Issue 24: One Year of Guncad Digest
Looking back on 3D2A on our first birthday!
Welcome to the Guncad Digest! This newsletter will regularly round up the best and most interesting 3D2A releases, betas and news.
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The Guncad Digest Turns 1!
Can you believe it, it’s our 24th issue! At two issues per month, that’s means we’ve done one year’s worth of publication.
To celebrate, this anniversary issue will review some of the biggest hits of the last year, as well as rounding up all the designs that I’m excited to see come out in the year ahead! We’ll also review some of the major ways the 3D2A signal grew in the last year.
Reviewing everything we’ve covered in the last 24 issues has reminded me how far we’ve come in just one year. 3D2A is not just growing, it’s exploding. The signal cannot, will not, be stopped.
Make sure to read to the very end - we’re announcing a contest at the end of this issue!
Spreading the Signal - Top Events of the Last Year
What’s Next for Guncad Digest?
Best Releases Of The Year:
In this special section, we’ll review what I think are the best and most exciting releases in the last year.
M1337 - Printable Gatling Gun
There’s no real question what the coolest release in the last 12 months has been - it’s the M1337 Gatling Gun from Nopel! A fully functioning Gatling gun, hand cranked, firing .223 from a printed belt? A fully functioning delinker using entirely printed clockwork? It’s an accomplishment par excellence and it’s the kind of project that breaks out of 3D2A to a wider audience.
Completing one of these builds will truly earn you distinction as a home builder. 3D2A.com sells complete kits to help you with that build, removing a lot of the difficulty but none of the fun :) We’ll be restocking soon, so make sure to join the waitlist!
SMP40 - Printable MP40 SMG
What an exciting release this was! This design from Stubbs allows you to build an MP40 clone gun using an AR9 bolt, an AR9 barrel, and an AR FCG. The upper and all other parts are DIY’d. If you’ve always dreamed of having a cool (and FRT-compatible) MP40, this is the best way to do it!
The fun doesn’t stop with the base SMP40 - shortly after release, Stubbs released several variants if you want to make your SMP40 look like a historic variety of the MP40, like the MP38 and MP41.
We sell kits for this design, including a DLC add-on that allows you to build any variant you desire. We also made a build video, below!
It’s worth noting that aside from the inherent coolness of building your own MP40 clone, this design also introduced a Stubbs design element that I call the “bolt tube.” At the core of the design is an aluminum tube, with sections and notches cut out, but which contains the AR9 bolt. An approach like this could be highly useful for other sorts of designs, and I hope to see more of that in the coming year!
Unseenkiller’s “Mac That Looks Like A Mac”
Longtime readers will recall my interest in “Macs that Look Like Macs” - there’s just something so special and aesthetic about a single-handed Mac-11 design, very Miami Vice. But so few Macs used this design - until this year!
Unseenkiller first released the PWC 5.7 in the single-handled format, followed by the PWC-9 in a much more common and accessible caliber! This was followed with a DLC pack to expand magazine compatibility, because no Unseenkiller design would be complete without a million variants.
God bless the man. God bless America.
DIY Lever Action AR
When this design dropped, I knew it would be popular, but I don’t think I could have predicted just how popular it would get! Since its release, 3D2A has been embracing its inner cowboy and showing off dozens of remixes and beautiful builds.
And indeed, what’s not to love? Reject modernity, return to cowboy. Print a lever action today - grab one of our kits to make it easy!
Defiance AR-15 Lower
Developer Proof was already well respected due to his airgun, but I’m not sure anyone expected him to come out of nowhere and drop an AR lower that is a serious contender for “best lower in 3D2A.” And yet he did, with his Defiance Lower!
The Defiance Lower requires no U-bolt, no hose clamp, just a printed buffer tower oriented for maximum strength. Does it “replace” the Hoffman Super Lower? Not necessarily, but it’s increasingly the lower that I recommend to anyone who asks.
FOSSMG9 - Folding 9mm PDW
One of the most anticipated 3D2A releases ever, and one of my personal favorites, it’s the FOSSMG9! The folding suitcase PDW that we’ve dreamed of ever since Magpul previewed their version in 2008, developers GreenWhiskey and Skum succeeded where Magpul failed.
