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Thread: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

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    Default QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    QWAK,When I first started preping back in the late 70s I decided that with a GOOD 50 call Hawkins one could always SURVIVE even if one had to mix up there own BLACK powder and cast there own lead ball.

    I have several BP guns in my asorted colection and still believe that at some point in the future modern guns will be obsoleat because there will be no AMUNITION to shoot in them!

    I guess that was my "Jaramia Johnson" phase which I never totaly grew out of

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Lt Dan (11-18-2010)

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Got a couple BP rifles myself, not for the same reason you mentioned, but like 'em just the same. One is an inline .50 the other is a flintlock also in .50 cal. the inline uses shotgun primers, they tend to make things go bang very consistently. I've hunted with both, never killed anything with either. Expensive toys! Could be useful if your idea of someday no ammo ever comes true.
    "You have to prepare to die to really understand how to live".

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Big blackpowder enthusiast here. First rifle I ever bought was a TC Hawkin in a 45 cal. Bought it with the proceeds from seeling my two 4H hogs when I was 12 years old. Harvested my first 11 deer with that rifle. Upgraded since then to a TC Encore. But despite what the die hard old timers think, this inline is really no different then the old side locks of yester-year.

    Just to expand on Lt Dan, Every deer I have ever killed (with a fire arm) has been with a muzzle loader. I have take 3 with a bow.
    Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot!!!!

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    before you go banking on BP .... try gathering the components yourself and see how well you do. that's before you even try mixing it yourself. Buying and storing BP is a better option ... but it's like coffee where shelf life is concerned. Probably still better to have stockpiled high quality sealed ammo in bulk.
    Death ... by shnoo shnoo.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    I can speak from experience that the prof is spot on. Even one year after opening a pound of poweder or brick of pellets, the performance drops of. We have checked this on a chrony and have seen velocities drop noticable with the old opened powder. That in turns effects the accuracy. Maybe not a huge issue in the short ranges under fifty yards, but when you want to stretch the ML out to 100 or 150 yards old opened powder just aint reliable.

    With that said, I still use mine exclusively.
    Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot!!!!

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Professur View Post
    before you go banking on BP .... try gathering the components yourself and see how well you do. that's before you even try mixing it yourself. Buying and storing BP is a better option ... but it's like coffee where shelf life is concerned. Probably still better to have stockpiled high quality sealed ammo in bulk.
    QWAK,Professur,I have stock piled modern powder and primers (primers are the week link) and I now have modern weapons an ammo too.

    Back when I was a KID and doing my "Thomas Edison" thing I damn near blew the folks house up making BP and FLASH POWDER too!

    I could not get the MIX just right and in testing a small batch a spark set off the whole batch I was mixing and the place ware I set up my LAB was next to the HOME HEATING OIL TANKS!

    In SOooooooooo many ways as I look back -- I have lived a CHARMED LIFE because I should have been DEAD many times OVER!

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Makes you respect those thousand year old chinese men who discovered the stuff.
    Death ... by shnoo shnoo.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Professur View Post
    Makes you respect those thousand year old chinese men who discovered the stuff.
    QWAK,Professur,Another thing that comes to mind is --- "A lot of MEN tried and a LOT of MEN -- DIED -- trying!"

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Thats why I follow the book DUCK!! I am not goona be a wildcatter that is missing an eye or suffereing burns trying to push the envelope if you know what I mean.
    Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot!!!!

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Rusty Shackelford View Post
    Thats why I follow the book DUCK!! I am not goona be a wildcatter that is missing an eye or suffereing burns trying to push the envelope if you know what I mean.
    QWAK,Rusty Shackelford,I think ware I got the IDEA was from an old "Star Treck" episode ware Capten Kerk was fighting a HUGE LIZARD MAN on a deserted planet and made a crude CANON and mixed up some GUN POWDER and fired DIAMONDS at the LIZARD MAN!

    Now Capten Kerk is just OLD and FAT and SINGS funny and I just got OLD and some how SURVIVED my YOUTH!

