3DX

The 3DX, also known as the Auxetik, was the first 3D printed metal muzzle brake and the first 3D printed metallic component for a firearm.[1][2] It is meant for the highly customisable AR-15 rifle. The design was made public around July 2013.[1] The printer used to print it is unknown but the brake was created using the Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) method[1] by Sintercore (a weapons manufacturing startup company).[1] It is designed to tame the recoil and muzzle rise of AR-15 pistols chambered for .223 caliber (5.56×45mm) NATO rounds.[1] The Auxetik was renamed to 3DX by Sintercore.[2]

It uses metal Inconel material [3] and as of 2014 the company was selling each one for around $300.[3]

Specifications

Early Sintercore 3DX (without Ionbond Diamondblack coating added in later iterations).

The 3DX is the first 3D printed muzzle brake available for commercial sale with muzzle control on semi-automatic and fully automatic. It uses 100% Inconel superalloy construction and Ionbond Diamondblack coating. The threading is 1/2×28RH for 5.56×45mm NATO, .223 Remington, and smaller calibers. The brake comes with installation instructions and a crush washer.[2]

Performance

It survived the firing of 7900 rounds during testing on semi-auto.[2] During a test on full auto, 10 magazines of 62 grain green tip 5.56 rounds were all fired without any issues.[2]

Thefirearmblog tested the item on the first, sixth, and 12th month of their experiment, then checked the interior using a USB microscope. They claim that there was no "discernible difference in performance over that year, there was no muzzle rise to speak of and no increase in report when firing".[2]

United States military interest

US Special Operation Command’s (USSOCOM) Science and Technology Directorate at MacDill Air Force Base invited Neal Brace (the owner of Sintercore[4]) to demonstrate the newly named 3DX muzzle brake for possible use by its elite troops using an "ARES Defense AMG-1 and AMG-2 belt fed machine gun with a 13-inch barrel feeding from a 200-round box magazine". Testing was done on August the 5th 2014 by special operations troops on a closed range. All the testing was carried out with the ARES AMG-1 and 2.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Sintercore creates first commercial 3D printed metallic firearm component, Gizmag, July 30, 2013. (archive)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sintercore 3DX Muzzle Brake, thefirearmblog, August 26, 2014.(archive)
  3. 1 2 Quick review of the Sintercore Auxetik 3D-printed Inconel brake (VIDEO), Guns.com, February 20, 2014. (archive)
  4. ↑ [http="https://www.linkedin.com/in/neal-brace-872a2b49"]
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