# 3D Printing and Plastic Guns **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671 "2013-05-07T01:19:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671/81 "2013-05-10T15:39:22Z")
It’s a certainty that people are working overtime to try to improve the quality of printed metal. If there’s any way to do it, it’ll be found. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671/82 "2013-05-10T15:47:12Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s a certainty that people are working overtime to try to improve the quality of printed metal. If there’s any way to do it, it’ll be found. Yes, and once they get past what is often called ‘pot metal” and can do harder alloys, then ‘printed’ guns will be real. I am guessing 10+ years tho, and that’s for a “Liberator”. To get the different alloys, hardened springs and what not that go into a modern gun, even longer. Mind you, tech marches on. If they get to making a “Liberator” in half that time I will not be shocked. Of course this will require resources beyond that of a hobbyist. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671/83 "2013-05-10T15:57:03Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Videos? Have you not watched Mythbusters? Very easily faked. Really? Was it a fake video when he saw it in person? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671/84 "2013-05-10T16:02:53Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Really? Was it a fake video when he saw it in person? The one he saw in person fired once then broke, and had to be repaired. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671/85 "2013-05-10T16:09:30Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Really? Was it a fake video when he saw it in person? According to the Forbes article, the firing 10 rounds thing was done with just the barrel. “Wilson showed me a video of an ABS plastic barrel the group printed attached to a non-printed gun body firing ten rounds of .380 ammunition before breaking on the eleventh” > **[Meet The 'Liberator': Test-Firing The World's First Fully 3D-Printed Gun](https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/05/05/meet-the-liberator-test-firing-the-worlds-first-fully-3d-printed-gun/)** > > VideoDefense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, holding the world's first fully 3D-printed gun. Click to enlarge. (Credit: Michael Thad Carter for Forbes) “Alright. One…two…” Before “three” arrives, a shot reverberates across the overcast central Texas... ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671/86 "2013-05-10T16:11:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The one he saw in person fired once then broke, and had to be repaired. That wasn’t what was reported above. I guess I need to watch the video. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671/87 "2013-05-10T16:18:06Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The one he saw in person fired once then broke, and had to be repaired. What actually happened was that it fired once, suffered no visible damage, then exploded after they tried to fire a much larger rifle round through it. During the second test they only attempted to fire it one time, but it sustained no visible damage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-and-plastic-guns/657671.md?page=4)