Most 3d printed guns are constructed very similarly to "real" commercially available (in burgerland) guns that use a polymer construction. The plastic is taking very little of the force, they use metal inserts and rails that the mechanical parts connect to. This distributes the load a lot. I haven't printed any yet, mostly because you basically need to buy a whole gun to build one, but they aren't magic or anything and you could do the same thing with woodworking tools by hand if you had a lot of patience.

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The most reliable one I have uses an AR style fire control group, and large metal pieces for the bolt, and pre-hardened hydraulic tubing for the barrel.

There's plenty of metal in it, all held together via 3d printed parts and frame

The only things I needed to buy that I would consider "from a firearm" or "from a gun store" would be the fire control group. Everything else was bought from McMaster Carr or local hardware stores.

Spot on with the woodworking. I've made a couple stocks for my grandfather's old broken long rifles. It's just more time consuming. (also my 3d printer isn't that long)

[–] flying_mechanic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I was mostly thinking of the handgun builds I've seen with hand made slide rails but the rest is just a Glock(or whatever else base gun) parts kit for everything else.

[–] cows_are_underrated 2 points 1 day ago

Ah, that makes sense.