Here’s something truly innovative — a 3D-printed metal rimfire receiver!

Forum member Marcos G. (aka MFP_BOP) has designed and created his own rimfire action. But it’s not machined or forged. This new action was created with a 3D sintered metal printer. A 3D modeler by profession, Marcos has the requisite skill set and access to a very high-tech (and expensive) metal printer. As printed, the actual receiver is shown below. It has just been sent out to be age-hardened to 40 HRC, after which final finish work (e.g. cleaning up tenon threads) will be done. To learn more about this 3D-printing project, read this FORUM Thread.

When most of us think of 3D printing, we think of small plastic parts — nothing as strong as steel. But there are 3D printers that employ sintered metal to build complex metal components. Marcus says the receiver he’s created should have “stated yield and tensile strength similar to investment casting.” The material used for the action is 15-5 PH® Stainless Steel (in sintered form).

The action was designed to use a PT&G 40X rimfire bolt. Marcos notes that “There is an extraction cam inside of the action, something that would be very hard or impossible to do by regular machining and/or EDM.”

Born in Brazil, Marcos now lives in New Zealand. He tell us that: “New Zealand is a very gun-friendly country. I just need my A-CAT license to make [a receiver.]” So there are no special legal restrictions (as might apply in the USA). The printer is EOS270 laser metal sintering machine. Marcos says: “The current price for one of those machines is in five figures, but I am 99.99% sure that in 5-7 years this technology will be readily available to anyone.”

As designed, the receiver was 1.4″ in diameter. Marcos reports it came out of the printer at 1.403″. The designed boltway is .690″ and it came out .687″. Marcos notes: “I haven’t noticed any warping. The threads are rough, really! Interior and exterior finishes are really good though, probably because of the way it’s been printed: upside down (must have gone through tumbling afterwards). I will have to run some taps and single-point-cut the tenon threads to clean them up.”

Marcos says the actual printing process took a lot of time: “I should have asked how long it took to be printed!” But consider this, the 7″-long receiver is created in layers only 20 microns thick, so you can understand why the process took so long.

Reasons to Print a Rimfire Receiver
Marcos 3D-printed his own action basically to save money: “Some may be asking why I printed this receiver. Here’s a little history… I tried different ways to bring a Stiller 2500X action into New Zealand. The final price to my door was NZ $3000.00 (about $2195.00 USD). Designing and making one would be way cheaper, but I felt nobody here could machine the internal abutments with precision. Also printing was still a little cheaper and printing offered the chance to put in it all details I wanted — such as M4 threads, internal cam, and fillets.”

Here’s a very cool 3D Animation showing pistol rounds being fired. Computer-generated graphics provide a look inside the cartridge at the moment of ignition as the primer fires and the flame front moves through the ignited powder. It’s really kind of mesmerizing. If you’ve every wondered just what happens inside your cartridges the moment that firing pin strikes, then watch this video…

Watch Video to See Handgun Ammo Being Chambered and Fired:

Mute Enabled — Click Speaker Icon to Hear Audio. Firing Sequence Starts at 1:28.

This animated video from German ammo-maker GECO (part of the Swiss RUAG group of companies) reveals the inside of a pistol cartridge, showing jacket, lead core, case, powder and primer. Employing advanced 3D rendering and computer graphics, the video shows an X-ray view of ammo being loaded in a handgun, feeding from a magazine.

Then it really gets interesting. At 1:28 – 1:50 you’ll see the firing pin strike the primer cup, the primer’s hot jet streaming through the flash-hole, and the powder igniting. Finally you can see the bullet as it moves down the barrel and spins its way to a target. This is a very nicely-produced video. If you’ve ever wondered what happens inside a cartridge when you pull the trigger, this video shows all. They say “a picture’s worth a thousand words”… well a 3D video is even better.

Here’s something truly innovative — a 3D-printed metal rimfire receiver!

Forum member Marcos G. (aka MFP_BOP) has designed and created his own rimfire action. But it’s not machined or forged. This new action was created with a 3D sintered metal printer. A 3D modeler by profession, Marcos has the requisite skill set and access to a very high-tech (and expensive) metal printer. As printed, the actual receiver is shown below. It has just been sent out to be age-hardened to 40 HRC, after which final finish work (e.g. cleaning up tenon threads) will be done. To learn more about this 3D-printing project, read this FORUM Thread.

