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We’ve got a significant amount of news in today’s issue, so we’re starting with that! Here’s the full list of what we’re covering:
News:
In this section we’ll review major news events either originating in the 3D2A space, or particularly pertinent to this space.
ATF Surrenders: Select NFA Enforcement Halted Federally
I1 am proud to open this newsletter with the biggest recent news not just in the 3D2A space, but the firearms space generally. After a month and a half of waiting, the ATF has finally issued its “guidance” and FAQs for how it will interpret and comply with the Jensen ruling. Extraordinarily, this guidance goes further than the ruling itself, announcing that as of October 9th, 2026, the ATF will halt enforcement of the portions of the NFA impacted by the ruling nationwide.
In practical terms, this means that:
All American - not just the plaintiffs in Jensen / Silencer Shop, or their members and customers - can now build a suppressor, SBR, SBS or AOW without being required by ATF to submit a Form 1 and register their firearm.
All Americans can buy a suppressor, SBR, SBS or AOW without filing an ATF Form 4, requiring only a 4473.
All requirements to mark (serialize) suppressors, SBRs’, SBS’ and AOWs are also suspended.
For the 3D2A community, the primary effect is that there is now no federal threat to DIYing as many suppressors, SBRs, SBS’ and AOWs as you like.
This is precisely what I described and predicted in the NFA Day of Defeat Guide for Builders, which I recommend you reread. I have updated it with information from the new guidance - go check it out!
Now of course, there are caveats to what I just wrote above. The ATF themselves identify five major caveats, which are:
“In the business”: the NFA provisions relating to special taxes and fees for individuals “engaged in the business” of manufacturing and selling NFA items are still in effect. Practically, this means that you shouldn’t treat this development as an opportunity to start making and selling suppressors as a side gig without getting your FFL/SOT.
Machineguns / DDs: these items were not touched by the Silencer Shop / Jensen rulings. They are still regulated under the NFA, requiring approval and registration to make or transfer - and obviously, you still can’t make a machinegun without being an 07/02.
Gun Control Act: while suppressors, SBRs, SBS’ and AOWs are now no longer treated as “NFA items”, they are still firearms regulated under the Gun Control Act. For example, prohibited possessors still can’t own or make them, and 4473 / background check requirements remain in place.
Transportation of SBR / SBS: another untouched NFA provision is that having to do with transporting SBRs / SBS’ across state lines. Individuals wishing to do so must still fill out Form 20s.
State laws: this is the big one. Everything I have written here applies federally, but there is significant state level regulation of suppressors / SBRs / SBS’ / AOWs, and those regulations remain untouched.
I have written more about this in the updated NFA Day of Defeat Guide for Builders, which I entreat you to review. To sum it up: research your own state’s treatment of these items and follow those laws. Resources such as FFLSafe’s State-By-State guide can assist with this.
There is a sixth major point that is worth discussing on its own, which is this: this is a halt to enforcement. It is not a scrapping of the unenforced policies, nor is the ATF admitting that the unenforced policies are unconstitutional.
Despite not being enforced, the requirements to register and seek approval for these items remain on the books, and theoretically any NFA item you make is “contraband”, even if the ATF chooses not to prosecute it. In their FAQs, ATF describes several circumstances which could cause enforcement to resume, at which point “felony penalties and forfeitures” may apply retroactively to any conduct taking place during the nonenforcement period.
They mean this to sound scary, but I encourage you to consider making these items anyways. While the ATF does not acknowledge it, the court ruling does establish that the unenforced NFA provisions are unconstitutional. The court’s failure to enjoin the ATF nationwide does not change that fact, and ATF’s own decision to effectively extend this injunction through nonenforcement is a tacit admission thereof.
Repeat: we live in a world in which NFA provisions have been declared unconstitutional. Now that ATF has halted enforcement, it will be tremendously difficult for them to resume it and doing so improperly will expose them to significant legal risk. Far from a guarantee that enforcement will simply be “turned back on” under President Newsom, the ATF will be severely challenged to find a way to do so “correctly.”
