Issue #10: Pump .308, Printable Deagle, Hybrid 15mm Shells, FOSSCAD Gets Banned
The signal continues, unmuted!
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In today’s issue:
News:
In this section we’ll review major news events either originating in the 3D2A space, or particularly pertinent to this space.
Guncad Digest Hits Milestones
The Digest has hit ten issues! We’ve also hit over 1,000 subscribers. ChatGPT tells me that this puts us in the top 20% to 30% of Substacks.
I’m proud to have hit this milestone, but I couldn’t have done it without my readership. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported the Digest so far, and I look forward to seeing you over the next many issues!
The Death and Rebirth of /r/fosscad
Of course, the news that’s really on everyone’s minds is the recent social media purge of guncad-related spaces.
/r/fosscad is the largest loss. A community of over 100,000 people, a collection of valuable information going back to 2020, destroyed at the whims of Reddit administration.
Other spaces were purged too - /r/diyguns, /r/printyour2a, Black Lotus Coalition’s Twitter account. Several prominent individual accounts were also banned. This scope and scale suggests coordination.
What triggered this? It’s temping to blame individuals who credit themselves with reporting the communities, but upon reflection this seems unlikely. These are not secret communities, Reddit was surely well aware of them. The truth is more likely that the purge was triggered by machinations at a higher scale, the details of which we’ll never truly know.
It’s painful to reflect on the loss of what was the front page of guncad. But it’s also not the first time this happened. /r/fosscad itself started life as a place of refuge following the suspension of the original Reddit guncad community, /r/defense_distributed
As before, so again. New communities like /r/3D2A are already rebuilding on Reddit. It will take a long time for such places to recreate the scale and culture of /r/fosscad, but it will happen.
The community has also begun to build self-hosted or federated spaces outside of Reddit, the most prominent of which is the GuncadIndex Forum. These forums represent more solid ground on which to build, but will suffer from the network effect problems common to all communities outside the mainstream. Want to see the Forum succeed? The power is in your hands - join up and participate!
Do not be demoralized by the purge. /r/fosscad is gone but FOSSCAD lives on. We grew too big, too quickly, for them to strangle us. The signal will never be stopped.
If you haven’t already, I invite you to visit /r/3D2A and subscribe.
New Releases:
In this section, we cover new file releases that we find notable. If something catches your interest, go download and start printing!
WARDEN-308 Brings Big Boy Cartridges To Your Printer
ImposterArms of Black Lotus Coalition brings us a new pump-action rifle, the WARDEN-308!
The pump action design seen here is similar in nature to the Monarch / Apple Pie, using an AR bolt head and barrel. The key difference is that the earlier Monarch / Apple Pie are chambered in dinky little .223, while the WARDEN-308 is chambered in a real man’s .308 Winchester!
Check out the release trailer to see it in action. Want parts kits? We’ve got them!
Boombox - Rail-Mounted Pistol Suppressor and More
From ToxicXzombieG and the Gatalog comes the Boombox, which is perhaps best described as a rail-mounted muzzle device for pistols.
The varieties are impressive - it can be built as a suppressor, compensator or flash hider. It can be aligned for six different calibers, and it has mounts for many different firearms! At launch these are all Glocks, but there are beta files for several other firearm models as well.
Printable Desert Eagle from Pembleton
Pembleton returns to us with the inevitable apex of the “slide mounted PDW” design first demonstrated on the Nautilus. We have now created a printable Deagle PDW, god help us.
This is not an easy build, requiring exotic filaments and special slow printing techniques to ensure it can stand up to the truly massive recoil it experiences. Diligence in building this design will be worth it when you send a .50AE round downrange from a printed frame.
Machined Nylaug Pic Rail Now Available
Nylaugs are more popular than ever after the recent PSR video, and now thanks to Riptide Rails you can mount an optic on your build! This machined picatinny rail can be installed on your printed receiver.
Want to build your own Nylaug? 3D Print Freedom’s got you covered!
Community Corner:
In this section, we’ll focus especially on a particular community member. We’ll interview developers, review parts kits and help promote things I believe are deserving of your attention!
PrintYour2A 5-Year Anniversary Sale
Friend of the Digest PrintYour2A’s website turned five today! To celebrate, he’s launching a 10% off sale throughout the whole month.
I’ve always liked PY2A’s approach to rails, embracing a more DIY approach than the older FMDA machined style. That said, if you still want to buy his rails, use code PY5A to grab them at a discount!
Print-A-22 SY22 Review Coming Soon!
I had hoped to have a review of Print-A-22’s SY22 kit ready for this issue, but there’s been quite a few other things going on lately. Mea culpa!
