@drgo ...and muskets can be used with actual gunpowder, which is a lot easier to make from scratch than smokeless powder.
@pete @drgo DIY smokeless is in the works though. Twitter accounts @cathode_g and @freegunzone are experimenting with DIY berkeland-eyde reactors for the nitric acid and then making nitrocellulose. Here are the files for Cathode's reactor. https://keybase.pub/cathode/Birkeland-Eyde%20and%20nitrocellulose(WIP)/
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo Though these days electric ignition is a potential replacement for primers:
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/remington-etronx-electrically-primed-ammunition-video/
@pete @alan8325 @drgo I'm familiar but no one is gonna integrate that into pop's AR.
Maybe for a single shot self defense handgun it'd be a good choice because some kanthal wire and a match head will do wonders for making shit easily accessed; but at that point you can just do your own primer anvil if you have the room to make your own cartridge.
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo There's probably a way to use existing brass bullets with the primer removed. Eg with a pin that projects into the bullet, and driven with high enough voltage to generate a spark.
With a tungsten electrode from a welder no reason why it wouldn't be able to do thousands of shots.
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo The funny thing about this is "a lot of work" is relative: I'd much rather put that work into something I know - electronics - than something I don't - chemistry. :)
@pete @alan8325 @drgo effort is better put into trying to do the following IMO:
3d printed primer anvil reverse casting
3d printed primer press
+ Learning how to cast brass
+ Basic machining equipment that can cut tool steel
Open access to a stable primer mixture would be good; there are a few old ones that'd be hard to do in-house now (Mercury based ones) but there are some other good ones.
What I'm saying is buy swaging equipment.
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo Swaging is one of those things which is really not all that hard in term of the minimum supply chain required. It just takes a lot of work to actually build the equipment and get it working right.
@pete @alan8325 @drgo I just wish you could reliably reload 22lr but those lips just crush too much when the striker touches them.
I might try down the road to make my own 22lr press. I've seen the reloading machines but not the manufacturing process that makes the cases themselves so I'm not entirely sure how they manufacture the cases.
@pete @alan8325 @drgo I guess they just insert a cutting bit on a mill after pressing the end of the cup down and forming the rim.
I guess the question is if it's worth it to make a little fixture.
Something not a completely automated machine but just with minimal repeated movements like a progressive press.
I wouldn't want to have to stick them on a microlathe one by one.
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo Wait, what do you think needs cutting exactly?
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo Ah right.
Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MyYpM56Eo8
They first form a cup with a series of progressive draw dies. I'm guess the machine at 3:49 puts the case into a die with a rod in the middle for support, with a cavity at the bottom for the rim. Then it'd be crushed lengthwise, forcing the metal to bend outwards into the shape of the rim cavity.
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo I've heard that the "secret sauce" in profitable, high quality, .22LR ammo production is consistently applying the primer to the inside of the rim after the case itself has been formed.
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo Another vid with more explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rCZHG_eEak
@DickForgetsHeRunsServices @alan8325 @drgo Lots of interesting youtube vids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-vQpwgiHbA
This one shows how to turn copper blanks into bullet cases with home made punch and draw dies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0JVm76Y37I
Totally doable in a home shop, with sufficient trial and error.
@pete @alan8325 @drgo yep.
It's actually pretty easy to do.
Then all you're doing is ordering brass or copper alloy sheets cut to width, or hammering down your own flats for it.
I re-use all my brass; even 22lr.