Full-auto would be nice, but I mean if getting SBRs were less of a pain-in-the-ass. NFA compliant PS90s (and Kriss Vectors for that matter too) look abominable.
It still boggles the mind as to why they’re even on the NFA list, since the reason for them being there (to plug a loophole for an inevitable pistol ban) never got implemented.
Looking at this thread, it’s fucking wild how much progress 3D-printed guns have made. We’ve gone from tech-demos and parts-substitutes to fully functional SBRs.
By the time the MSM finally gets a hint of the likes of the FGC-9, we’ll likely have cracked locking mechanisms (thus larger calibers) and select-fire control groups, along with primers, and cases (smokeless gunpowder and bullets have already be worked out).
Philip Luty is the intellectual forebearer of the entire movement, and if he was around today, he’d be damn proud of what’s been accomplished. I mean, the FGC-9 is descended from his original design goals, as JStark1809 was inspired by the Shuty made by Derwood, who was in turn inspired by Luty.
I just wish people wouldn’t bring up the Luty to disparage 3DP guns, because the Luty was good for its time, and is a thoroughly outdated design at this point; not to mention quite finicky to build correctly. It was never intended to be a gun that you used for practical purposes, and was more a political statement about the futility of gun control more than anything else. Yet people still bring it up as “wElL wHy 3DP A gUn WhEn YoU cAn BuIlD a MuCh BeTtEr LuTy/StEn!”
Hell, the means to make barrels for bottlenecked cartridges is about to be examined, so all five of you .357 Sig fans will be able to make your own PCCs for your overpriced high-recoil cartridges.
It’s already possible to 3D-print metal and plastic products in mass scale. But it’s not yet widely applied because of the uncertainty of new things. Traditional methods like forging and casting are still used on parts that needs to endure large or reciprocating stress, because even though 3D-printing can produce strong and light components, we don’t yet know how well they could cope with fatigue. It will take a few (but not many) years before manufacturers widely use 3D printing for production.
Take guns as example, when shot’s fired, the barrel is heated up and cooled down instantly, and the entire bolt assembly travels to and fro at high speed. All components have cracks inevitably when they’re produced. And the repeating heat expansion, loading and unloading gradually expands the crack. This is how material fatigue works in a nutshell. And when the crack grows big enough to reduce the mechanism’s strength, it fractures into pieces.
…except that nigh all the modern designs take that into account, and things like material strength and heat tolerances are noted in the development phase. All the pressure-bearing parts are metal, and the high-use parts are either reinforced or a printed in materials like Zytel.
The idea that you need metal printers to produce viable firearms is a complete meme, and will cause the likes of Ivan or Ctrl-Pew or JRod to roll their eyes at you.
Remember, if a plastic part breaks on a 3DP firearm, it only costs a couple of dollars worth of plastic (if that) to replace it. With a 3DP metal part breaks, it’s in the hundreds of dollars mark.
@Ebalosus
I’m not talking about making it in your own shed. I’m talking about mass production. Nobody on their own can afford or legally buy a metal printer as an individual.
Also, Zytol is a drug used to treat high uric acid level in the blood, not a material.
Whoops, I spelt it wrong. Anyhow, I wasn’t talking about mass manufacturing in either of my posts, but more that the idea that you have to have metal 3D-printers isn’t true.