And by using this “nonenforcement period” to dramatically expand ownership of these items, we can make this even more challenging for them. We have seen this episode before with several other issues, most notably marijuana or even more pertinent, pistol braces. “Nonenforcement” is not a honey trap, it is what precedes full victory.
Don’t mistake me - you must still be smart with what you choose to make. But never let the naysayers convince you that this is anything less than another massive step towards total NFA defeat.
Act accordingly!
POSTSCRIPT: an important point which I have not seen anyone else make is that while the ATF’s cessation of enforcement supplements the injunction, it does not override it. This means that if you are a plaintiff or customer / member of a plaintiff, the injunction still applies to you.
Even if ATF later changes their mind about ceasing enforcement, individuals protected by the injunction remain protected. Suppressors and other items made by said protected individuals are not “contraband” and prosecution of said individuals remains prohibited by the court order.
As such, membership in GOA or other plaintiff orgs remains recommended. Join today at gunowners.org, ccrkba.org or firearmspolicy.org.
California Sues Polymaker
I started with the good news of the fortnight - now I must move on to the bad. The State of California has sued Polymaker, LLC.
The complaint spends the first two pages of its introduction reviewing the California’s laws against evil ghost guns, which are illegal to build in California, and “digital firearm manufacturing code”, which is illegal to distribute in California. It then fails to accuse Polymaker of dealing in either of those things, because Polymaker doesn’t.
The accusation is instead that the filament sold by Polymaker is actually a scary “firearms precursor part.” How can this be? It seems that, because Polymaker has allegedly marketed their filament in ways relevant to the firearms community, said filament is magically transformed into a firearm before it even leaves the bag! Yes, this is the actual claim.
The actual list of marketing acts Polymaker is alleged to have committed is shockingly thin. Their strongest claim is Polymaker’s hiring of the 3D Print General as “Head of Customer Experience”, but beyond this, California’s attorneys are reduced to scraping old message boards and wiki pages for scraps of discussion about gun printing.
Far from the “comprehensive marketing strategy” California is alleging, this looks a lot more like Polymaker engaging with one of the many applications of 3D printing, which is, despite California’s histrionics, perfectly legal outside their regime.
And this is, ultimately, the real reason for this case. California sees which way the wind is blowing - 2A rights are gaining ground everywhere. Newsom may not be able to stop courts in Texas from recognizing that the 2nd Amendment protects the right to make a gun, but he can certainly try to intimidate private companies into refusing to engage with gunmaking.
The actual complaint can be read here. There has been as of yet no activity on the case since its filing on October 5th, but you can follow it by searching its case number (26CU052931C) in the San Diego’s Superior Court register of actions.
It remains to be seen how Polymaker will respond. God willing they will fight.
California Attempts Censorware, Passes Wet Fart
Speaking of California - we are unsurprised to report that AB-2047 has passed. This bill, like New York’s S. 9005 / A. 10005, mandates the installation of firmware meant to block gun printing on all 3D printers sold within the state.
This mandate is complicated by the fact that such technology does not exist. New York’s law confronted this problem too by mandating the creation of a “working group” to evaluate feasibility and create standards that putative blocking software must meet. Said group was mandated to meet within 90 days of the bill’s passage - so, August - yet I have found no news or announcements related to this group.
In any case, California’s law tackles the firmware problem a different way. AB-2047 mandates that California adopt standards and feasibility published by the international standards organization ASTM.
Notably it does not actually mandate or request ASTM to develop such standards - the law instead mandates that California DOJ simply check every quarter to see whether the organization has published anything.
ASTM themselves has announced that they had no involvement with the law, and have “not yet considered” developing the standards requested by the law - although they have announced an intention to host a consortium on the topic.
To summarize, ASTM is “intending” to host a “consortium” to “explore” the “feasibility” which CADOJ will then “consider” - all words indicating a profound lack of seriousness.
What happened, California? Is it possible that public outrage over this bill actually caused them to back down? Consider the fact that the ASTM provision was not present in the original bill, and was instead introduced by amendment.