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Professur View Post
    before you go banking on BP .... try gathering the components yourself and see how well you do. that's before you even try mixing it yourself. Buying and storing BP is a better option ... but it's like coffee where shelf life is concerned. Probably still better to have stockpiled high quality sealed ammo in bulk.
    shelf life for BP is forever so long as it's kept dry, they have found old muskets in Arizona that were loaded for over one hundred yrs and they still fired the load out of it.

    Do a search and look up red gun powder, it can also be home made although, I wouldn't try making any powder as it's not only illegal but a great way to meet your maker if you screw up. My GF had some BP in his celler from the early 1900s that we used up in the early 50s splitting wood.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by goldie40 View Post
    shelf life for BP is forever so long as it's kept dry, they have found old muskets in Arizona that were loaded for over one hundred yrs and they still fired the load out of it.

    Do a search and look up red gun powder, it can also be home made although, I wouldn't try making any powder as it's not only illegal but a great way to meet your maker if you screw up. My GF had some BP in his celler from the early 1900s that we used up in the early 50s splitting wood.
    QWAK,goldie40,I looked up "red GUN POWDER" -- it is FOOD!! ???

    I did also come across this and YES you are right -- if cept cool and dry and in an air tight container should last almost for ever!

    http://www.trapshooters.com/cfpages/...hreadid=117296

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    I don't disagree with the fact that old BP will ignite and propell a projectile. Just stating that its performance begins to decay and is not consistant.
    Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot!!!!

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by GOLD DUCK View Post
    QWAK,goldie40,I looked up "red GUN POWDER" -- it is FOOD!! ???:
    :
    cook some for lunch

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by goldie40 View Post
    cook some for lunch
    QWAK,goldie40,I can't deal with SPICEY food -- never developed a taist for it!

    http://www.yum-recipes.com/Recipe/In...laha_Podi.html

    BTW: Don't "LIGHT a MATCH" when in confined room -- it could go BOOM!

    Somthing MORE for the "TSA" to check for???

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    And you thought lighting farts was fun when eating beans ....
    Death ... by shnoo shnoo.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Professur View Post
    And you thought lighting farts was fun when eating beans ....
    QWAK,Professur,There is an OLD SERVIVALIST saying that goes back to the old Mountain men like Kit Carson (one of my boyhood HEROS" that seems most aproprite here!

    "**** FIRE and SAVE the MATCHES!"

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    I've got a couple of black powder revolvers myself. While they're nice, I think when the ammo finally goes, I'll fall back to my bow and crossbow. Making arrows and bolts and new bowstrings is easier than mixing black powder. IMO there's a reason why armies continued to use swords and bows long after black powder was invented. You can sharpen a sword or knife anywhere and you can always make arrows or a new bow if you have to. While gunpowder, primers, and gun parts are hard to replace and reproduce yourself.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Primers will last forever if stored correctly, and smokeless powder about the same, or at least 20yrs.
    Store in brass cartridges, IE as loaded ammunition if you want all the benefits, like 50 or more years.
    Figure you're gonna live forever???

    AR-15/AR-10 rifles, Colt 1911 pistols, Rem 700, Ruger 10/22, Ruger Mk .22lr pistols are VERY EASY to
    gunsmith and parts are Very Available. Not like you need worry about parts being available; IF YOU ACT
    NOW... Try www.brownells.com. Midsouth shooters, Wideners, Graf & Sons, for metallic ctg reloading
    tools and supplies.

    As much as I would like to own some nice Pedersoli or other reproduction rifles & pistols, the cost vs benefit
    is just not there. Sure, there is a benchrest blackpowder shooters guild and lots of fun to be had, but buying
    BP gear for survival use is a pipedream that ranks right there with Backpack Bugouts as best way to commit
    suicide; jmo.

