In Canada, a 3D-Printed Rifle Breaks On First Firing

Not all 3-D printed guns can encounter the smooth, uneventful success of Cody Wilson's Liberator; Daniel_Stuckey writes with this excerpt: "A Canadian has just fired the first shot from his creation, 'The Grizzly,' an entirely 3D-printed rifle. In that single shot, CanadianGunNut (his name on the DefCad forum), or "Matthew," has advanced 3D-printed firearms to yet another level. Sort of: According to his video's description, the rifle's barrel and receiver were both damaged in that single shot."

Comments

Re:I still see a market ....

[Penguinisto]

That's the thing - I doubt there's a 3D-printable plastic out there now which could last for one rifle shot, at least outside of sheer luck.

The length of the rifle barrel is what'll kill it. A pistol dumps its internal pressures quickly - the short muzzle doesn't have to hold the pressure for more than a millisecond or two at most. A rifle on the other hand? The longer the barrel, the longer that period of time which the barrel has to hold the higher pressures. Most rifle cartridges also contain a slower-burning powder (to keep pressures at least somewhat constant as the bullet travels down the barrel), which only exacerbates things from a design perspective.

From an industrial perspective, any plastic barrel that doesn't hold up to insane tolerances (at least 3x max pressure) and do so for a very long time? Begging for a lawsuit that'll bankrupt your company, guaranteed. Also, there's no real economic incentive to make plastic barrels commercially - steel is way cheaper to acquire, machine, and temper. Now there are some specialized and niche applications (spies, special ops/forces, whatever), but they don't justify the costs.

Hobbyists OTOH don't have that kind of pressure or limitation - they're just doing it because they can.

When will this sillieness end?

[MpVpRb]

Anybody with the right knowledge and some basic tools has been able to make a gun for a long time

Convicts do it in prison

People in underdeveloped countries do it using the most crude equipment imaginable

3D printing a gun, in plastic, is nothing more than an attention grabbing headline

Re:A new slogan

[HornWumpus]

They would humor you. Rednecks already own a number of real guns and would assume you were some sort of city idiot. Once they figured out that you weren't going to blow off your hand they would go home.