Posted: 4/1/2011 10:38:50 AM EDT
The zombies have risen, Canada is invading, aliens are landing, the pandemic is spreading, and Charlie Sheen is no longer winning.  Not to worry though because you have been a wise ant and prepared just for this type of event.
I was just thinking to myself today about reloading in a EOTWAWKI of SHTF scenario, and came to the conclusion that realistically I probably wouldn't be doing a whole lot of it. For starters I don't see myself outdoors expending large quantities of ammo in my area. I would probably be bugged in and keeping a low profile. Everyone fantasizes about being in a gun fight fending off the innocent from the hordes of MZBs, but how many of those fights do you really think you'd live through? Wouldn't it be better to avoid all of that and simply survive? So why stockpile 2 tons of powder and bullets when those resources could be better utilized somewhere else? Even in a hunting type situation a person would most likely want to take thier shot, pack up thier kill, and leave the area before any MZBs drawn in by gunfire arrived. If I had to for some reason defend myself in a gun fight type situation the last thing on my mind would be picking up my brass when I'm expending gratuitous amounts of 5.56 on disappointed zombie Charlie Sheen fans. The only way I could see it being safe and feasible to recover my brass would be if I was a long ways off from my intended target and had the time to do so. The most likely gun in that situation would probably be a bolt gun of some sort, which is easy to collect your brass from as you shoot. I suppose you could also collect brass if you were in some sort of fortified position where you wouldn't need to move much, after any possible altercations obviously. In my opinion it would be a better idea to have reasonable  quantites of semi-auto caliber ammo on hand and not worry so much about reloading those types of ammunition, but calibers that would mainly be used in a bolt gun or some other precision type weapon would garner a full array of reloading supplies and equipment. However, I would still keep a fair amount of reloading supplies on hand for most of the calibers I have, which aren't many. Just because I believe that we all should "do both" in typical ARFCOM fashion. Heck, I don't even know if anyone will care about this or if it has been discussed before, but I thought I'd share.
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Few, if any, members of this forum relish the idea of any sort of armed confrontation-much less a protracted gun battle that we are unlikely to survive. Those of us who stockpile obscene quantities of ammo and reloading components do so not because of zombies or invading Canadians, but as a hedge against future availability. Since many of us attend firearms training classes regularly, the quantity of ammunition that is expended for training and practice has to be factored in when building our stockpiles 
ETA: Skills are like muscles-if you don't exercise them regularly they will atrophy and die. For this reason, ammunition must be expended to maintain proficiency. If the sale of ammunition was banned tomorrow, do you have enough ammunition to maintain your skills for the rest of your life? What about the skills of your family-do you have enough for them? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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yes, i do plan to reload. my stockpile of ready to go ammo is quite large, and i have enough components to make about 2-5x what i already have(some cals more some cals less)
my EOTWAWKI plan is a bug in situation with a fortification and trained fireteam. so it wouldnt be much of an issue to police up the brass after a firefight for reloading. and yes, i plan on surviving/winning every firefight. |
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ETA: Skills are like muscles-if you don't exercise them regularly they will atrophy and die. For this reason, ammunition must be expended to maintain proficiency. If the sale of ammunition was banned tomorrow, do you have enough ammunition to maintain your skills for the rest of your life? What about the skills of your family-do you have enough for them? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile That is a very good point, I do expend ammo (factory and re-loaded) on a regualr basis but I don't think I would have enough for that type of timespan. |
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Few, if any, members of this forum relish the idea of any sort of armed confrontation-much less a protracted gun battle that we are unlikely to survive. Those of us who stockpile obscene quantities of ammo and reloading components do so not because of zombies or invading Canadians, but as a hedge against future availability. Since many of us attend firearms training classes regularly, the quantity of ammunition that is expended for training and practice has to be factored in when building our stockpiles
ETA: Skills are like muscles-if you don't exercise them regularly they will atrophy and die. For this reason, ammunition must be expended to maintain proficiency. If the sale of ammunition was banned tomorrow, do you have enough ammunition to maintain your skills for the rest of your life? What about the skills of your family-do you have enough for them? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile This is the exact reason that I am currently looking for a M&P 15-22 and a Glock 9mm to 22lr conversion. CJan......make it home safely? |
