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Old 11-08-2017, 07:31 PM   #34
acrosome
 
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: The Land of Enchantment
Default Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kfireblade View Post
I am, in fact, needing to make more ammo for M16's.
Ew.

Well, the M16's direct impingement gas system is not going to tolerate black powder at all. Don't even try. And in fact the casings are very low-volume, needing relatively energetic modern (circa 1960s) powders to work well. Basic nitrocellulose wouldn't work. So almost anything you're going to be able to realistically make is likely going to result in a profoundly unimpressive low-velocity round. It's just going to poke little .22-caliber holes in targets, rather than replicate the lethal tumble-and-fragment behavior of the 5.56mm round. And it might not cycle the weapon. It probably would, but might not- you may need to ream the gas port in the barrel to be a bit larger or something. Or another option would be to change the M16 into a manually-cycled magazine-fed rifle of some sort. Mill a slot in the side of the upper receiver for a side-charging handle to cycle it after every shot, not unlike what Alexander Arms has on their sniper rifle.

It would be difficult to pick a worse gun to try to feed in a low-tech setting, frankly. I could come up with a few, but it ain't easy. I was hoping you'd say something like a lever-action rifle or revolvers. Almost all of which use rounds that were first developed for black powder, or are descendants of such rounds.

Or better yet, shotguns.

Because I would very seriously consider making a shotgun, and then feeding that rather than try to feed the M16. Making shotgun shells would be much easier, even with rifled slugs. If I were going to be more ambitious my next step up the technological ladder might be a single shot breechloader of some sort, likely a Remington Rolling Block or Sharps- something that takes a straight-walled brass cartridge and can use cast bullets (that is, it wouldn't need a jacketed bullet). Another step up from that would be a magazine-fed lever action rifle or a bolt rifle that uses a black powder cartridge.

Last edited by acrosome; 11-08-2017 at 07:45 PM.
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