Redesigned “Shuty”

JStark1809 is responsible for the latest redesign of the Shuty – the FGC9. Ivan himself worked on solving designing printable magazines as well as finding a way to obtain a rifled barrel without having to order one.

Home Made Rifled Barrel

The barrel problem I solved by relying on electrochemical machining assited by 3d printing. Cheap, easier, and more powerful than button rifling. Ammoland did a good writeup about it. JStark’s redesign of the FGC9 has it using metric parts – my build is using the closest to those metric specs that are available in the US. It seems to work pretty well.

If you want to learn more about how he rifled the barrels using the Electrochemical Machining (ECM) method, read the TFB article published yesterday.

Home Brew Magazines

Being a step up from the “Liberator” 3D printed pistol, Ivan also was able to design magazines.

The printed magazine I chose to go for was Glock mags – I’ve got working G17, G19, and G18 mags. They can be printed for 0.80, 0.60, and 1.30 cents, respectively. Some places in the EU control magazine bodies, so we managed to make an affordable, disposable mag for those in America, and a reliable magazine for those overseas – all in one fell swoop.

Professor Parabellum even reached out to let me know he’d be basing his DIY gun designs around my magazine, simply due to the reliability and availability it offers over STEN mags.

The Glock Style 3D printed magazines make use of a standard Glock Magazine spring. Even in countries that have heavy gun regulations, magazine springs are not a regulated part according to laws in those nations. Currently, a 3D printed tool that allows the bending of your own metals to create a magazine spring is in the works to eliminate the need to order the spring.

3D Printed Future

The FGC9 is a good indication that 3D printed firearms are not only becoming more popular but more practical. With increasing complexity, durability and availability these guns are starting to rival some commercially available guns.