The 3D printed parts are the frame and hand grip. The barrel, firing pin, and all springs must be steel. The printed parts will eventually deform or break, or just melt if the barrel get too hot. Trigger group parts can be 3D printed, those having a very short life. Most people put purchased trigger parts into the lower housing.
The electro-chemical machining for the rifling is very rough and crude. That limits the range and accuracy. The barrel must be machines on a metal lathe. One must either make or buy a chamber reamer.
Those weapons do shoot, and sometimes will work for a few weeks. They certainly can be used in the process of gathering well manufactured weapons from the battlefield.
GingisK wrote:
The barrel must be machines on a metal lathe. One must either make or buy a chamber reamer.
Marktwain replies:
The designers of the FGC-9 claim the barrels are useable without being machined on a lathe. They claim the chamber can be formed with electro-chemical machining. Using the electro-chemical machining, at least one maker reports accuracy approaching that of the ordinary Glock pistol.
Smith & Wesson has used electro-chemical machining to rifle its pistol barrels for a long time, so the technique is capable of precise work.
As with most things, initial attempts by amateurs usually do not equal production by skilled professionals.