Review: How To Make Semi-auto FGC-9 Manual and Video

 Link to FGC-9 firing video

The FGC-9 design is a homemade, semi-auto, 3D printed, 9mm carbine, for $600 in parts and tooling, and a two week build time.

The FGC-9, as pictured, has a shoulder stock and a barrel less than 16 inches long, which makes it a short barreled rifle, which requires a $200 tax stamp from the BATFE.  Do not produce one with the shoulder stock unless you fill out a Form 1.  Without the shoulder stock, it should meet the requirements for a legal pistol. If a legal arm brace was substituted for a shoulder stock, it should meet the requirements to be a legal pistol.

The stock of the FGC-9 can easily be removed, and is not necessary for the firearm to function. 

Two weeks is less time than it takes to assemble the paperwork necessary to apply for a gun permit in most countries, if gun permits are even accessable.

None of the parts or tools are “gun” specific. They are available over the counter or over the Internet, in most parts of the world. The FGC-9 gives a performance comparable to many commercially made pistol caliber carbines.  Accuracy is claimed to be as good or better than Glock pistols.

I have written, previously, the future of 3D printed firearms will be in hybrid designs which utilize existing metal shapes and use 3D printing to produce the more complex and precise shapes needed to make effective homemade and small shop firearms.

Ivan the Troll demonstrated how to make a rifled barrel with electro-chemical machining.  The electro-chemical machining of a barrel, combined with a hybrid 3D printed design and the use of existing, commercially available, over the counter or over the Internet parts, have been combined by JStark1809 to produce a semi-automatic, 9mm, carbine design, the FGC-9.

FGC-9 is an acronym for F*ck Gun Control Nine.  The cost for all tooling and materials to make the semi-automatic, 9mm carbine, is less than $600. Each additional carbine costs less than $100 in materials. The carbine can be produced by a relatively untrained individual in two weeks or less.

Costs will be reduced if the maker already has some basic tools such as a drill press, a small welder, a socket set, and files. Many tools can be found on the used market for reasonable prices.

JStark1809 has created a documentation package which includes a do it yourself instruction set. It was created so anyone who can read English and follow directions, can acquire the modest tools and skill set needed and produce the FGC-9, in less than two weeks.

JStark1809 gives an 8 day timeline to produce the FGC-9. The time does not include making the barrel. Instructions for making the barrel are included in the package. It appears a barrel can be made in 1 to 2 days, which would give enough time for a mistake and correction or two.

The FGC-9 Documentation  package is 3.9 gigabytes. It took me about 35 minutes to download. It includes a section on “Getting your first 3D-Printer and how to use it“.

Here is a link to an uncensored video about the history and design of the FGC-9. The video is on lbry.tv, is one hour and 43 minutes in length, and gives extensive detail on what it takes to make the carbine. Warning – considerable expletives are used in the video, which was produced live by Anarchast.

Link to Video on lbry.tv:

Much of the success of the FGC-9 design comes from the use of off the shelf materials and existing technology. The magazine (the most important part of a semi-automatic firearm system) is either a Glock magazine, or a 3D printed copy of a Glock magazine using springs ordered over the Internet. The 3D printed magazines cost less than $3 each in materials. They are said to be reliable for several hundred rounds.

The fire control system used is the AR-15 fire control system, easily purchased over the Internet, or a slightly modified air-soft fire control system, purchased over the Internet.

The design takes elements of successful firearms and combines them in ways specifically adapted to maximize the strengths of both 3-D printing and commonly available metal shapes and tools.

The ejector system is an nice bit of engineering. There is no hook to pull the cartridge from the chamber. The pressure from the cartridge being fired pushes it back against the bolt face. As the bolt retracts, in a simple blowback system, the bolt activates a lever which pops the empty case out of the ejection port. The video shows it works well.

A small amount of welding is required. Small welders are cheap and easy to obtain. The welding is simple and straightforward. Once the first bolt is made, the skills will have been learned.

Welding is a widely known skill set. It would not be difficult for a person to have the welding done at a shop. That would sacrifice some operational security. Alternatively, a friend who knows how to weld, could do the simple welds required, in a few minutes.

Security is not much of a problem in the United States, where the Second Amendment and a tradition of firearms ownership have made firearms parts cheap, legal, and easy to obtain without paperwork.

In most of the world, firearm parts have become contraband for ordinary people. In Australia, merely possessing the digital files used to produce a firearm replica, is a crime.

The strength of the FGC-9 is it can be produced by an individual, at home, even in a small apartment, if electricity and access to the Internet is available.  It is a proven design which only takes a couple of weeks to produce. Most of the time is taken by the 3D print process, which takes little skill or oversight.

For a small organization or shop, producing multiple copies of the FGC-9 takes little organization. One person needs to have basic 3D printing skills. One person needs to be able to produce simple welds. One person needs access to purchase materials over the Internet.

For an outlay of a couple of thousand dollars, and a five meter by five meter (16 x 16 ft) space with electricity,  a small shop with two or three workers could produce 3-4 complete FGC-9 carbines a week.  The limit would be the print time on the 3-D printers.  Half a dozen 3D printers would not take up much space, and would add flexibility and redundancy.  Add another half a dozen 3D printers for another $1,500, and increase the production to one FGC-9 per day.  Very little hand fitting is required.

Once mastered, 10 barrels could be produced by one person in a day.

The dimensional stability in the 3D printing process is such that parts could be produced in runs and stockpiled for assembly line production.

A 9 millimeter carbine is a logical and useful firearm to produce. It is only slightly more difficult to produce silencers for such a firearm. A small lathe would make silencer production and the threading of the barrels relatively easy. A capable lathe can be purchased for under $1,000.

9 mm cartridges are available on the black market all over the world. The design can be adapted to other calibers and magazines.

Small shop and homemade sub-machine guns are being produced all over the world. The FGC-9 is a reliable alternative which requires far less hand fitting, and is far more accurate. Most homemade sub-guns do not use rifled barrels.

In Australia, similar black market guns are sold for $5,000 each. 

I suspect the FGC-9 will soon be seen in Australia, Canada, Brazil, Europe, India, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

It may be seen in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. 

You can’t stop the signal.

©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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