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Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

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Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#31

Post by ef4 »

duaneb wrote: post #18
jakeonthemove wrote: post #4

Well, it's definitely possible to print a silencer, a pistol shouldn't be that much harder. I'm afraid that this would make the governments impose stricter laws on 3D printers, which is not a good thing...

I'd be more scared if they could successfully manufacture lethal ammunition.

There is a whole hobby community of people who manufacture their own ammunition. You can order everything you need to get started over the internet, with no permits (unless you live in a short list of states like Massachusetts, in which case a firearms permit is needed to purchase ammunition components).

Some people do it to save money, some because they're competitive shooters (who want to hand-optimize their loads), and others are survivalist types who want to be "off-the-grid".

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#32

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

jff wrote: post #8
jakeonthemove wrote: post #4

Well, it's definitely possible to print a silencer, a pistol shouldn't be that much harder. I'm afraid that this would make the governments impose stricter laws on 3D printers, which is not a good thing...

A suppressor has no moving parts and serves only to baffle the expanding gas and reduce noise. It experiences relatively low heat and gas pressure. The components of a firearm have far tighter tolerances and must withstand significantly higher levels of pressure and heat. It's not even close to the same thing.

People have been building guns for hundreds of years with far inferior tools.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#33

Post by sp332 »

angrow wrote: post #27
pyre wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but what could be poisonous to one species, could be nutritious to another. The idea that 'poisons' are easily identifiable is pure fantasy.

Everyone on the Enterprise can breath the same air and eaet the same food. And if something is poison to even just a few of your crew, you forbid it and tell everyone else to eat almonds instead of peanuts. :nerdingout:

A lot of things were "forbidden" by social pressures. Alcohol was freely available (or maybe a simple security override, I can't remember) but no one drank real alcohol.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#34

Post by reitzensteinm »

ef4 wrote: post #26

Any competent machinist can make functional semiautomatic weapons. This is just the next step in making it even easier. If the United States ever got serious about banning firearms, a massive homebrew industry would grow up overnight. Gunpowder is not fundamentally harder to make than methamphetamine. People who quite rightly see our drug laws as pointless and ineffective somehow often miss that a gun ban would be no…

> People who quite rightly see our drug laws as pointless and ineffective somehow often miss that a gun ban would be no more effective in the United States.

As an outsider, this is one of the most irrational things about American politics to me. Talk about guns, then talk about drugs, and each of the two major parties literally adopts the arguments of the other.

Then again, it's a perfectly rational system from the point of view of extracting maximum donations from supporters, so maybe I'm just looking at it the wrong way. Moderation doesn't sell.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#35

Post by jakeonthemove »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #28
jakeonthemove wrote: post #4

Well, it's definitely possible to print a silencer, a pistol shouldn't be that much harder. I'm afraid that this would make the governments impose stricter laws on 3D printers, which is not a good thing...

Sigh . I have downloaded complete plans that were created in 1972 to make an entire .22 caliber single shot pistol by hand using a hacksaw, file and drill press. By my estimation, it can be done in one long day of work by a semi-skilled person. An even simpler pistol can be built in an hour or two. It's just not hard to make a basic gun: when I was 11 years old I used to make toy "guns" from old hollow keys, crushed…

Yes, but the quality of a good 3D printed gun will be better and it's easier to download the blueprints and literally print them rather than understand and build the gun yourself.

I, too, used to stuff firecrackers down a pipe and shoot steel balls (from bearings) when I was a kid - it was fun, what can I say :-)...

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#36

Post by grecy »

ef4 wrote: post #26

Any competent machinist can make functional semiautomatic weapons. This is just the next step in making it even easier. If the United States ever got serious about banning firearms, a massive homebrew industry would grow up overnight. Gunpowder is not fundamentally harder to make than methamphetamine. People who quite rightly see our drug laws as pointless and ineffective somehow often miss that a gun ban would be no…

> If the United States ever got serious about banning firearms, a massive homebrew industry would grow up overnight.

Do you have any stats or experience to back that up? It might happen, but you are stating as fact something that's not been tested.

Anecdotally, in Australia where gun laws are very strict, it's difficult to get firearms. Yes, serious hardened criminals still get their hands on them, which certainly is a problem. The average angry Joe can not simply legally purchase a semi automatic or handgun to walk around to his antagonists house and shoot them.

