This Is The World's First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos)
The 3D-printed gun that Cody Wilson calls the "Liberator." (Credit: Michael Thad Carter for Forbes)
To Liberty!
** Except for the firing pin and barrel, it's all printed polymer. Looks aside, the point is the proof of concept. To that end, it's a success:
All sixteen pieces of the Liberator prototype were printed in ABS plastic with a Dimension SST printer from 3D printing company Stratasys, with the exception of a single nail that’s used as a firing pin. The gun is designed to fire standard handgun rounds, using interchangeable barrels for different calibers of ammunition.
And predictably, it already has a traitorous Constitutionally clueless public servant 'up in arms:'
Update: Defense Distributed’s political opponents aren’t waiting around for its printable gun to be finished and uploaded before calling for it to be banned. Congressman Steve Israel issued a press release Friday responding to this story: “Security checkpoints, background checks, and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and bring those firearms through metal detectors with no one the wiser,” his statement reads. “When I started talking about the issue of plastic firearms months ago, I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science-fiction. Now that this technology is proven, we need to act now to extend the ban [on] plastic firearms.”
This Is The World's First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos)
Andy Greenberg, Forbes Staff
5/03/2013 @ 7:00AM |112,931 views
Eight months ago, Cody Wilson set out to create the world’s first entirely 3D-printable handgun.
Now he has.
Early next week, Wilson, a 25-year University of Texas law student and founder of the non-profit group Defense Distributed, plans to release the 3D-printable CAD files for a gun he calls “the Liberator,” pictured in its initial form above. He’s agreed to let me document the process of the gun’s creation, so long as I don’t publish details of its mechanics or its testing until it’s been proven to work reliably and the file has been uploaded to Defense Distributed’s online collection of printable gun blueprints at Defcad.org.
** For those who may not be familiar, the name "Liberator" is an homage to the stamped steel, single shot .45ACP pistol manufactured by GM's lamp division for OSS; they airdropped these to WWII Resistance fighters in occupied territories. The intended use was for the freedom fighter to get up close and personal with a Nazi scum, shoot them from behind, and to arm themselves with more significant firepower by taking their Mausers, assault rifles & SMGs as battlefield pickups.
