FMDA DD19 (G19 Build)

Material: PLA+

Caliber: 9mm

Round Count and Status: 300 Rounds, Still Running.

Something you will notice when you see people shooting 3D printed firearms (especially in the states), is that the majority of the "good" 3D firearms are essentially just lowers for real firearms like Glocks, AR15s, Mac11s, etc. The most popular of these firearms are the glocks of course. Specifically the Gen 3 models. So as you can imagine, my first experiement with 3D printing firearms was also my first time actually building a glock and oh boy was it a journey of trial and error, tunning, and learning lessons along the way until I got it to where it's mostly reliable.

A note to anyone who's interested and legally able to print and build their own firearms (as it is in most states), DO NOT CHEAP OUT ON YOUR LOWER PARTS. Don't go for the cheapest options on ebay because you are going to run into problems very very quickly. I made the mistake of getting some Taiwanese parts for a G19 lower and while the trigger was fine, all of the frame pins were hot garbage. One of them even snapped from the recoil and my slide got stuck on the frame because of it. That's not something you want especially with a live round in the chamber. So I can't emphasis this enough. STICK WITH OEM PARTS AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. Oh and stainless steel pins are recommended too. Also don't cheap out on your slide/barrel either with one exception. PSA makes slides for their G19 Gen 3 Glock clone called the Dagger and they are of good quality and more importantly, are even better than more expensive third party slides such as Rock Slides (which are known to be hot garbage). So PSA is as cheap as I would go and I did indeed use one for my build and didn't really have issues. Once I got everything fixed on my frame. The 3D printed G19 worked....great. I wouldn't say it was perfect. Depending on the mags I used, Magpul and OEM mags worked great. Some extended mags work so and so. My 3D printed 17 round magazine round was very iffy. Perhaps I need a better spring for it but it did have a tendecy to randomly drop out from my magwell and jizz out ammo all over the floor when it falls to the ground. Very humerous but not something you want to happen in a self defense situtaion....well, unless you want your assaliant to die from laughter.

Another thing to consider especially if you are using PLA+ is while the plastic is impact resistant enough to handle the abuse that comes with a 9mm handgun like a G19, PLA+ and various other PLA filaments are not very heat tolerant compared to your typical plastic frames for modern pistols. Doing mag dumps without cooling breaks or leaving your 3D printed firearm in the car on a very hot summer day will cause your frame to warp and dent very easily. So it's safe to say that I would not advise trusting your life to a 3D printed Glock. However, the weather is rather cool around Fall and Winter so maybe you can get away with carrying a 3D printed Glock if that's all you have. I printed a bunch of useless but very cool looking acessories for my glock which seem to hold up fine....for now such as red dot mount and even a 3D printed holster which works nicely with this pistol. Now it's just a matter of seeing how this pistol will hold up over time. I'd heard of some 3D printed glocks lasting more than 1000 rounds. I'm very skeptical but we'll just have to wait and see...and I do mean really wait and see because ammo is still kind of pricey at the moment.