Re: [HOE] Makin' Bullets

["Kai Tave" <kaitave@harborside.com>]

>That means that with buying a bullet press and lead, and percussion caps,
>and shell casings (which admittedly can be scrounged or saved), that you?re
>better off buying whole bullets than manufacturing them. Is this a typo?


I'm of two minds about this.

On the one hand, you ARE doing an awful lot of work for what works out to
be, economically, a negative profit.  It seems like a bit of a raw deal when
you look at it like that.

On the other hand, with a press, a chunk of lead, some smokeless powder, and
some percussion caps, you have the ability to make multiple calibers of
ammunition on demand with your only real limits being how much material you
have and what sort of shell casings you have.  That means if you run out of
.50 AE for your Southern Alliance handgun and the only settlement in a
week's travel has nothing for trade but 9mm and a half-full box of 5.56mm
rifle rounds, you're not outta luck JUST yet.  You might use up a decent
amount of your bullet-making supplies, but hey, that's what it's there for
i'n'it?

So, in a way, you could argue that by paying a bit more you gain a little
versatility in a world where you can't always just buy the bullets you want
when you want them.

And this really goes without saying, but you should ALWAYS save your shell
casings.  Always.  Even if you never cast your own ammo, someone else DOES.
Think of it like pocket change.

--Kai Tave