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Cody Wilson is a very interesting activist. Manufacturing your own guns at home has been trivial for about as long as hardware stores have been selling standar

by Crito 12y ago

Cody Wilson is a very interesting activist. Manufacturing your own guns at home has been trivial for about as long as hardware stores have been selling standardized metal parts, but many people seem to be unable to wrap their minds around it, or consider the implications of it. What Cody Wilson has done is realize the political potential of 3d printing. It's not a very good way to make a gun, but it seems to be an excellent way to get people talking about making guns.

nsxwolf 12y ago
There's an analogy to computers here. Anyone could build a computer at home in 1975. You can also build one in 2015, and it is a whole lot easier and can be done by a lot more people.
- Crito 12y ago
  The issue is that it is easier to do it the old-fashion way than to dick around with a 3d printer. The result will be far superior as well. For the 3d printed lowers: drilling out your own 80% lower will give you a superior result with far less equipment. For the 3d printed "Liberators": a quick trip to your local Home Depot's plumbing and hardware departments will let you throw together a shotgun, not a dinky little pistol, that probably won't blow up in your hand (still possible if you choose the wrong pipe I suppose, but compared to the plastic gun?....) There are videos on youtube of teenagers in the Appalachians doing exactly this just for the hell of it. It doesn't require any real manufacturing skill.
DennisP 12y ago
He's not just doing 3D printing anymore. From the article: "In October 2014 Wilson revealed his biggest project to date: the Ghost Gunner, a miniaturized CNC milling machine small enough to sit on a desktop. It’s thousands of dollars cheaper than big CNC mills—computer-programmable industrial tools for cutting away material—and capable of producing aluminum lower receivers compatible with the AR-15 rifle."
- Crito 12y ago
  Yeah, that is a pretty neat idea, and a great deal more practical than his printer ideas, but you don't exactly need a big CNC mill to make a lower receiver from an 80% receiver (80% because 80% of the machining is already done for you when you get it in the mail.) You can finish them out with the sort of 1950's era drill press you might find in any highschool's shop classroom. If I wanted to make my own lower, and those Ghost Gunners were being sold and shipped today, I'd personally still go the traditional 80% route. The real part of all of this that makes me unconcerned is that these things are really only interesting for somebody who is intent on staying within the bounds of the law. If you don't care about the law, fucking around with all of this home manufacture stuff doesn't make much sense. Just find a non-felon criminally minded buddy to purchase a complete gun for you (or just do it yourself if you are not a felon). If you live in a country where that isn't possible, will it really be feasible to get the rest of the parts after you've milled your lower? Does the UK allow you to purchase all non-lower receiver parts of an AR-15? Would they allow you to receive the specialized mill in the mail in the first place? I honestly don't know.

by Crito 12y ago

nsxwolf 12y ago

There's an analogy to computers here. Anyone could build a computer at home in 1975. You can also build one in 2015, and it is a whole lot easier and can be done by a lot more people.

Crito 12y ago
The issue is that it is easier to do it the old-fashion way than to dick around with a 3d printer. The result will be far superior as well. For the 3d printed lowers: drilling out your own 80% lower will give you a superior result with far less equipment. For the 3d printed "Liberators": a quick trip to your local Home Depot's plumbing and hardware departments will let you throw together a shotgun, not a dinky little pistol, that probably won't blow up in your hand (still possible if you choose the wrong pipe I suppose, but compared to the plastic gun?....) There are videos on youtube of teenagers in the Appalachians doing exactly this just for the hell of it. It doesn't require any real manufacturing skill.

DennisP 12y ago

He's not just doing 3D printing anymore. From the article: "In October 2014 Wilson revealed his biggest project to date: the Ghost Gunner, a miniaturized CNC milling machine small enough to sit on a desktop. It’s thousands of dollars cheaper than big CNC mills—computer-programmable industrial tools for cutting away material—and capable of producing aluminum lower receivers compatible with the AR-15 rifle."

Crito 12y ago
Yeah, that is a pretty neat idea, and a great deal more practical than his printer ideas, but you don't exactly need a big CNC mill to make a lower receiver from an 80% receiver (80% because 80% of the machining is already done for you when you get it in the mail.) You can finish them out with the sort of 1950's era drill press you might find in any highschool's shop classroom. If I wanted to make my own lower, and those Ghost Gunners were being sold and shipped today, I'd personally still go the traditional 80% route. The real part of all of this that makes me unconcerned is that these things are really only interesting for somebody who is intent on staying within the bounds of the law. If you don't care about the law, fucking around with all of this home manufacture stuff doesn't make much sense. Just find a non-felon criminally minded buddy to purchase a complete gun for you (or just do it yourself if you are not a felon). If you live in a country where that isn't possible, will it really be feasible to get the rest of the parts after you've milled your lower? Does the UK allow you to purchase all non-lower receiver parts of an AR-15? Would they allow you to receive the specialized mill in the mail in the first place? I honestly don't know.