Make no mistake, the law is still awful - but in the end its final form is a paper tiger. The exact same printers being sold before its passage are still being sold in California, censorware-free.
We will of course continue to monitor the situation - but don’t be surprise if the issue fades away, never to be heard from again. California is much more interested in threatening, posturing and suing innocent defendants vs. trying to actually pass effective legislation.
New Releases:
In this section, we cover new file releases that we find notable. If something catches your interest, go download and start printing!
First Urutau Mk2 Remixes Appear
A good proxy for a design’s quality is how many remixes people make of it. As such, we’re happy to see the first remix for the Urutau Mk2 - the first of many!
This remix from deadcactus redoes almost every printed part, most noticeably the grip, but several others as well. The developer does note that he has not tested his remix, so proceed with care, but it doesn’t appear to deviate from the core Mk2 design, which has been significantly tested.
Grab some Urutau Mk2 kits at 3D2A! The BOM is the same for both the original and this remix.
Direct Mount FTN.5 for M11/9
The only thing cooler than a Mac that Looks Like Mac is a MLM with a suppressor. Don’t take my word for it. Snake Plisken agrees:
It’s easier than ever to mount a DIY suppressor on your Mac with this FTN.5 PCC remix from Uberclay! The remix replaces the normal FTN threads with 3/4x10, so you can thread the can directly onto your pistol.
Print it out of nylon standing up, then mount immediately. No post-processing required!
Star Z-70B DIY Build Releases
The Star Z-70B is one of the last remaining cheap parts kits, widely available but until recently lacking a printable receiver. But this has now changed!
Developer OldArchimedesOrdnance brings us the Star Z-70B Retrofit, which he insists consists entirely of visual reference models. This said, if one were to print the included files, and follow the included instructions, one might end up with a functional parts kit build…
There are two options - one which permanently modifies the gun to be semi-only, and one which maintains the original full-auto functionality, and therefore should only be performed by an 07/02.
It’s a cool looking project and I’m excited to see what comes of it!
Community Corner:
In this section, we’ll focus especially on a particular community-oriented subject. We’ll interview developers, review parts kits and help promote things I believe are deserving of your attention!
Guncad Index Gets Self-Hosting, Federation
Today’s Digest contains not just one but two major updates from the Guncad Index! Both are extremely important.
The first update, detailed here, is that the Guncad Index’s metadata can now be downloaded and imported into a self-hosted version of the Index. This effectively means that you can now recreate your own Index, with all the releases, tagging and other metadata of the main Index, on your own hosting platform.
To be clear, the Index still does not host any actual guncad files - it is and has always been a tracker. Your self-hosted Index, however, will still be able to point you to files in the following ways:
Via links to Odysee (or other platforms like Printables, etc.)
Via torrent files
…both of which are included in the database snapshot. But if you do want to download the entire corpus of guncad files, you can also do that using the “Seed Releases” button. This will bring all release torrent files into your torrent tracker and download them all, so you’ll always have a copy on your hard drive. Bonus - you’ll automatically be set up to seed them back to the rest of the world!
The goal here is to facilitate a network of self-hosted “Guncad Indices”, any one of which can serve as a backup in case the main Index should ever disappear. This is of course only one of many possible use cases - I’ll let you imagine others.
But there’s more! Shittinator hit us literally yesterday with a second major update, which allows an ecosystem of Indices to federate. Don’t let the “fed” scare you - “federation” refers to a situation in which multiple independent, self-hosted platforms can nevertheless share data and synchronize.
The idea here is that you set up peers can upload a release to your own self-hosted Index, and then the release will automatically share to all your federated peers. This again anticipates a world in which 1) Odysee has disappeared and 2) the main Index has also gone away.
It’s an eventuality that seems distant, and god willing it is - but god bless Shittinator for building this technology well before we need it.
PrintYour2A Celebrates 6 Years with Anniversary Sale
One of the OGs and best devs in the business, PrintYour2A, is celebrating six years of operation! It’s incredible to believe it’s been six years since the halcyon days of 2020.
