Smoking Barrels - LTT's Unnofficial Gun Club!

[Guest]

@bmichaels556 I’ve seen people talk about this stuff on YouTube. Most of it isn’t worth your time though one company is working on designing guns to specifically be 3D printed & have specially designed parts that only last maybe 3~ shots before breaking. 

 

One guy printed his own ar-15 lower & it took him hours if not days to clean it up from support material, that he said it 1: wasn’t worth it from a materials standpoint 2: way too time consuming 3: wouldn’t last more than a few shots 4: wouldn’t be safe. 

 

You’re welcome to try as you will & if it doesn’t void forum rules, let us know about your adventures. I’m not an engineer so I cannot tell you the capabilities. We’re not super far but what we have has been said to not be worth it. (If you google 3D printed gun & find the controversy from the first printed gun, you’ll find the company. That guy is the one designing the parts.) 

[Snadzies]

12 hours ago, bmichaels556 said:

I was actually wondering what kind of luck you guys may have had with 3D printing parts, especially on a budget-friendly printer.
(snip)

 

While I am not terribly familiar with budget consumer 3D printers, nor am I a professional gunsmith, but I have serious doubts about using such printers to print magazines and AR lowers.

 

My main concern with the magazines are the feed lips.

There is a good amount of force and pressure being applied to the feed lips and even the slighted bending or warping can cause them to malfunction and I would honestly be surprised if consumer grade printers could print sturdy enough feed lips.

 

As for the lower, I'd worry about the ring that the buffer tube threads into.

I've seen polymer lowers where the buffer ring was either reinforced with metal or the ring was metal and inserted into the lower as that seems to be a major weak point for poly lowers.

Other poly lowers live seen make the lower, grip, buffer tube and shoulder stock all one single piece so they can make the area where they all meet thicker and stronger.

[bmichaels556]

14 hours ago, fpo said:

@bmichaels556 I’ve seen people talk about this stuff on YouTube. Most of it isn’t worth your time though one company is working on designing guns to specifically be 3D printed & have specially designed parts that only last maybe 3~ shots before breaking. 

 

One guy printed his own ar-15 lower & it took him hours if not days to clean it up from support material, that he said it 1: wasn’t worth it from a materials standpoint 2: way too time consuming 3: wouldn’t last more than a few shots 4: wouldn’t be safe. 

 

You’re welcome to try as you will & if it doesn’t void forum rules, let us know about your adventures. I’m not an engineer so I cannot tell you the capabilities. We’re not super far but what we have has been said to not be worth it. (If you google 3D printed gun & find the controversy from the first printed gun, you’ll find the company. That guy is the one designing the parts.) 

 

11 hours ago, Snadzies said:

 

While I am not terribly familiar with budget consumer 3D printers, nor am I a professional gunsmith, but I have serious doubts about using such printers to print magazines and AR lowers.

 

My main concern with the magazines are the feed lips.

There is a good amount of force and pressure being applied to the feed lips and even the slighted bending or warping can cause them to malfunction and I would honestly be surprised if consumer grade printers could print sturdy enough feed lips.

 

As for the lower, I'd worry about the ring that the buffer tube threads into.

I've seen polymer lowers where the buffer ring was either reinforced with metal or the ring was metal and inserted into the lower as that seems to be a major weak point for poly lowers.

Other poly lowers live seen make the lower, grip, buffer tube and shoulder stock all one single piece so they can make the area where they all meet thicker and stronger.

 

I could swear there are some newer lower receiver designs that actually print a reinforced rearward portion of the lower separately where you would then screw and adhere them together. Something like below? Seemed to run pretty well, but I'd be more interested in a magazine, though I know  I'm definitely going to have to work on it before I see any results, let alone fitting it properly in the mag well... Yeah, I mean like I said, it's mostly for the sake of science, and just seeing what is possible. But I definitely don't expect to have a fully working AR-15 with half the parts being 3D printed. Although that would be pretty cool.

 

Oh, and I believe I saw a video a while back of a dude who printed a 10/22 magazine and it seemed to function flawlessly, so I'd love to try that.

 

 

[Snadzies]

30 minutes ago, bmichaels556 said:

snip

That printed lower is pretty impressive.

I watched a few of that person's other vids and it was interesting seeing the trial and error as he experimented with other people's designs and designs of his own.

I can imagine 5-10 years of printer advancement and printed lowers being a viable thing.

[Wh0_Am_1]

On 9/13/2015 at 6:56 PM, Jack.EXE said:

Welcome to THE Gun thread. Enjoy firing them? Modifying them? Or just enjoy the mechanics of operation?