| reload 12 ga, to start. its really easy and the hulls are all over and free sometimes. the $300 i spent on the whole thing, would last years if i ever use it, and thats 12 and 20. next, im gonna get a pres and some dies for rifle-handgun cals. its a whole new survival-hobby thing to play with. i found a used set of lee-loadalls ,hulls,and all the rest of components to load a few 100 in a bundle for $60 on craigslist and went from there. gunbroker has all kinds of reload stuff as well. go get'em! |
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I just started getting into reloading, but I also enjoy more primitive lifestyles. So far all of my reloading gear is manual only (no electricity), and doesn't need to be mounted to a solid surface. I currently do have an electric scale, mostly because the pain in trying to find a level spot to level a mechanical scale, and to verify the dipper grain amounts. I still need to figure out a way to clean cases (either single or 20+ efficiently) without power, but I'm still researching that end. It also depends on how much you plan on reloading. With a muzzle loader, you are basically hand loading every shot, and as long as you have powder, lead, and ignition source (cap or flint), you have a gun that goes bang, albeit slowly for a zombie invasion. You can cast over the campfire, or use random junk in smoothbores. In addition, I also have a revolver and a lever gun that share caliber, so in theory my supplies would work with both. |
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Thanks for asking Echo-it was almost 5AM by the time I rolled into my driveway, but I made it.
It's awfully nice to be home
ETA: Echo, I recently purchased an AA rimfire conversion for our Gen4 G17s and it runs GREAT! If you can find one I'd highly suggest it. They even offer threaded barrels as an option, so you can run a can on the conversion. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Quoted: Since many of us attend firearms training classes regularly, the quantity of ammunition that is expended for training and practice has to be factored in when building our stockpiles Yes. I'll shoot more than 1000 rounds this weekend. Reloading makes plinking at the home range much more affordable. |
| I also plan on reloading through the long haul. but I like to keep the stockpile on hand healthy and reload as I shoot. however after consolidating calibers I'm kinda in a pickle. I have over 10k small rifle primers and no small rifle caliber and I picked up a large primer rifle and have only 4k large rifle primers. no luck trading either. not to mention the 8-10lbs of powder that are "useless" persay. sold all my magnum rifles yet still have alot of powder in that burn speed and not as much as I'd like in the medium speed powders for .308. |
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Thanks for asking Echo-it was almost 5AM by the time I rolled into my driveway, but I made it. It's awfully nice to be home
ETA: Echo, I recently purchased an AA rimfire conversion for our Gen4 G17s and it runs GREAT! If you can find one I'd highly suggest it. They even offer threaded barrels as an option, so you can run a can on the conversion. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Nice to here some feed back....they are reasonably priced.....I've looked at them. 5am....makes for a tired puppy....
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You only shoot when it's time to kill, and then you better win. And if you win you've got all the time you need to pick up brass. And if you don't win, well it doesn't matter.
And besides, as fervently as I reload / stockpile, I never manage to recoup more than ~90% of my expended brass at the range. I'd reload what I can. But I expect I've already got all the ammo I'd ever have the opportunity or necessity to fire. |
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I think this comes into the section of prepping for most likely first. Everyone is not planning to reload so they have enough ammo for multiple firefights. I have stuff around to reload and now that I have some freetime I plan to set up my reloading stuff again, need to make another bench. Reloading is a way to help lower my cost of shooting. I shoot for fun, yeah I enjoy shooting targets and testing my skills. I also shoot so if I have to do so I can hopefully use my ccw for defense purposes. I kind of look at reloading as learning to cook from scratch. I may not always cook from scratch but knowing how to do it gives me more options. |
| I do plan to continue reloading, but range time will be less. I have also purchased dies etc. to reload in other common calibers that I do not own or shoot. This is so I can offer a sevice to others as plain help, or in barter. Who knows what components may be available? Maybe none, but I'll have the gear anyway for a start. |
| I already reload. I use to have time to shoot 8-12,000 rounds a year (I haven't had the time to shoot 1 round yet this year). So I had to reload for my finance sake. I still buy some ammo to stock pile though. With that being said my survival side of my brain says only buy common caliber stuff to reload. My common sense side of my brain says buy the stuff you shoot to reload. My two pennies. |
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Reloading supplies are a buffer against inflation, regulation, and availability for any other reason. Primary survival ammo should not depend on the ability to reload so in my case I have a lifetime supply of loaded ammo. Now, I would need to adjust my shooting habits to make it last but when SHTF I fully expect to adapt as needed.