At its core it’s a Glock 19 riding on familiar FMDA rails, so the build is actually pretty straightforward. Grab one of our kits to make it even easier and go live out your cyberpunk dreams!
DIY Super Safeties
The Super Safety is not just one of the greatest innovations in 3D2A of the last several years, but one of the greatest inventions in the firearms space generally. It wasn’t the first FRT, but it’s by far the most popular, and rightfully so.
Up until recently most Super Safety users have bought their SS cams from various suppliers. But what happens if those suppliers disappear? A few innovators have developed DIY versions of the Super Safety cam.
The No-Drill SCSS uses laser-cut parts for the most wear-prone parts of the super safety cam, and is printed otherwise - a great option for a cheap, easy to build cam. I fully recommend this design as your first DIY SS cam.
The Super Swanky on the other hand is a different beast altogether - this super-detailed release package describes how you can cast your own cam using a backyard forge setup costing no more than a few hundred dollars. With this project, not only will you gain a very solid DIY cam, you’ll also gain a lot of knowledge, which is always the underlying goal of guncad. Learn more in the official video!
Kabuto / TURD FRT
Another design that came somewhat out of nowhere when it dropped, the Kabuto / TURD is a DIY FRT design that functions on a totally different principle from the Super Safety. Since its initial drop, it’s been remixed and iterated dozens of times, which only indicates just how interesting a design it is.
Current state-of-the-art would appear to be the sqweee variant, although given the disparate branch of development it’s hard to keep track. I’d imagine in the coming year one of the many different designs will be selected as the standard, but until then interested developers should play with a few of the remixes and see which ones work best. Very exciting!
L.A.R.K. Printable Multi-Position Selector
In January a three-round safety called the CARL released, and my first question was: how long until 3D2A finds a way to DIY this? Not very long it seems! By the time of the very next issue, the L.A.R.K. had its first release. This design is a four position modification of the aforementioned Kabuto, which supports not not just semi and super-safe, but three-round super safe. Wow!
The design has since had a series of updates, including one as recent as April 20th, working its way towards its final form. 3D2A always provides!
DIY Collimator Sights
For a brief moment in fall 2025, collimator sights took over 3D2A. A “collimator sight” is basically an optic with a bright piece of fiber acting as the “dot”, but with no actual window to look through - to use it, you keep both eyes open and superimpose the dot on your target.
I like these designs because they are represent DIY optics, an area of 3D2A that is crucially neglected. Every gun should have a proper optic - print a collimator so you don’t need to spend money on one! These sights are available in both rifle optic and pistol optic form factors.
Yippie Ki Yay - Mostly-DIY .22LR MP5
When this first came out I knew it would be popular, but it wasn’t obvious to me just how popular it would be come. The Yippie Ki Yay by kaewon is a gun with an MP5-inspired aesthtic, and while it’s still technically in beta, I see new builds of this design several times a week.
Join in the fun, print one and get the fun experience of a fully DIY build! Or, make it a little easier on yourself and buy the hardware kit from Print-A-22.
Menendez Mag V3
This Gatalog release takes me back to the early days of guncad, when we were innovating with printed mags. The biggest problem with printed mags - a major factor in why they seemed to have died off - was the inherent weakness of printed feed lips. This problem was solved in the Menendez Mag v3, which uses a DIYable bent metal insert to reinforce the lips!
You really should DIY these feed lips, because that’s a cool thing to do and will expand your skillset - but in case you can’t, Riptide Rails sells them premade / prebent as well. Go get some and celebrate Bob Menendez’ prison sentence!
DIY Suppressors - FTN5 and OpenPew Series
One of the most notable news events in the last 12 months is $0 tax stamps for suppressor, a subject we’ll cover more later. What we’re focusing on here is one of the most exciting consequences of that legal change, which is PLABoi’s temporary return and release of the FTN5 series!
The FTN is not just a printable silencer - it led the movement to promote mass printing of suppressors, making them so common as to be impossible to ban.
As of today the FTN5 is considered the premier DIY suppressor for rifle calibers. The OpenPew series, released around the same time, is considered to be a competitive or even better option for pistol calibers.
