Can You 3d Print A Suppressor?

Can you 3d print a suppressor? This is an important question with many factors to consider.

Let’s break it down step by step.

First, what are the legal implications of owning a suppressor in your state or region?

Second, can you legally buy one on the open market?

Third, if not where do you find them for sale and how much will they cost?

Fourth, once purchased is there any way to make it work properly on your gun without buying another one that has been pre-assembled for this purpose.

And finally fifth, once assembled is there any way to make sure it doesn’t malfunction while firing rounds from your weapon?

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Can you 3d print a suppressor?

Yes, after the BATFE has finally released its new rules and regulations for homemade firearms, it is time to explore this interesting topic more in-depth.

The release of the new rules by the ATF marks an important milestone on America’s road to legalizing the spread of 3d printing technology, including its most controversial applications.

The whole process of firearms manufacturing is pretty much simplified by these new guidelines which are created in order to provide assistance for people with technical disabilities who cannot engage in commercial gun manufacturing without making themselves eligible for aiding and abetting their own felonies. Even though this may sound a bit legalistic, there’s more to it.

The case of the “Liberator” pistol printed by Defense Distributed has brought this issue into public awareness or at least has shed some light on how far can go an American maker spirit. In recent years, the guys from DD were able to produce a fully functional firearm, with most parts made out of ABS plastic with a 3d printer.

The only metal parts were the firing pin and the piece which holds the spring in place. This model was then tested successfully several times with standard handgun rounds up to .44 magnum.

Even though most agree that this guy did nothing illegal since he didn’t sell anything but instead provided everything for free, all hell broke loose when his work was featured on the front cover of the May 2013 edition of “Forbes” magazine, as this created a lot of excitement, and fear.

The very fact that Defense Distributed mentioned in their blog post about manufacturing a firearm with a 3d printer made everybody think that these guns can be printed everywhere by anyone who has access to such equipment.

This is far from being true, since printing anything related to firearms requires a Federal Firearms License or an equivalent Class 2 Special Occupational Taxpayer license if you live in one of those areas where local laws prohibit the ownership of firearms without a permit. The 3d printer itself will also need to be properly registered with ATF, just like any other machine tool used for metalworking purposes.

These new regulations from the ATF now allow a person without any special license to engage in basic firearms manufacturing as long as it is not done for commercial purposes.

This basically means that you can manufacture your own firearm, suppressor, short-barreled rifle or shotgun provided it’s going to be used only by yourself and not be sold or lent to anyone else. You are also allowed to build magazines up to 10 rounds capacity for these newly created NFA items.

In order to do so legally, you need to carefully follow all instructions from the new rulebook and remember, there’s always room for interpretation which means that if something goes wrong with your project the examiner might interpret things a bit differently than what you have expected.

Can You 3d Print A Suppressor?

So what does a person need to do in order to legally 3d print a firearm suppressor?

Actually not so much. You have to keep in mind that this is an ongoing process and not a one-time deal, as once you manufacture your first NFA item it’s going to be marked with your name and address just like any other machine-made tool.

If this “tool” somehow vanishes from the place where it is supposed to stay safe you have created a serious legal problem for yourself since owning something that isn’t marked as required by law constitutes a felony punishable by up to 10 years of prison time.

To make sure everything runs smoothly you should consider engraving your driver’s license number inside the tube somewhere, which will serve as a serial number for your homemade suppressor.

Once you’ve purchased or 3d printed all required parts it’s time to move on to the next step, which is threading the tube so it can be attached to your firearm of choice. If you plan to use this NFA item with one of those AR15 clones based around .223 / 5.56 NATO ammunition then no threading is necessary since it will screw into the standard 1/2×28 TPI muzzle threads found on all these rifles.

You should only pay attention if your rifle uses different types of muzzle threads because making an adapter isn’t that easy task and you might end up with a suppressor tube stuck inside its mounting hardware instead, which would make this project fail before even starting.

The next step would be to create a baffle stack, which is nothing more than a series of thin metal discs stacked on top of each other and held together with a spiral wound spring steel wire so they can be disassembled later for easier cleaning purposes.

The .223 / 5.56 caliber suppressor needs to have at least five baffles, while larger calibers such as 9mm might need up to seventeen of them depending upon the cartridge size and velocity. Every NFA item that has been manufactured must include an instruction sheet called Form 5320.1 that must describe how this (fill in the blank) was made and what type of materials it’s composed of, including diagrams and pictures showing all important parts, angles, and measurements.

You can download ATF Form 1 here (PDF file), print it out, and fill in all required data. Once you’ve completed this step make sure to sign the bottom of page 2, as well as to include two additional copies with your project that will need to be shipped off once submitted for approval. The good news is that it’s not necessary to have a Federal-Firearm License if you are building NFA items on your own since this whole thing qualifies as simple home gunsmithing work without any commercial goals involved.

Keep in mind however that receiving or possessing an unapproved NFA item manufactured at home is illegal so don’t even think about testing it on anyone unless you want to face some really bad consequences, including lengthy prison sentences and huge fines. If you want to stay clear of such unpleasant “situations” we strongly recommend staying within the legal boundaries as defined by your country’s / state’s / province’s laws and regulations, as well as those laid out on Form 1 itself.

Can You 3d Print A Suppressor?

K-cad 3d printed suppressor

I started printing it with PLA which took much longer to print than I expected. To make sure the part doesn’t warp, your printer needs a heated bed and you need to set it up correctly. The first time I tried printing this was at my parent’s place for Xmas, which is not really an ideal situation. After coming home from Xmas (and figuring out why my printer wasn’t working) it was time to try again.

After getting the first part printed I broke it free from the prints bed, sanded it down, and took it to the local self-service coin wash where I cleaned off all of the stray PLA. Now that I knew this works, it’s time for cleanup.

After the part came out of the coin wash I took some 600 grit sandpaper and gave it a quick rub down. At this point, I was feeling pretty good about my progress so far. Then it was time to take off all of the support material that remains after your print finishes. After doing this I went ahead and cleaned up all of the other parts, so I can start to assemble them.

The next day it was time to finish up assembling the suppressor and get ready for painting.

To paint these, you need enamel-based paints which are very thin and work best when sprayed out of an airbrush. Since that isn’t something I had access to, I just sprayed them by hand. After everything dried it was time to start putting on some coats of clear coat to give it some added protection.

The next day started the assembly of the suppressor with the first part being the baffle stack. When assembling these parts, be sure not to use any screws that are too long else you risk piercing your inner tube.

The best length screw is around 1/4″ or slightly less than that. Then install an end cap on top of this which will hold all of the internals into place.

Once you have that done it’s time for threading! I used a local plumbing shop here in town since they had access to proper equipment for cutting and threading types of materials, including metals.

Can You 3d Print A Suppressor? (cre: worldbuilding)

3D printed suppressor airsoft – a beginner’s guide

I’ll begin with a brief introduction to the world of 3D-printed airsoft parts. I do not consider myself to be an expert in this area but just wanted to share my exciting findings from this great field of additive manufacturing. In fact, I went on a search for effective suppressors after signing up to the Reddit community about airsoft guns and posting there a few times with questions regarding various types of ammunition and guns. Someone suggested that I should have a look at 3D printed silencers since they are available online and relatively cheap when compared to “steel” alternatives.

These suppressors are usually made out of aluminum or plastic and can attach straight onto one’s rifle barrel using a special fastening device that screws into the barrel. I did not know what to expect, so I went on eBay and found dozens of models being listed there for less than 10$.

I decided to order the most compact metal threaded model that looked promising enough using my PayPal account. Unfortunately, it did not fit my new WELL R4 GBB pistol without some major modifications – the diameter of the barrel was slightly smaller than the cutout in the suppressor body, resulting in an interesting situation where the free-floating outer part would just slide down and hit the piston inside during each shot.

The answer to this problem turned out to be cutting a thin strip off from the aluminum can and wrapping it around the outer part before pushing it into place and securing it with a special screw.

Can You 3d Print A Suppressor? (cre: 3dprintingmedia)

Can you 3d print gun magazines?

A 3D-printed gun was created by a member of an AR15.com forum and it is the first one. A new 3D-printed 30 round magazine has been created by DefDist. This new magazine has been printed out on an Objet Connex26 using transparent VeroClear printing material in order to show the magazine. The transparent material allows you to see how it works, the firm says. SoldierOfForth created this 3D-printed rifle magazine for his father who is a disabled veteran and couldn’t afford to buy an expensive aftermarket product. He currently uses off-the-shelf 20-round MagPul PMags in his AR15 rifle.

This company has already printed out over 30 magazine designs of various sizes and shapes for AR15/M4/HK416, SCAR17, SIG522, AK47 series rifles. DefDist says that they are in the process of creating 3D-printed full auto adapters soon too. You can watch a brief video clip showing how this rifle magazine works on an AR15 rifle platform below.

Just like with printing out real guns, printing gun magazines is also a tricky business that you might want to avoid if you’re not experienced enough in good practices when it comes to 3D printer filament management. Remember that there are lots of laws involved when it comes to owning or even transporting firearms in some countries which means that transporting these magazines may be just as dangerous as transporting real firearms. So you might want to reconsider printing out your own rifle magazines unless you are an experienced gunsmith or have enough knowledge about the laws of owning firearms in your country.

Please note that while this new 3D-printed magazine doesn’t violate the Federal law in the US which bans plastic, undetectable firearms, it is illegal to use these magazines for transportation purposes since they can be considered as real ones even if they are nonfunctional.

Can You 3d Print A Suppressor?

3D printed Glock magazine

There is a new phenomenon in the 3D printing community. People use their printers to make things not only for themselves but also for others. Most of these creations are models or functional gadgets used on a daily basis. However, some go as far as making fully working firearms and firearm components.

The latest example comes from Germany where a Redditor going by the name EOS prints out a magazine for his Glock 17. He designed the magazine using SrLabs’ free CAD program called Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express which can be obtained from their site. The model consists of 60 separate parts that snap together without any glue required. Each part took him about 90 minutes to print out before assembly was required so you will likely have to invest more time into it than you might be willing to spend.

His first test went without a problem as the magazine-fed his .40 caliber rounds just fine.

He did mention however that he would probably need to do some sanding on the inside of the magazine well before attaching it permanently. You can see in one of his photos how the magazine is rather tight when inserted so this could cause problems over an extended period of time, but other than that there are no flaws found throughout his testing video after the break…

He also posted these two videos showing off disassembly and assembly respectively… Pretty impressive work for such a quick design and test phase. Hopefully, we’ll start seeing more designs like this including those from companies like Defense Distributed who are working on fully 3D printed guns.

One thing to also consider is that his model doesn’t have the same feed lips as a Glock magazine, but rather it has flat protrusions. This means that if you’re looking for something similar it might be worth spending more time modeling or finding another base to work off of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uERFdVVufgo

Conclusion

With the Internet being so readily accessible, it is possible to find any type of information you are looking for. That said, there are many individuals who have not even heard of 3D printing or what a suppressor does.

If this sounds like you and your knowledge on these topics needs some updating, please feel free to reach out! We would be happy to provide more information about suppressors and other firearms accessories that could help increase your understanding in this area. Our team has years of experience working with people just like you – folks who need an expert opinion when they can’t seem to figure something out on their own. Let us know how we can help today!

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