1 Year Post SHTF Event, Now What With Reloading With No Supplies

[runco]

True story, this actually came to me in a dream last night, in which I do not have accurate
answers for.

 

Suppose its +1 year after the big SHTF event, the thousands of rounds of ammo I had saved
up along with reloading supplies, were spent or used for its intended purpose and/or was
bartered for food, medicine, goods, etc.  Suppose I have no lead for casting new bullets, or
have any more unspent primers. What proven alternatives or work arounds are
they if none of these are available? Can I melt pennies or copper wire for cast bullets? I know about wheel weights, but can I use lead from car batteries in desperation? Is there a way to re-use primers or make new alternatives?

 

In my dream I used pennies for bullets, but I awoke before I figured out the primer issue. BTW in
my dream, I traded ammo for food/goods, + the other party had to trade in spent brass. Wow, 1st time ever dreaming a future event. Wow not sure this was a vision or just reading to many posts?  Or I used dirty water in my CPAP machine again. 

Seriously, the casting bullets question and primers, what are the viable solutions.

 

[Dolomite_supafly]

For primers you can remove the anvil, remove the dimple, put int a childs cap and replace the anvil. then seat the primer into the shell casing. This WILL ignite powder.

 

For bullets you can snip a penny then melt the zinc out of the middle. You cannot use an aluminum mold but a steel or brass should eb fine.

 

For powder things will be a bit more difficult. But I suspect black powder will be available to some degree. It was available 1,000 years ago. We have just become too sophisticated to make it ourselves.

 

Dolomite

[Guest sL1k]

I've wondered about the primer thing.

[runco]

For primers you can remove the anvil, remove the dimple, put int a childs cap and replace the anvil. then seat the primer into the shell casing. This WILL ignite powder.

 

 

Thanks, do you have any diagrams or resources to illustate this, I am not sure I am following or know your nomlenclature. Yea, I failed to mention powder, but I assume I would have to find the classic materials saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulpher and make my own charcoal.   I understand East Tenn. use to be mined for the saltpeter, so I know its around here some where.

[Peace]

Thank you so very much. I don't know the answer, but You have allowed me to laugh at myself because your dream and concern make perfect sense to me.

Anybody have the shake down on primers? The metal can be reformed no?



I'm guessing that after year one all of the landfills will have been raided/taken over and inhabited. It would be quite the business if you could protect the compound.

What can be melted down? Screws? Nails?

[dlm37015]

have enough i do

[Wingshooter]

What about strike anywhere match heads for primer making? Might take some trial and error, but would it work?

[runco]

have enough i do

LOL, I suppose the internet will be down and cell phones don't work.  How will we know which gun show you are at for those billions of primmers and powder?  :rofl:

[Wingshooter]

.

Edited February 2, 2013 by Batman

[gregintenn]

Don't get rid of all your ammo and reloading supplies.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Thanks, do you have any diagrams or resources to illustate this, I am not sure I am following or know your nomlenclature. Yea, I failed to mention powder, but I assume I would have to find the classic materials saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulpher and make my own charcoal.   I understand East Tenn. use to be mined for the saltpeter, so I know its around here some where.

 

 

All you have to do is knock the primer out of the case. Once out you pry the anvil out from the primer. Once the anvil is out you use a flat punch and knock the dent out from the inside. The primer should look like it have never been struck. Then you take a childs cap gun cap and put it into the primer cup. Then you place the anvil in the primer cup then carefully seat it back into the case. It will ignite powder but the mixture is corrosive.

 

Sulphur is going to be the hard item to find here. Not a lot of active volcanoes in Tennessee.

 

Dolomite

[Trekbike]

Then you take a childs cap gun cap 

 

You mean the anti's haven't banned those yet?  

[Dolomite_supafly]

You mean the anti's haven't banned those yet?  

Not the caps, just the 8 shot cap guns as well as the cap guns that fire the rolls. Well the cap guns that are pink and purple are still legal.

 

Dolomite

[gunwhatgun]

You mean the anti's haven't banned those yet?  

