So, confession time: It is more difficult to keep up a weekly column than I originally thought it would be. When I took this on, I noticed that many of the weekly columns had burned out, and I decided to show these layabouts what a real weekly column looked like. None of this ‘three or four articles and then I’m done’ garbage. Firearms Friday would become a cornerstone of the Glibertarian community; A stalwart pillar representing the foundation of our proud website. Well, to those I privately disparaged, I apologize. It is not as easy to keep up a regular article as I anticipated, even one that has as much depth and variety as a gun themed screed. Nevertheless, I will persist with this as long as I can manage, which means you are stuck with me for the time being. This week, by popular demand, I will look into the business of making your own firearms yourself. Much hullabaloo has been raised and many gallons of digital ink spilled in reference to DIY guns, namely 3D printed guns and so called 80% receivers. Most of this ink has been accompanied by an equally copious amount of feces lining the panties of the writers of these various articles over the idea that anyone, ANYONE AT ALL, could build their own functional firearm in the comfort of their own home or garage with just a few simple tools or an inexpensive printer and a roll of plastic filament. Well, I am going start out up front with some bad news: you aren’t going to pop a working M60 out of your makerbot anytime soon, or probably ever.

Complete lower on top, 80% lower on bottom.

Before I drop too many turds into this 3D printed punch bowl (so far this article has enough poop references to be a SugarFree piece) lets back up a bit and define some of these ideas more clearly. First off: What makes a gun a gun? Obviously it requires a specific quantity and type of parts as well as certain mechanical abilities, but at what point is it no longer just a pile of steel and wood? Legally, in America a gun is defined as the part designated as the frame or receiver. Every other part of the gun, including the barrel, trigger, stock, etc. is merely a part and can be bought and sold as freely as a toaster. The receiver, however, is always considered a firearm regardless of it’s functionality. It must be engraved with a unique serial number and is subject to all rules and regulations regarding working firearms. This means that you can buy all of the parts necessary to build a gun without any sort of paperwork or background check, except for the receiver which must be purchased either from a gun store (thus requiring a background check) or face to face from another resident of your home state (subject to local restrictions). At some point, some wise ass got to building a receiver, stopped before he drilled the last hole, and said “So this doesn’t count as a gun, right? LOL!” This pissed the ATF off, I’m sure, at which point they declared that almost a receiver IS a receiver, and then probably shot the guy’s dog. Well eventually people started asking questions about this ‘almost a receiver’ crap. Is a halfway finished receiver still a gun? How about a solid block of raw billet? The ATF realized they needed a concrete point at which a receiver was actually considered a firearm. They came out with a set of guidelines concerning what machining and manufacturing operations constituted a finished receiver, and guns meeting this definition were considered ‘finished’. You can take a piece of metal up to that point and it’s still just a piece of metal, but if you go one cunt hair over that line it is considered a receiver and you better have your papers in order. This is known as the 80% rule (considering most guns are black they probably should have called it the 4/5ths rule) and it is where the term ‘80% receiver’ comes from. By far the most common 80% receivers are for AR 15s, but you can also get them for AKs, 1911s, Glocks, and a whole slew of other guns.

An 80% lower in a jig. The jig is used as a guide for correct hole placement and pocket depth.

So what does this mean for you? Well, it means you can buy one of these 80% receivers, finish it at home using a mill and/or other tools, buy the rest of the parts online, and build yourself a working baby killing death machine without any kind of background check or paper trail. At least, that’s what some people with an above average supply of tinfoil say. I personally am not so sure (more on that later). Confession #2, I have absolutely no working experience with 80% lowers or 3D printed firearms. I do, however, have some experience with CNC milling and additive manufacturing (3D printing), so I am aware of what is involved and what each is capable of. There are 2 common materials used in 80% AR lowers: polymer and aluminum. Polymer is not as strong or as stiff but is much lighter and much easier to shape. Polymer80 is the most well known of polymer AR lowers, and they sell a kit which will let you make a polymer lower using a drill press and a dremel. They also make 80% Glock frames as well. The other option is aluminum. Aluminum is much stronger but also heavier and not as forgiving to machine. 80% Arms has a kit for finishing an aluminum lower using a routing tool commonly used for woodworking. If you already have one then this is probably your best bet, or you can pick one up for about $80. An aluminum lower is going to take much longer to complete than a polymer one, but the end result should be much better quality. The initial cost for these kits are relatively high, but once you have them you can purchase more 80% lowers for cheap and finish them up for essentially free.

Seriously, this image belongs on a shirt.

