The 3-D printing future for firearms is becoming brighter at an exponential rate. What started just a few years ago with the Liberator from Defense Distributed has morphed into is own collective community, building on collective knowledge and constantly sharing and collaborating.

One of the latest designs featured on PrintedFirearm is the Imura revolver. Holding 8 rounds of 22LR, the handgun is a reaction and tribute to the arrest of a Japanese home firearm maker.

“The Imura revolver started when a university official, named Yoshitomo Imura, was arrested in Kawasaki, Japan after he was found to be in possession of 3D printed firearms. Even though some of these weapons had the ability to be fired with actual metal bullets, Imura claims to have only ever fired blanks with the weapons. The arrest took place after Japanese authorities found a video online with Imura firing one of his 3D printed guns, called a Zig-Zag Revolver.

Since his arrest the FOSSCAD community has continued upon his work and made several key changes to the weapon.  This is the latest version of the revolver now in 22lr.  No word on if this has been test fired yet but this proves that the 3d printed gun is still alive and well and the designs are continuing to evolve.”

I’m personally very excited to see where this and other projects go, especially as metal printers become more sophisticated and less expensive.

Additional photos can be found at the link above!