@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)/

@alan8325 @pete @drgo powder doesn't worry me so much as primers; which I know there are some attempts, but good primers have been really hard to come by.

@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.

@pete @alan8325 @drgo certainly possible; with significant modification.

Not saying it won't work; just that it's a lot of work.

@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 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.