
3D Printed Revolver - bane
http://www.popsci.com/man-3d-prints-working-revolver-with-his-name-in-it?src=SOC&dom=fb
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blisterpeanuts
_" In Australia’s province of New South Wales, thanks to a law passed earlier
this month, merely owning the files could land a person in prison for 14
years._

Wow, that's pretty harsh. I have read about Australia's gun confiscation
program but I didn't realize they banned possession of _computer files_. I
wonder how that could even be enforced. What if you just rename the file to
"bunny rabbit" or some other innocuous thing?

And what about 3-D printing parts of a gun separately? A barrel for example is
basically a tube. Will they ban tubes? The grip is just a grip. Useful for
finger strengthening. The cylinder is a candle holder. Etc.

Just piece it together and you accidentally, coincidentally have something
that happens to shoot. As for bullets - hm, homemade bullets have been around
for centuries. I would suspect it's possible to make bullets from scratch even
in a place like Australia or Japan.

Bottom line: bans don't work, and 3-D printing merely makes it easier to
circumvent clumsy, 1930s style laws.

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jacquesm
In a movie I saw (Existenz) there is a scene where someone pieces together a
gun firing teeth from a bunch of stuff they find in their meal. All the bits
individually look very gross but are not immediately recognizable as parts of
a weapon.

In the words of Chris Rock: we don't need gun control, we need bullet control.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0Y4qIZ4PA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0Y4qIZ4PA)

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TeMPOraL
Bullets you can make from stuff too. We need propellant control. But then
everyone will switch back to knives and blunt objects. What we need is
_kinetic energy control_.

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dcherman
Newer powders are hard to make, but black powder is actually relatively easy
to make from what I understand. You certainly won't be shooting modern quality
ammunition, but guns are still possible. The .38 special was originally a
black powder cartridge if I'm not mistaken. That's why the case is so large
compared to the actual quantity of modern gunpowder that you use.

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nickpinkston
People love these 3D printed gun stories... but they don't realize that a
drill press and a metal file are really all you need, and they make a better
gun too...

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jacquesm
I think one of the reasons is that using a drill press and a metal file
require some skill whereas it takes much less skill to download a design and
hit 'print'. Even so the quality of low cost 3D printer printed objects is
such that you'll definitely need that file (and maybe even that drill press)
so from that point of view not much has been gained.

Substituting plastic for metal in a gun is a great way to lose a couple of
fingers or an eyeball too.

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ams6110
We used to teach middle schoolers to use such tools. It was a class called
"shop" or maybe "industrial arts." Who ever thought they might be used to make
a gun. Oh wait -- that was the project of one of the kids in my shop class,
ca. 1979.

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jacquesm
Yep. All knowledge is 'dual use', and metal working skills more so than most.

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deevus
I think there's something to be said about the liberty that this kind of thing
gives to people in general.

This is a bit of a touchy subject but I think that in the case of overthrowing
an oppressive government this kind of thing certainly makes defending yourself
a lot easier.

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jacquesm
If you think this thing is going to be any use against even the lowliest army
rifle then good luck to you.

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DrScump
... just like a bunch of hicks with Kentucky rifles couldn't be of any use
against the greatest military power the world had ever known to that point
(1770s), with its vast navy, cannon, artillery, and mercenaries.

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jacquesm
It's no longer the 1770's. If you wish to engage in revolution with a bunch of
plastic guns and low power bullets be my guest but it's your funeral.

A Glock is also largely made of plastic, but the barrel is made out of steel.
Presumably this is because they would like to be able to fire it many times
and because this greatly reduces the risk of injury to the user of the gun.

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DrScump
It's hard to cut useful rifling into anything but metal or ceramic.

A revolution mainly just takes strength of numbers; it's different from a war.
The Berlin Wall fell without a shot, for the most part. And there's an awful
lot of killing going on in urban areas of Israel right now with just _blades_.
Likewise, 9/11 was accomplished with just tiny blades.

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serge2k
> Likewise, 9/11 was accomplished with just tiny blades

tiny blades and the idea that you shouldn't fight back.

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fisk
I could be wrong because what do I know about guns, but when I see these
I-made-a-gun stories, I'm really irritated because 1. it seems like the action
of someone who began with "What is the easiest thing that I could do that
would get the most media attention?" 2\. when an important technology is
young, it is so irresponsible to stoke fears for selfish reasons in the
populace or abet politicians and pundits doing the same.

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jacquesm
A lot of 3D printing is like JavaScript: See, I can do 'X' with JavaScript,
where 'X' in JavaScript is not better or even a proper application of the
technology, but it is new to the maker and it is new to their audience.

Making a gun from plastic was doable for many years (various epoxys, simple
casts) so no news there, in principle.

 _But_ making a gun (or a whole bunch of them!) with a push of a button and
without skills is definitely new and that's the reason why it is newsworthy.

So even if the tech is wrong, the product crap and the workmanship shoddy
there _is_ something new here: a lethal weapon that can pass through a metal
detector can be manufactured by anybody without skills. They still need ammo,
they are manufacturing guns (which in many places can get you into a very
large amount of trouble), they're showing that 3D printing is an enabling
technology.

As noted below there are better ways of making guns, but they require a little
bit more in terms of skills (but less in terms of investment, and the guns
will be _much_ better).

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Animats
That's a really crappy gun. It's not even a revolver; a revolver has one
barrel with multiple rounds in a cylinder. This is a pepperbox gun, an idea
from the 1830s that didn't work out. The barrel length is so short you can't
hit anything other than at point-blank range.

If you're going to design a 3D printable gun, design something better than
what can be machined. Maybe bring back the Gyrojet or something like that.

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timdorr
Note that they're using .22LR ammunition, which has low recoil. They are also
likely using subsonic ammo, which is even lower powered. Anything higher
powered is likely going to break apart plastic.

I'd love to see one of these with a metal 3d printer. It would be impractical
for most people to produce, but would be a cool proof-of-concept.

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DrScump
Note that a .22LR almost killed U.S. President Reagan and seriously wounded
James Brady and two others.

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deevus
With Fallout 4 being pretty popular in memes at the moment, and the fact that
I've been playing a hell of a lot of it, I got a bit of a FO4 vibe from this.

Next stop, adding a scope and replacing the receiver for more accuracy and
damage!

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privacy101
similar design: [http://nerf.hasbro.com/en-us/product/nerf-n-strike-elite-
str...](http://nerf.hasbro.com/en-us/product/nerf-n-strike-elite-strongarm-
blaster:4D920EC3-5056-900B-1015-BF6A43ECEACA)