The good news is that it’s clear that the SY22 kit makes this build tremendously easier, so I expect to be able to get it done in time for the next issue. Please stand by!
Updates:
In this section we will mention updates to major releases - fixes, new variants, etc.
“Cease and Desist” Returns After a Break
This design was originally released under a different (trademarked) name last year. Seems that the company didn’t like their name being used for a firearm and so they issued a C&D, and the design was gone since.
It’s now returned as the aptly named Cease & Desist. What actually is it? It’s a fully DIY AR22 upper consisting solely of parts that can be ordered from McMaster-Carr (plus a barrel liner.)
I actually think it’s pretty cool - I’m always a fan of anything fully DIY. I would expect nothing less from Bushworked711, the same dev behind the .43R printed ammo used in the Modelo Polylactico!
15mm Shells Now Come in Hybrid
The extremely cool world of 15mm continues to advance! The first 15mm shells were essentially caseless, but developer GrixxlyPrints has now created more traditional hybrid shell designs, which will no doubt allow for far more interesting and spicier loads!
These hybrid shells will not be usable in any muzzleloading 15mm design (like the PEN15) but it can be used in the Projectile Dysfunction or Baby Nameless. You’ve come a long way, baby!
New Betas:
In this section we round up recently opened betas. Help support development by joining these betas and testing!
Open Pew Project Releases OP9A / OP22A Betas
The OP9A beta, first announced back in Issue 5, received an update recently! This week also saw the release of the OP22A, which adapts the OP9A to .22LR and 5.7.
Apparently .22LR is considered release-ready, but 5.7 needs a bit more testing. Think you can help? Get printing!
TURD Concept for Geissele SSA-E Triggers
The world of guncad continues to smear TURDs everywhere. Today’s fat dump is an adaptation of the TURD design to the Geissele SSA-E trigger by Street-Sweeper Arms.
This is still in beta because the developer has not yet tested it with live fire, but he claims it passes function tests. If you have one of these Geissele triggers, feel free to try this out and provide feedback!
Tec-Nein Beta - A New TEC9 Frame
The TEC-9 was one of the earliest supported printed pistol frames (via the venerable FMDA’s 2019 Ghetto Blaster) but it received surprisingly little attention in subsequent years. 2024 saw a spate of TEC-9 releases, including the Czech Nine and the Blicky.
Now DBFirearms brings us the Tec-Nein, a printed frame for TEC-9 uppers that uses MP5 mags. We’re mixing hoodrat aesthetics with precision German engineering. If that tickles your fancy, join this beta!
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!
ZZR6: Shot Double Action Pepperbox Concept
Six is better than four! The ZZR6 from Athetos is a “pepperbox” with double-action functionality, an upgrade of a previous ZZR4 concept.
While this has been published, it’s noted to only be a concept and is totally untested, so I am counting this as a “coming soon” item and not a beta - yet!
If this actually works, it will be very cool, so I hope to see more in the future.
Factory Calibers Coming Soon to Modelo Polylactico
The Modelo Polylactico was released with support for .43R printed ammunition only, but the design was always intended to work with factory calibers as well.
Developer Bushworked711 has been advancing this conversation and now shows his Modelo firing .327 federal magnum rounds!
Exciting to see this one coming along. Looking forward to seeing more!
Notachi - Printed Revolver with DIY Ammo
This may look like a Ryno, but it’s actually a separate design called the Notachi. Developer SpeedStreet4047 has been working on this one for a while.
The real project is not just the gun, but its ammo - perhaps inspired by the Modelo, SpeedStreet is also trying to design printed ammunition. He’s gotten these to work using 209 primers, and is trying to utilize berdan primers as well.
This is heady, tricky, and therefore important work. Anyone who would like to help should reach out to SpeedStreet on Reddit!
Kaewon Brings Fully DIY .22LR MP5
Kaewon, master of .22LR designs (like the Baby Barrett or the Timmeh-22) is working on a visual clone of the MP5. This design is 99% printed and includes no gun parts (except, presumably, a barrel liner), making it extra cool in my book.
Upon release he’ll offer MP5, MP5SD and MP5K options as well as several other options. Looking forward to it!
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.
How to make the Modelo even more of a cowboy gun? How about this stock which provides an inlay for a quarter?
There’s no dev quite like Stubbs, and his SCRUNGLR bullpup can cannon is a fine example of that. Booze and Bullets remixes this into a Panzerfaust-style design.
DBFirearms has created a collapsible brace for the Triton-9 and DB Alloy. It could probably be adapted to other designs too.
404_logic_not_found_ is working on improvements to his Beretta FRT design!
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 3D Print Freedom / 3D2A. 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!
Thanks for the great work and for talking about my project (ZZR6), was surprised to see it appears here. I will work hard on the third iteration.