    Figure at a minimum, the parts you need to fix most common breaks and failures are firing pin, ejector, extractor
    related. Springs, pins for each. Maybe a replacement trigger assy and some action screws. With a barrel vise
    and action wrench you can switchbarrel most rifles. Way easier to swap an upper or mount a new AR barrel to
    your upper receiver, but many prefer bolt rifles. The Savage action nut 110 rifles are very swapable. Might be nice
    to have one receiver and stock and be able to run a .22-250 up to .35Whelen just by changing-out barrels...

    Gotta love the idea of owning a .357mag revolver plus a .35 whelen or other .358 bore rifle and being able to use
    pistol bullets in the rifle at reduced load, and cast bullets in both. Lyman cast bullet digest is a super value at about $15
    to get the reduced load data and info on how to for so many ctgs and bullet molds. Not quite the romance of a Sharpe
    novel, "3 rds per minute" but way more effective....

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Professur View Post
    before you go banking on BP .... try gathering the components yourself and see how well you do. that's before you even try mixing it yourself. Buying and storing BP is a better option ... but it's like coffee where shelf life is concerned. Probably still better to have stockpiled high quality sealed ammo in bulk.
    Quoted for truth. A guy with a bunch of common caliber mil spec or factory ammo sealed in ammo or spam cans is a lot more ready than someone who thinks they can make their own blackpowder and not blow their hands off. Be careful

    I have a pair of Scottish Murdoch BP replica flintlock pistols, (51 caliber) they are shootable but I never have, although I have a few soup cans full of bullets cast up for them. They are for display in my arms room with my Scottish weapons, shields and such

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    QWAK,Some ware in my passed I remember reading that it was POSABLE to reload modern ammo with home made black powder and by carfuly removing the old caps the caps could then be refilled with strike any ware match heads! I believe they said they had about a 75% BANG when used -- 3 out of 4 isin't all that bad IF it is all you got!

    I guess it depends on how PRIMITIVE things get? No way of knowing till we get there so always best to have a plan "B" and lots more posabilities than -- "OH **** the GUN BROKE" -- "now what do I do??"

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    "Gun broke what do I do?"

    Pull out a spare gun, or start making longbows and arrows

    Seriously guns won't be the problem, the lack of storing enough ammo for most folks, will be. There will be piles of guns in every survivor's place, but little capture ammo

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    QWAK,Cold Finger -- What maks you think making a decent BOW orAROWS that FUNCTION is easier than making a HAND CANON? Both require SKILL and knolage of how things work and the proper materials and ultimitly the ability to use them!

    A spear perhaps is simple just a long sharp stick realy BUT a weapon that can fire a projectal and hit the target is a whole lot more complicated!

    Even a primitive bow and arrow requires more than IMAGINATION to transform raw materials!

    A 3/4" pipe and pipe cap with a hole in it and some sort of handle to hold it would likely be more efective add some black powder and some projectals and you got a WEAPON --- in the OLD DAYS it could take down an ARMORED KNIGHT on HORSE BACK!

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Actually bow and arrow making is quite easy. Here's a 6 parter video on how to make a longbow with minimal tools in the field. I can shoot 10 to 12 arrows in the time it takes for an improvised tube gun to fire one shot and reload, and I do not require chemicals, fire or fuse

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGz6P...eature=channel

    How to make arrows. You can even make the vanes out of 100 MPH or duct tape:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COzq6AteiBI


    And a simple wrist rocket can be quite a lethal weapon. I'm going to posts s thread on the one I just finished

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyxjnDNHW7Y

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    QWAK,cold finger -- one can READ a book about FISHING but when it comes to actualy DOING it then things go SIDE WAYS! LOL

    It talkes the RIGHT wood and that is likely NO in your back yard or redaly avalable.

    CAN it be done SHURE -- can YOU do IT -- not likely!

    Lots of things are DOABLE -- but not many people can actualy do them!