If you haven’t printed one of these yet, the time will never be better - so get to it!
DIY Claymore and Reference Guide
“So you want people to print their own guns? What, do you want them to build their own landmines too?” Absolutely.
And now I can, with the DIY Claymore project from Remnants! As noted in our initial release, this is far more than just a printed Claymore body - it’s a complete guide to the history, theory and use of the famous Claymore mine. It gives you the resources to build the design, but it also shows you how to do so legally.
I’m so proud to see this project release. It’s one of the best examples of guncad all year.
DIY MANPADS
“Okay, fine, landmines, but surely you don’t support 3D printed missiles?!” Boy do I have bad news for you.
If you haven’t already, you should absolutely check out the “Experimental Counter-UAS Interception Platform” from Machinic Desire. This project consists of a a DIY launcher, a DIY rocket, DIY guidance boards, and a DIY vision system to help triangulate the guidance. Review our writeup on the matter to really dig into the project.
To be clear, this project is not “complete” in the sense that the FGC-9 was “complete” upon its first release - it is much closer to a proof of concept combined with a political statement. But that is how all great things start - with one voice demonstrating that it can be done. In terms of spirit, I can think of nothing more 3D2A.
Upcoming Releases:
Above we listed some of our favorite projects that released in the last 12 months. Next we’ll list many of the projects that we promoted in the last 12 months which have not yet released.
We call these “Upcoming Releases” because we’re fairly confident they will reach a release state - either because they’re being developed by a known developer or dev group with a good release track record, or because they’re nearly done already!
We promote them here to build hype and solicit testers. Keep an eye out for them and join the betas if you can!
“Dirte Dozen” JD12 Shotgun
I continue to feel that there aren’t enough 3D printed shotguns. JoeDirt from Black Lotus Coalition is helping to fill that gap with the fully DIY Dirte Dozen! It’s a single shot break action and the beta is going on now - join the BLC Matrix space to help teste!
Speakeasy - DIY Thompson from AWCY
AreWeCoolYet continues to plug away at their designs, and the Speakeasy from Sheridan is one of the most interesting ones to my mind. Obviously it’s a DIY Thompson, but it also is nearly fully DIY, using a totally custom stacked plate bolt reminiscent of the 3DP90.
The beta is being run in the AWCY Matrix space - message the mods if you want to join in!
Halo Assault Rifle and Magnum
Every man dreams of traveling the stars and xenociding aliens. These designs bring that dream a little closer to reality!
First, the printed MA40, pictured above, is a visual and functional clone of Halo’s famous assault rifle, even incorporating its ammo counter! The cool factor is enough to make me overlook the fact that it’s .22LR.
A different developer has also been hard at work building a Glock 19 mod to turn it into Halo’s famous magnum pistol!
Neither of these projects have reached beta stage yet, but their developers have been promoting them with regular posts long enough that I’m confident they’ll make it to release. I need a weapon indeed!
STGV - Updated Sturmgewehr 556
The Sturmgewehr 556 was quite a hit when it released, and why not - just look at it! Its possible downside was its relatively weak printed upper, but this is solved in the in-beta STGV! This design adopts the aluminum “bolt tube” used in the SMP40 to dramatically improve strength and performance.
I’m helping with this beta, so you know it will release! We’re targeting fall 2026, so stay tuned!
VSG2 - Updated VolkStubbsGewehr
As with the STG, so with the VSG! Stubbs has also been working on several improvements to the popular VolkStubbsGewehr printed bolt-action rifle which will make it stronger, safer and easier to build. Stay tuned for the beta!
Decker 9 - Fully DIY 9mm Carbine
Among Black Lotus Coalition’s pending designs, this one may be the most anticipated. The Decker .380 was an overwhelming hit when it first released, and rightfully so, being a radically simple yet strong and reliable fully DIY design.
The only complaint about the original Decker is its .380ACP ammo, and that is resolved with the 9mm-chambered Decker 9. It’s in active beta as we speak, so if you’d like to help test, volunteer and join in!
EBT-9/380 - Printed Hipoint That Works
What’s old is new again! The EBT-9/380 is a printed frame for the Hipoint C380 / C90 kits, and it doesn’t suck! Somehow these kits are still going for affordable prices, and once this design drops you’ll want to be stocked up.
