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Wiki-Weapons Conducts First Live Test for 3D-Printed Gun

Dec. 5, 2012 1:33pm Liz Klimas

Over the weekend the Texas-based group Defense Distributed conducted their first test on the road to creating a functional 3D-printed gun design. As for the results, you might say the gun tore it up — literally.

Last week, TheBlaze brought you the story of “Wiki-Weapons,” a Defense Distributed project that seeks to “[facilitate] global access to [...] information and knowledge related to the 3D printing of arms.” Founder Cody Wilson told Wired the gun only survived six rounds of bullets, but generally it’s still what the group was hoping for, which is a starting point for improvements.

Defense Distributed Tests Gun Partially Made From 3D Printed Parts But It Broke Within Six Rounds

Defense Distributed put together a gun with a 3D printed piece. (Photo: WikiWed DevBlog)

“We knew it would break, probably,” Wilson told Wired, continuing that they expected it to go a little further — maybe 20 rounds — before breaking.

The gun was only partially 3D printed — trigger and grip, according to Wired — with other parts being metal. From the test of the design by Michael Guslick from Wisconsin, Wired reported Wilson saying he thought recoil was the root of the problem for the plastic pieces:

Wilson first fired one round to see if the gun worked, and then handed it to another member of the group. With 10 rounds in the magazine, the shooter managed to unload five. The recoil “pushes the ring back and down,” Wilson says, referring to the o-shaped ring attached to the gun’s upper receiver — which cycles the bullet — and shoulder stock, creating tremendous stresses.

One potential solution is reinforcing the o-ring, which the group detailed in a blog post. This might be done by just making it thicker, with more plastic material added to the ring’s sides where it won’t interfere with other components. The group also wants to reshape the trigger guard, boost the strength of interior pins and bolt bosses, and include custom markings — such as whether the gun is in the “safe” position — along with the printed product instead of laser-printing the markings afterward.

Here the group shows the break after testing. (Photo: WikiWep DevBlog)

Watch the test:

According to Wiki-Weapon’s blog, the lower receiver design for the AR-15 is available on Thingiverse. The entire piece took about seven hours to print.

This is the piece the team printed from an existing design. (Photo: WikiWep DevBlog)

In addition to making improvements to the design, the group is waiting for an official firearms license. Two anonymous companies have donated printing capabilities and space for Defense Distributed to test its designs, which when perfected it plans to post on its website for anyone with a 3D printer to use.

With this first test by the group, Wired stated “printed guns are becoming a reality, and they’re likely only to get better.”

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Comments (21)

B4B
Posted on January 9, 2013 at 11:03am
3-d printing does not have to be in plastic.
There are several methods, and some involve “printing” with various alloys. This is where I think the technology will prove most useable in firearms production.

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jim1964
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 8:55pm
Don’t make me mad !!!I may go print out a gun!!!

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- zeroturnzed
  Posted on February 4, 2013 at 10:18pm
  Yes, but there is a 7 hour minimum waiting period to get your weapon so this gives you ample time to cool off and not do something rash.
  
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geminimoon
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 7:27am
I’ve been following this since the beginning and my first thought was that they were making a mistake in using the AR style rifle. In the pix you can clearly see that the extreme forces of the buffer assembly caused the breakage.
I would think the AK style rifle would be a much better platform to use for 3D printing. The rear of the AK receiver could easily be built up more, without the need for other materials, to handle the impact of the bolt carrier and reduce any chance of breakage. Using the AR style rifle they are very limited as to how they can reinforce the lower receiver.
Better luck in further testing folks!!!

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DREDGE
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 5:51pm
Certainly is good reason to remove gun restrictions!!!!

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MGrilla
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 4:36pm
The implications of the direction this is going in is truly amazing . This is the America I believe in. I think it’s the fruit that can only be grown by a thinking society.

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geomann
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 3:00pm
I think it is great. People will find a way to have freedom no matter how hard the government tries to suppress it.

Just as people are re-discovering how to make their own food, we need to know the basics like the manufacture of gunpowder from raw materials. Knowledge is power.

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- macpappy
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 3:33pm
  you can go to Harbor Frieght or a simular discount tool store and buy the machinery to build your own gun for not much more than the cost of one high quality rifle.
  
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orion1958
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 2:37pm
This is not the first time that a functional 3D-printed gun design has been done. The show Sons of Guns did one ether last winter or back in August when they did a 3-D gun and it did not brake but worked fine.

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gyro
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 2:28pm
perfect for all gun loving geeks in Iran !

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- mikem1969
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 3:23pm
  the mussie version will have it set up so the bullet shoots the user.
  
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- Cronpolis
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 3:59pm
  and then blows up!
  
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Landon410
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 2:20pm
the issue the guberment and atf will have is all lowers need serial numbers, if i can print a gun at a buddy’s shop that has a 3′d printer then how does the guberment track guns?
the mexicans wouldn’t even need Obama and Co. to give them guns anymore.

you can order uppers off the internet and have them shipped to your house without an FFL

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- thefix
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 3:05pm
  It’s not true that they all have to have serial numbers. If you construct your own lower, you do not have to serialize it but you cannot transfer it to anyone, i.e. sell it or give away. You can only give it to members of your immediate family. You only need a serial on the gun if you are going into the manufacturing business at which point you have to get a special FFL I believe plus your engraved serial has to meet certain depth and size requirements, etc.
  
  You can buy 80% and less finished without needing to go through an FFL because it is not recognized as a firearm. You then finish them with a mill or if adventerous a drill press and don’t have to put a single bit of labeling on it if you don’t want. Most people that build them though tend to serialize them and label them as a matter of pride and the added wow factor of having gone that far into making their own rifle.
  
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RJJinGadsden
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 2:04pm
Suppose they will 3D print the M855 ammo for it too?

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- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 3:10pm
  They do make plastic training rounds, we shot with them one year when I was stationed in Japan. They have horrible accuracy.
  
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- grimmster
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 5:30pm
  RJ, ill stay with my “real” unprinted m855 ammo……
  
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BlackCrow
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 1:47pm
Very conveniently leave out what they were using for an upper. And the lower couldn’t take it. When they proof fire a barrel made on a 3-D printer let me know.

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- Twinspeedr
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 2:26pm
  You’re missing the fact that the lower is the only part of a an assault rifle that is controlled by Federal Government. With a “printed” lower receiver you can make an untraceable gun by buying all the freely available parts and using your “homemade” lower.
  
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Shoot2Stop
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 1:44pm
This will certainly drive the anti-gunners crazy. I love it!

Eventually we’ll have the proverbial replicator, and nothing will be out of reach.

.

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- nesmond
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 2:12pm
  Which is why this government will not allow this to succeed. A shame that this country has reached a point that its’ citizens have purchased firearms in record numbers because they can see the handwriting on the wall. I don’t think it will be long before blood runs in the streets.
  
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