3D Printing of Magazines Used by Kel-Tec for Three Years

3D printed magazines have been successfully used by Kel-Tec for three years, I discovered at the NSSF Shot Show in Las Vegas yesterday. I talked to Tobias Obermeit, Lead Design Engineer at Kel-Tec, one of the most innovative firearms manufacturers in the United States. Mr. Obermeit said that "Without 3D printing, the PMR-30 would not have been developed, especially the magazine." Mr. Obermeit informed me that a prototype magazine would be printed and then be used for 100 to 150 rounds, when they would develop cracks. The magazine would then be discarded and another magazine printed.

Tobias Obermeit holding a PMR-30 and a normal capacity magazine. The magazine holds 30 .22WMR cartridges.

I asked Mr. Obermeit if the printer used to prototype the magazines was a special, industrial grade machine. He said no, it was basically the same machine used by hobbyists today, using the same basic materials.

This is important information for the debate on banning detachable magazines in the United States. If anyone who wishes can print out magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, then it makes no sense to ban them from the general population.

The PMR-30 is one of Kel-Tec's popular designs, using the .22 WMR round, a rimfire cartridge. The standard PMR-30 magazine holds 30 rounds.

In related events, Congressman Steve Israel has called for strict control over 3-D printers to prevent magazines from being printed.

Dean Weingarten

Congressman Israel Link

Defence Distributed Demonstrates 3D Printed "High Capacity" AR15 Magazine on youtube

Technology is making the desire to keep detachable magazines out of the hands of rampage shooters an impossibility. It has always been possible for people to make magazines of more than 10 rounds in home workshops. Magazines for AR15 rifles were made in jungle workshops by the Viet Cong. But in today's digital society, especially among young, hip, technologically advanced adults, nothing catches the attention like the ability to print working magazines for modern rifles by pressing a button on a 3D printer.

Defence distributed has now released digital files that enable people to print magazines for their AR15 rifle at home on their own 3D printer. Printing magazines is far easier than printing entire rifles; magazines are, in effect, only a box with a spring, and 3D printers make getting the dimensions correct as easy as pressing a button.

In the video, the magazine is demonstrated not only firing on semi-auto, but also on fully auto.

Have you decided that we must now have 3D printer control? That is rather difficult, as many of the latest at home 3D printers are capable of duplicating themselves. They are currently available for less than $1000, and the price is dropping.

If your buddy needs a 3D printer, it may take a week or so to print and assemble his, but it can be done without ordering it from a retail store or off of the net.

It appears that magazine control now makes less sense than outlawing kitchen knives.

Demonstration Video Link

Dean Weingarten

Here is a link to the source of the data files:

Defcad 30 round AR15 Magazine Link

Printed AR-15 Magazine data now free for all

Defense Distributed has created a website that is the "island of misfit (firearms) objects" that others have censored from the web. Chief among these are the data to print a complete, functional AR15 magazine, including the spring.

The current data is limited to a five round design, but it appears that it could easily be altered to a 10, 20, or 30 round design, especially if the maker is willing to add cheap and reliable steel springs.

The necessary springs can be hand made from wire, if desired.

Defcad AR-15 Magazine Link

Dean Weingarten

Make (or print) Your Own AR-15 Magazines

The push to ban standard magazines is insane. It is easier to make a 30 round magazine than it is to grow a marijuana plant. The left is pursuing an unachievable result that will not help stop mass murder.

Rifle magazines are made from plastic, steel, aluminum, or fiberglass. There are 100’s of millions of them in existence in the United States. They are easily made at home. They are just a box with a spring. If you have a few 10 round magazines it is easy to convert them into 30 round magazines. Technology has improved to the point that a person can print out functional AR-15 magazines at home.

Before that, magazines were easily made of sheet metal. Of course, there is little incentive to make a magazine when they are easily purchased. If standard capacity magazines are mindlessly outlawed as they were with the Clinton “assault weapon” ban, the cost for factory magazines increases and the incentive to make them at home increases substantially.

Printed AR-15 Magazine Loaded

Printed AR-15 Magazine in Rifle

Focusing on inanimate, easily made objects such as magazines satisfies the urge to "do something" without really doing anything except to violate the social contract and to make many millions of people into criminals.

Dean Weingarten

Printed AR-15 Magazine Link