Too Frugal to shoot?

[del2les]

Each shortage taught me something, and each one I was prepared in some ways and not others. Hard to predict.

The industries inability to rise to demand is a bit concerning. Not sure if it's the mom and pop nature of the sport, the consolidation or the larger societal factors at play. It certainly cannot scale up and down fast enough to meet sporting demands, scares me to think what we'd do in a real conflict.

During WWII, many of the companies we know began during the shortages caused by war production
RCBS, Speer, etc. Both of these used recycled 22 brass for bullet jackets to feed their swages and feed their need for shooting. I have several sets of rifle and pistol caliber swage dies I bought decades ago, and while most of them have seen little use the past several years, I have restarted that old hobby. Even my old lead casting molds are coming of the shelves again, and I have found new sources of free to cheap wheel weights lead to feed those molds.

Even the old boyhood practice of making our own black powder is being considered again, but what would really be nice is to start a business of smokeless powder production.

I think many of us will relearn old ways to make things to support our desire for shooting.

 

[comfisherman]

I get the consolidation and the ample amount of opportunity to bend us all over.

What surprises me, is the length of time it's been able to go on for and the absolute lack of anyone willing or able to fill the ever increasing gap.

If we've so regulated ammo mfg to the point it cannot or will not scale to meet demand, then we've essentially made ourselves incapable of ramping up in say a defense situation.

It's probably our fault as a buying segment, we're about the only market segment that tolerates 3+ years of endless hikes and shortages and only reward the companies with absolute loyalty.

 

[del2les]

Those .22LR jacketed bullets are fine for varminting/plinking. It's where Vernon Speer started, back in the (good?) old days. Then his brother got into producng finished ammo too, started a little company called CCI?

Corbin and several others are still making the presses and tooling, there is a sub forum on castboolits for swaged bullet discussion, they even allow people who (gasp!) put JACKETS on lead.

22 rimfire bullets start to finish

Since many have asked, thought I would share how I do it. I use two sources for my cores. lead wire I bought and cores I cast from melted wheel weights. My molds are actual bullet molds with a core hole drilled in the botton of the bullet mold. Then I but the sprew cutter on the bottom...

castboolits.gunloads.com

The wave of the future seems to be lead bullets with baked on powder coating, seen more and more about this for a while- I've not tried it myself yet. Still casting, lubeing with magical waxy/oily stuff and reloading, works fine if I've got the time.

I have a few Corbin dies I purchased in the 80's, and other swage dies from various old and some gone companies. You can swage 22 bullets for deer hunting using a expended SPP or SRP as a partition, or use 22 Mag brass to make 6mm bullets for hunting. While much harder to find now and more costly, their are various caliber copper jackets for swaging hunting bullets. Fortunately, I still have quite a few of these.

I've even used various pistol brass as jackets for deep penetrating rounds like a 40S&W brass heat treated to soften and swaged into a 300gr 44cal bullet. Works well in my 44mag handguns, Contenders and 1894's.

 

[bert2368]

After you make the bullets, you'll need some powder? And primers???

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[K.E.C. Darkside]

Just spitballin but maybe it's the area of the country?

I was at my local range Saturday and it was stupid packed. Every pistol bay and almost all rifle bay were packed.

Have you talked to these people to see what their malfunction is???

Your right about AREA of the country. There in TEXAS EVERYONE IS PREPARING FOR MEXICO TO RETAKE THE STATE. With all the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. GOOD LUCK. All kidding aside it's the Recession were in.

 

[del2les]

After you make the bullets, you'll need some powder? And primers???

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Ever used old cellulose film as a smokeless powder? Similar to old Cordite.
We even learned how to reuse expended primers. Remove the anvil, use a flat punch or proper size to hammer out the firing pin dent, refill with the old, wet match head formula, replace anvil and let dry. While not a modern primer, they did work........most of the time.

Of course, making black powder is fairly easy, as long as the .gov does not begin restricting sulpher or potassium nitrate, but it can be made also.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Ever used old cellulose film as a smokeless powder? Similar to old Cordite.
We even learned how to reuse expended primers. Remove the anvil, use a flat punch or proper size to hammer out the firing pin dent, refill with the old, wet match head formula, replace anvil and let dry. While not a modern primer, they did work........most of the time.

Of course, making black powder is fairly easy, as long as the .gov does not begin restricting sulpher or potassium nitrate, but it can be made also.

Amazing how we could go back and use/re-use other materials to actually make a cartrigde (that fires). Be careful making black powder. Many a black powder manufacture facility has blowen up!

