Welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This week we are going to take a look at a 3D printed firearm that was inspired by a real-world toy. Ross Peters is the designer of the PG22 Maverick 22 Short revolver. The PLA printed revolver has an interesting design and today we’ll be taking a look at this home brewed 22 short pepperbox style revolver.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

Part of Mr. Peters’ inspiration for the Maverick comes from the Nerf Maverick revolver. The Nerf Maverick REV-6 was an extremely popular 6 shot revolver released in 2006. It quickly became a popular candidate for modification by immature young adults.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

Design

The PG22 began its life as Mr. Peters’ idea to improve upon the Liberator 3D printed pistol. He had this to say about the 3D printed Liberator pistol and his own project with the PG22:

I originally made the PG22 because I saw the Liberator pistol, and went “Gosh that thing is ugly. I could do better”. Nothing against it, and it’s a very important landmark in printed guns, but it definitely sparked me to try my own version. My first design honestly did not look much better. It did, however, prove that I could make a 3D printed gun reliable by adding a few metal parts. I personally felt that a 100% printable design was not feasible and that making a design work with a few off-the-shelf components was a good compromise.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

The 3D printed parts include the frame, grips, part of the cylinder, and trigger. The entirety of all the 3D printed parts used in the PG22 is made from PLA plastic. The cylinder houses the 6 barrels which were sourced from a 22LR barrel blank and then reamed out to accept only 22 Short cartridges. Ross told me that the decision to chamber the revolver in 22 Short was to ensure the greatest margin of safety, which is also why he made the decision to overbuild the gun.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

The firing pin is made from a 1/16-inch drill bit which is also used to drill out the channel the firing pin sits inside the 3D printed striker. The trigger assembly consists of only a few parts with just the trigger, striker, spring and rear sights. All parts are sanded and greased and then assembled to make the finished revolver – complete with wood PLA grips.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

Operation

The last piece to be added to the gun is an M3 bolt which acts as an adjustable front sight. Each of the six chambers is loaded by manually rotating the cylinder and inserting a 22 Short – similar to how you would load a Colt Single Action Army. Each rotation of the cylinder is indexed properly by a spring-loaded ball bearing to lock it into the correct position.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

After loading, the gun is manually cocked by retracting the striker fully to the rear and then it can be fired. Ross did not include safety on the gun and has admitted that this is a risk if the gun is dropped as the striker can travel forward on its own detonating a round. In future revisions, Ross is planning on including a proper safety. After each round is spent, the empty shells are extracted through the same loading port again, in the same way, a Colt SSA would be unloaded although without the extractor rod.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

The Future of the PG22 Maverick

Ross has stated that he can’t very well leave his projects alone. He is always getting new ideas on how to improve and refine his designs. Although Ross is not an engineer by trade, he has managed to create a working 3D printed revolver. Much of this can be attributed to Ross’s skill with 3D printing.

Once I had a design that worked, I figured I was done, but it seems I can never leave it alone. Every once in a while I’ll have some spark of an idea to improve or change the design. I’ll fire up my CAD software and try to improve something, or make a different action that has different compromises to work around. It’s almost like a puzzle to me, how can I make this design work with the limitations of the materials. I see a lot of comments with great ideas for improvements, but you also have to keep in mind the limitations of 3D printing.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

Ross has chosen not to make his design open source like many other 3D printed firearm designers do. His reasoning behind this is that he didn’t want anyone hurting themselves with something that he designed. He has more recently made the STL files and plans available for purchase and had this to say about the decision:

My original intention was not to share the plans at all, just showing off what I had made, but I received a lot of requests for sharing the files, even if it meant purchasing them. I felt that was a fair compromise at the time, as to me, only more serious builders would bother attempting it.

The Rimfire Report: The PG22 Maverick 22 Short 3D Printed Revolver

STL files for the PG22 Maverick revolver are available on Ross’s website PilotHobbies.com. On the website, he also has a full list of materials needed to complete the build as well as links to his YouTube Page where he demonstrates how the gun works. So what do you all think of this PG22 Maverick? Ross has put a lot of work into his hobby and is always looking for ways to refine his design! As always thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you again in the next edition of The Rimfire Report.