How good is this 3-D printed AK?
Using a 3-D printer to make guns has been something of a hot topic here in the United States. You will hear all sorts of chatter about so-called "ghost guns" and their availability to anyone with one of these expensive plastic printers.
However, the era of 3-D printing firearms from plans off the Internet seems to still be in an early state. Most of these guns are not nearly as effective as you might think.
In this video, you will see the testing of a 3-D printed AK-47, aka: "The Plastikov." We must admit, we like the word play there. It looks like a functional firearm, but there are some issues here that prove this style of gun still has a long way to go. Let us also preface this with a quick warning that there is some harsh language in this video.
Well, this AK design was functional, but only to a point. It turns out this firearm has some major design flaws that were not immediately obvious when they were assembling the 3-D printed parts. We figured this gun might be an issue when we saw the stock flopping around, but the ejector and bolt problems are a complex situation. One that is going to require some more precision engineering time.
While there have been plenty of other simple gun designs that have been 3-D printed, this is one of the more complex ones we have seen. It makes sense to start with an AK platform. After all, the original design of this gun was meant to be cheap, reliable and easy to maintain with minimal tools.
This video serves as a good reminder that while it is possible to 3-D print a gun, this is still a whole new field. There are going to be a lot of hurdles to make something like this as functional as something built of steel with precision machined parts.
At the very least it is an interesting experiment and yet another chapter in the long and sometimes weird history of firearms development.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
NEXT: MAN TRIES SHOOTING AN AK-47 UNDERWATER
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