3-D printed gun fires 6 shots — then falls apart
By Devin Coldewey
Reporter
NBC News
December 4, 2012
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/3-d-printed-gun-fires-6-shots-then-falls-apart-1C7404226Creating a printable gun is the project of Defense Distributed, which is
working on what it calls the WikiWeapon. But the effort isn't far enough
along to create a working firearm, so Defense Distributed used a design
created by another printed-gun creator who goes by the name HaveBlue.
HaveBlue claimed in July to have fired his printed gun hundreds of
times, which doesn't seem impossible given the quality of the printing.
The part printed by the group is called the lower receiver, which is
where a round is received from the magazine. Pictures show it to be very
well made, and it appears to fit exactly to the other parts in the gun
kit they used.
But the pressure of the recoil appears to have been too much for the
"buffer ring," which separates the stock from the upper receiver. After
firing just six shots, the gun split in two. It's a serious setback,
especially considering they were firing a lower-caliber cartridge than
the gun would normally shoot.
The legality of all this is unknown, not to say in dispute. It is legal
to create your own firearms, but not to distribute them — and in the
case of printed guns there's a bit of both going on. The ATF is looking
at the subject, but for now it's all something of a grey area.
The technical aspects of the part, the failure, and the team's plans to
improve it can be found at Defense Distributed's blog. You can watch the
video of the test below.
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/3-d-printed-gun-fires-6-shots-then-falls-apart-1C7404226
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