liberator': Test-Firing The World's First Fully 3D-Printed Gun

[72doug2,2S]

Here ya go. Happy shooting.




DEFCAD

http://defcad.org/liberator/

From the site:


WARNING FELLOW PATRIOTS: Please do yourself a favor and review the AOW (Any Other Weapons) provision of the National Firearms Act prior to printing this weapon. In its current form, the barrel in the CAD file appears to have a smooth bore. Printing a weapon with such a barrel could be interpreted by the ATF as “creating an AOW”, which is an act requiring special registration, and possibly even possession of a Federal Firearms License. As trivial and arbitrary as this law may seem, it’s not a law you want to be be caught breaking.

Kudos to all involved in this project for making the Second Amendment a physical right. You’re on the right side of history.

[berettafan]

what an unfortunate view in that 'warning' copied above.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by rusnak

why wouldn't they just design the thing to have a plastic body and a smooth bore barrel that can be made from steel? That might make it harder to sneak into an airport, but also much more reliable.

Because then you need to:

1) Locate or manufacture a steel tube with the right inner/outer dimensions to fit the caliber chosen and the plastic "frame" of the gun
2) Figure out how to secure the barrel so the cartridge is always in proper alignment with the bore--unless you machine a properly-dimensioned chamber into the barrel.

My guess would be that the gun is much safer for the shooter without a steel barrel. Too many things can go wrong with a "real" barrel, and if that blows up you've got steel fragments flying around instead of plastic ones.

[rusnak]

^ well I can barely get past Windows 7 security on my Mac. I would think that purchasing the printer software and getting it working would be the hard part. Fitting a metal tube on to a custom plastic gun would be the easy part. The loading and firing mechanisms are plastic. Failure mode is in the barrel, so I'd think it needs to be reinforced with some sort of pipe. Perhaps the o.d. can be made to accept a metal jacket......

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by berettafan

what an unfortunate view in that 'warning' copied above.

I don't understand - What do you mean?

[ZOA NOM]

This has nothing to do with conceal-ability. It's about illustrating the absurdity of gun control laws. Anyone can now download the CAD files from DD's website for free and print their own guns. Perfectly legal. It doesn't matter what laws are passed, since the manufacturing takes place in your home, there is no way for the government to control it. No FFL, no serial numbers, no need for laws about it.

[berettafan]

cashflyer I think this particular use of this technology will do far more harm than good. what good purpose is there for an undetectable gun that only fires a few shots? It is a weapon of terror and nothing more.

If you can afford the technology you have no problem affording a quality firearm.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Anyone who thinks the TSA and associated airports screening is actually making us any safer is an idiot. Vigilance on the part of flight crews and passengers do 1,000 times more and are more effective. The TSA and all the rest is a feel-good intended to pacify the indiscriminate masses, with the nice side benefit of being a power and money grab by big government lovers.

It is very easy for someone to get a weapon onto an airliner today. It would be much harder for them to actually commandeer a jetliner a la 9/11 and the TSA doesn't have a damn thing to do with it.

[ZOA NOM]

Originally Posted by berettafan

cashflyer I think this particular use of this technology will do far more harm than good. what good purpose is there for an undetectable gun that only fires a few shots? It is a weapon of terror and nothing more.

If you can afford the technology you have no problem affording a quality firearm.

See my first post. This has nothing to with the conceal-ability or quality of the weapon. It's about gun control laws. Go to the Defense Distributed website and read the history of the efforts of the guy doing the work. I've been talking about this for awhile now. He "printed" an AR-15 receiver that he fired 600 rounds through. This isn't going away, and should have an interesting affect on gun control nuts.

[berettafan]

Zoa my post was a response to cashflyer's question.

Read my first post and you'll see I said this guy is doing us all a favor by bringing the potential danger of this technology to light. Doesn't matter what his intent is.

I sincerely doubt that anti gun types will look at this and see any measure of futility.

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by ZOA NOM

This has nothing to do with conceal-ability. It's about illustrating the absurdity of gun control laws. Anyone can now download the CAD files from DD's website for free and print their own guns. Perfectly legal. It doesn't matter what laws are passed, since the manufacturing takes place in your home, there is no way for the government to control it. No FFL, no serial numbers, no need for laws about it.

i don't understand why this points at the absurdity of gun control laws.

you ALWAYS could make a working gun, with possible features such as fully automatic, and silenced, in your home, with basic tools and supplies. poeple have been doing this for a 100 years, and if you even have access to a harbor freight mill/lathe combo (probably about 1200 dollars), you can make some really really sophisticated guns, in your own home. guns arn't that complicated to make.

3D printing actually lowers the quality and function and raises the price substantially, compared to conventional methods of production.

[berettafan]

my concern is 3d printing puts undetectable gun manufacturing at the fingertips of anyone who can download a file and push 'start'.

[matt711]

There are several websites that will let you download the plans to mill an AR15 receiver for free. You can even buy partially milled recievers without any FFL as they are considered parts. As long as the firearm is never sold and for personal use only anyone can do this legally. Nothing new here other than the 3D printing technology which will produce a plastic POS that won't last more than a few shots, if that.

[berettafan]

matt how many CNC machines are in your neighborhood?

when this technology is feasible at a cost comparable to a laptop or ipad how many 3d printers do you think will be in your neighborhood?

[lane912]

Originally Posted by berettafan

matt how many CNC machines are in your neighborhood?

when this technology is feasible at a cost comparable to a laptop or ipad how many 3d printers do you think will be in your neighborhood?

don't know about matt, but there are two that i know about within walking distance from my house. one is at a metal fab company, the other is owned by a retired guy that does small runns of parts for folks-

then about a mile and a half down the road is a guy that makes AR-15 parts on his mill and sells complete firearms-

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by berettafan

matt how many CNC machines are in your neighborhood?

when this technology is feasible at a cost comparable to a laptop or ipad how many 3d printers do you think will be in your neighborhood?

you don't need a CNC to make a gun.

[krystar]

home depot:
3/4" black plumbing pipe
1" pipe
1" pipe cap
a screw
a drill
12ga shell

1 shot shotgun for less than $20. take it thru airport security no problem (all except the 12ga shell). hell of a lot more firepower than a 3d printed plastic gun

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by berettafan

matt how many CNC machines are in your neighborhood?

when this technology is feasible at a cost comparable to a laptop or ipad how many 3d printers do you think will be in your neighborhood?

I happen to have more than a few friends who do have CNCs in their garages.. Back in high school, a buddy was building guns with a hobby lathe, and they worked too

Course, the idiots who think that we need more laws with the already 20K plus on the books, don't seem to understand that criminals even have guns in prison, plus, any of us can go to a hardware store & buy everything to build a gun..

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by 911_Dude

I want one of these printers. But as soon as people start to get killed by these printed guns the feds will make them as illeagal as fully automatic weapons. Simple as that.

That's like saying you can't buy a lathe and mill for home use. Never happen. In fact, you can get a permit to make your own silencer.

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by krystar

home depot:
3/4" black plumbing pipe
1" pipe
1" pipe cap
a screw
a drill
12ga shell

1 shot shotgun for less than $20. take it thru airport security no problem (all except the 12ga shell). hell of a lot more firepower than a 3d printed plastic gun

I dunno...TSA might become suspicious of the drill.