When most of us think of 3D printing, we think of small plastic parts — nothing as strong as steel. But there are 3D printers that employ sintered metal to build complex metal components. Marcus says the receiver he’s created should have “stated yield and tensile strength similar to investment casting.” The material used for the action is 15-5 PH® Stainless Steel (in sintered form).

The action was designed to use a PT&G 40X rimfire bolt. Marcos notes that “There is an extraction cam inside of the action, something that would be very hard or impossible to do by regular machining and/or EDM.”

Born in Brazil, Marcos now lives in New Zealand. He tell us that: “New Zealand is a very gun-friendly country. I just need my A-CAT license to make [a receiver.]” So there are no special legal restrictions (as might apply in the USA). The printer is EOS270 laser metal sintering machine. Marcos says: “The current price for one of those machines is in five figures, but I am 99.99% sure that in 5-7 years this technology will be readily available to anyone.”

As designed, the receiver was 1.4″ in diameter. Marcos reports it came out of the printer at 1.403″. The designed boltway is .690″ and it came out .687″. Marcos notes: “I haven’t noticed any warping. The threads are rough, really! Interior and exterior finishes are really good though, probably because of the way it’s been printed: upside down (must have gone through tumbling afterwards). I will have to run some taps and single-point-cut the tenon threads to clean them up.”

Marcos says the actual printing process took a lot of time: “I should have asked how long it took to be printed!” But consider this, the 7″-long receiver is created in layers only 20 microns thick, so you can understand why the process took so long.

Reasons to Print a Rimfire Receiver
Marcos 3D-printed his own action basically to save money: “Some may be asking why I printed this receiver. Here’s a little history… I tried different ways to bring a Stiller 2500X action into New Zealand. The final price to my door was NZ $3000.00 (about $2195.00 USD). Designing and making one would be way cheaper, but I felt nobody here could machine the internal abutments with precision. Also printing was still a little cheaper and printing offered the chance to put in it all details I wanted — such as M4 threads, internal cam, and fillets.”

In this amazing video, X-Ray-style 3D animation illustrates the primer igniting, the propellant burning, and the bullet moving through the barrel. The video then shows how the bullet spins as it flies along its trajectory. Finally, this animation shows the bullet impacting ballistic gelatin. Watch the bullet mushroom and deform as it creates a “wound channel” in the gelatin. This excellent video was commissioned by Czech ammo-maker Sellier & Bellot to demonstrate its hunting ammunition. The design, 3D rendering, and animation was done by Grafické studio VLADO.

Watch Video – Cartridge Ignition Sequence Starts at 1:45 Time-Mark

How about a game of “Cartridge Chess”, with chess pieces sourced from your own ammunition collection? We think the concept of a Cartridge Chess Set is pretty clever, and it’s bound to be a conversation-starter at home or at the hunting lodge. With a little creativity, our readers could make their own Chess Sets like this, using a variety of cartridge types.

Create Your Own Cartridge Chess Set
This is a 3-D rendering found on the Cheaper Than Dirt Facebook page. We’d like to see a chess set with actual cartridges (assembled without powder or primers), perhaps with .32 ACP pawns and the 50 BMG and .338 LM as King and Queen.

Challenge: How many cartridge and shotshell types can you identify? The Pawns look like 9mm or 40sw pistol cartridges, while the Rooks (Castles) are obviously 12ga shotgun shells.

What’s Wrong with This Picture?: How many of you sharp-eyed chessmasters noticed a mistake in the placement of the “Royals” in the Cheaper Than Dirt 3-D rendering. Hint — look at the grid layout (top left) for the correct placement of Kings and Queens.

At SHOT Show 2016 we visited the Sellier & Bellot pavilion. You may not have heard of this company, but it is one of Europe’s older ammunition manufacturers. The video below shows ammunition being made from start to finish, starting with raw materials. This is a fascinating video that is well worth watching. It shows some amazing machines in operation:

Based in in Vlašim, Czech Republic, Sellier & Bellot was founded in August 5, 1825 by a German businessman of French origins called Louis Sellier. His family were royalists who fled France during the French Revolution. Louis Sellier began manufacturing percussion caps for infantry firearms in a factory in Prague, Bohemia on the request of Francis I, the Emperor of Austria. Sellier was joined by his countryman Jean Maria Nicolaus Bellot.

At the S&B booth, we also saw an interesting CGI video that shows what happens inside a rifle chamber and barrel when a cartridge fires can’t be seen by the naked eye (unless you are a Super-Hero with X-Ray vision). But now, with the help of 3D-style computer animation, you can see every stage in the process of a rifle round being fired.

