Posted on 05/25/2013 7:17:14 AM PDT by NewJerseyJoe
You may have noticed my complete lack of posting about Cody Wilson and his printed gun technology. The reason for that is simple: it’s a gimmick. Sure, printed guns can work, but the question is inevitably “how long?” When it comes to the catastrophic failure of the thermoplastics used in the construction of the barrels and firing chambers, it isn’t a matter of “if,” but “when.”
As a practical matter, with current and near-term technologies, plastic guns are a loser.
That said, some of the emerging technologies that make plastic guns feasible are viable for metalwork as well, and machines like the crowd-funded Othermill means that CNC metalworking machines will soon be in the hands of people for a fraction of the cost of the plastic printing machines.
Purely as a practical matter, how long do you think it will be before someone takes an Othermill or similar portable CNC machine, and builds the jigs and writes the code to make finishing an 80% receiver or 80% frame as simple as clicking a button with your mouse?
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept, all firearms have one part that is legally the gun according to the BATF. For an AR-15, it is the lower receiver. No other parts that make up the firearm are technically a gun, so they are not individually serial numbered, nor tracked.
An 80% receiver (or 80% frame for most pistols) is not a finished part, however, and is not registered with anyone. You can buy as many as you want, and then finish them yourself into a firearm that has not serial number, which does not have to be registered, and which is 100% legal to own under federal law (I don’t know if that holds true in the individual slave states, so comply with your local laws, etc).
While the plastics are a disruptive technology on a political and psychological perspective, they are nearly irrelevant as a practical matter.
The introduction of high-quality, affordable micro million machines which can cheaply finish 80% parts or completely manufacture them from scratch, however, changes the game entirely. When these technologies become commonplace, the concept of “gun control” becomes a complete absurdity, since the equipment to manufacture firearms will be as affordable and commonplace as a crafter’s Sizzix machine.
As a practical matter, gun control is nearly dead. The idiots pushing for it just don’t understand that technology has killed the concept, and that is something that Cody Wilson has nailed with 100% accuracy.
Thanks for a post on this topic that isn’t 3D BS. There are thousands of home shops and small CNC shops with this capability, which costs under 10K.
Long enough to get a real gun...
They only need to work long enough for the user to acquire a real gun.
/johnny
The author of the article obviously doesn't understand why Cody named his plastic gun 'Liberator' after the WW2 pistol.
Long enough to get a real gun...
To the guy on the receiving end, if it works one time that is one time too many.
If you've got a mill, why bother starting with the 80% receiver? I guess if you're the guy writing the program to distribute to others, it gets you most of the benefit with the least effort, at least as the first project.
Making it clear to potentials tyrants that this issue is a lost cause would BE a practical matter, wouldn't it? IOW, "You're screwed, any more effort down this road will cost you more than you could possibly gain."
Micro-million? I think I have about that in my wallet right now!
I have a pickle-jar full of them!
Wow, talk about word-salad.
You could stab someone to death with the sentence diagram, if you didn’t kill yourself first.
You could get yourself in a loop of mixed-modifiers and starve before you found your way out!
Subject-verb-direct object:
Introduction, changes, game. Blech.
Yeah, but he goes on this meandering side trip that massively overshadows the original plan.
I'm not sure about the Othermill, but people have adapted the $500 Harbor Freight bench-top mill to CNC. The data files for AR-15 lower receivers are all over the Internet. The writer's "one button" scenario is possible with large production CNC equipment, but the garage shops require more setup steps.
The subject/verb/object base is the key to a good sentence. If that’s weak - like “introduction/changes/game” - there’s not much that can be done but junk it and start over.
You beat me to it.
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