Tuesday, May 07, 2013

3D Printed Liberator Pistol: Video, more angles, loading detail


In this YouTube video, more details are revealed about the first pistol to be completely produced by a 3D printer. There is one metal part, but it is made from a common nail, and is so ubiquitous that it does not offer any impediment to the creation of these pistols.

Interesting details in this video include how the pistol is loaded. As I thought previously, the .380 ACP, 9x17, 9mm Kurtz, or 9mm Corto, all different designations for the same cartridge, is pushed into the chamber of the barrel by hand, then the barrel is simply snapped into place in the frame of the pistol.

If more than one barrel is printed, relatively fast reloading is possible because the cartridge case need not be extracted. Each barrel would be loaded before use. To reload, the fired barrel would be snapped out of the frame with a rapid upward tug of the off hand. A new loaded barrel would be snapped into place. With a little practice reloading should be possible in 2 seconds.

The video shows that four barrels were printed for the pistol.

As the pistols do not appear to be expensive to make once the 3D printer is available, the common custom from the days of military single shot pistols could be adopted, and a brace (pair) of pistols could be carried.

From the front angle of the video, after the shot, you can see the dark spot of powder residue in the end of the barrel.

Dean Weingarten Defense Distributed Distributor

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