If I can reload after some event, well then I have more ammo to use, sell or trade depending on the situation at the time. |
| I've got reloading supplies as well, but really need to upgrade to a progressive press. The old single stage press is reliable...but is very slow in action. That said, I'd prefer to set aside as much loaded ammo as I could before a crunch or what have...even to guard against inflation and possible future restrictions as others have said prior. I'd more than likely have more pressing matters to worry about than reloading when the SHTF. That said, after it did settle down, having a reloading press is just one more tool in the survival toolbox that can be very valuable down the road. |
| I shoot a lot, and I also pick up all of the brass on the ground in the area around where I shoot just to have that brass either to reload myself, give to friends, or sell at the scrap yard. But the fun or utility of reloading is not the main reason I have for reloading. For me it is the answer to a nightmare that comes to my mind whenever I think about TEOTWAWKI, and that awful dream revolves around being pinned, with no other help available and knowing that those that I am fighting will do awful things to my dear ones if I do not prevail. I do not want to ever be in that situation, and then realize that I am down to my last magazine and that soon the enemy will pass the gates and then I'll be forced to end the lives of my wife and child in order to save them, when I could have spent a few more dollars or cast a few more bullets or loaded a few more cartriges and perhaps have prevented that extremity. Of course the same goes for all of the other preps we are making, don't they? That's why I don't believe that I'll ever have too much ammo or too much food etc... |
| Not sure if I have read anyone who has posted on this who this would apply to! Yet here I go.Reloading is also not something you buy a kit some bullets, primes and powder and when SHTF you just start reloading! I know a few people who think that cranking out rounds is easy without ever doing it before. I'm finding out some of my first 45acp ammo I reloaded is not working and I have to check that up to it was my first time. My later 40 S&W where all great. |
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You only shoot when it's time to kill, and then you better win. And if you win you've got all the time you need to pick up brass. And if you don't win, well it doesn't matter. And besides, as fervently as I reload / stockpile, I never manage to recoup more than ~90% of my expended brass at the range. I'd reload what I can. But I expect I've already got all the ammo I'd ever have the opportunity or necessity to fire. This , and think of all the time you will have ,day in and day out . Think of it as a hobby to pass time when you get board. Who cares what you do with the end product. You will have it if you need it |
| Echo, your setup looks a lot like mine! I have the reloading supplies and equipment, but I do not actively reload simply to save the $$ at this point in time. I have the stuff stashed away like the survivalist pack rat that I am. I went through a spell of scrounging wheel weights and melting them down into ingots. I have about 600 lbs at the moment. I also have all of the dies for the guns in my arsenal, but I wouldn't mind getting a couple more calibers for the stuff I might get in the future. |
| That's another tidbit, I reload for just about everything I shoot, mostly as a matter of economy. Did that long before I really considered the prepping angle, so all the euipment, supplies, proofing and skills are already there. So to 'prep' I've just laid in deeper supplies of the fungibles and some spare parts for my Dillon setup. Between the Obama rush of Sep'08-mid2010 and being the 'gun guy' of my social circle, I've done more shooting and relaoding in the last couple years than I'd done in the last decade. I'm now resupplied and have more ammo onhand than ever. And I buy a bulk pack of .22 about every time I set foot in a walmart. Got some today in fact, as well as some nice inexpensive .380 for a future pocket pistol. |
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For years, the only thing I shot out of anything I owned that I didn't cobble together myself was .22lr. I shot .44 specials and magnums, 9mm, .45acp, 45 long colt, .38special, and .357mag. All of it was loaded in Lee Loaders by hand. I was po'. About the only powder I used was Unique, because I could use it in everything (but the 9s) I shot. When I got a little money and started shooting competition, it was still handloaded stuff, but I picked up a press and a mess of die sets. Then something weird happened. The price of components went up and the price of commercial ammo came down to the point where practice ammo was cheaper to buy than the cost of bullets, powder, and primers.  So for years, I quit, to the point that I actually forgot that I'd once owned all of those dies. Fortunately, I found them before I replaced themAt the moment, I've got dies for everything but .40 and 7.62X39, which I'm looking actively for. My one drawback is molds. I can cast .45 colt, but that's about it. I'd like to get some molds for the .45acp and .40 at least. Oh, and a good .45lc levergun.  I also plan to win all of my gunfights. I'd be a fool to plan on losing, wouldn't I? |
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I'm 45, I got a crap load of ammo but need more The reason is, when we go shoot we shoot a lot. My boys, 23 years old, dont buy ammo or guns. they shoot mine. I buy ammo cause one day it will be too expensive to buy bulk. $30-$40 boxes of 9mm isnt fun. I have the components to reload some but wish i had more. Zombies and Canadians were never factored in to the plan.
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Quoted: Echo, your setup looks a lot like mine! I have the reloading supplies and equipment, but I do not actively reload simply to save the $$ at this point in time. I have the stuff stashed away like the survivalist pack rat that I am. I went through a spell of scrounging wheel weights and melting them down into ingots. I have about 600 lbs at the moment. I also have all of the dies for the guns in my arsenal, but I wouldn't mind getting a couple more calibers for the stuff I might get in the future. |
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In reviewing several forums, one thought I've never seen addressed concerning TEOTWAWKI reloading or just compiling equipment and components in general is theft. My thinking is along the lines of
1. In the event of a burglary, they are more likely to take loaded ammunition than reloading equipment and components. Ammo is more sellable than components in the mind of a thief. 2. In stealing loaded ammunition, the thief is taking something that can immediately be used to harm good guys. |
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Echo, your setup looks a lot like mine! I have the reloading supplies and equipment, but I do not actively reload simply to save the $$ at this point in time. I have the stuff stashed away like the survivalist pack rat that I am. I went through a spell of scrounging wheel weights and melting them down into ingots. I have about 600 lbs at the moment. I also have all of the dies for the guns in my arsenal, but I wouldn't mind getting a couple more calibers for the stuff I might get in the future.
4,200,000
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Echo, your setup looks a lot like mine! I have the reloading supplies and equipment, but I do not actively reload simply to save the $$ at this point in time. I have the stuff stashed away like the survivalist pack rat that I am. I went through a spell of scrounging wheel weights and melting them down into ingots. I have about 600 lbs at the moment. I also have all of the dies for the guns in my arsenal, but I wouldn't mind getting a couple more calibers for the stuff I might get in the future. We have many Lee single stage presses....2 RCBS single stage presses....a Hornaday Lock and Load progressive....a Dillion 550 progressive.....a RCBS automaster 50cal....and a Corbin mega mite. We have dies for.....well....about 15 long gun cals and 10 handgun cals. We have the swaging dies to make our own jackets for 50cal from 1/2" copper water pipe....and to turn 22lr brass into 223 jackets We can cast many hand gun bullets.....50 BMGs.....and are currently working on more rifle rounds....mainly 308....and 338.....if there is time....416 We are currently working to transform a lot of our raw lead....into ingots....we plan on doing the same with our wheel weights. We have many recipes for different hardness's.....but have bought a press gauge and a...I don't know the name of it....but you pour a slug and put it into it....the crank down on it.....then read the gauge. We have a little over a ton of lead now.....and I was told to stop looking.... 
We have...at last count....41 buckets of brass.....about 12 was sorted.....that is a mind numbing task....it came from many different sources.... primers and powders......not an issue So....yeah....you could say we plan to reload.....
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While I've been reloading for over twenty years, I've only been casting bullets for the past five or so. Back when I originally bought my molds I was paying retail for lead ingots from Midway-I didn't know any better  One day at the range the subject came up with a friend who is a Tech at a large Toyota dealership.
He asked me why I wasn't using old wheel weights, and the light bulb finally went off  Thanks to him I now have more lead than I'll ever be able to use.
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While I've been reloading for over twenty years, I've only been casting bullets for the past five or so. Back when I originally bought my molds I was paying retail for lead ingots from Midway-I didn't know any better One day at the range the subject came up with a friend who is a Tech at a large Toyota dealership.
He asked me why I wasn't using old wheel weights, and the light bulb finally went off Thanks to him I now have more lead than I'll ever be able to use.There is a bunch of recipes for mixing raw lead....wheel weights....and 50/50 solder....to get proper hardness......but before we got the hardness gauges....we just cast them....
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