No matter who you are, there is something to enjoy in this thread!

THIS IS A GUN THREAD. IF YOU ARE ANTI-GUN, YOU MAY LEAVE NOW.

 

Rules:

Thou shalt not fanboy - Fanboism is frowned upon. However good the AK-47 is, it is far from the best, no gun is the best.

Thou should enjoy firearms - Off topic discussion is fine in short bursts, but this thread is for firearm lovers, such as myself.

Thou shalt not harm another - Comon guys, I really shouldnt have to explain this.

Thou shalt have fun! - Talk as much or as little as you want. As technical or general as you can. If you cannot understand something, feel free to ask, or ignore the post alltogether and suggest your own discussion!

 

This was heavily inspired by the car thread, so I am hoping you will behave as well as you guys do over there.

 

That said, I'll give you guys a push:

What is your favorite gun, in general?

 

Amendment 1:

Please add a link to this thread in your signature. You don't have to, but it will help with advertising!

HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN HERE?!! This is the thread I never knew I wanted!

[Drak3]

6 hours ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN HERE?!!

2.75 years.

[Snadzies]

Range report on the X95.

 

I've been to the range twice with my new X95 and I really am liking it.

The weight balance is great, I really like the rear bias the rifle has.

At home unloaded it had a rear bias but when you add in a fully loaded 30 round mag it really makes a difference.

With my AR by the 3rd mag the front heaviness of it really starts to show as my support arm starts to get noticeably tired whereas with the X95 I went through 3 mags and wasn't even beginning to show signs of fatigue in my support arm.

 

X95 had no issues with Freedom Munitions 5.56 or Wolf steel cased .223.

Recoil is lighter feeling than my AR even though the X95 is a bit lighter but I think that is because S&W really over gasses their rifles to be sure it will run on the cheapest, dirties, oldest, improperly stored ammo there is.

Going to have to remember to either stand a little closer or further away from the divider when I shoot Wolf as the casings from the X95 were bouncing off the divider and ending up behind me and 1 or 2 lanes over.

 

When loading a fresh mag on a closed bolt on the X95 you have to slap the mag in there good to make sure it seats right.

The bolt release is very sensitive as I closed the bolt a few times just by mistakenly lightly brushing against it and trying to pull the charging handle back and lock open the bolt can be a bit tricky.

 

The only issue I had as far as malfunctions was due to user error when I did not slap a fresh mag in hard enough which cause a nose down miss feed.

Then when I was trying to lock the bolt open so I could pull the mag out I accidently brushed the bolt release causing a double feed.

Once I started to get a feel for the rifle, where all the buttons and such were and its intricacies, things went much smoother.

[Real_PhillBert]

16 hours ago, Snadzies said:

Range report on the X95.

 

I've been to the range twice with my new X95 and I really am liking it.

The weight balance is great, I really like the rear bias the rifle has.

At home unloaded it had a rear bias but when you add in a fully loaded 30 round mag it really makes a difference.

With my AR by the 3rd mag the front heaviness of it really starts to show as my support arm starts to get noticeably tired whereas with the X95 I went through 3 mags and wasn't even beginning to show signs of fatigue in my support arm.

 

X95 had no issues with Freedom Munitions 5.56 or Wolf steel cased .223.

Recoil is lighter feeling than my AR even though the X95 is a bit lighter but I think that is because S&W really over gasses their rifles to be sure it will run on the cheapest, dirties, oldest, improperly stored ammo there is.

Going to have to remember to either stand a little closer or further away from the divider when I shoot Wolf as the casings from the X95 were bouncing off the divider and ending up behind me and 1 or 2 lanes over.

 

When loading a fresh mag on a closed bolt on the X95 you have to slap the mag in there good to make sure it seats right.

The bolt release is very sensitive as I closed the bolt a few times just by mistakenly lightly brushing against it and trying to pull the charging handle back and lock open the bolt can be a bit tricky.

 

The only issue I had as far as malfunctions was due to user error when I did not slap a fresh mag in hard enough which cause a nose down miss feed.

Then when I was trying to lock the bolt open so I could pull the mag out I accidently brushed the bolt release causing a double feed.

Once I started to get a feel for the rifle, where all the buttons and such were and its intricacies, things went much smoother.

Those are neat rifles, thanks for the quick write up!  

[bmichaels556]

23 hours ago, Snadzies said:

Range report on the X95.

 

I've been to the range twice with my new X95 and I really am liking it.

