From Baltic to barrel: Åland hobbyist builds 3D-printed rifle

On a quiet Baltic archipelago better known for seal hunting and ferry routes, one man has built a weapon that links traditional Nordic gun culture to American-inspired 3D firearm design.

Elias Andersson, 28, lives on the Åland Islands, an autonomous Finnish region with a population of about 30,000. From a workshop in the capital Mariehamn, Andersson has created the Printax 001, a 3D-printed firearm named after the islands’ country-code domain “.AX”.