Welcome to Homebuild History, the part of 3D Gun Builder’s website where we focus on the history of some of the most iconic homebuilt firearms, their contributions to the world, and most importantly, how YOU AT HOME can get your hands on these classic arms and armaments!
What’s the Story?
Let’s get right into it – the Glock is viewed by many as a plastic handgun. The injection molded polymer frame is iconic and has spawned innumerable imitators. As of this article, the main Glock designs are on their fifth generation, which, well… isn’t that much different from the first gen. We’ll get back to that, though.
Inevitably, the Glock was going to become a target for homebuilders. After all, logically, parts plus filament equals gun. While the concept was easy enough to formulate, the implementation was significantly harder.
Fruits of Labor
The earliest known example of a Glock of any variant proven to shoot dates back to 2019. Youtuber ioscribe released a video of him shooting the Banana Standard, a 3D printed Glock 19. Thoughts on making a Glock went back far further, though – as early as 2014 a CAD model of the Glock 34 existed in the DEFCAD repo.
What ioscribe had done, though, started a digital arms race. That same year, FreeMenDontAsk of Deterrence Dispensed released his Glock 17 frame to the public. ioscribe had never let the Banana Standard out of his own hands, so the impact of FMDA’s release was far greater.
FMDA’s DD17 was huge, but its second iteration has been remixed by countless designers. It’s been textured, vismodded to look like dozens of video game guns, and used as the basis for carbines. The impact of FMDA’s designs cannot be understated, and they’ve had more influence on guncad than many older designs.
The DD17 also firmly cemented the use of Gen3 Glock parts among homebuilders. While the proper design already had a huge aftermarket, the DD17’s use of Gen3 parts made it extremely accessible. Unlike other pistols that came after it, parts would always be available to make one.
Glockamania Running Wild
The DD17 led to further releases of the Glock 19 and Glock 26. Later in 2020, PrintYour2A would release his own Glock frame design, as would AWCY designer D33pthought. Glocks were released that could use Polymer80 rails, aftermarket rails, or even no extra rails at all. Glocks of almost every type and caliber have been put together.
The result has been a promotion of Glock aftermarket components as much as parts kits. As mentioned in earlier articles, the Glock magazine is a standard in the guncad community. The Menendez magazine and its later variants have promoted even adapting other pistol designs to be more Glock-like in form.
Glock design eventually reached an almost ludicrous point where modifications went far past the realm of sensibility. Fully shootable Glock bongs. Double barrel Glocks. Penis-shaped Glocks. Glock carbines became a thing, as did printable chassis in the vein of the Micro Roni.
The creation of the 3D printed autosear was both a boon and a curse to the community. While almost any Glock could be converted to full auto, the people who did so weren’t often good citizens. In Chicago, homemade Glock autosears can be found in the back of every reputable hood hand-cannon. No respectable gangbanger would be caught dead without one.
Glock design will continue to mature over time. It is fully expected that every design here will become obsolete within 24 months – or it may already be. One thing is for certain, though: the printed Glock has broken the back of gun control.
How do I make it?
Any group, any website, any repo will have 3D printed Glocks on it. The amount of designers and places you can find files for a Glock is unheard of. If you want the most reliable, though, go to the Gatalog and look up the FMDA DD17.2. Almost every derivative Glock is built* off of it.
As always, tune in next week for more Homebuild History! Stay safe and build on!
*Legally, of course. Laws don’t stop you from building this, but we at 3DGunBuilder encourage readers to follow all legal guidelines. If you can’t make this in your state or country, please don’t try to. Just remember that this is here for educational and research purposes only.
