What parts of a gun need to be metal?

>>31382940
Haven't you seen the media reports? Anyone can 3D print an entire gun at home.

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Look at any modern polymer guns, they've already considered what's worth making plastic or not.

>>31382970
Pretty much this. We don't have the tech for plastic springs yet.

>>31382940
The molecular structure of plastic means it wears down too quickly, basically anything that is moving or is in contact with something that is moving should be metal. As mentioned earlier springs need to be metal as well. That being said, if you had a metal barrel and bcg (and working trigger) you could probably house that in a plastic body that would be good for a few shots.

>>31382940
for a single shot you could have everything plastic other than the bullet itself, maybe even that actually.

>>31383797
I think you'd need a metal firing pin, but other than that you're golden.

see: pvc shotgun

>>31382940

all of it could be plastic. it's about longevity.

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the barrel, bolt, bolt carrier, gas system, springs, guide rods, and the pins holding things together. The receivers, furniture, mags, and trigger groups can be plastic.

>>31383044
Soon. Audi is using fiberglass for coil springs to save weight.

>>31383809
could a non metal, not plastic firing pin work? like maybe a hard wood or stone or something?

>>31383818
If it's able to crush a primer, it will work; more than once I don't know. Anything non metal is liable to to wear down really quickly, but you could probably shave a stone down or something to get it to work.

>>31383829
I'm thinking of a 3d printable or liberator style pistol that is untraceable and single shot. For science of course.

>>31383818
I think stone or ceramic would work. Stone is a little brittle so you'd want to round all the corners and give it a verrrry smooth finish to resist cracking. A plastic hammer would be safe on rear of the pin. There might be some reasonably durable ceramic that I don't know about. Wood would deform after a while.

>>31383844
Ceramic is probably your best bet for a firing pin if you want it to get past a metal detector, but that still leaves the problem of sneaking a bullet in. Your best chance is probably using a plastic shell casing, and an innocuous object like a ball bearing as a projectile. That just leaves your only metal object the primer, which I guess you can probably sneak in through a fake filling or something. Then have some gunpowder shoved up your rectum in a condom. You could probably pass through airport style security with all that, then you'd just need to assemble it all.

Then you're left with a glorified one shot musket, idk what good that is going to do anyone.

>>31383888
If we're going for disguised I'd make my round look like a flashlight. I keep a AAA flashligh on my keychain that's just the right size for a cartridge. Something shorter like cell batteries would be more useful for this purpose. Use the body for the case, one or two batteries for projectile, primer can be inside a false battery.

I don't think there's a way to make a spring yet. And beyond that, the question of ammunition. This is why I never understood the panic about printed guns sneaking through security or some other nonsense.