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    I have fished since I was 5 (I'm 50) and yes I can make almost any weapon. I have made my own medieval daggers, spears, warhammers, battle axes, Roman throwing darts, shields, related gear/clothing and a lot more. By comparison a bow is easy.. I could make a bow and arrows with one of my Pakistani camp bowies and a few easily obtained natural items. If I had some paracord to part out it would be even easier. Up here in the PNW yew is the best wood for bows, lots of cedar here for arrows

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Cold Finger View Post
    "Gun broke what do I do?"

    Pull out a spare gun, or start making longbows and arrows

    Seriously guns won't be the problem, the lack of storing enough ammo for most folks, will be. There will be piles of guns in every survivor's place, but little capture ammo
    Actually, guns DO Break, or at least the parts that make them function do...
    JB Wood is the guy who wrote many/most of the Gun Digest Firearms Assembly books. In the mid-70s, he did a column for Mel Tappan's Personal Survival Letter where he discussed
    most common breakages and repair for the most common survivalist firearms. Uniformly, Wood recommended bolt components and mainsprings as being most likely to fail. Revolvers more prone
    to break a ratchet or hand, maybe a hammer nose, but uniformly extractors, ejectors and firing pins plus mainsprings were parts that failed. Most very cheap and easy to acquire.

    Blow up a barrel or ruin a mauser action bolt and you are on your own. Pretty foolish not to have spare parts for your guns and dumb not to select commonly available firearms. Look at Brownells.com for parts.

    I would look at buying Lee Loader or more complete loading tools plus basic powders like Unique, Varget, and IMR 4350. Unique is extremely versatile especially for cast bullet and reduced power rifle loads.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Cold Finger View Post
    I have fished since I was 5 (I'm 50) and yes I can make almost any weapon. I have made my own medieval daggers, spears, warhammers, battle axes, Roman throwing darts, shields, related gear/clothing and a lot more. By comparison a bow is easy.. I could make a bow and arrows with one of my Pakistani camp bowies and a few easily obtained natural items. If I had some paracord to part out it would be even easier. Up here in the PNW yew is the best wood for bows, lots of cedar here for arrows
    QWAK,Cold Finger,You make my point for me -- because YOU have the knolage and experience it is a a DOABLE posability but for 99% of people it would be a great waist of both time and effort BOTH of which are NOT for waisting in a TRUE SURVIVAL situation!

    In an urban inviroment you are much more likely to find the parts needed and even tools and the CHEMICALS to make a HAND CANNON!

    BTW:IF you are going to make a bow you want properly dried seasoned wood not just hack off a green limb and start witteling with a pocket knife!

    A crued bow is posable perhaps but for an effective weapon it needs to be much more than a green limb and a piece of paracord!

    The best ability is --- ADAPTABILITY!

    IF you are some how lost/stranded out in the boonies with no civilisation around then I would agree on a crude bow and arrow being better than nothing BUT in any kind of actual urban inviroment with lots of scrap materials to be scrounged a HAND CANNON and lots of other devices are not only posable but much faster and easier to asemble!

    Befor there was "McGiver" there was -- "the WARLOCK" who became -- the DUCK!

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    I would also remind everyone that 'net info' is notoriously fickle. Accuracy is always questionable ... and availbility is always the inverse square of necessity. The more you need it .. the less likely it will be possible to get it.
    Death ... by shnoo shnoo.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    "We all know what to do, we just don't know how to get re-elected after we have done it." - Jean-Claude Juncker

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by noworries View Post
    Actually, guns DO Break, or at least the parts that make them function do...
    JB Wood is the guy who wrote many/most of the Gun Digest Firearms Assembly books. In the mid-70s, he did a column for Mel Tappan's Personal Survival Letter where he discussed
    most common breakages and repair for the most common survivalist firearms. Uniformly, Wood recommended bolt components and mainsprings as being most likely to fail. Revolvers more prone
    to break a ratchet or hand, maybe a hammer nose, but uniformly extractors, ejectors and firing pins plus mainsprings were parts that failed. Most very cheap and easy to acquire.

    Blow up a barrel or ruin a mauser action bolt and you are on your own. Pretty foolish not to have spare parts for your guns and dumb not to select commonly available firearms. Look at Brownells.com for parts.