To celebrate he has launched an anniversary sale - 10% off rails and reinforcement! Use code PY6A at checkout to apply the discount.
PY2A rails are my preferred type at the moment, so take this opportunity to grab some!
New Suppressor Mounts for Sale
Two recent vendors for suppressor mounts have popped up, just in time for the ATF’s surrender on the NFA! We’re happy to give them both a shoutout here.
First we have SMG Labs, who has released what I believe is the first FTN to HUB adapter. Thread the male end to your FTN suppressor, and attach the female end to any HUB mount. Also available is a FTN to Plan B adapter!
We also have a new vendor selling custom machined 1/2x28 to 3/4x16 thread adapters. This vendor is a 3D2A member and SOT, and he’s designed the adapter specifically to provide a nice wide surface for engraving. Toss him some support!
Updates:
In this section we will mention updates to major releases - fixes, new variants, etc.
SMP5K Mods a’ Poppin
The SMP5K released a few weeks back and the mods are already coming fast and hard! Let’s review what we’ve got.
The most interesting is the FRT Pack from FoapsFiles, which provides two different reset options for the SMP5K - a dedicated Kabuto, and a custom extended lever for the Super Safety. Between the two I’d go with the Kabuto as it seems to have more testing behind it (and doesn’t require a cam) but either should work! Make that SMP5K brrrt!
Foaps has been plenty busy with other SMP5K mods too. In no particular order, he’s released an endcap for a dedicated UMP brace / stock, an alternate K variant handguard, and a detent cut grip module.
That last one is worth some attention, as I’ve found installing the detent to be one of the most painful parts of the build - this mod simplifies it considerably.
Next in line is a mod to the charging handle which beefs it up and stops it rotating in its slot. I deeply appreciate this one too, as my own build has developed exactly this problem. I’ll be printing one of these!
Our final mod is a new barrel system for a CMMG-style dedicated .22LR BCG, created by developer TheFunk. The original SMP5K was designed to use the CMMG Bravo conversion bolt, with the .223 chamber adapter in the front; this new system modifies the barrel sleeve to properly seat and interface with the dedicated bolt’s barrel collar.
This does mean additional prep for the .22LR barrel liner - it will need to be chambered and a notch for the extractor must be cut. But if you’ve already got a dedicated bolt on hand, this will be a good option!
Given the popularity of the SMP5K I expect more mods to arrive for it. Keep an eye out!
Rebel-9 SD Barrel Retainer for AR9 Barrels
It’s a somewhat niche mod, but I’m including it because the Rebel-9 always deserves some attention. The Rebel-9 includes several barrel retainers, all originally designed for use with ECM barrels. Developer ImmortalRevolt also included two retainers sized for use with AR9 barrels, but the style was different from the (in my opinion, cooler) original retainers.
Developer ViperSoss fixes this by modding one of the cool retainers to fit an AR9 barrel. Go check it out!
With the ATF’s surrender (I’ll never get tired of calling it that) the Rebel and Rogue designs become even more interesting than they already are, as they are natively designed to be SBRs. We’ve got kits, and we just restocked the machined parts - come get them while they’re hot!
L.A.R.K. 4-Position Kabuto Gets Full Release!
I couldn’t be happier for this one! For a while we were seeing pretty regular updates on the LARK, but eventually activity died off, and I feared the project was dead. Quite the opposite - it looks like certain recent events have led the dev to begin releasing updates again.
In its current version the LARK is four position selector, providing safe / semi / burst / full semi functionality. Unsurprisingly this advanced functionality requires some special hardware, both purchased and fabricated, all of which is detailed in the Odysee description of the release. The developer also has several videos on his channel to explain fabrication and assembly in more detail.
It seems that the dev is trying to patent this - a confusing concept given that he has published it publicly. Regardless I appreciate that he has published, and I hope to see some further testing and refinement!
New Betas:
In this section we round up recently opened betas. Help support development by joining these betas and testing!
