#AdditiveManufacturing

Yes, you read that headline correctly: C-Products aka DuraMag is getting into the suppressor game. Don’t worry, they still make magazines too though.

This is a review of EAW’s 3D-printed Lightweight Riflescope Mount. According to EAW, they are the first to use this technology on a mount, and they claim that their aluminum block mount saves around 30-40% in weight against comparable mounts. I was introduced to the new mount at IWA in Germany earlier this year, and EAW were kind to send me a sample for this review.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing, although now over 30 years old, is still a relatively new family of processes. Indeed it is not yet fully integrated in many industries, and in firearms manufacturing, we tend to see it sparingly, mostly for niche products. Moreover, many customers, and manufacturers alike, tend to be fully aware of the limitations, real or perceived, of AM processes and believe that they are more suited to prototyping than production.

The U.S. Army reports that for the first time an additively manufactured item has been qualified and provisioned for production. While not as cool as a suppressor or other 3D printed accessories, the humble M249 Sight Adjustment Tool is an important milestone. Moreover, it contributes to saving money, which doesn’t hurt.

Mr. Kenneth Salen is a Norwegian IPSC competitive shooter. He’s now the top shooter on the Norwegian Heckler & Koch Shooting Team. According to himself he’s the guy you talk to about the best compensator in the World.

Canton Ohio custom gunmaker Middlebranch Machine has released a teaser image of a new kind of suppressor, which they say is made of “carbon fiber composite” construction. Unlike previous efforts at making carbon fiber suppressors, Middlebranch Machine’s design does not seem to use a straight carbon-fiber tubing body, but appears to be 3D printed, instead. This is strongly suggested by the background of the image which shows a customized Glock with a unique looking suppressor in front of what is probably a Markforged Mark Two carbon fiber 3D printer. Mark Twos are some of the only carbon fiber 3D printing machines in the world.

Without taking a political stance, recent events have once again brought “gun control” back into the national (and world) spotlight. My personal belief remains that the regulation and restriction of inanimate objects is useless as a means to controlling criminal actions. Not only are we less safe, but the divide between social and economic groups within the U.S. is exacerbated by treating its citizens like children. Besides, technology, and humanity, will always find a way. Imgur user Zimirken has demonstrated that the tools and materials to building functional firearms is becoming even more mainstream and accessible with 3D printing. Behold the WASHBEAR.

Tea. Earl Gray. Hot. Someday I want to turn to a space in my kitchen wall and utter those words – and get results. In my barn, however, I someday want to turn a space in the wall and speak “Silencer. 5.56mm. Length six inches. Diameter 1.75 inches. Mount threading 1/2 x 28.” and come back to find a new rifle suppressor made in a few moments. Although this process is unlikely to happen in my lifetime, Additive Manufacturing is posed to make a leap within the firearms industry – specifically within silencer manufacturing.

At the 2017 National Defense Industry Association conference on small arms, US Army ARDEC presented a brief on new technologies for enhancing the longevity of machine gun barrels, using 3D printing techniques. The project’s goals as stated in the presentation were to eliminate the need for spare barrels to be carried by reducing barrel temperature (especially chamber temperature) and increasing the cookoff limit of the barrel (the point at which a barrel gets so hot that rounds will fire from heat alone, without the primer being struck by the firing pin), without a decrease in accuracy or an increase in barrel weight. The team investigated two different 3D printing methods for manufacturing advanced barrel units: