I 3D-Printed a Glock to See How Far Homemade Guns Have Come

The first-ever shooting competition exclusively for home-assembled firearms—or so-called “ghost guns”—was held in late June at a Florida gun range. These are guns with no serial numbers and thus no easy way for authorities to track down the owner or manufacturer.

The shooting contest was organized by a digital gun building collective called Are We Cool Yet? or AWCY, a group that has been pushing the envelope of what’s possible with 3D-printed arms, including a full-auto submachine gun, a “battle rifle,” and some designs that are totally unique.
Today's 3D-printed "ghost guns" can look, feel, and shoot like factory-made weapons.

To meet these gunmakers and get a true sense of what 3D-printed guns are capable of these days, VICE News correspondent Keegan Hamilton decided to enter the shooting contest in Florida—and build his own ghost gun, a 9mm Glock 19 pistol.