It’s being beta’d at AWCY - jump on and join in the fun!
PWC DIY from Unseenkiller
There was a time when Mac upper assemblies were unobtainable. That time has passed, and yet the pursuit of DIY continues. Here we have unseenkiller and friends developing a fully printed Mac upper, eliminating one of the bottleneck items.
You’ll still need a commecial bolt, but all DIY is good DIY! Really looking forward to seeing this one drop.
Super Safe PWC by NightAlliance
Speaking of the PWC, developer nightalliance has been making steady progress towards a new and improved trip to super safe your Mac! The internal design consists of a metal flat bent into the proper shape, which anyone can do!
NightAlliance 2011 Frame
Muh two world wars! If you’re building a 1911 in 2026, you should probably build a 2011, which is far more popular than the original 1911. Thanks to nightalliance, you’ll soon be able to print a 2011 as well!
nightalliance has been teasing this design hard, so I expect it’s pretty close to release. Count the days!
DIY Kriss Vector
I am perhaps unreasonably excited for this one, but just look at it! It’s a nearly fully DIY Kriss Vector, being developed before our very eyes! Its internals are either printed or SCS’d, and the only firearms part is the barrel.
The developer is inching towards reliable functionality, at which point he’ll open the beta. Stay tuned!
Modelo Polylactico Factory Calibers
The Modelo Polylactico is a very cool platform, but it’s the ammo that matters with this project! The design was originally released supporting only its .43R DIY caliber, but developer bushworked711 has been continuing to plan out and adapt the design to factory calibers like .327 magnum or even shotshells!
His latest update mentioned a “precision caliber” that he’s working on - once that’s ready, expect a new release pronto!
PROOF Fully DIY AR FCG
Announced only a few weeks back, this nonetheless shot up to the top of my list of interests! Despite earlier attempts like the CSGCG, a reliable and widely adopted DIY AR FCG remains an unachieved feat.
Proof’s drop-in approach to this challenge appears new and fresh - perhaps it could be the DIY FCG we’re looking for? I’m eagerly standing by for more!
Black Lotus 5.56 Beltfed
I’ve saved the best for last. BLC has been working for nearly a year now on a DIY beltfed design in 5.56! It’ll feed from printed belt links and at this point has had its first shots fired through it!
This is in active beta at Black Lotus, although it’s not clear they’re accepting new testers. When this project drops, it will make a huge impact - I’m deeply anticipating it!
In Progress Designs:
Having covered the Upcoming Designs, we will now look at more designs that we promoted over the last year that I’m excited about. I call these “In Progress Designs” because, while they were being worked on at one time, I haven’t seen updates on them in a while and I’m less sure about their path to release.
Will they release someday? I hope so, and by including them here I hope to draw attention back to them! Reader, if one of these designs is yours, please reach out to me and let’s discuss it!
Staaker - SCS Bolts and Square Steel Upper .22LR Pistol
Starting with one of our earliest issues, the Staaker is a printed .22LR pistol similar in form to the VZ61, with an upper cut from square steel tube and a bolt made of stacked SCS plates, and using more SCS cuts for the extractor and firing pin.
We were getting regular reports on this design for a while, most of which were lost with FOSSCAD. Where does the design sit now? I hope to see it, or something like it, someday!
DIY Ammunition Counter
Running low on ammo during a firefight is inconvenient, so an ammo counter would be a useful concept - plus they look really cool! This design provides a display tied to some electrical engineering magic to count rounds as they are fired. It’s advertised as being for the SF5, but is also noted to be generic and adaptable to other designs too.
Unlike some of the other “In Progress” designs, this ammo counter actually got a beta release, but its developer notes that he’s pausing the project for a while. Might anyone want to come in and revive it?
Printable Uzi
Printable. Uzi. It’s a printable Uzi! The concept sells itself. It was originally developed by StolenBoiStudios who, perhaps understandably, did not finish it - but fortunately its in-progress files were posted for someone else to take up.
So far nobody else has. Might that change? The power is in your hands, developers!