    I would look at buying Lee Loader or more complete loading tools plus basic powders like Unique, Varget, and IMR 4350. Unique is extremely versatile especially for cast bullet and reduced power rifle loads.
    Greetings. I realize this is the internet and you don't know me, so here's a short version of my firearms experience.. reloader of 25+ years, have progressives including a Hornady Progressive and a Dillon RL1050, and several shotshell presses. Bullet caster for nearly that long, including shotgun buckshot and slugs and reloading military bolt action rifle cartridges with gas checks. I make our own self defense handgun ammo and it's better quality and better functioning than any factory ammo. I have spare parts for most of my guns (some are hard to obtain, like Ruger) but most people will never do that and so the easy answer for them is spare guns. Reloading is great but just as in storing loaded ammo, one must have the stored components in order to reload. reloading cuts costs to shoot and stockpile, and some improvised components can be made, but it's not like just because you have the tools, you own some sort of "ammo genie in a bottle"..

    Nothing beats complete, spare guns and loaded, properly stored ammo when the chips are down. Not parts, nor reloading gear and supplies. Put the horse before the cart

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by GOLD DUCK View Post
    QWAK,Cold Finger,You make my point for me -- because YOU have the knolage and experience it is a a DOABLE posability but for 99% of people it would be a great waist of both time and effort BOTH of which are NOT for waisting in a TRUE SURVIVAL situation!

    In an urban inviroment you are much more likely to find the parts needed and even tools and the CHEMICALS to make a HAND CANNON!

    BTW:IF you are going to make a bow you want properly dried seasoned wood not just hack off a green limb and start witteling with a pocket knife!

    A crued bow is posable perhaps but for an effective weapon it needs to be much more than a green limb and a piece of paracord!

    The best ability is --- ADAPTABILITY!

    IF you are some how lost/stranded out in the boonies with no civilisation around then I would agree on a crude bow and arrow being better than nothing BUT in any kind of actual urban inviroment with lots of scrap materials to be scrounged a HAND CANNON and lots of other devices are not only posable but much faster and easier to asemble!

    Befor there was "McGiver" there was -- "the WARLOCK" who became -- the DUCK!

    the DUCK
    In an urban SHTF zombie scenario, IF (huge IF) you survive, you will have a HUGE stack of capture guns that will fill a small bedroom. What you may not have is AMMO. The smart money goes to carefully hiding/caching a bunch of common caliber ammo for those guns.. not trying to create a weapon that was used 600 years ago and long ago discarded as completely obsolete ( a matchlock, to wit, does not work in rain, very unreliable, has to be fired off and reloaded every day because of moisture, very slow firing) Nothing wrong with knowledge, but a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. If you do make such a McGyver weapon, (I never liked that show) learn from the Chinese and make a 3 or 4 barrel version, tied together with piano wire or something.. although if you watch this cool video, it could not even penetrate a Musketeer's cuirass and certainly would not penetrate a homemade vest made from scrap tire-aramid strips

    http://www.spike.com/full-episode/ming-warrior-vs/39029

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Have a recipe around here someplace for makeing smokeless powder. Treat ammonia nitrate with hydrochloric acid to make nitric acid. Soak cotton in the nitric acid to make gun cotton is the simplifed verse. Haven't tried it myself. Suppose it can be done if necessary.


    Black powder will do the job if need be. A grenade has always used 4 ounces from way back in the 1600s when they used a lighted fuse. That and a half pound of potential srapnel has always been about what a man could throw.


    The "ideal" deer load before the invention of smokeless powder was thought to be the 38-55 . Shooting a 200 grain lead bullet at about 1400 fps if I remember right. A load I kinda duplicate in my 4 1/4 pound 45 caliber CVA Blazer Boy's Rifle with 60 grains of XXX under a saboted 158 grain .357 pistol bullet. Will easily shoot through a deer.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Hoot ... Not a long step from there to making Cordite ... a more reliable explosive ... that can easily be hidden in plain sight.
    Death ... by shnoo shnoo.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Every time I think I am smart enough to make Black Powder, I pause and think about the first Pyrodex plant. They are still waiting for some of the parts to come back to earth...

