A link to some primitive weapons Now what would your list of diy weapons be

[VnVet]

And semi-wadcutters and most if not all jacketed bullets...

Alan

The swaging process for jacketed bullets requires forces well past what home swaging can produce.

http://www.corbins.com/intro.htm

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I'm not sure about that.

Alan

[VnVet]

I'm not sure about that.

Alan

Neither was I.

Corbin's jackets are undersized, my opinion is to produce a core lock to the jacket effect while expanding undersized jacket to the correct diameter. Due to the pressures used to bond and size the bullet insure the lead would uniformly fill the jacket.
Corbin's also answered the question about making pellets at home:
"Pellets, shotgun slugs, pistol and rifle bullets, round balls for muzzle loaders"

OTOH, Center X bullets sells copper Jackets to make your own custom bullets.

Home swaging jacketed bullets is possible. Supposedly, the Lee Loadmaster and the Hornady Lock-N-Load AP presses are capable of the swaging jacketed bullets.

For accuracy, alignment of the lead to the jacket is highly important. At Corbin's site, there's pictures of swaging presses. I've never seen any thing close to them. I'm clueless of how to insure the same with bonding the jacket to the lead.
I have a gage that measures the eccentricity of the bullet to the case.

Trust an ex-engineer's curiosity to dig until he bores you.

[kyratshooter]

One of the considerations of reloading is the cost factor and comparison of savings to expense.

I never considered swaging a cost effective method for home production of ammo. Too much expense and effort for a questionable product when you are shooting multiple rifles, each doing best with the specific bullet it prefers. Your chances of producing a projectile that satisfies all your rifles is nil.

Most modern components, especially jacketed rifle bullets, are cheap and consistent. If you decide to go one better than the factories, and make a better bullet, they are going to cost you more than the average person wants to spend on a single hand made projectile.

It's not like you are going to improve on the product by much either. I buy jacketed bullets in bulk and with some I can keep groups down to 1/2" @ 100m in specific rifles.

Almost all of them, in any caliber, can be loaded to accuracy levels that were unthinkable 40 years ago.

A couple of years ago I got a coupon in a magazine giving me a $75 discount on a Thompson Center Compass rifle. That put the price of the rifle down to under $100 and they guarenteed me it would shoot inside 1" @ 100 yards. I figured that even if it was close to the claim it would be a usable back up gun. I bought one and put a cheap Bushnel $50 Walmart scope on it.

To my amazement that rifle kept every shot inside the 1" claim no matter what brand factory ammo I used and it came very close to 1" when shooting Malaysian surplus .308 military ball!

I can not see why I would want to set up to swage bullets, which still requires me to purchase core stock, jacket stock and all the test gauges, when excellent performance is available straight out of the box for less cost or expense.

I do cast bullets in every caliber I shoot. That is a different situation and consideration. I can set up to cast and never spend more than $50 for a new caliber. Much less for just a new bullet in a caliber I already produce.

Swaging pellets I will also leave to the factories. I have several air rifles of varying design and quality and they are very picky about the pellets they prefer. More picky even than .22 rimfire! I settled on a .22 pellet that both of my better rifles liked and stocked up on that brand and weight. In .177 I decided to insure that my HW30 was well supplied and stocked up on the brand it likes. The other rifles will just have to take what is left over.

Pellets have gone up post-covid but I was fortunate to have stocked up before that wicked occurrence. A lifetime supply of .177 pellets of moderate quality is not going to break the bank.

One also has to consider the situation where in an emergency you will not be plinking at tin cans with your ammo store. They will be fired only when food is in sight and a hit is insured, so ammo supply can be conserved. A couple of tins of pellets could keep you fed for a long time.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Cost effective? What’s that? I do lots of things simply for the learning how to and to do if I have to. Last time we moved the house effects were done in a day. It took me a year to move and set up all my crap. Still don’t have it all done.

Alan

[VnVet]

It used to be a couple of pellet resellers offered a buy 3 get 1 or the same or less cost for free.

To me, the only bad about Malaysian ball is it uses Berdan primers. Although, Berdan primed ammo can be reloaded it requires special equipment and the primers aren't easy to obtain.
Quite a few military surplus ammo is quite accurate; Venezuelan, Hirt, South African, Radway and more.

The reason modern rifles are more accurate is today's machinery can easily hold extremely tight ± tolerances.

Alan R,
I'm the same way. As you know, it's quite addictive.

[didnot]

the game is all going to be gone 2 months after shtf, A year after shtf, 99% of the population will be dead. The best way to survive is to get into a tunnel and stay there during daytime. Let the fighting and diseases just pass you by. The viet cong lived in tunnels for 30 years. Anyone who can't manage it for a year is a weak link.

[Rick]

Curious. How much time did you spend in Viet Nam?

[VnVet]

Over 2 years. Infantry and the lure of as many showers as I wanted, a cot to sleep on and mess hall food cinched the deal.

[Rick]

Thank you for your service but my question was for didnot since I suspect he didnot spend time there.

[VnVet]

Thank you for your service but my question was for didnot since I suspect he didnot spend time there.

Thank you for supporting Veterans.

Other than nowhere, I doubt he spent anytime, anywhere..