ORCBOLG - Fully DIY .380ACP Pistol
I really want this one. We’ve seen several fully DIY pistol designs, like the NULL-22, but they’re all .22s - not uninteresting, but it’s been done before! A DIY .380 pistol on the other hand, now that’s something new!
It looks like it’s actually only been two months since the last update, so perhaps this project is still being worked on? The developer can be found on the Guncad Index forums - if you’re reading this, friend, please let me know where this project stands!
.22LR ECM
ECM for 9mm is well established, but ECM for .22LR has not really solidified. There are a few attempts at it, but none that I understand to be definitive. Everyone who wants something like this ends up buying a barrel liner.
The last attempt was by R_Weapon, and despite its release I have seen very little about it. Let’s see some movement on this, gentlemen!
Yamato 20 DIY Shotgun
This is another design that I was really excited for. It’s a fully DIY pump action shotgun using a combination of printed and SCS parts, plus it’s got a cool name - what’s not to love?
There was an upload for it, still visible on the Index, but now inaccessible. Has the Yamato, like its battleship predecessor, sunk beneath the waves? Or might we still see it emerge from the mists someday? We can only hope!
Printed M3 Grease Gun
While I’ve rarely seen public commentary on it, I’m aware of at least two attempts at making a printed M3 Grease Gun, both by devs associated with BLC. Neither has seen the light of day yet, but I feel it’s surely only a matter of time before one of these projects, or a yet undreamed third one, reaches release.
Printed Frame for PM-63 RAK
The DIY PM-63 RAK was making great progress for a while, but updates seem to have slowed. I recognize it’s a challenging design, but I’d love to see some updates on it someday!
Parts kits for this design are plentiful and cheap - it’d be a sin not to reactivate them!
Berd Ninjetics Flamethrower!
Black Lotus has been working towards a printable flamethrower almost since their inception. For very understandable reasons, this has proved a challenge, and up until recently the beta room for this project has been inactive.
Yet I’ve got good news! No more than a few days ago, activity picked back up in that room, and the problem is being tackled once again. The eternal human dream of not needing to walk up to something to set it on fire remains viable - stay tuned!
DIY MG42
This is another concept that sells itself. We’ve already mentioned a DIY beltfed above, but what about a DIY MG42?
Its developer is active on the Guncad Index, and the project does have an initial model, but in order to make this dream come true I’ll want to see more updates and a bigger testing pool. The power is in your hands, people! Get to it!
TISM - Printable Artillery
Look at this beauty. It is a printed. 37mm. Artillery piece. When completed, it would be roughly the size of a motorcycle. You’d need a full size pickup just to haul it to the range. It’s beautiful.
The dev group for this design is still around, but I’m sorry to say I’ve seen little activity there recently. Perhaps it’s waiting for you - yes, you, reader! - to join and get to testing?
Spreading the Signal - Top Events of the Last Year
That’s quite a collection of designs! But there’s still more I want to review - namely, the major news and events of the previous year.
There’s no doubt that the last year had some bad news, but it’s far too easy to focus on that and not the tremendous amount of good news that happened as well. For today, we’ll only focus on the good stuff - now celebrate with me the incredible advances made in 3D2A!
Rise of the Guncad Index
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Guncad Index is the most important thing to happen to 3D2A since 2020. This is not just a resource, it is the resource for 3D printed guns, and it’s hard to imagine 3D2A without it - especially in a post-/r/fosscad world.
The index is, as of writing, tracking nearly 12,000 releases with a fantastic search and sort functionality. Project lead and main developer Shittinator (who you should subscribe to on Substack) also maintains the Guncad Mirror, software that allows you to run your own LBRY node and support the file hosting infrastructure.
You can also download the entire Index using another bit of third party software!
I’ve listed above the many big ways that the Index has built the community, but there’s uncountable small things about the Index worth celebrating as well, with more being added all the time. Shittinator, from one 3D2A guy to another - thank you for all you’ve done.
New Communities - /r/3D2A and Guncad Index Forum
Yes, we lost /r/fosscad in 2025, and this was a sore blow. But looking back, the story there is not that we lost a community - it’s that we rebuilt so quickly. The subreddit /r/3D2A is just as active, if not more, than the original /r/fosscad - proving once again that trying to mute the signal only makes it stronger.
