This bullet makes 3D printed guns genuinely dangerous weapons (but don't panic just yet)

Tech Times ^ | November 6, 2014 | Nicole Arce

[2ndDivisionVet]

One of the things that have prevented 3D printed guns from gaining popularity with the mainstream is the fact that they can't fire more than several rounds without wearing out. The plastic used to make the body of the gun is simply too fragile to accommodate the force of firing. A 25-year-old machinist has found an easy, although time-consuming, way to solve this problem.

Michael Crumling has developed ammunition he calls .314 Atlas, after the .314-inch caliber and the Atlas lathe he used to make his bullets. Each bullet designed by Crumling is buried deep inside and reinforced with a thick steel shell which absorbs all the force of firing, as opposed to traditional guns and other 3D printed guns where the force is taken by the gun's barrel or body. This way, gun owners can fire an "unlimited" number of rounds without deforming the firearms after several rounds.

"It's a really simple concept; it's kind of a barrel integrated into the shell, so to speak," Crumling said. "Basically it removes all the stresses and pressures from the 3D printed parts. You should be able to fire an unlimited number of shots through the gun without replacing any parts other than the shell."

The .314 Atlas represents another small step towards making 3D printed guns a viable alternative to conventional firearms, but Crumling's ammunition is far from becoming commercially feasible. Although the raw materials cost only $0.27 each and the gun was printed using a low-cost PrintrBot home 3D printer, it's not as quick to produce the bullet. Crumling says it takes an entire hour just to make a single round alone. Once fired, the bullets can be collected and repacked with gunpowder to be used again.

That should leave some room for lawmakers and gun control authorities, who have been battling with the budding firearm technology that can potentially allow anyone with access to a 3D printer to build their own guns without monitoring by the government, to create regulations surrounding 3D printed guns.

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), for instance, has challenged the reliability of 3D printed firearms in a video showing Defense Distributed's Liberator exploding from the impact of firing. However, Defense Distributed defended its product and called out the ATF for using the wrong printing methods or wrong ammunition, saying the ATF is using scare tactics to keep gun enthusiasts away from 3D printed guns. Still, the company admits that 3D printed guns made with plastic, including its own Liberator, takes on some damage every time a round is fired.

This is where Crumling's ammunition could play a significant role in turning 3D printed firearms, even semi-automatic and automatic ones, more popular.

"That's the main reason I developed these, and that's the next step," Crumling says. "This is a building block for the future of 3D printed firearms that will enable people to develop semi-automatic and - if you had the proper legal paperwork - even fully automatic weapons."

Crumling is not selling his ammunition, but he has uploaded his design and shares it for free. However, he says he could start taking on orders to produce the bullets if an adequate number of enthusiasts ask him to.

[Telepathic Intruder]

The bullet is more like a gun than the gun is. This will just make it easy for liberals to ban them.

[tumblindice]

The cartridge sounds like Russian shotgun or revolver ammo.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Don’t think so. Call em thimbles, and start stamping casings. @home loads. It’s just the casing. Once these get mass produced (just the casing) gun control lost.

[TigersEye]

Defense Distributed defended its product and called out the ATF for using the wrong printing methods or wrong ammunition, saying the ATF is using scare tactics to keep gun enthusiasts away from 3D printed guns.

No need to explain that as malice when stupidity is just as or more likely.

Moron ATF Agent Seizes 30 Toy Guns! Says They can be Converted! video 2:38

[exnavy]

ATF is another of those federal agencies that should be defunded and banned from existing.

[knarf]

drinkers, smokers and shooters .... every American pastime rolled up into one unit purposed to make criminals out of Americans ... ATF

[rawcatslyentist]

disposable barrels

[MrB]

I see printed guns as th 21st century “liberator”.
They don’t need to fire more than a couple of shots.

[Yo-Yo]

So he essentially lathe turned a one use barrel and called it a cartridge. May as well just lathe turn a steel barrel liner and stick it into a 3D printed gun and use conventional ammunition. There are a lot of low pressure rounds that this would work with.

[glasseye]

ping

[sima_yi]

Anybody remember Gyrojet?

[BwanaNdege]

Why are the liberals so obsessed with "anyone with a 3D printer can make a gun"?

Are any of the idiots aware of the long history of "zip guns"?

In western Kenya the deep boreholes (water well hand-pumps) used 1/2" galvanized steel water pipe as pump rods, connecting the pump handle to the piston. Unfortunately, the warriors of the local pastoral tribes learned to make gun barrels from the 1/2" water pipe. The 1/2" was heated & hammered down to roughly .30 cal size. The solution was to replace the 1/2" pipe with 3/4" pipe. None of the warriors were man enough to fire a .75 cal rifle, even if there was ammo available.

[IncPen]

pings

[CrazyIvan]

I still have an old American Rifleman somewhere with an article about them.

[bunkerhill7]

“The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower”-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione

Fully automatic machine guns etc were declared unconstitutionally illegal in 1922, 1932, 34, 1946, 1968.

We`-uns up`n here them mountains folks we done got 1920-30`s revenooer `s auto weapons they done dropped ` n runoff n left after they wuz rears filled with shotgun rocksalt.

we don give a twit bout no frickin “gun laws” up here in the mountains for 400 years. Frickin commies.

Only gun law legal is Second Amendment.

Spit on my sights, you frickin commies bastards.

[Organic Panic]

Buy a black powder pistol. It is easier. Being a manufacturer it would be wrong of me to explain how strategically placed carbon fiber reinforcements can dramatically increade the life of a plastic printer pistol. Follow that up by a seamless barrel liner to reinforce the barrel. It is wrong because the government needs to know who has the guns to protect the children.

[TigersEye]

The entire DOJ is starting to smell pretty ripe these days.

[theBuckwheat]

Personal liberty really scares bureaucrats.

It is about time bureaucrats were scared of free citizens.