3D Printer options for hard to find vintage magazines

[Jerseykris]

I've done some searching through the threads, and didn't see anything really on point.
At one of my local gun stores, I've had my eye on picking up a used Marlin Model 55 Goose gun they've had on the shelf for a little while. It comes with the original 2rnd magazine, but that's it.
A quick look on ebay and other sites puts the rarely found extra magazine for sale at between $40-60, often before shipping.
The fact that an extra magazine cost is outside of my reasonable price range, given my intended uses for the gun, this is not a deal breaker for me. I'll probably be picking up this shotgun anyway.

But it did make me curious on this question.
I do not own a 3D printer, nor would I ever have any essential need for that kind of expense. Other forums, youtube videos etc. discuss various types of 3D printed magazines (mostly for AR builds, many of which would be highly illegal in here in NJ).

My questions are these:
1: Does anybody have any experience with 3D printed magazines, with particular focus on reliability?
2: Does anybody know whether 3D plans exist for some of these harder to find long gun magazines that are as functional and reliable as the original factory issue? (Obviously, some magazines would be banned or illegal by statute in various states, (i.e. high capacity, or if they're for banned firearms, etc.) so modifications to the original design where necessary to make them legally compliant would be ok)

From a cost perspective, I realize the price for a specialty magazine might be right up there with the vintage real thing, possibility more. But I suspect as more years go by, some of these vintage magazines are going to become even harder and harder to find, so I'm approaching this more from an availability standpoint.

Any insights (for any vintage long gun) would be appreciated.

 

[CapnMac]

You might want to check out Bloke on the Range on youtube. He, recently, was gifted some obscure mannlicher clips. I don't know what came of those. I want to say that Ian at Forgotten Weapons had been offered some obscure clips for some French rifles, but, I have not heard what happened with those.

There's a very real problem with 3d printing right now is in the feed stock. The simplest material out there is an abs/vinyl which is not really suitable for magazines or clips. Some of the metalic feedstocks are interesting. But, the printers are easily 10x the price. When not the 100X. And, you are still limited by nagging things like magazine springs--there's just no printing those, not with present tech.

The largest initial hurdle is building the CAD model. This seems easy enough, you model up the parts, lay them out, and print them, right? Well, no. Even with resin stereolithography (multiple lasers setting up bits of resin) you still have to allow for some tolerance in how the parts are modeled.

Is it possible with today's tech? Yes. But, the set-up costs on low-demand "bits" winds up being more than just buying rare, out-of-production parts. Which has pretty much clobbered the whole idea.

For now.

Don't quote me in 90 days, though. Or a 100.

 

[Jerseykris]

Thanks for the great info on the limitations of the current 3D printing technology.
For theset older magazines, looks like it's back to old fashioned bargain hunting for the real McCoys if I ever wind up needing more.