Only the assault caps,

[Oh Shoot]

Well, I'm sure caps will be lying around everywhere, whew! :)

[Sam1]

Was thinking about this the other day, and honestly I'd like to learn how to make bow & arrows. In an epic SHTF scenario, that would be one hell of a skill to have.

[runco]

All you have to do is knock the primer out of the case. Once out you pry the anvil out from the primer. Once the anvil is out you use a flat punch and knock the dent out from the inside. The primer should look like it have never been struck. Then you take a childs cap gun cap and put it into the primer cup. Then you place the anvil in the primer cup then carefully seat it back into the case. It will ignite powder but the mixture is corrosive.

 

Sulphur is going to be the hard item to find here. Not a lot of active volcanoes in Tennessee.

 

Dolomite

Thanks.  Two questions, obviously I would assume childs cap gun caps are not available, do you have another idea?  2nd, no active volcanoes in Tennessee, you obviously don't read all all of the posts here on TGO.  Just kidding, my uncle and his wife have ground well water in Sevier Co, their water smells like rotton eggs, obviously sulpher.  I onced stayed there and after taking a shower, you still stink.  They eventually bought a professional filtering system.  However, the filtering system clogs very often with powderly stuff.  Now I am not a geologist or a volcanologist, I am a qualified non-degreed bovinefecesologist, anyway, I seriously thought that maybe the filtered residue was sulpher?  However, it still could be just resiude from hard water, various minerals and whatnot.  I thought I read somewhere years ago, during the civil war, saltpeter was heavily sought after by the South, and in Sevier County, Alum Cave, was once mined for saltpeter.  So where did the South obtain sulpher?  Just courious now.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Well, I'm sure caps will be lying around everywhere, whew! :)

I am sure people are going to walk right by them in search of food or other items they need to survive. And every store, even the small ones, has a toy section with cap guns. People are probably more likely to find caps for a child's cap gun than primers.

 

Dolomite

[2006Blackpearl931]

I agree with using the phosphorus from matches. There would be some engineering involved to light it up. Maybe use paper instead of actually primers so your firing pin could penetrate the paper to induce friction. Finely ground titanium and magnesium are highly flammable as well, although you won't find that just lying at the steps of every household. Of course, caps are actually gun powder. So, in theory you could use gun powder in the primer pocket as well.

[Raoul]

As kids we made prodigious amounts of home made gunpowder from charcoal, sulphur, and saltpeter. I'm thinking it might be a wise move to own a black powder rifle.

[Alleycat72]

Well my solution would not be popular, but at that point my popularity would not be a concern.  

[mcurrier]

I am sure people are going to walk right by them in search of food or other items they need to survive. And every store, even the small ones, has a toy section with cap guns. People are probably more likely to find caps for a child's cap gun than primers.

 

Dolomite

 

I agree that they used to be available everywhere...but, I'll bet right now if we had a scavenger hunt that it would be VERY difficult to find any.  Everyone keep your eyes open and report back if you ever find any locally (internet does not count).  Tractor Supply?

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Cases originally designed for black powder, or descendents of such, might reload OK with black powder? Maybe it would be a lot more "exciting" reloading with black powder, trying to avoid blowing oneself up, but dunno anything about BP. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

 

If one could get nitric acid (or sulphuric acid maybe), it wouldn't be theoretically impossible to make some kind of smokeless powder or guncotton, but in practice maybe it would be near impossible, dunno. Mercury fulminate or nitroglycerin might be talked into being a primer, but maybe the resultant ammo would be entirely too "twitchy"? :)

Edited February 2, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[Dolomite_supafly]

I agree that they used to be available everywhere...but, I'll bet right now if we had a scavenger hunt that it would be VERY difficult to find any.  Everyone keep your eyes open and report back if you ever find any locally (internet does not count).  Tractor Supply?

My local IGA that is about 2 miles away has them, my second nearest gas station has them, my pharmacy that is 2 miles away has them. The two dollar stores within 3 miles of me both carry them.

 

Dolomite

[Glenn]

We used to make black powder too. Pretty crude stuff though, and we were buying the ingrediants. Gathering them in the wild would add a whole new level of trouble. I believe the saltpeter mined in the south came from bat guonno in caves. Don't know where they got sulphur. Edited February 2, 2013 by Glenn