With a murder rate twice any other developed country[1], the United States clearly has a serious violence problem, and taking guns out of the hands of the average Joe would surely help reduce it.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona...

Using the argument of "Hardened criminals will still get them anyway" is like saying we shouldn't have a law against murder because some people will do it anyway, so it's a waste of time. The point is to deter or make it extremely difficult for as many people as possible.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#37

Post by blangblang »

kwantam wrote: post #16
ChuckMcM wrote: post #14

Doesn't pass the sniff test. Chamber pressure in a .22 cal pistol is on the order of 20,000 PSI [1] The tensile strength of thermoplastic at standard temperatures is 1/2 that [2] and it goes down as the temperature goes up (its a thermo plastic for a reason). Firing a .22 caliber round using gunpowder would destroy the barrel on the first firing. Now I could believe you built the receiver and triggering mechanism on…

The part that's 3d printed is the lower receiver. In an AR-15 style design, the lower receiver doesn't handle any pressure at all, it just houses the magazine and hammer/trigger/sear/safety, and connects to the upper receiver/barrel assembly and the buttstock/buffer tube assembly. People have made lower receivers out of aluminum basically forever. Aluminum could maybe be made to handle .22lr type pressures, but certa…

If I recall correctly, the lower is also the only part of the assembled weapon that requires registration.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#38

Post by grecy »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #29
ef4 wrote: post #26

Any competent machinist can make functional semiautomatic weapons. This is just the next step in making it even easier. If the United States ever got serious about banning firearms, a massive homebrew industry would grow up overnight. Gunpowder is not fundamentally harder to make than methamphetamine. People who quite rightly see our drug laws as pointless and ineffective somehow often miss that a gun ban would be no…

Exactly. See my post about making guns by hand. As a 12 year old boy I was making gunpowder from drugstore items and launching rockets made from rolled-up newspaper. This stuff ain't hard to do!!

Of course. Let's pretend Billy Bob is a heated rage because he just found out so-and-so slept with so-and-so (or whatever).

What's more likely?

a) He walks around to so-and-sos house with his legally purchased, unlicensed, unregistered semi automatic assault rifle and 1000+ rounds, and kills the whole family, and anyone else unlucky enough to be nearby.

or

b) He spends days (weeks?) making his own gun, gunpowder and projectile by hand, and is still motivated all those days later to walk around and kill everyone, with a small caliber, (probably) non-semi automatic, (probably) small/no magazine.

Gun control won't stop people killing each other with guns. It will make it many times harder for the average Joe, therefore it will reduce the frequency, and the overall homicide rate.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#39

Post by tjic »

reitzensteinm wrote: post #34
ef4 wrote: post #26

Any competent machinist can make functional semiautomatic weapons. This is just the next step in making it even easier. If the United States ever got serious about banning firearms, a massive homebrew industry would grow up overnight. Gunpowder is not fundamentally harder to make than methamphetamine. People who quite rightly see our drug laws as pointless and ineffective somehow often miss that a gun ban would be no…

> People who quite rightly see our drug laws as pointless and ineffective somehow often miss that a gun ban would be no more effective in the United States. As an outsider, this is one of the most irrational things about American politics to me. Talk about guns, then talk about drugs, and each of the two major parties literally adopts the arguments of the other. Then again, it's a perfectly rational system from the p…

> Talk about guns, then talk about drugs, and each party literally adopts the arguments of the other.

Except libertarians.

We believe in decriminalization of both.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#40

Post by adavies42 »

simcop2387 wrote: post #9
sp332 wrote: post #3

Man, they didn't show you that in Star Trek... edit: to be specific, they glossed over it instead of confronting a scenario where an enemy hijacked a replicator to make whatever physical or chemical weapons they wanted at a moment's notice.

Actually it was touched on in a number of episodes (which i don't feel like digging up) but in more than once instance they mentioned that the replicators had safety systems that prevented unauthorized creation of at least some dangerous materials, (from what i recall, poisons were mentioned in one, weapons themselves i'm not sure).

istr a ds9 novel (yes, i read some) where they had to replicate some machine guns to deal with invaders who had perfect shielding, but only against energy weapons. there were security overrides involved, but it had a large collection of projectile weapons to choose from once it was unlocked.
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