The first Gun Maker’s Match was held Saturday at the Ancient City Shooting Range in St. Augustine, Florida. The DIY gun competition was the brainchild of Rob Pincus, well known shooting instructor and (sometimes controversial) gun rights advocate. Rob has become a staunch advocate of individual gun making and organized the event along with Guns For Everyone National (GFEN) and the AWCY? support community.
The match was sold out at 50 competitors who came from all over the country to participate. Attendees were present from over a dozen states, including Washington, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Arizona, Missouri, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Arkansas, Minnesota, New York, Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia, West Virginia and Alabama.
The Gun Maker’s Match was sponsored by several industry companies and organizations, including:
Brownells, Inc.
Gun Owners of America
Polymer80, Inc.
Firearms Policy Coalition
National Assoc. of Sporting Goods Wholesalers
Many companies tied directly to DIY gun making also supported the event, including:
JSD Supply
Ghost Gunner
2A 3D Print
Riptide Rails
DefCad.com
Zurad Engineering
Print Your 2A
Competitors could participate in up to seven live fire competition categories, four in the Printed Firearm Division and three in the Kit Build Division. One of the print categories was “Fully Printed Gun,” in which the only production gun parts allowed to be used were the barrel and springs. Everything else needed to be printed or otherwise home built.
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There was also an eighth competition that gave the crowd of about 100 spectators the opportunity to cheer for their favorite builds. JSD Supply awarded the People’s Choice Championship Belt to “Derwood,” a legendary gun designer in the printing community, for his Cobra braced pistol build.
In all, there were over 120 competition scores recorded in the live fire events.
Gun community media leader Michael Bane attended the event and said that he thought the Gun Maker’s Match was “profoundly important.” Bane wasn’t alone in that observation.
Cody Wilson, the man who kicked off a 3D printed firearm wildfire in 2013, attended the event and spoke to the crowd just before the awards ceremony, reminding everyone that there could come a time when the only option people have is making their own guns.
“This event is focused on fun and camaraderie,” said Pincus, “but we can’t ignore the political importance of normalizing the hobby of gun making. With all the fear mongering and political grandstanding around ‘ghost guns’, events like this prove that gun making isn’t something people do to circumvent existing laws or hide their gun ownership.”
“Every individual has the right to make a firearm for personal use, and they’ve been doing so for centuries, so this is the biggest reason we support gun makers,” said Kenyon Gleason, NASGW president. “And of course, many of the products used by gun makers are sold through the manufacturers, distributors and retailers who make up the shooting sports distribution channel. We want to make sure those products are available when they need them.”
Competition took place in Pistol, Braced-Pistol/PCC and Rifle categories. The majority of the focus of many hobbyist gun makers are pistol caliber carbines and braced-pistols. Designs focused on the CZ Skorpion and variations of the Cobray MAC guns were very popular. The “fully printed” category included a 12 gauge shotgun as well as pistols and rifles.
3D printed trophies, made by Matt Holmes of 2A3D Print, were awarded to the best shooters at the end of the event and all competitors had a chance to select something from the prize table. The prizes awarded included a $3500 tabletop CNC from Ghost Gunner and a Serbu Firearms .50 BMG, in addition to Polymer80 frame kits and many other parts/tools for gun makers.
It’s worth noting that there were no injuries, negligent discharges or “exploding guns” during the competition, practice sessions or AWCY Fun Shoot, all of which took place over three days and expended thousands of rounds of ammunition. Many people in the gun community at large have concerns about such things with guns made by “amateurs” or, especially, with major components that are 3D printed. This actually kept some potential sponsor companies and organizations away.
Currently, the major firearms competition disciplines forbid the use of kit-built or 3D printed guns. Will they re-consider those policies now that there’s been a successful event focused exclusively on individual gun makers? Time will tell.
In the short term, GFEN has committed to putting on more Gun Maker’s Matches around the country and several sponsors have already committed to supporting future events. Keep an eye on their website and social media posts from them and @AWCY.arms.
“Even a year ago we would have never dreamed of having that many builders in one place to enjoy the hobby in a competitive space, but we did it and now we’re looking forward to the next,” said Xander Guetzlo, AWCY project engineer.
I dont believe the propaganda. Everyone knows home built firegunms are only used for evil.
Looks like fun!
