The original Liberator handgun was printed using an $8,000 piece of equipment the size of a refrigerator. But for most people, something like a “Lulzbot AO-101” is more affordable at around $1,750. Unfortunately, the original plans were not completely compatible with that kind of printer and needed a little tweaking. Which “Joe,” an engineer in Wisconsin, has done and successfully tested . . .
From Forbes:
Eight of Joe’s test-fires were performed using a single barrel before swapping it out for a new one on the ninth. After all those shots, the weapon’s main components remained intact–even the spiraled rifling inside of the barrel’s bore. “The only reason we stopped firing is because the sun went down,” he says.
Just how the Lulz Liberator survived those explosions isn’t exactly clear. Joe claims that the plastic he used, the generic Polylac PA-747 ABS fed into most consumer 3D printers, is actually stronger than the more expensive ABS plastic used in a Stratasys printer. In fact, before using a Lulzbot-printed barrel, he and Guslick tested one made on Guslick’s Stratasys printer. That barrel exploded on firing, though Joe blames the problem in part on its having been printed with a smaller chamber, the space at the back of the barrel into which the round is inserted.
Joe’s printed gun contains a few more pieces of metal hardware than the original Liberator. Rather than print plastic pins to hold the hammer in the body, for instance, he used hardware store screws. Like Defense Distributed’s gun, the Lulz Liberator also uses a metal nail for a firing pin, and includes a chunk of non-functional steel designed to make it detectable with a metal detector so that it complies with the Undetectable Firearms Act. The rifling that Joe added to the barrel is designed to skirt the National Firearms Act, which regulates improvised weapons and those with smooth-bored barrels.
So there it is. People claimed that the Liberator was a flash in the pan, something that was only capable of being printed by expensive machines, impossible for the average consumer to make. And, even if they could, they said the barrels would explode. It looks like every one of the fairy tales that gun control advocates have been telling themselves to make this seem like it isn’t the end of gun control as we know it have been crumbling, one after another.
Oh, and the best part is this comment under the Forbes article:
Why isn’t everyone screaming to ban this technology! This is exactly what’s wrong in this country, allowing anyone with the capability to make guns at home! Don’t think for a minute that the scum bag criminals aren’t going to jump on this like a dog on a bone. Stop this now before it’s too late!
I don’t even know where to start with that cry for the government to step in and regulate away the bad guys . . .
I may be wrong but are all these killers/bombers never work a full time jobs,, but seem to have all the money in the world…….. Does Well Fair pay that well… and can buy some the best firearms/ammo etc…
That is why you have more that one gun , and a way to trash the high cap. mag…and if in 7 round mag area , move soon, and till than drive to a free state a get a high cap. mag…if you had two to four seven round mags,to show police how they going to prove anything……..
Since the rifling is digitally reproduced, I suspect the rifling is exact in each printing. In other words, the marks on the bullet from one gun would be identical to those in another gun.
Would be interesting to see if there is any difference in the bullets fired from different guns.
“You see, I’m a moron for owning a gun. For believing that my firearm protects my family and me. Since Stanley doesn’t have a gun, no one else should. Don’t argue, if you are on the other side of his opinion, you’re wrong – because you can’t see both sides of the issue (doesn’t that sound…silly?).”
This is the view of the gun grabbers. The same ones who, ironically, often are surrounded by armed protectors. They’re not interested in facts or reality, only that YOU (legal gun owner who has never committed a crime) should not have guns, just because a criminal went and used one to commit crimes.
TO: All
RE: History Repeats Itself…Again
The way the federal government is responding to the advent of the 3D printer reminds me of how the Roman Catholic church reacted to the invention of the Guttenberg printing press.
They went ballistic because then ANYBODY COULD HAVE A BIBLE. Not just the Roman Catholic church.
Now, with 3D printers, ANYONE CAN HAVE A FIREARM.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. The resulting Wars of the Reformation were ‘interesting’. But reason won out over monopolies.
1
Please substantiate. I take slander against the Catholic Church very seriously.
And by substantiate, I mean show a verifiable source that proves your point.
Sadly, there’s going to be another Costas, Morgan, Feinstein, Schumer….
This is a real tough call for me. I do not oppose gay marriege. I believe it, like owning a gun, is a civil right that cannot be denied by the state. We also have the issue of plural marriege. My wife is a mormon, I am not. My wife has brought up the issue of a second wife for me. My wife is turned off by the thought of gay marriege but she’s beginning to at least warm to supporting the idea as a way to re introduce plural marriege to America.
My biggest problem with gay marriege is the lack of reciprecol support amongst gays for my 2a rights. Rachel Maddow is a good case. A gay woman with a national audience and she won’t support 2a rights and speaks against them.
Do I vote in favor of gay marriege even though the leading lights of the gay community will not support my rights?
The last time the issue of gay marriege came in front of voters in California I voted against it out of a sense of anger for the lack of support for my 2a rights. It was not an easy choice to make, but I felt I had to make a statement.
Wow! Three LEOs can’t subdue one man?! I don’t care what he was, that is what pepper spray and Tazers are for. Looks like murder to me.
Marriage, historically speaking, has been more of a business proposal between two families than a coupling of two individuals. Think Dowries, land exchanges, familial growth and expansion. From this perspective, the government does have a significant part to play when the business proposal and all the resulting exchanges of material wealth occur, to step in and oversee negotiations of amicable division of accrued wealth in the absence of a contract outlining ownership shares. It is much like any business partnership where two parties come together, draft a contract, then move to dissolve that contract. The biggest difference is that the only contract involved in marriage is one identifying the existence of the partnership (marriage license, for the taxes, and maybe the children!tm) but not necessarily how assets are to be divided once the partnership is dissolved. If the government did not have this role, too many lawyers would go hungry. If it saves just one… Nope. Just can’t reach that low for sarcasm.
“ping us an [email protected]”
Could that be why you’re on MPA’s sh*t list? 🙂
I want to know why Massachusetts State Police were in Florida “interviewing” a “suspect” at any location other than a police station.
South of two grand a SX2 mill can be converted to CNC. That’s currently what a lot of people tend to do and it’s all bolt on installation.
Bob wants just one example, where someone used an AR 15.
15 year old kid, protects sister with dad’s AR 15, when man breaks into home. This was reported here as well, as tv news channels.
Man attempts robbery in the Detroit area and runs out, when someone inside opens fire with an AR 15.
Those are just 2, both of which are someplace on this blog and I’ve watched the video’s on YouTube.
You asked for just one, Bob. I gave you two!
You can’t put the cork back in the bottle cause the bottle’s been shattered. Wonder if you could make an all metal COP on one of these?
Is TTAG on MPA’s “no-fly list” because of the video reviews of the Protector .380?
These are very interesting. I’d love to see some ballistics gel tests out of curiosity.
“Board of Equalization”? Really? That’s not a warning bell, no sir.