The weight balance is great, I really like the rear bias the rifle has.

At home unloaded it had a rear bias but when you add in a fully loaded 30 round mag it really makes a difference.

With my AR by the 3rd mag the front heaviness of it really starts to show as my support arm starts to get noticeably tired whereas with the X95 I went through 3 mags and wasn't even beginning to show signs of fatigue in my support arm.

 

X95 had no issues with Freedom Munitions 5.56 or Wolf steel cased .223.

Recoil is lighter feeling than my AR even though the X95 is a bit lighter but I think that is because S&W really over gasses their rifles to be sure it will run on the cheapest, dirties, oldest, improperly stored ammo there is.

Going to have to remember to either stand a little closer or further away from the divider when I shoot Wolf as the casings from the X95 were bouncing off the divider and ending up behind me and 1 or 2 lanes over.

 

When loading a fresh mag on a closed bolt on the X95 you have to slap the mag in there good to make sure it seats right.

The bolt release is very sensitive as I closed the bolt a few times just by mistakenly lightly brushing against it and trying to pull the charging handle back and lock open the bolt can be a bit tricky.

 

The only issue I had as far as malfunctions was due to user error when I did not slap a fresh mag in hard enough which cause a nose down miss feed.

Then when I was trying to lock the bolt open so I could pull the mag out I accidently brushed the bolt release causing a double feed.

Once I started to get a feel for the rifle, where all the buttons and such were and its intricacies, things went much smoother.

Appreciate the range report! Just wish I could afford to drive to the local shop and just buy one. My favorite indoor range did have the "standard" Tavor and I enjoyed shooting it. I'm not too familiar with them overall. Is the X95 meant to be a Tavor Gen 2, or does it fit a whole separate purpose? Because it seems pretty similar aesthetically, just being shrunk slightly..?

[bmichaels556]

Oh, and on a side note talking about IWI, I know a lot of guys are absolute fanatics about the Galil. They say it's the AK, perfected. Hoping to shoot one soon, as I never really thought about doing so before reading and watching the past several weaks. 

[Drak3]

4 minutes ago, bmichaels556 said:

Is the X95 meant to be a Tavor Gen 2, or does it fit a whole separate purpose? Because it seems pretty similar aesthetically, just being shrunk slightly..?

The Tavor X95 is basically a carbine Tavor 21. Sort of like going from the M16 to an M4.

[bmichaels556]

11 hours ago, CK1968 said:

Show me yours backup firearms / knife. This is my backup

 

No carry or backup yet, but working on it. Planning on something like a Glock 42 because I always wear basketball shorts lol. 

 

And as a backup, one of those Saber flashlight stun guns. Might have to test the latter for effectiveness. On myself... haha. The online feedback seems promising though. 

[knightslugger]

8 hours ago, bmichaels556 said:

And as a backup, one of those Saber flashlight stun guns. Might have to test the latter for effectiveness. On myself... haha. The online feedback seems promising though. 

if you do, make sure you have someone else do it to you. Otherwise you'll likely end up taking the full ride as your body will lock up and you will be unable to release the baton.

[Cole5]

Urg, why do no gunshops around me sell MKV's, im kinda feeling like i need a CCW

[Drak3]

Imma get to fire my new pistols tomorrow!

[RobFRaschke]

I just had a bit of a nerdgasm to find out there is a secret(not really), little(again, not really) gun club here at LTT.

 

I've been shooting for going on 27 years, I load my own ammo and make my own guns. Ex-FFL holder.

 

One request, if I modify the picture in the OP to remove and define the word "assault" will you swap it out? Assault is an action, committed by a person, and is a crime. A rifle is a tool.

[RedAV8R]

46 minutes ago, RobFRaschke said:

I just had a bit of a nerdgasm to find out there is a secret(not really), little(again, not really) gun club here at LTT.

 

I've been shooting for going on 27 years, I load my own ammo and make my own guns. Ex-FFL holder.

 

One request, if I modify the picture in the OP to remove and define the word "assault" will you swap it out? Assault is an action, committed by a person, and is a crime. A rifle is a tool.

Welcome...

Commonly accepted use. An "Assault Rifle" is a select fire, magazine fed weapon used for infantry use. The use is accurate.

 

An "Assault Weapon" doesn't exist and was made up.

