Can anyone identify why the surface had such prominent lines? Printed at .18 layer height the gun was two haves split horizontally and glued together

[borble 0]

[Slashee_the_Cow 479]

Layer height is far from everything - in this case visible lines are more likely to be the line width. On a 0.4mm nozzle (pretty much standard) about the thinnest lines you can reliably pull off (depends on printer, filament, etc., but as a guideline) are 0.26mm.

 

If you could provide the Cura project file (.3mf, get it ready to print then go to File > Save Project) then we could offer more specific advice, and especially be able to see your print settings to see if anything looks like it could be causing a problem.

 

You'll probably have to set it to show all options for this, but make sure Walls > Print Thin Walls is on. Also go to Mesh Fixes > Maximum Resolution and set it to something low like 0.1mm.

 

If you're looking for detail and are using a 0.4mm nozzle (and if you're not sure if you are, you probably are), a 0.12mm layer height is about the shortest you can get. Thinner lines and shorter layers are the key to detail. For the most detailed prints possible, you'd want to swap to a smaller nozzle if possible.

 

Quick general note to help with surface quality, but not lines:

You might also want to go Top/Bottom and turn on Enable Ironing. This will make it run over surfaces printing with very little to help fill any gaps and get the visible layers set (just make sure Iron Only Highest Layer is turned off). You should also probably turn on Top/Bottom > Monotonic Top/Bottom Order to help get the best result.

 

(Just don't tell the government I'm helping you - here in Australia it's illegal to own even a replica of a weapon without a licence, and they mainly issue them to farmers and such who need to protect their animals and people very serious about hunting, in both cases with extensive background checks)