From the Workbench of Kali

This is the DB Alloy. It is a steel reinforced lower receiver using an m11 upper, an AR Fire Control Group, and a 3d printed lower assembly. The plates gently sandwich the lower and provide a little extra rigidity as well as keep the upper nested gently where it belongs. The lower is modular allowing for a variety of configurations from flat top or railed (as you can see I fitted a rail mounted Romeo Zero Elite) railed rear for use with braces, featureless or QD single point sling attachment. And it comes in 3 different flavors: Glock magazine, sten magazine, or for special people who own the MPA 57 variant FiveSeven magazine compatibility! I’m sure there will be others to come, but the original package includes files for these specific features.

Several months ago, I printed both the Sten and the Glock lower. And both have a degree of hand fitting that needs to be done before they can be used. Extra clean up after removing the supports is a given, but for me I had to file the magazine wells for both receivers for better manipulation of the magazines. It was also important to clean up the holes for the screws across all the pieces of the reciever, as well as the holes for the sandwich plates. Each weapon comprised of two steel plates, four 3d printed components, and a handful of m3 and m4 screws and various cut rods depending on your specific application. You can purchase your own curated parts kit (this is what I did) or you can buy a variety pack from Amazon. The steel plates were obtained through a CNC cutting service.

The Upper receiver was purchased from AVES and it was fitted with a 5” flash can. But it looks like any m11 upper would fit (I’m currently eyeballing a left handed charging model). I added a 3d printed decorative cap to my charging handle for better ergonomics. So if you had an old Cobray, or a newer MasterPiece Arms it would fit and function with no issues. I chose the flash can because I was going to add an extended handguard but I hated how bulky the handguard turned out, but also because I intended to run a weapon light (protac railmount on a 3d printed scout mount), and wanted to keep the gasses driven away from the light as much as possible. But let’s be honest, it’s just cool looking with it. One consideration to keep in mind is that the firing pin on some of the legacy Bolts are really soft and the hammer spring for the AR15 are really strong which results in ruptured primers, and deformed (if not broken) firing pins. This usually means you will have to upgrade the pin (this is what I did), or use a downrated hammer spring.

I’m sure you noticed that I used a commercial grade grip as opposed to a printed version. I made this choice because I really hate the texture of 3d printed grips and I had both a B5 and a Magpul grip in my parts bin. I’ve thought about printing using the “fuzzy” skin setting on my slicer and I might do exactly that when I start printing after I reevaluate calibration on my printer.

To take a step back to the hand fitting I had to do to the magwell, with the Glock lower I’m sure you noticed the use of magpul gl9 magazines. These magazines were the only ones that nearly dropped free. Reloading is so much easier with the Glock lower than the paddle release for the Sten. The printed magazines worked great once I figured out they can be over inserted. This is what caused my original failure to feed issue. But the biggest problem I am facing is how much effort it takes to push the magazine in, and pull the magazine out. This can be resolved with some polishing of both the magazine and the mag well. I’m going to do a little more research on the matter before I commit myself to an action. The cool part of the Sten mags is that with the exception of the spring everything was 3d printed. Follower, locking plate, base plate and body. I opted to print my followers and locking plate in olive, and magazine body and base plate in black. overall I’m thrilled with how they performed.

How does it handle? Well first of all, even with the 3d printed frame, this is a heavy gun. The controls are super familiar, and despite my fudging with the safety sector in the Glock lower video, and the surprise discharge in the Sten video (I was checking to see if I had a Failure to feed.) it’s just like operating any AR patterned weapon. The Glock magazine release is easier than the Sten paddle release, due to the damage to the Glock receiver I didn’t want to put more than 5 rounds through it. If you wanted to run Iron sights you couldn’t depend on factory m11 sights (which are garbage anyway), you’d have to source a set of flip ups, but honestly I think the low profile scorpion evo3 sights might be a good fit for this. I do plan on switching to something like a 507, or even something bigger like a 510 or 512. The Romeo zero elite served its purpose, but barely. Aesthetically speaking I think this is a beautiful piece of kit, fully kitted out with a light and brace you have a potent little PDW. The m11 was not a very accurate weapon to begin with, but that’s likely due to the rate of fire on the open bolt design, but the sheet metal hole and post sights originally welded to the receivers of the gun were barely passable as sights to begin with. The ability to add proper sights, and the better ergonomics, are a significant improvement over the original design. If this design was mass produced with ballistic grade polymer, with or without the steel plates, I could easily see this becoming a viable alternative to the standard m11 design.

Now I’m sure you are saying “Kali, you are better off just buying a gun off the shelf.” And I completely agree. There is a lot of time and effort that goes into a project like this. The print time for all the lower parts for just one reciever was 30 hours, add in another two to three hours of cleanup and filing the magwell for smoother feeding of the magazine, and then add another 12+ hours PER magazine, with an hour or so of cleanup time for 3 or 4 of them, it’s no small endeavor. Then you have to factor in your reprints, and the endless cycle of fitting, and refitting, and cleanup, for more refitting until you get a nice and polished product. Do I think YOU, my dear reader, should take on something like this? Absolutely.

“Oh you’re just glowie posting.” Yeah most definitely. But as an American you only have a right that you exercise freely. You can, and should, build your own firearm, just like you can and should carry a gun daily. Maybe not start with a 3d printed one, but Polymer 80s are still an off the shelf product and a great place to start. As much as assembling an AR15 is basically playing Lego, that is still building your own weapon. There are a variety of ways to approach it, requiring anywhere between a few hand tools, or an entire shop depending on what you are making.

If you have made it through this autismo screed to this final paragraph, you are probably asking me Why do this? I love the idea of making things with my own hands. I have learned a ton doing this and I’ve come to the conclusion that in the digital age, a thing like Gun Control is over. Jstark1809, the designer of the FGC9, a fully home made (with instructions on how to rifle a steel tube and how to assemble from literally scrap metal a functioning Bolt Carrier Group), almost entirely 3d printed pistol caliber carbine, proved to the world with his weapon that Gun Control was impossible if not entirely obsolete, and the ability to make frames and lowers for widely parts kits or slides (look up the recession ruger for a laugh) is just another reinforcement to that belief. So long as people can communicate and collaborate with one another, free people will never be disarmed. Yes, even you Gunless Europeans, South Americans, and Asians.