I know of no practical way. In a survival situation, you'll likely not have the electricity or time to make brass on a lathe. I probably have enough brass to last me and 10 other people a couple lifetimes. Stock it deep...

 

Gotta agree here. You could buy several HUNDRED THOUSAND rounds of the very best brass for what a good lathe would cost.

 

Its not really a practical thing to do. Lathe turned brass is alot of work. I know there were people turning out basically 24 ga shotgun brass for conversion into 577/450 shells, as it was the only way to fire the rifles for a long time, with ammo pretty much unobtainable.

In a SHTF situation are you going to have the electric to run a lathe and lots of time to turn out a few shells. Just stock up on some brass. I have 300 win mag brass I bought over 10 years ago, I just neck size lasts longer that way. With my 577/450 you anneal the neck of your brass every so many reloads from work hardening.

 

Sloth,saw your post on Ammo's site just didn't have time to respond and forgot about it. Although there are some cartridges that are of there own unique design many are based on a parent cartridge or can be formed from another cartridge entirely. Researching you particular cartridge and you may find plenty of easily convertible brass just lying around.

As an example I form 9 x 18 Mak. brass from once fired 9mm brass. Brass for my Sav.99 in 300 Sav. can be made from 308 Win. or 7.62 NATO by simply running the case through the 300 Sav. FL resizing die and trimming the case neck to the proper length. The 300 Sav. was the original parent case that the 7.62 NATO/308 Win. was designed from so the conversion is simple and cheap with all the free brass left lying around.

7.62 NATO to 300 Sav. in two steps.

This book is probably more along the line of what your after.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/44...le-_-Shooting+-+Books,+Magazines,+Videos+&+Software-_-PriceCompListing-_-447634

 

I was kinda hoping to make brass from every day items like brass tubing or something like that.

I wonder if you could make a mold then fill it. . .

 

I would think that the expense of equipment to make brass from scratch, you could buy a lifetime supply of cases instead.

 

Buy a lathe, or buy a bunch of brass? I'm going with the brass.
Save a little here and there and buy a couple thousand brass cases for the rounds you are planning on shooting. That should be enough to last you the rest of your life.

 

Oh, you do have to invest in a reloading equipment too. Look into an interchangeable turret press to keep your dies set if you reload several calibers.

 

If you want to have ammo after a SHTF situation, then you need to get set up for reloading. Get a good reloading press, and necessary dies. Buy lots of brass, powder, and primers. You can also cast your own bullets from lead. Any kind of lead will work. You can use wheel weights, fishing weights, lead from a battery, just about any lead will do.

 

If you want to have ammo after a SHTF situation, then you need to get set up for reloading. Get a good reloading press, and necessary dies. Buy lots of brass, powder, and primers. You can also cast your own bullets from lead. Any kind of lead will work. You can use wheel weights, fishing weights, lead from a battery, just about any lead will do.

Your spot on about casting but please stay away from battery lead avoid it at all cost. Maintenance free/low maintenance batteries use calcium metal-doped lead to catalyze the hydrogen gas. The lead alloy used in batteries also contains a bit of antimony and arsenic to help harden and strengthen the lead. When hydrogen comes in contact with arsenic and antimony, the hydrogen reacts to form ammonia analogues called arsine and stibine, AsH3 and SbH3.

In World War One the Germans experimented with these as war gases. As such they were highly effective since they are deadly in amounts too small to easily detect. Take you used batteries to the local recyclers and trade them for usable lead or take the cash and buy commercial cast bullets or alloys.

 

Complete waste of time, space, and efforts with current availability of ammo, prices and reloading items available on the market. I would put my thoughts, time, and efforts into other things.

 

Making cases is very involved, requiring a lot of specialized equipment to draw, form and shape them. Even making bullets is far less involved. Making bullets is feasible and there is equipment available to do so in a home setting (Corbin Swaging). But there is none for making cases because of the complexity of it.

 

my point is without that 25 cent piece of brass your weapon you are guarding your life with is useless.
not only that, but no one knows how to make (or can't make) that 25 cent piece of brass..
you are dependent on a factory to make it for you. No factory? you screwed.



you can stock up but what if you have to leave your stock pile and/or bug out?

 

If you can't bring your brass stockpile with you, then you certainly can't take a lathe or hydraulic press with you.

 

It'd actually be easier to just carry a muzzle loader or cap & ball revolver!

 

You have backed into a really key point in my opinion. Of the components that make a round of ammunition the brass case is one that you will most likely run out of first. Lets look at two models: first given that you can reload a case 10 time before it wears out
a) Start with 500 rounds and you lose 50% of the brass each time you go shooting (shoot 500 bring back 250 rounds of brass) - you will be able to reload an additional 500 rounds (yes 50% - think auto loader in the woods)
b) Start with 500 rounds and you lost 10% of the brass each time you go shooting (shoot 500 bring back 450 rounds of brass) - you will be able to reload an additional 2500 rounds (10% loss - think bolt, lever or pump action in the woods)

In terms of mobility (I shoot 357 rifle and pistol) - an expanded Lee loader with cast bullet mould 5lbs, 5lbs 2400 powder (14gr per load - 2500 loads), 2.600 Win Small Pistol primers in a waterproof box 3.1lb, Lead pot 1.5lb; note that my bullets are cast from wheel weights that can be scrounged. End result from starting with 500 loaded rounds and 15lb of gear I can get 3000 rounds.
FYI the load I use is 14gr 2400, WSP primer, 158gr Lyman 358156 SWC gas check bullet giving me 1700fps from 20in Rossi 92 or 1370fps from a S&W 6in 686

 

If you can somehow make rifle brass while camping in the woods, then I will make a video of the diesel engine I made out of paper clips.

Seriously, just buy some brass cases now and start reloading. When the world comes to a halt, your reloading gear will still be there. If you are casting your own bullets you will save a lot of money, and in turn you can afford to buy more powder and primers.

 

i you dont want to buy/make brass just go to local ranges and pickup after the folks who dont reload... i must have thousands of .223, 45acp, 9mm, 40SW, and 38spc from doing that.

it amazes me how many shooters dont reload.

 

^ This! I spend about 2-3 hrs each weekend hitting the popular shooting spots around here. I'll get my shooting in, then spend the next hour or two picking up brass from others. In just the last couple weeks I've gotten easily over 1K .40 SW and 9mm cases. Plus a lot of .45 ACP and .223. Gotta love tax return time. Every year about this time I start to notice a spike in the amount of brass I find! :thumb:

 

This is a slight change of topic, but in a SHTF situation where I have run out of shotgun primers for reloading (or rifle primers I guess), would a .22 case work as a primer?

 

Buy what you need.
Making rifle brass from scratch is beyond most metallurgists. It is a drawing process like gunpowder making in a way; an extrusion process.

Got a few bucks? Buy some 1x fired brass for your weapons or buy cases you can resize in your dies. .308, .30-06, and 7mm rem are the main cases for rifles. .38sp and .44sp for respective magnums. Auto pistol brass for your specific guns. Starline brass is very hard so as to be extremely long-lasting. Winchester the same for Commercial rifle and Lake City or Lapua for the hardest for match rifles. Lake City or WCC (winchester mil-spec) for .223.

If you are a survivalist, you bought your weapons with ammunition flexibility most in mind. Not like you're going to find much .300 Dakota, .378wby, Lazzeroni, Grendel, PPC, or other specialty ctgs once the shops or internet closes down.

.454Casull can chamber .45 Colt
.44mag/Special
.357mag/.38special
.32mags/.32S&W Long or Short
Maybe you got a Ruger blackhawk with auto pistol cylinder? .45/acp, .357/9mm, .38-40/10mm

30-06 makes Whelen, .280, 270, 25-06, .338-06, etc
.308 makes .243, .260, 7mm-08, .338-08, .358
7mm rem mag makes .264win, .338win
.375 H&H makes .300 & .340 Wby, 8mm rem mag & STW/STA, .416rem
.22-250 derives from .250 & .300 Savage
7mm Mauser makes .257 Roberts.

So, you got a .308? Want a varmint gun? Go .243/.260/7mm-8
Got a .270 and want an elk gun? Go .338-06 or .35 Whelen

Want a Best all-around med bore rifle? Go .280rem and make your brass from .30-06 if need be.

Easy; IF you plan for it to be.