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Thornapple View Post
    I've got a couple of black powder revolvers myself. While they're nice, I think when the ammo finally goes, I'll fall back to my bow and crossbow. Making arrows and bolts and new bowstrings is easier than mixing black powder. IMO there's a reason why armies continued to use swords and bows long after black powder was invented. You can sharpen a sword or knife anywhere and you can always make arrows or a new bow if you have to. While gunpowder, primers, and gun parts are hard to replace and reproduce yourself.
    I shoot a .58 caliber Big Boar with 209's. And a .44 pistol.I think I will pass on the making of black powder.

    This is only becuz I have so fargin much of it that I will be a dried-out mummy afore I blow it all up. I have a "system":

    Each Independence Day, I bring my 200-year old cannon out... and use up all the opened powder. My neighbors love it.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Black powder is wonderful stuff. I find it interesting that there is no substitute for black powder in it's applications. Pyrodex is a distant second imho.

    There is a common misperception that all you have to do is mix saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal in a 75:10:15 ratio and voila'! you have "black powder". If you do this you might have something okay for making a Fourth of July fountain but it won't work well, if at all, in a black powder firearm.

    Black powder derives its behavior from being extremely finely milled, hydraulically pressed into cakes and then ground in a corning mill, screened to size and tumbled with a little graphite.

    The type of charcoal used has a large effect on the performance of the powder. Hardwood charcoals make the best black powder for propellant use, with maple and stone-fruit hardwoods being among the best.

    Homemade black powder can reach the performance level of the commercial product, but its not something you can just "whip up in a blender".

    Lots of good info on the web if you're interested, but DO be careful and DYODD if you ever decide (or someday need) to DIY.

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    2c, R.
    Last edited by Ragnarok; 10-18-2012 at 05:56 PM.
    "Walk the gold trails of my good friend, do I. On my feet are "strong sole" of thick leather, purchased with much knowledge of physical gold. These shoes not go bare before our journey is done. On trail I see your "thin sole" gold investments cast aside and scavenged by beasts." - ANOTHER (THOUGHTS!) (04/14/01; 18:08:54MT - #: 51887)

    Personal best on calm water: SAE - 32 skips. GAE - 21 skips.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    QWAK,When I was a kid I came across the formula for flash powder -- the stuff they use in fire crackers!

    I got the stuff I needed together and with a morter and pestel like an old alcamist started mixing --- on a card table in the basment next to two 500 gallon heating oil tanks!

    I did not have any scales or way to make accurite mesurments so just used a ceramic scoop and followed the ratio. The result was a fizzel

    I began adding a pinch of each and mixing and testing by trying to ignite a match head amount after each addition of more chemicals.

    I finely got it RIGHT -- there was a blinding FLASH -- the match head amount threw a spark which set off all the chemicals I was mixing in the morter! I damn near burned the house down

    ALCAMESTS tend to die YOUNG!

    How I survived to get OLD I ponder on that a lot!

    I have done and survived doing a lot of STUPID things in my life!

    I count that misadventure as somthing I learned NEVER to do agen!

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    FYI Duck and anyone else that desires to dance with the devil, NEVER! EVER!! EVER!!! EVER!!!! use a mortar and pestle to mix flash powder.

    One approved method for mixing the (previously very finely powdered) ingredients for flash powder is to place them on a sheet of paper and "fold" them together by rolling/lifting the edges of the paper, with no contact and ZERO friction. Friction and static are the two things that DON'T go well with flash. Another approved method is to place the ingredients separately in the paper (NEVER metal) case(s) they will be used in and gently shake, roll or tumble to blend them in situ safely.

    Milling black powder is like mixing concrete compared to flash, but one must still be as careful as possible and follow established time-proven procedures because even though black powder accidents are rare enough, if you do screw up you might not get a second chance.