I wonder how many (if any) of the home-brew guns had non-critical or non life-threatening failures…like the springs, sights and other things that break in factory-made firearms.
May have to invest in one of those hot-melt plastic printers.
Now this is the biggest F#ck you, since Trump was elected President!!!
Americans are an exceptional people.
Yes we are!
I love the idea! Like most firsts, it is an admirable achievement in itself.
Also like most firsts, it has room for improvement. I hope the categories evolve to embrace and encourage the full spectrum of home-build opportunities. Not every non-kit build is 3D printed, nor should they be.
Agreed. This is a good sign and a good start.
Very true. I have a vertical mill, and I know how to use it.
You have my respect, Sir!
4130 aircraft tubing is an almost perfect build material – strong (and able to be made much stronger safely), reasonably precise (in sizes that naturally interface with key parts of popular firearms) right out of the box, affordable, universally available – and deserves more love.
We actually had many that were not 3d printed. We had some polymer 80 builds as well as some metal builds.
That’s great news – thanks!
By “Polymer 80 builds” do you mean kit builds only, or does that include smiths who used P80s creatively?
There were a variety of kit builds, some more orthodox than others.
Cool – thanks!
Cool!
I wonder how many BATF agents were there, taking notes and photographing faces and license plates.
Oh, I suppose they’ll find out when the battering ram destroys their front door at a date and time of the BATF’s convenience.
Like about 3 AM.
And after they shoot your dog… 🙁
This was a fabulous idea. When I’m back from the summer digs I’m going to try to organize a similar event at our club. Not sure how many 3D printers we have but have to be plenty of 80%-types. Like any right, if it’s not used, it’s not worth keeping. I would advocate any and all to try to organize like events where ever they live. As per trophies, etc, BFD. Braggin’ rights mean something if you can’t arrange for swag.
https://youtu.be/wX3hRj6XoUM
https://youtu.be/0OHH49vtl2g
Guns For Everyone National will be announcement more GMM Events soon!
omg.. a mass shooting? 50 people shot it out? THE HORROR!
If I had known about this I would have gone for the day and spent the night. Only a few hours away.
Yeah. Although I’m farther away by a bit, I would have loved to hear about this before hand…
This is how it usually happens for me. I see a cool event happened, after it happened. It was like this for the Pecos Run and Gun for me. I kept seeing that it happened. Finally I kept tabs on when it was occurring and went last year and had a blast. I signed up again this year and will actually be living in Texas this time. People thought I was crazy flying down from Virginia to attend, but it was worth it.
Get on the email list at gunmakersmatch.com
I love the idea of this and would consider going to a future event but . . . it seems like an absolute honeypot/cop-magnet event if there ever was one. I cannot be the only one who had this thought run through his mind.
It wasn’t an illegal cock fight, Dude…. There were no laws broken.
Come out from under your bed and enjoy your freedoms.
Rob,
First, thank you for all the good work you have done and continue doing. We need advocates out there, and you are doing a yeoman job. Good on you, mate!
Now, having kissed your butt (honestly, you deserve the praise) . . . AYFKMRN?????????
Is it your contention that the FBI/ATF didn’t have agents/informers ALL OVER that event, taking pictures, taking names, recording license plates??? You cannot possibly be that naive. Now, is it “worth it” to flaunt your freedom in the face of tyranny? It depends on who is doing the flaunting. I’m retired, have my own retirement fund, and I could give a flying fornication what the FBI/ATF/NSA/[alphabet agency of your choice] thinks about me. You know where I am, bitches, come and find me. Thirty or forty years ago, I would have had a different answer. Flexing your freedom comes with a price tag. Is it “worth it”? Each patriot needs to answer that for themselves.
But, forgetting everything else . . . why make these jackbooted, fascist thugs’ jobs any easier????? Just like in the gym, “flexing” is an ego trip, not a strategy. Keep building, just don’t flaunt it.
Proud to say my hometown.
Will they accept hand held coil guns or rail guns as entries? That might make things really interesting.
There’s an opportunity here to design a steampunk-style firearm with lots of useless – but moving – dials, gears, lights, bells and whistles that have nothing to do with actually firing the gun.
Anyone here remember” Carbine Williams”, and what his status was before he became famous?
With the ever ” expanding via interpretation” definition of ” prohibited person”;his memory and this event need to intersect.
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