Got a 3D Printer? This VR Gun Stock Could Be Worth the Filament

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VR shooters like Onward, Pavlov, and sport shooting game Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades are fun ways to blow off a little steam and put some lead down range, but if you aren’t already using a modular stock, and have access to a 3D printer (or at least $100 for a pre-built), then you might be missing out.

VR stocks are admittedly a bit fiddly, and really don’t feature native plug-and-play support for any game, but they’re still a great way of increasing your immersion (and aim) in VR shooters if you have the time and money to get things right.

There are a few great 3D-printable stocks already out there on Thingaverse, but one of the slickest we’ve seen yet it the VRGM, a stock design created by João Brito that can be printed to fit Oculus Touch, HTC Vive, and Windows VR controllers.

Image courtesy João Brito

It’s been on Thingaverse since March, but Brito has been steadfast in providing constant refinements to his design, showing an awesome amount of dedication that has pushed his project into near consumer-level fit and finish.

The VRGM is touted for its economic and lightweight design, weighing as much as a single Oculus Touch controller (~165 g, ~5.8 oz). The design is modular, and also fully 3D printable so you don’t need to substitute in a poll for the main bar. Grips can be fitted with neodymium magnets, and also provides areas for handy attachments like bi-pods and a pump-action rail.

Brito used a Prusa Mk1 printer, printing at .20 resolution with an infill of 5-10% for all parts outside of the stock mount (25% infill), MT-1 tube (25% infill), and sniper stock (15% infill).

You can check out VRGM on Thingaverse here. Don’t Miss the in-depth build guide either.

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Pre-built Stocks

Don’t have a 3D printer? There’s also a few pre-built VR stocks out there that should get you up and running for around $100.

ProTube offers a build-it-yourself kits for €60 (~$68) for motion controllers including Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PSVR, and Windows VR. Pre-built stocks will cost you a bit extra at €80 (~$91), and you can also go for the tricked out carbon fiber model for €120 (~$136).

Image courtesy ProTube

Mamut’s injection-molded gun stocks are also something worth looking at if you have the cash. With a €65 (~$74) Mamut neodymium magnet bracket and carbon fiber tube for HTC Vive or Oculus Rift combined with their butt & cheek rest attachment €25 (~$28), you’ll have a full stock ready to go which approaches the same utility of the VRGM.

Image courtesy Mamut

Ever cheaper is the Virtual Core carbon fiber Evolution Rifle Adapter for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift variant coming in at $60 a piece, although shipping may add a significant expense the farther you live away from its shipping destination in Florida.

Image courtesy Virtual Core

Again, these aren’t your standard aftermarket peripherals that can offer any appreciable level of native support through games, but if you’re head over heels for a certain VR shooter and want to up your game, you may want to think about the options above.

You can of course always hack a broom stick in half and create a duct tape monstrosity too—whatever it takes to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women, men, cats, dogs, etc.


Know of any more great 3D prints for VR? Did we miss any great pre-built stocks on the market? Make sure to leave us a comment below.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Raphael

    Yup, I got a 3d printer. Spent a week and a half building it then two months calibrating it.

    • Michał Wachułka

      I bought anycubic i3 mega, 10min building and 20min calibrating ; )

      • Raphael

        Self build is a good way to understand how it all works though.

        • Michał Wachułka

          Agreed.

        • beestee

          This is very true. My first was a $300 kit from Kickstarter that was very DIY. Put another $300 into upgrades and ended up with a very capable large build volume printer.

          Now I have 3 LulzBot TAZ 6 machines, and those things seem near bulletproof after getting a little experience under the belt.

          The Prusa design is pretty great for first timers because it has a very expansive community behind it and isn’t incredibly expensive. Good for finding out if it is something you want to get into or not.

          • Raphael

            I looked up your lulzbots… not cheap printers! Look very capable!

            What are you printing?

            What types of filament?

            I guess you’ll be getting SLA at some point?