In this X-Ray-style 3D animation illustrates the primer igniting, the propellant burning, and the bullet moving through the barrel. The video then shows how the bullet spins as it flies along its trajectory. Finally, this animation shows the bullet impacting ballistic gelatin. Watch the bullet mushroom and deform as it creates a “wound channel” in the gelatin.

Watch Video – Cartridge Ignition Sequence Starts at 1:45 Time-Mark

Then it really gets interesting. At 1:32 – 1:50 you’ll see the firing pin strike the primer cup, the primer’s hot jet streaming through the flash-hole, and the powder igniting. Finally you can see the bullet as it moves down the barrel and spins its way to a target. This is a very nicely-produced video. If you’ve ever wondered what happens inside a cartridge when you pull the trigger, this video shows all. They say “a picture’s worth a thousand words”… well a 3D video is even better.

For Best Viewing, Click Gear Symbol and Select HD Playback Mode

CaptSurly tells us: “Old Glory is the second custom rifle I had built. The first was another 223 built by Bobbie Hart. In choosing 223 it was the result, at the time, of the lack of any familiarity with the BR and PPC custom cartridges. Old Glory is one of a dozen custom rifles I own, 8 of which are built on Bat 6.5″ MF actions, all with Shehane Tracker stocks in 22 and 6mm PPC, 22, 6mm, and 30 BR, as well as 222s and 22-250s built on Rem 700 trued actions. The gunsmiths include: Leonard Baity, Dwight Scott, Kevin Rayhill, Bill Truitt and Doyle Anglin.”

Old Glory is built on a trued Remington SS action. It sports a Shehane MBR Tracker stock, a 1:14″ twist Dan Lilja SS Barrel at 24″, a 1.5 oz. Jewell trigger, a Pacific Tool & Gauge (PTG) bolt, a Leupold 45×45 Competition scope, Davidson bases, and Kelby rings. The chambering is by Kevin Rayhill in Match .223 Rem Match with a .250″ neck. Kevin also pillar- and glass-bedded the action in the stock. The gun is shot with Lapua match brass (.0115″ neck thickness), Bart’s 52gr FB bullets and with Fed 205m match primers lighting off 25.0 grains of VV 133. The gun is very accurate.

CaptSurly tells us: “Old Glory is not shot in organized competition, but competition in absentia. By that I mean I keep track of what is happening in organized competition through PS Magazine and through the IBS web site. Traveling to matches at long distances does not work for me. Extreme accuracy is my passion and I am rarely satisfied with my results regardless of how good they are and more often than not they are good. Old Glory is seldom shot beyond 50 yards due to the range availability here on the island. I shoot on the Florida Keys Shooting Club Range here on Key Largo, FL. While we have 50- and 100-yard ranges, the 100-yard range is available only on Monday afternoons, so I use same for shooting my PPCs and BRs.”

Artwork by Killer Paint’s Mike Lavallee
The amazing paint job was done by Mike Lavallee of Killer Paint Inc. in Snohomish, Washington. Mike is a featured artist on The Discovery Channel in his own right and in association with Monster Garage (Jesse James). Lavallee is famous for his “Tru-flames” paint effects.

Three of CaptSurly’s painted stocks currently appear on the Killer Paint web site gallery and Lavallee is currently working on two more stocks for CaptSurly and his wife — one will feature a tropical motif and the other will sport a buckskin motif.

Most conventional protection units available to the military and corporate worlds (like sandbags or concrete) are non-portable, or they degrade rapidly under sustained fire. Ballistics Research’s AABC™ material actually becomes stronger with multiple hits. In fact, each of the 3-D IPS blocks is capable of absorbing thousands of rounds of machine gun fire without failure.

Video Shows Effectiveness of 3-D IPS System
The Video below shows a 3-D IPS Block wall being tested first with a full-auto 5.56×45 M16, next an M60 machine gun firing 7.62×51 rounds, and finally a “Ma Deuce” shooting .50 Cal API M2HB Armor Piercing Rounds. This is all done at very close range. The AABC material soaks up ALL the projectiles. Very impressive indeed….

While 3-D IPS block installations are designed primarily for military compounds, or commercial sites (such as power plants) where high security is required. However, they can be used in any location where secure protection from high-velocity projectiles is required. For example, 3-D IPS blocks could be used for a down-range storage building on a shooting range. For more information, visit BallisticsResearch.com, call (678) 679-1973 or email: wayne@ballisticsresearch.com.