Looking like out of Sci-Fi, it still works like a gun should

Jan 21, 2015 14:10 GMT  ·  By

3D printed guns have either been outlawed or used as a vehicle to try and contest gun control laws in various countries. Here's one that isn't subject to the usual concerns, and it's a sight better looking than usual too.

The firearm you see in the attached picture gallery is called M-1 Enforcer and is not, in fact, a prop for some game or movie.

Instead, it is a working gun designed and 3D printed by a man by the name Alex. No last name has been revealed, alas, but you can find him on YouTube under the handle “Printing the Revolution.”

The M-1 Enforcer airsoft rifle is his latest invention, having been designed in TinkerCAD and then printed in Austria. The rules and regulations regarding guns are more lenient there than in other parts of the world.

The M-1 Enforcer airsoft rifle

Contrary to how realistic it looks (insofar as a futuristic gun can even seem realistic when it looks like something out of Sci-Fi), the M-1 Enforcer is not a genuine gun.

Instead, it is a toy weapon, which fires roughly 0.5-0.7 Joules in kinetic energy, which is considered suitable for toy pellet guns in most countries.

You can choose between semi-automatic and automatic firing with a single finger flick, and the effective distance is of 50-60 yards / 45-55 meters. The gun fires from standard M4 Airsoft magazines.

The design and printing process

It took Alex 24 hours to design the weapon, and another sixty to print it. Had he used some game gun or other as a baseline, it might have taken less, but he started from scratch. Given that, it's surprising it didn't take longer.

He used a 3D printer to turn the parts from virtual CAD files to physical components he was later able to fit together. The filament cost around 45 dollars / 39 euro.

Some things had to be acquired separately though, like the aluminum outer barrel, the performance inner barrel, the airsoft gearbox, the screws and the LED strip. So score another $130 / €112 for that one.

That outs the “price” at around $175 / €151 if you ever get the urge to copy this feat, assuming the designer ever publishes an instruction set or at least the .STL file.

M-1 Enforcer (3 Images)

The M-1 Enforcer airsoft rifle
M-1 Enforcer airsoft rifle test fireM-1 Enforcer airsoft rifle parts
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