Glock FRESS (Force Reset Safety System) Enters Beta
Starting the beta section off with a doozy - we have here an open beta for a selectable forced reset system for Glocks! Per the developer this has been in a private alpha for some time, and it has now reached the point where he is comfortable opening it as a beta.
See it in action here! Note specifically the selector mounted in the trigger, similar to the Neo - extremely cool.
Often with a beta like this you must evaluate the quality and potential of the project based on the beta package. I’m happy to report that on this metric the FRESS is looking high quality indeed - the beta package is well organized, contains good documentation and even contains installation and function testing videos.
We haven’t seen footage of this actually shooting yet, so its true functionality and longevity remains to be seen. I’ll be watching with great interest!
Open Source Arms Drops Two More Parts
In our last issue we described the Open Source Arms project had published their first beta part, the trunnion. Since that time they have dropped two more components, the handguard and the all-important lower!
Like the trunnion, the handguard is mostly comprised of a series of laser-cut flats, some bent, held together with rivets. More interestingly for this crowd, the lower is mostly printed, with three possible options - “no metal”, “partial metal” and “full metal.”
The current beta releases don’t go into great detail, but the idea seems to be that for the metal-included versions, more laser cut reinforcing flats are inserted into the print during the print process itself, permanently embedding them - a super cool technique that I’m surprised I don’t see more often.
There’s still more to come - the upper hasn’t appeared yet, and the lower lacks a buffer tower. We are slowly piecing our way to completion - keep an eye out for future drops, and join the OSA email list to stay up to date!
Coming Soon:
This section lists announcements or previews for projects that have not yet hit open beta. Keep an eye out for further news about these projects!
Dual Bizon Magazine for the Decker 9
Gee Bill, how come your mom lets you have two Bizons?
In Issue 31 we shared a DIY Bizon mag by sticky for the Decker-9, and we thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. We could never have predicted what he’d do next…
See it in action! Stacking two helicals on top of each other like this gives you 128 rounds of 9mm. If you bought a thousand round box of 9mm, you could fill this mag no more than eight times. The mind boggles.
Currently accessible only to members of the Decker-9 room. If you’re interested, join BLC to gain access!
3DVL-10 - (Almost) Fully DIY DVL-10
Fans of Tarkov may recognize the DVL-10. The famous Russian boltgun is being developed as a printable 22LR, with all parts except the barrel and the extractor being DIY’d. Developer 44_ALL_Politicians calls it the 3DVL-10.
Notable features include a custom ergo grip, a strengthened hinge for the folding stock, and an FTN.5 Rimfire on the end.
This is actually the dev’s first project, and his Reddit post details the trials and tribulations he went through to get it working. Well done man! He says he’ll be releasing this as a beta following some final tweaking - I look forward to that!
Other Links:
This section will collect any other links I find interesting. These may be older designs I want to share, releases I find notable but don’t have much commentary on, or anything else that catches my eye.
Thanks to the ATF surrender the need to serialize your FTN.6 suppressors is no longer as pressing, but if you still choose to, this Dawg Jig from YungFudd will help.
One of my dream DIY guns is a PPSh-41. Gage, where’s the Commissar? While we wait, here’s a mag adapter that allows you to use Glock mags with 9mm PPSh-41 builds.
Timed to perfection with the ATF news, MostlyPeacefulMachineShop releases his ZenitiClone. Now we have ZenitCo at home!
About the Guncad Digest:
Thank you for reading this issue of the Guncad Digest! Please send us your feedback and suggestions for improvements on the issue.
The Guncad Digest is sourced using the very excellent Guncad Index, from /r/3D2A, and from readers like you. If you know of a project you think should be featured, send it our way!
This issue was compiled and authored by Alyosha from 3D2A.com. We sell high quality parts kits for some of the best DIY guns available - if you’re looking for your next gun build, come check us out!
Standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, nothing I write is legal advice, everything is my opinion, and you should get actual legal advice before taking action on anything you read here.
So how many unregistered suppressors can we print/drill before the next administration?
Let's find out.
Trigger finger discipline, people. Sheesh.
More seriously, thanks for the best newsletter for 3D2A.