S.R. Crawford
.270 WIN
Had an interesting conversation about this over at The Everyday Marksman, kinda wanted to see some of your thoughts on it.
I forget exactly how the conversation got started, but at some point I mentioned how I've kind of wanted to get into gunsmithing and design my own guns and parts since high school. I never gave much thought to it at the time, but technology has changed since then. Lately through some other hobbies I've been sold on the idea of 3d printing, especially as the technology is perfected and becomes more accessibly. New filaments are on the market now and even printing with ABS is commonplace.
Now, 3d printing an entire rifle may be a bit far fetched as it stands. Polymer-framed weapons are only recently becoming available and those are almost always injection molded- a much more proven technology. However I think there's merit to the idea of printing external parts and accessories. Things like handguards and stocks that won't land you in hot water with the ATF. I could see some really neat builds done this way as it opens up avenues for functional but affordable design and experimentation.
Legal SNAFU aside I'm curious to see what your thoughts are on this.
I forget exactly how the conversation got started, but at some point I mentioned how I've kind of wanted to get into gunsmithing and design my own guns and parts since high school. I never gave much thought to it at the time, but technology has changed since then. Lately through some other hobbies I've been sold on the idea of 3d printing, especially as the technology is perfected and becomes more accessibly. New filaments are on the market now and even printing with ABS is commonplace.
Now, 3d printing an entire rifle may be a bit far fetched as it stands. Polymer-framed weapons are only recently becoming available and those are almost always injection molded- a much more proven technology. However I think there's merit to the idea of printing external parts and accessories. Things like handguards and stocks that won't land you in hot water with the ATF. I could see some really neat builds done this way as it opens up avenues for functional but affordable design and experimentation.
Legal SNAFU aside I'm curious to see what your thoughts are on this.