The loss of /r/fosscad also motivated us to diversify off Reddit, and once again Shittinator came to the rescue with the Guncad Index Forums, hosted on Lemmy, which now serves as a home for all the more interesting stuff that Reddit is afraid of.
Speaking of Lemmy, another major victory this year was reproducing all /r/fosscad posts on that platform. The years of knowledge that the fosscad sub represented was preserved, thanks to the dedicated efforts of hogleg and others.
All readers of this newsletter had better be subscribed to these communities! I aggregate this stuff, but we need participation too!
$0 Form 1s
Surely the biggest news in the last 12 months was the removal of the fee for Form 1 tax stamp for suppressors and SBRs. This was accompanied by a massive flood of applications, and it is now apparent that the number of Form 1 holders in this country has multiplied severalfold!
3D2A contributed tremendously to this, since we’re the only ones offering these items in a manner that is affordable and accessible to everyone. I don’t know how many of the newly registered suppressors are DIY’d, but I know it’s not a small number.
If you still haven’t made one yourself, what are you even doing? Get on it!
Flashforge Bends the Knee
While at the time this event looked bad, we can look back on it now as one of our finest hours. For those who don’t recall, back in November Flashforge posted the threatening image above to their social media. We speculated at the time what their motivation was, but in retrospect the most interesting part of this story is the reaction.
Long story short, Flashforge lost this battle dramatically. The 3D printing community - not just 3D2A, but the community at large - exploded in opposition, destroying them on every social media front. Within days - hours! - they walked back their statement, and we haven’t heard a thing from it since.
Sometimes it feels like there’s no way to fight the forces arrayed against us. When I feel that way, I remember events like this, and know that we are not powerless. You should too.
3D2A.TV
The health of its community can often be inferred by its media and cultural production, and by that standard, 3D2A is doing just fine. Aside from the already-mentioned items, another new production in the last year is 3D2A.tv, a monthly variety show covering new builds, news, interviews, roasts and much more!
They’ve done four episodes so far, all of which are available on Odysee. The next episode is coming on May 24th, and it’s sponsored by yours truly :) Make sure to tune in!
Gun Maker’s Match
Given its proximity, I’m happy to wrap up this section by once again promoting the Gun Maker’s Match, returning in just a few weeks for its sixth time!
The Maker’s Match is now the longest-running guncad meetup. All the cool kids are there, so if you’re not, what does that make you? You’ve still got time to sign up!
What’s Next for Guncad Digest?
This is the part of the newsletter where we switch from reflecting on the past to planning for the future. But the truth is - I think what we’re doing right now is exactly what we should be doing, and I don’t really intend to change it!
My commitment to you is that I will keep rounding up all the interesting designs I see and all the newsworthy events that you should know about, publishing them every two weeks. I’ll promote things that are worth promoting, and I’ll contribute back in all the ways I feel I can.
Well, there is one thing I’d like to change - I’d like to engage in a broader spectrum of educational content. Not just “what are the new guns this week”, but perhaps “what are the best guns of this particular type”, or even “how should I get into printing these designs?” Education is what grew this community, and more education will help it grow more.
If, in May 2027, If I can look back on the upcoming year and feel that I helped add to our educational resources, then I think I’ll feel like I did my job well.
That’s my plan. Keep watching this space!
Guncad Digest Logo Contest
I wish I could claim there was some great story behind the Digest’s Oregon Trail logo, but the truth is that back when I started this newsletter, it said I needed a log, so I grabbed the meme out of my 3D guns meme folder without really thinking about it. Now that we’re a year in, I think it’s finally time for something better.
Readers: help me design a new logo! I’ll be accepting submissions for new logos through the month of May. At the end of the month I’ll either hold a popularity contest or select my favorites, depending on what we get.
Please email your design to: customersupport@3dprintfreedom.com (or DM them to me here on Substack!) Winners will get the privilege of seeing their logo on the Substack - oh, and any1 free hardware kit you want from 3D2A.com :)
Start designing!
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!
Excluding the M1337 Complete Kit - sorry - but including the M1337 Advanced Kit!