[Hyp3rion]

Heyo, like all of you I love guns. I have grown up around them and will fully exercise my second amendment right as a US citizen. I believe in the protection of my-self and my fellow citizens from both internal and external threats. That being said, when I turn 21 I am going to get my concealed carry license and purchase a handgun. So I, always the planner, made a list of what mods I would want done to my gun and what gun I would intend to use (linked here). I would love to now your experiences with any of the companies or parts, and any suggestions as to what I could add or practice to ensure my competence and safety as well as those around me.

[Real_PhillBert]

5 hours ago, Hyp3rion said:

Heyo, like all of you I love guns. I have grown up around them and will fully exercise my second amendment right as a US citizen. I believe in the protection of my-self and my fellow citizens from both internal and external threats. That being said, when I turn 21 I am going to get my concealed carry license and purchase a handgun. So I, always the planner, made a list of what mods I would want done to my gun and what gun I would intend to use (linked here). I would love to now your experiences with any of the companies or parts, and any suggestions as to what I could add or practice to ensure my competence and safety as well as those around me.

My CCW Gun is somewhat similar to what you've posted:

 

 

Gen 4 G19

Trijicon tritium suppressor sights

Trijicon RM07 RMR

S3F stainless threaded and fluted barrel

Surefire XC1

Zev Tech ultimate match trigger

Zev Tech titanium pins

Zev Tech lightweight striker

Agency Arms magwell

 

Slide milling by JagerWerks and rame stippling by NAF Solutions are both on my list but I haven't made them enough of a financial priority to push the button yet. 

 

My only regret is the XC1. I'm an admitted Surefire fan, but it took 3 XC1s and two different back plates before I had one that wouldn't eat a battery in a week just riding in the holster. And then after all that I finally got one that works, and it's just not as bright as I'd hoped it would be. I have an X300U-A around that I'm seriously considering ordering another AIWB holster for and using that. If Surefire updates the design to 1000+ lumens, by stealing the emitter head out of the XH30, I probably will do that.

[knightslugger]

7 hours ago, Hyp3rion said:

second amendment right

2A is not a right, it's a protection. God gave you the right to protect when he had given you. The 2A protects the means of that protection.

 

That being said a carry gun should not be modified. IT's not a reliability thing, or ease of use thing... rather when it comes to testifying in court, there will come questions about the reason behind the modifications you've made and conclusions about your mental state given the choices and reasons.

[Drak3]

9 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

That being said a carry gun should not be modified

I'd disagree to an extent. The trigger "safety" on my TP9SFx fights the first trigger pull after picking it up.

 

I'd also consider swapping grips for ergonomics reasonable.

 

But a muzzle break, ported barrel, RMR, lightened slide, mag well, those are a bit much.

[Real_PhillBert]

42 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

That being said a carry gun should not be modified. IT's not a reliability thing, or ease of use thing... rather when it comes to testifying in court, there will come questions about the reason behind the modifications you've made and conclusions about your mental state given the choices and reasons.

A modified gun has NEVER moved a legal shoot to an illegal shoot. Never. If you were justified in pressing the trigger, the manufacturer of that trigger doesn't make a lick of difference. It can however be used against you if the courts deem that you acted outside of the law. So basically don't shoot people that you don't have to, which should be a rule for you with or without a modified gun.

 

Longer vid, but worth the watch:

 

[knightslugger]

18 minutes ago, Real_PhillBert said:

A modified gun has NEVER moved a legal shoot to an illegal shoot. Never. If you were justified in pressing the trigger, the manufacturer of that trigger doesn't make a lick of difference. It can however be used against you if the courts deem that you acted outside of the law. So basically don't shoot people that you don't have to, which should be a rule for you with or without a modified gun.

 

Longer vid, but worth the watch:

 

I'm talking about civil court, not criminal court.

[Real_PhillBert]

10 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

I'm talking about civil court, not criminal court.

I'm not sure about Wisconsin, but many states, including ND have laws preventing civil litigation after a self defense shooting. So in many states, once the criminal case is dismissed, civil cases cannot happen. 

 

That said, everyone should be familiar with their states laws, no doubt. For me personally, I give zero fucks about a civil case, in order for the civil case to have any grounds, I have to be in jail; where I have bigger problems anyway. 

[knightslugger]

3 minutes ago, Real_PhillBert said:

I'm not sure about Wisconsin, but many states, including ND have laws preventing civil litigation after a self defense shooting. So in many states, once the criminal case is dismissed, civil cases cannot happen. 

 

That said, everyone should be familiar with their states laws, no doubt. For me personally, I give zero fucks about a civil case, in order for the civil case to have any grounds, I have to be in jail; where I have bigger problems anyway. 

Dismissed or not guilty?