Testing found that the type of material used in the 3D printing was critical to whether the weapon would function properly. The ATF produced several versions of the weapon, some using plastic produced by the company Visijet and others using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic material. The Visijet version actually exploded during the test, as seen in the video above.
via Feds Printed Their Own 3D Gun And It Literally Blew Up In Their Faces.
Are we really surprised that the Federal Government is unable to do what private citizens can without too much sweating? Gun agency can’t make a gun. Healtcare agency can’t get insurance up… Call me suspicious but I see a pattern here. [snicker]
Apparently printings from lithographic 3D printers aren’t as durable as FDM. Good to know.
Also, they need to get their bullets straight. The picture clearly shows a .22, which is what I recall the Liberator being chambered for, but the text says “.380” and the shell in the video looks like it…could? be a .380?
At least the ATF guys had the brains to use a rig instead of trying to hand-fire their guns.
If you mean the Liberators of WWII, they were chambered in 45 (period key no workee)
The printable gun is actually named in homage to the Liberators dropped behind Axis lines during WW2, but no, I was not referring to them.
They are an excellent reminder, however, that a guerrilla insurgency could at very least give the military nightmares.
I think the most important lesson to be learned during the tenure of the Obama administration is:
The ONLY thing higher than the national debt is the level of incompetence of the US Federal Government. EVERY time the Fed tired to tackle some issue, the result is an obscenely expensive, unusable, ham-fisted, cluster-f**k.