Cody Wilson: American Hero

The big problem, however, is that these kits take a) time, b) a workspace, and c) a modicum of skill. Some people lack one or more of these items, making an 80% build problematic. Fortunately, there is a solution. For those of you on here who have not heard of Cody Wilson, shame on you. Turn your libertarian card in at the door, you just failed the purity test. Cody Wilson is basically the ancap equivalent of Che Guevara. At the age of 24, he founded a company called Defense Distributed. I am pretty sure he picked that name only because ‘Fuck the Police’ was already being used. His first order of business was to develop and release CAD models of a fully functional 3D printed handgun called the liberator, which I will discuss a little later. This caused such an uproar that the government forcibly took down and banned the files, citing ITAR infringement. He is currently suing the state department over the matter. Not one to rest on his laurels, he started his next big project, called the ghost gunner. The name comes from the term ‘ghost gun’, which California state senator Kevin De Leon made famous in a hilariously incoherent cringe inducing speech he made on the subject. The ghost gunner is a purpose built CNC mill specifically designed to machine AR lowers. Simply drop in an 80% lower of your choice, push a few buttons, and in about 2 hours a finished, working AR lower pops out. For a mere $1500, you too can crank out as many unregistered, untraceable AR lowers as your little heart desires. If $1500 seems a bit steep, I can assure you it is a pittance compared to what a traditional CNC mill will run, and the added software which makes finishing lowers as easy as running your microwave is a nice bonus.

This image belongs on a target.

Kevin De Leon: Pants on head retarded.

I can already hear some of (((you))) now “$1500?! I can’t afford that! Isn’t there a cheaper way of doing it?” I’m glad you asked. For those of you that can’t afford the wonderful ghost gunner mentioned above, there is a slightly more economical option. With a suitable 3D printer and good quality polymer, you can, in fact, print an AR lower. There are working examples on the internet, and a decent 3D printer runs in the $200-$500 range. Now, don’t think it’s going to be as simple as pushing a button, or that you will get a working lower on your first try. I know from my experience with 3D printing that it is usually a trial and error process, and that it takes a very long time to print anything. Don’t expect to it to look great or be terribly durable either. I expect no more than a few thousand rounds out of a printed lower, tops. It does work however, and if you break it you can always print another one.

This is a working metal 3D printed gun. It costs about $12,000 each. And yes, they named it ‘Reason’.

But there is a flaw with all of this. Ostensibly the point of making your own gun is to keep da gubmint from knowing about your ballistic proclivities. But does making an AR lower yourself actually do that? Technically Uncle Sugar is forbidden from maintaining a database of firearms purchases. I highly doubt anyone here actually believes that they do not, myself included. If we concede that the government is willing to break its own explicit laws to keep track of gun owners, however, then our logic eats itself. Remember that these lowers are not functional firearms themselves. You still have to buy quite a few components and assemble them. Unless you pay cash (or bitcoin) for every part of your gun and all of your ammo, then you’re already on the list. What about 3D printing, you ask. What about it? The only working gun that I am familiar with that can be 100% printed is the liberator, which is a single shot 380 pistol with no rifling. Half the time these explode when they are fired…. not exactly military grade. There are metal 3D printers, but they are hundreds of thousands of dollars and you can’t simply order one off of Amazon. In short, 3D printing is simply not a viable strategy for building a working gun, at least at the moment.

So, if you’re doing this to try to stay below the radar, then you’re probably better off simply buying a gun off of armslist from a private seller. If, however, you’re doing it cause you’re worried about a gun ban at some point down the road and you want your instruments of insurrection… well, you’re still boned, because I really doubt you’re going to be able to run down to Cabelas and pick up a lower parts kit and a barreled upper, no matter how many lowers you crank out. If you’re just doing it for funsies and to put a middle finger to the law, then have at it, my devious little anarchists! There is way too much ground to cover on this one topic in just a short article like this, so I highly recommend you do your own research if you’re interested in making your own guns.

The future is steel…. and about 4 inches long.

Before I go, there is one upcoming product that I do want to mention, because I believe it is going to have a serious impact on the future of 80% firearms. Most of you are familiar with the Sig P320, but for those that are not, it is a striker fired handgun that was recently selected as the new issue sidearm for the US army, and probably all of the military will be issuing it in a few years. What makes the P320 unique is that the registered part of the gun, the part that makes it a gun, is not the frame. The P320 is built on a removable stamped steel chassis that allows you to change out grips and slides quickly and easily with no tools. You can switch out a broken frame for a new one in the field, or simply change your full sized pistol into a compact or subcompact one in a few minutes. A company called Ghost Guns (notice a pattern?) recently announced that they are releasing an 80% receiver for the P320. This has vast implications for a multitude of reasons. First off, the receiver of a P320 is remarkably simple. From looking at the videos released by ghost guns, a person should be able to finish a P320 80% lower with nothing more than a file and a hand drill, something most people already have and almost anyone can afford. Secondly, because the fire control group is removable as a single unit, that means that there is nothing limiting the chassis from being used in other guns. Imagine if a company released a rifle body that took AR magazines and used the P320 chassis as the trigger. Someone could buy one of these 80% kits, make themselves a P320 chassis, then install it into this rifle and have a working fighting gun, without ever doing a background check or even leaving the house. That is just one possibility for this system. I believe that we could be seeing the beginning of a whole new future for firearms development, and it is quite an exciting prospect.