3D printed metal 1911 is a go

[Perd Hapley]

They're trying to ride on Cody Wilson's coat-tails with the "zomg you can have a 3d printed gun how cool is that?" sentiment, but the actual point of Cody's work is to reduce the power and intimidation of the State.

In most technical ways, a 3d printed gun is going to be inferior to a gun milled from a solid piece or cast into a particular shape from molten material.  The ONLY point to it, is to disembowel the State.  

When they start renting out their 3D printers at $100 an hour with an open library of files for the user to choose from.... or start selling their 3D printers to people that want to rent them out to others hourly... then they're doing freedom a service while still engaging in commerce.  Right now, they're just opportunistic lost souls who don't understand the real importance of Cody's work.

Um, they're just making a gun. It's nowhere written that Cody Wilson's work can only be used or imitated or capitalized upon for his (or any other) political purposes. I'm sure Wilson is perfectly happy that there is another technology out there capable of doing what he did, especially when the end product is much better.

DEFCAD/Defense-Distributed also calls their early version single-shot polymer 3D printed pistols "Liberator".

That might be cause for the confusion.

Yeah, Hank, I'm pretty sure they meant the DD Liberator, not the original. Maybe they should have been more specific.

[Matthew Carberry]

The several hundreds to several thousands of dollar hobbyist/hobbyist plus milling machines/ lathes almost all come CNC ready out of the box.

Which doesn't diminish the 3D printing, it means both are within reach for the motivated average joe. Whichever method is most efficient for any given part can be used.

[Perd Hapley]

500 rounds

http://gunsnfreedom.com/video-the-worlds-first-3d-printed-metal-gun-fires-500-rounds-with-ease/

[zahc]

Sort of off-topic, but I always notice a lot of "the technology will improve" and "prices will come down" and "quality will go up" and lots of such statements supported by nothing but optimism. It's probably a safe bet and for people raised in the 20th century it probably seems inevitable that progress will happen. However, being an engineer myself I know that progress really requires work, smart people, funding, and stable markets. Progress doesn't happen when people aren't getting paid due to hyperinflation, companies don't invest due to unstable markets or confiscatory tax policies. Progress doesn't "just happen"; Technological progress is not a given, it is a product of civilization. The fact that we still see it despite the current oppression shows that it's hard to stop, but ain't nobody gonna be playing with experimental technologies or dressing up to go to their fancy engineering jobs after the economy destablizes and the energy-agriculture system that feeds is breaks down, and the "knowledge workers (myself in that group) are eaten by those who know how to field-strip an AK and live on what a pakistani bricklayer would consider prosperity.