The Internet Almanac

Miscellaneous Blather
#1006

3D printed guns are very reliable, can last many rounds, and require zero skills beyond the means to source a good 3D printer and find the program files.

The printed block does require some trimming etc, depending on your desire for aesthetics I suppose.

Certain parts must still be made of metal, obviously, such as (preferably) the barrel, firing pin, etc but most of those can be purchased online without triggering the attention of the authorities. I don’t think they’re cheaper than purchasing an actual weapon, but I also don’t think that’s the point - they avoid the scrutiny and investigations that the purchase of a legal gun would generate.

They used to be 100% legal, as they filled a loophole that the US gun laws failed to anticipate (who knew). However, they are know banned in most of the US as far as I know and certainly in NJ; possession of the weapon is criminalized as is the creation of them.

2 Likes
#1007

I am not sure why I am surprised, but that blows me away. Once we get 3D printing metal powders we will see even more interesting “democratization” of stuff…

#1008

I’ll also point out that, if the dude had 3-d printed a custom grip or other simple doodad, it’d be reported as a 3-d printed gun. But for a single murder, a gun needn’t last that long. So you have to figure that the parts which used to be made of wood could be replaced with plastic, and there’s no reason that plastic couldn’t come from a 3-d printer. Probably 3-d printing can do smaller, more intricate stuff reliably.

Though my experience with CNC machines like 3-d printers is that what seems like it ought to be perfectly precise and repeatable sometimes … isn’t.

#1009

So…. Handgun with a silencer - very little would be made of wood. Wood on a handgun was pretty limited to a revolver, which rarely have threaded barrels. Also, he didn’t use a revolver cause they don’t eject the casings when you fire them.

Down the rabbit hole.

Barrels - the part the bullet goes down and out of - can have a threaded tip. Basically the barrel extends past the slide and has screw threads which the suppressor then screws onto. We’ll leave quick attach suppressors for another day, but those are pretty much limited to rifles anyway.

The majority of modern handguns have frames (think the grip - the part you hold) made of polymer - fancy plastic. This is usually the part that is then 3D printed and has metal put in for the firing assembly, where the slide moves back and forth, etc. I’m not certain that a slide, ejection lever, and high stress parts like that would be able to be 3D printed, at least not for more than one shot…

ETA: the fact the dude used a suppressor blows my mind. In twenty plus years of law enforcement I’ve never even seen one - they are fully illegal in NJ and so hard to obtain elsewhere that no one is selling them illegally really like they would a gun. Also, using them on handguns, while possible, is movie shit. Handguns aren’t typically loud enough to justify a suppressor, nor is their purpose as a primary weapon in places where suppressors are useful. (It’s near impossible to holster a weapon with a suppressor let alone conceal it).

Suppressors are useful for military units conducting operations where they want to be sneaky or who operate indoors and don’t want to blow out their eardrums. In order to be fully effective they require subsonic ammunition, which requires a specific weapon system to accommodate it.

I guess TL;dr, don’t believe what you see in the movies

5 Likes
#1010

Also, since we’re on the topic of wood on guns, here’s my next addition to the collection.

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#1011

The culmination of knowledge in this forum is really difficult to find elsewhere … especially without interference from some random trolls
I am very thankful to part of this.
@rinelk if there is any possibility to throw in some dimes to keep it running please share… still through patron?

2 Likes
#1012

I think that’s what @Neumannium uses the patreon funds for, so, yeah!

I have to be honest—I don’t participate in any other online forums like this, and it shocks me that Discord hasn’t taken off. The spam detection and community management seem really robust, and I’d have expected it to be everywhere by now. Obviously, it helps to start with some great users setting a tone, but I think a lot of online communities could be better than seems to be the standard.

3 Likes
#1013

That and managing his island estate in Bali : )

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#1014

Looking for the Patron link I went to the main page of SP and imagine my surprise when I found a new article on our website…. Not kidding, really guys…
ok, at least it was new to me, but given the fact that no one commented on it before, I assume it’s news for the majority here

also, on a side note, our Patron website is not working well. It takes hours to load, and the links don’t work… I don’t know if is only me or only today, but the rest of Patron seems to be working fine.

It works now

3 Likes
#1015

I still go to the main stately play landing site, and click on forums.

Creature of habit

1 Like
#1016
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#1017

https://old.reddit.com/r/fosscad/comments/1hahs1l/awwww_shit_here_we_go/

1 Like
#1018
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#1019

The most wtf part of that Reddit thread is the posters mocking the guy’s ammo supply and boasting how many thousands of rounds per calibre they personally have at home. Seriously, why? Does their local range have spray-and-pray evenings? Wedding celebrations Afghan style? Zombie outbreaks? Why?

1 Like
#1020

Seriously, why?

Ammo prices in the US regularly spike, and it’s just good sense in terms of it being a consumable; a range visit can easily consume hundreds of rounds of different calibres, and while collecting your own brass and reloading is cheaper, it’s time consuming. So if you’re buying thousands of rounds, you’re saving a lot of money.

2 Likes
#1021

This.

As with most things in life, buying in bulk costs less per unit; I usually won’t buy ammunition in lots of less than 1000, and as OhBollox said, a single range trip can easily consume 500 rounds, if not more.

I’d love to get into reloading, but a, the setup costs are considerable, b, I don’t have the space, and c, I don’t have the time. Also d, the ammunition I shoot most often - 9mm, 5.56, and 12ga - comes from work, so not really any need to load my own when there’s factory stuff for the taking.

2 Likes
#1022

Even in the UK with laws allowing you to only own x hundred rounds of a calibre, you can then still own the components to make thousands of rounds. The chap I sold my last rifle to can only hold something like 500 rounds of .303, but he had stocked up the components for something like 3,000 rounds because prices were getting silly.

#1023

Interesting - I didn’t know the UK limited the amount of ammunition you could have. How do they track that - scout’s honor? And is it dependent on caliber or just overall?

#1024

It depends on calibre. You can own thousands of rounds of .22LR for instance, they don’t really care about that. It’s essentially the honour system, police can request to inspect your firearms storage (which is where you have to keep both firearms and ammo) and check how much you have on hand, but this is a fairly rare event that only seems to happen if someone is really expanding their collection and they’re wondering how you’re storing your thirty assorted firearms, or they’ve been caught being naughty.

In some ways, the UK has some surprisingly sensible aspects to its firearms law; suppressors are easy to get, and you can own a lot of firearms of varying calibres (if you want to own a .50 BMG rifle, you can).

https://old.reddit.com/r/guns/comments/1dv6xfw/dear_americans_happy_4th_of_july_from_england/

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#1025

Huh. Well, today I learned something. Thanks for the sensible replies to a less than sensible question. :+1:

2 Likes