SHTF - RELOADING

[thrasherfox]

Thrasher to answer you question, "no" for the average joe or jane. As others have stated you'll need the know how whether it's smokeless or blackpowder to manufacture or assemble the components. Then if you posses the know how and even the equipment the problem arises to obtaining a reliable source for materials to assemble. I would assume. that people would resort to bows and arrows, knives, clubs, rocks etc. for protection.

Thanks.

A straightforward no or yes was kind of what I was looking for.

I do have a 90lb compound bow and a 360fps cross bow.

I figured if all else failed I can take care of stuff with those.

And I have a complete fletching kit so I can fletch 7 arrows at a time.

[Timberwolf]

In a true SHTF scenario ala Mad Max style you'd be best served with an old school flintlock. Lead you can find and make bullets, flint you can find for ignition, ad blackpowder can be made from natural resources.

[HighLander51]

Tripper,I dont personally have facilities conducive to reloading really, so not a good idea at this time for me. I have minimal experience (as a child helping dad) and would like to get into it again

Ok, all screwing around aside, reloading comes with a price, a fairly high price. I don't recommend for anyone to begin reloading unless they are burning 2,000 rounds a month. You have to amortize the cost of the equipment over the amount of ammo you produce. Figure at least 600 hundred to get rolling, plus the cost of brass, bullets, primers and powder. And you have to buy in bulk to get any discount worth thinking about.

[Tripper]

@highlander, yes, I agree, and thats another reason I havent pushed or been so inclined to do it. I dont currently go through enough ammo to make it worth it. maybe in the future if my practices change, I'll have a need, but not currently, and dont need a bunch of powder laying around.
btw, keep your powder safe, my dad's place burnt down, he had lots of reloading supplies, he was also a wood worker so had lots of that kind of wood for building things, lightning struck his wood workshop, the wood fuel caught, then progressed quickly to the generator, and that was pretty much all she wrote, from generator and fuel for that, then the wood (pine and cedar for the most part), propane tanks, then the reloading supplies, the fire was so hot it even partially melted one of those steel anvils, as well as the underground water pipes, effectively cutting off the water supply, the gun safe didnt make it either, the guns inside were in varying phases of burnt/melted/warped, and it was a good rated safe too.
that might not happen so readily for city folk, but this was remote area having a volunteer fire department, the nearest volunteer fire truck was probably 10 miles out. lost the workshop, 2 vehicles, and his guns, aside from what he had in the nightstand.

moral of the story, keep that reloading stuff safe, and remember its flammable...

Tripper

[zfields]

Tripper,I dont personally have facilities conducive to reloading really, so not a good idea at this time for me. I have minimal experience (as a child helping dad) and would like to get into it again

Ok, all screwing around aside, reloading comes with a price, a fairly high price. I don't recommend for anyone to begin reloading unless they are burning 2,000 rounds a month. You have to amortize the cost of the equipment over the amount of ammo you produce. Figure at least 600 hundred to get rolling, plus the cost of brass, bullets, primers and powder. And you have to buy in bulk to get any discount worth thinking about.

Not true at all.

You can start reloading for around 300 with a decent setup for handgun. I payed off my reloading equipment in under 2k rounds, which is about 3 months of shooting.

[HighLander51]

Tripper, where on the central coast? We just spent a week in Pacific Grove, really nice.

Yea, fire is a bummer. We had a rental burn to the ground years ago in Northern California. It took almost 2 years of screwing around with the insurance company to get it right. Even then I was out nearly $8,000.... Fortunately I sold the place after the rebuild when the market was still good.

[Tripper]

@zfields, my wife aint gonna like you much for being part of convincing me to start reloading ya know..
and I have some friends that have upgraded their equipment and offered me some of their beginner stuff, so really, it would be even cheaper than that. I'd need a tumbler, and some dies i think, oh and a scale, I think i could source that stuff for <100, and be all set after getting the consumables..??yes??

Tripper

[Tripper]

I'm in Salinas, glad you enjoyed, we had fairly decent weather the past few weeks really (not the norm), I dont get to PG much though.

Tripper

[zfields]

All I can say is do NOT buy into the FUD saying all lee gear is garbage.

Is it top end? Hell no. Does it make rounds that go BANG, with consistant charges and seating depths? Yes.

Toss me a PM, Ill give you a list of what I got and the rough price I payed for it all if you are interested.

[Tripper]

Oh, thrasher, in addition to seeing about making some of the stuff, take note now of where the outlets for buying these things might be, or the manufacturers, mark the locations on a map, so if you need, you could find those facilities to see if anything left is good for use.
If anyone seen the movie "I am Legend", you'll recall he had himself a map made that he'd go through the locations, marking where he'd been, and getting stuff that could be used. that kind of thing is where various maps of strategic locations like a fireworks or bullet manufacturer or distributor would come in handy. someplace like 'Miles city MT' maybe. a map for that vicinity might be good to have on hand, if you were anywhere near that area anyways. (thats just the first one I found in a quick search)

I think the idea of having a keg of powder and a case or 2 of primers is a good idea, thats alot of rounds that you could make if you have the brass and bullets.
My curiousness is about brass, if you dont have it already, and you scrounge it, how bad is 'too bad' for reloading, keeping in mind I would want reliable brass if I were to reload for SHTF. I'm thinking 10k rounds might last me quite a while.

Oh, I have bows too, and a single fletching rig and glue.

Tripper