    And I/we want you to keep all your parts together so you (and anyone else here who gets the pyro itch or just wants to watch) can keep posting!

    2c, R.
    Last edited by Ragnarok; 10-18-2012 at 09:22 PM.
    "Walk the gold trails of my good friend, do I. On my feet are "strong sole" of thick leather, purchased with much knowledge of physical gold. These shoes not go bare before our journey is done. On trail I see your "thin sole" gold investments cast aside and scavenged by beasts." - ANOTHER (THOUGHTS!) (04/14/01; 18:08:54MT - #: 51887)

    Personal best on calm water: SAE - 32 skips. GAE - 21 skips.

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by Ragnarok View Post
    FYI Duck and anyone else that desires to dance with the devil, NEVER! EVER!! EVER!!! EVER!!!! use a mortar and pestle to mix flash powder.

    One approved method for mixing the (previously very finely powdered) ingredients for flash powder is to place them on a sheet of paper and fold them together by rolling/lifting the paper, with ZERO friction. Friction and static are the two things that DON'T go well with flash. Another approved method is to place the ingredients separately in the paper (NEVER metal) case(s) they will be used in and gently shake, roll or tumble to blend them in situ safely.

    Milling black powder is like mixing concrete compared to flash, but one must still be as careful as possible and follow established time-proven procedures because even though black powder accidents are rare enough, if you do screw up you might not get a second chance.

    And I/we want you to keep all your parts together so you (and anyone else here who gets the pyro itch or just wants to watch) can keep posting!

    2c, R.
    QWAK,Ragnarok ,I guess you would also NOT aprove of the "match head" HAND GRENADES or BAZOKA rounds either.

    BTW:ceramic or glass morter and pestal is how small batches of flash power or other explocive mixtures are combined -- trying to mix even a 1/4 oz of the stuff on a piece of paper would be more likely to cause an accident.

    I had a friend that made some "GUN COTTON" but by then I decided making explocives would likely get me dead so shifted my intrests to GIRLS --- they are WAY more DANGEROUS!!!

    the DUCK
    "ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

    People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

    IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

    You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

    I AM, the DUCK

  44. Post #41

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    Default Re: QWAK,Black POWDER worked in the good old days! :)

    Quote Originally Posted by GOLD DUCK View Post
    QWAK,Ragnarok ,I guess you would also NOT aprove of the "match head" HAND GRENADES or BAZOKA rounds either.

    BTW:ceramic or glass morter and pestal is how small batches of flash power or other explocive mixtures are combined -- trying to mix even a 1/4 oz of the stuff on a piece of paper would be more likely to cause an accident.

    I had a friend that made some "GUN COTTON" but by then I decided making explocives would likely get me dead so shifted my intrests to GIRLS --- they are WAY more DANGEROUS!!!

    the DUCK
    Last Fourth or two ago some local yayhoo decided he would try to make a "rocket" or "firecracker" by filling a spent CO2 cartridge with powder from a "Piccolo Pete" whistling firework. Long story short a shard of it found a bystander's heart across the street. So, no, I don't approve of that kind of thing.

    Sorry Duck but you are dead wrong about mixing flash powder in a mortar and pestle - read the books and/or ask any professional pyrotechnician or member of a firework club such as PGI or WPA. I wouldn't mix a single gram of flash that way. Maybe color star and black powder mixes etc yes but only ten or so grams max.

    Better just to save friction for the girls, Duck!

    R.
    Last edited by Ragnarok; 10-18-2012 at 09:23 PM.
    "Walk the gold trails of my good friend, do I. On my feet are "strong sole" of thick leather, purchased with much knowledge of physical gold. These shoes not go bare before our journey is done. On trail I see your "thin sole" gold investments cast aside and scavenged by beasts." - ANOTHER (THOUGHTS!) (04/14/01; 18:08:54MT - #: 51887)

    Personal best on calm water: SAE - 32 skips. GAE - 21 skips.

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