 

[del2les]

Amazing how we could go back and use/re-use other materials to actually make a cartrigde (that fires). Be careful making black powder. Many a black powder manufacture facility has blowen up!

Agreed. We began making it as teens, and the safest way was to keep it wet while processing and grating to size. Use urine to add more nitrate and to keep wet and safe. We would blend wet in an old blender using a long extension cord, pour into muffin molds to let moisture evaporate some, then when damp but pliable, we would press and grate through a fine kitchen strainer to make FFg or FFFg. Once fully dry....Burned well.

We found willow tree made a good and cleaner burning charcoal for the powder, but in a real pinch, even table sugar could be used. Ah, those were the days!

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Agreed. We began making it as teens, and the safest way was to keep it wet while processing and grating to size. Use urine to add more nitrate and to keep wet and safe. We would blend wet in an old blender using a long extension cord, pour into muffin molds to let moisture evaporate some, then when damp but pliable, we would press and grate through a fine kitchen strainer to make FFg or FFFg. Once fully dry....Burned well.

We found willow tree made a good and cleaner burning charcoal for the powder, but in a real pinch, even table sugar could be used. Ah, those were the days!

You sure are BRAVE!

 

[JimFromTN]

Its ironic that some have mentioned the cost of gas to get there. Gas prices where I am at are pretty much back to normal. I think its $2.85 right now. It had dropped to $2.35 but jumped because of christmas travel. What makes it ironic is that the one of the reasons gas prices have dropped is because people reduced their driving and stopped buying as much gas. With ammo and components, people are not shooting but buy every box of ammo and component that they can find. Prices will continue to be outrageous until people realize that maybe 100,000 primers is enough. Maybe they don't need another brick. Its like the people who bought thousands of rolls of toilet paper during the pandemic. How many times can you wipe your backside in your lifetime? People who have plenty of ammo to spare aren't shooting because they think about how much it would cost to replace what they shoot. Sure someone has thousands of rounds of 556 that they spent 30 cents a round on but its 50 cents a round now and was up to $1 not that long ago so that fun mag dump went from $9 to $15 and could jump back up to $30 in their mind even though they only spent $9.

 

[comfisherman]

Gas never broke 3.50 here and its well on its way back to 4. I mentioned diesel which never got under 4 because we have big enough winter snow that the car wasn't making it to a range, had to take the truck. The price may bother some but consistency of supply has been the biggest hit to my demographic. I'm at the age where my peers can generate income in today's world relatively easy, but it's hard to buy what doesn't exist no matter the price. My longer memory of better prices probably has more effect on my shooting than it should.

Yeah 17 hmr is double what it was 15 days (I mean three years) ago, but I was never able to generate this much money off of random jobs. Mental hurdle is hard to jump.

 

[CEB]

The cost of components has for sure caused me to shoot less. Even though I have a 320 yard range at my house and more components than I could shoot in 2 lifetimes. I just hate knowing that it is 'costing' well over $1 each shot now.

 

[JimFromTN]

Gas never broke 3.50 here and its well on its way back to 4. I mentioned diesel which never got under 4 because we have big enough winter snow that the car wasn't making it to a range, had to take the truck. The price may bother some but consistency of supply has been the biggest hit to my demographic. I'm at the age where my peers can generate income in today's world relatively easy, but it's hard to buy what doesn't exist no matter the price. My longer memory of better prices probably has more effect on my shooting than it should.

Yeah 17 hmr is double what it was 15 days (I mean three years) ago, but I was never able to generate this much money off of random jobs. Mental hurdle is hard to jump.

I assume you are in Kodiak Alaska. I have been to AK twice, once in 2004 and once in 2014. Both times gas prices were at least 50 cents more a gallon than here. Doesn't AK not only have oil fields but refineries as well and yet you pay more for gas than allot of the states in the lower 48. That always perplexed me.

 

[ducky]

Work, a buddy passing, and the plague have kept me from shooting prairie dogs in my old stomping grounds. Dogs are back and one of my other friends wants to get into varmint shooting with me. I used to use 22 rimfire, .223, and .243 for most of my dogging.

Looked at componenets the other day for my old PD load and I can buy 1K of .223 loaded with 55 grain SBK for about $150 more than I can reload it. I'm a SSP reloader and have never invested in a progressive, so that's a lot of time pulling a handle for $150. I'm really tempted to order a case of 200 and see if they shoot in my rifles.

I'll probably save my 6 Creedmoor and .243 for bigger varmints, or really long range PDs. I like to reload but my job makes it difficult to dedicate time like I used to, and it isn't the savings it used to be. I also like to pull the trigger more than a press handle!