    • jj

      so do you think it’s worth it? or are u saying its a time/value kind of thing

      • Raphael

        Went for Prusa i3 MK3 kit. Assembly instructions via pics and text guide in easy to follow chapters on their website. What really helped massively was that the said instructions have comment feature at every stage so when people ran into problems it was easy to see the solutions. Each chapter was given a difficulty rating. Oddly enough I found the difficult ones easy but had issues with some of the easy ones.

        The first 24 hours after completing the kit was a nightmare. It was failing calibration tests. After that it was better. Prints not sticking was the next thing I had to learn.

        After all that the next hurdle was finding the right software to design stuff on screen. Wife wanted custom cookie cutters and although the parts were simple, my regular 3d design software (cinema 4d was useless for that task), I then spent a few months trying out almost all of the other crappy 3d print design programs.

        Had to use a really crappy free one that hand’t been updated in years. That nasty crap drove me mad. Fortunately when I was at breaking point… maxon went and released Cinema 4d R20… Volume modelling… That changed everything.

        3d printing is fun and very useful. My own designs have been 3d geometric cubes of various shapes and sizes. Want to create other stuff too. Have to change the default print nozzle to a steel one to print with the copper metal PLA filament. 80% metal.

        • jj

          ohh nice!!! I went with the ender 3 and its been pretty cool too. I’m at the prints not sticking stage, but i have not gone to any glue or adhesives. i think its mostly cause of the colder weather and my printer being in the basement causing the temperature to fluctuate a lot as u get further from the bed.

          I had a co worker pass my simplify 3d and thats been pretty good i haven’t really had any issues other than my own user error.

          and dang the 80% metal is pretty awesome, i’ve done the wooden type of filament but i actually didnt think these printers were capable of metal so i’m going to look into that.

          Thanks for the in-depth response!

          Right now my main 3d project is just the casing for a pcb+arduino+some components for my bluetooth automated neopixel led strips. its been a lot of fun, sepecially when u make the parts close enough that they just click in. its like magic

          • Raphael

            Good choice with the Ender 3. Apparently it’s capable of some very fine detail work. Agree about not using adhesives to cure sticking. The first week of printing for me was fine.. after that the non-stick came along. Drove me mad. Bought a large bottle of acetone (the pure stuff without any oil mixed in). Acetone helps a bit but I also realised that temperature is a big factor. PLA absorbs moisture so it needs to be stored in a warm dry place.

            I avoid printing in a cold room, I slow the first layer down to 20 or 30 percent. I make first layer print head a bit hotter even going above PLA spec sometimes…. 225 or 230 and then 220 for the rest of the layers.

            I wipe the print bed with acetone before printing.

            Simplify 3d is the only one I didn’t get to try! Wanted to but I think they don’t have a demo… although they offer money back if you don’t like.

            I’d love to get into arduino and coding. Used to be doing a lot of coding and electronics in the 80s. I designed a simple spacer shape to help support a GPU for a computer I built for someone. Measured the gap accurately, printed the part and it fit perfectly.

            A few of my 3d prints are on my website… nothing wonderful compared to some of the amazing stuff I see on youtube but I’m just starting out with it.

            http://www.z15.co.uk

            I purchased the metal filament from a UK online shop. Not sure what I’m gonna print with it yet. Would like to start designing hard-surface articulated robot models.

  • Firestorm185

    Um…. it’s Thing-i-verse, guys. whoops.

  • Patrick McKee

    My diy magnetic vr gun stock is way better, I will release the free plans soon. Waste your filament on this if you want.

  • Nathanael Anderson

    Why Bother with a controller stock adapter when you can use a real weapon: https://tacticalar.net/product/tacticalarfcg/

    • kolobos

      Can you load blanks or even real live ammunition for realistic haptics?

      • Nathanael Anderson

        the bolt is removed from the weapon during the conversion, so no.

        • kolobos

          That’s a shame. That would add another layer of realism to the whole experience if people were fire live rounds while in VR.

  • SempreMilan
  • oompah

    Its a great idea ….. Thumbs up
    becuz everyone loves to own the stuff shown in games
    and if the stuff , which is already a 3D object
    can be 3D printed, everyone can be proud owner of these