# 3D Printing Guns **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 30, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818 "2013-01-30T15:25:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/21 "2013-02-01T05:49:12Z")
But I won’t **really** worry until there’s such thing as a home elemental-transmutation kit that can make critical masses of plutonium. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/22 "2013-02-01T05:55:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > But I won’t **really** worry until there’s such thing as a home elemental-transmutation kit that can make critical masses of plutonium. You know somebody would do it, just for shits and giggles. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/23 "2013-02-01T06:23:22Z")
> [@Stealth\_Potato](#): > > You know somebody would do it, just for shits and giggles. Were it possible. Might or might not ever be. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/24 "2013-02-01T06:41:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > But I won’t **really** worry until there’s such thing as a home elemental-transmutation kit that can make critical masses of plutonium. The real concern would be that machine’s power supply. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/25 "2013-02-01T09:08:37Z")
The hand-wringing over printable guns is a bit humorous for reasons already noted, but I would point out that the 3D printing technology that exists today would be quite useful in circumventing a high-capacity magazine ban. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/26 "2013-02-01T15:52:05Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > The hand-wringing over printable guns is a bit humorous for reasons already noted, but I would point out that the 3D printing technology that exists today would be quite useful in circumventing a high-capacity magazine ban. Would be a heck of a lot easier and cheaper with a sheet metal brake, hydraulic press, welder and a spring. I have access to all of those, a horizontal mill would make the dies really easy, that means a trip to Dad’s house. Point is, it would take me about a day to set up the tooling and then I could mass produce 30rd mags all day long. Cheap and easy **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Hannah\_W](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@Hannah\_W](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hannah_W)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/27 "2013-02-05T05:12:33Z")
Looks good. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/28 "2013-02-05T07:00:48Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > The real concern would be that machine’s power supply. Well, that’s a self-solving problem, isn’t it? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/29 "2013-02-05T09:41:49Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I rarely hang out in GD,but assume this OP would belong here. I’m not even sure where a debate on this should head - I am just trying to envision some rebel base like it was out of a movie, where a ragged set of fighters, with access to a pieced-together set of hardware, printing out disposable 1-shots and, coupled with swarming drones also built on the cheap, having the ability to influence power in local and perhaps broader ways. > > Maybe the debate would be: how likely is a vision like this to play out, and on what scale, ie local eruptions in specific geographies or chained into something bigger? Well, the [FP45 Liberator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP-45_Liberator) can be stamped out of metal and assembled in the old style high school metal shop, so it could be made in a basement. I would imagine that you might actually be able to print-sinter many of the parts and use a segment of pipe bought from a plumbing supply for other parts of the gun. [Zip guns](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_firearm) have a long and [dis]honorable history. And the Finns invented the [molotov cocktail](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_cocktail) which was produced in a factory in the Winter War. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/30 "2013-03-20T17:26:37Z")
[It seems we may be well beyond zip guns.](http://www.minds.com/blog/view/44700/3d-printed-semi-automatic-ar-15-gun-can-fire-off-600-rounds-of-bullets-printed-at-home) ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/31 "2013-03-21T03:15:57Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Finns invented the [molotov cocktail](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_cocktail) which was produced in a factory in the Winter War. > [@FinnAgain](#): > > [It seems we may be well beyond zip guns.](http://www.minds.com/blog/view/44700/3d-printed-semi-automatic-ar-15-gun-can-fire-off-600-rounds-of-bullets-printed-at-home) You have molotov cocktails, what are you worried about ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/32 "2013-03-21T03:32:59Z")
“Chemputers” are vaporware. They’re not actually printing chemicals on-demand; they’re just printing beakers and such that they can then use in basically old-fashioned ways to do chemistry. Having a bunch of beakers of custom shapes and sizes would no doubt be handy, but it’s in no way revolutionary. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/33 "2013-03-21T03:34:36Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > You have molotov cocktails, what are you worried about range ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/34 "2013-03-21T03:59:35Z")
Any gun made by a 3-D printer will be, at best, a cool-looking single-shot, and will most likely be dangerous to the user. There is a reason that barrels are forged and machined, and even then occasionally suffer structural failures. I’m certainly not overcome with concern over what amounts to a gun made entirely with MIM-type components. Anything that requires pressure resistance and/or elasticity like a recoil spring certainly can’t handle the stresses. A 3-D printed gun is probably the very last thing anybody needs to be worried about. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/35 "2013-03-21T06:27:39Z")
They have made reasonably reliable stripped lower receivers ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/36 "2013-03-21T15:33:59Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Any gun made by a 3-D printer will be, at best, a cool-looking single-shot, and will most likely be dangerous to the user. Is there something I misunderstood about that video I just posted? ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/37 "2013-03-21T17:12:02Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Is there something I misunderstood about that video I just posted? They’ve only been able to 3D print an AR-15 lower receiver. Now, legally speaking, that lower receiver is the actual “gun”, but that’s nonsense in RL terms.\* It’s not a “3D printed gun” if after printing out the parts you have to go out and obtain a normal upper receiver, barrel, etc. \*though it is significant for being able to circumvent regulations. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/38 "2013-03-21T17:18:25Z")
Ah, thanks for clearing up my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/39 "2013-03-21T17:23:34Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Is there something I misunderstood about that video I just posted? Maybe that he only made one little piece of the gun in a 3D printer? Most of the rest of the components were forged / milled out of metal (at least all the critical ones). There’s no way that today’s 3D printers could make a barrel or a bolt that wouldn’t be more of a hazard to the shooter than the shootee. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818/40 "2013-03-21T21:00:43Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Maybe that he only made one little piece of the gun in a 3D printer? Most of the rest of the components were forged / milled out of metal (at least all the critical ones). There’s no way that today’s 3D printers could make a barrel or a bolt that wouldn’t be more of a hazard to the shooter than the shootee. I don’t know how worried I’d be with a plastic firing pin 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-printing-guns/648818.md?page=3)