Need help for Fallout style game

[Frost]

I can't comment upon fallout specificaly, but sticking with the sideline of what would be availible generaly I couldn't help seeing the coment:

Originally Posted by Mr Frost

I could also see small scale firearms and ammunition industries opperating in some settlements too , and certainly not mere black powder nor muskets.

I don't doubt this in the slightest however there will be fairly heavy limitations upon what they can achieve. Khyber pass guns are certainly a good jumping off point for a post whoops arms industry. It does suggest that relitively modern weapons and amunition can be produced as a cottage industry.

However it glosses over some of the logistics for example using old film as a base for propellants (by the way this won't work with most more recent films, which don't use celuloid) removes the need to maunfacture smokeless powder from scratch, something our hypothetical community of survivors won't nessecarly be able to do. Actualy having to find the nessecary precursors in large quantities will will probably be impossible which puts us back to black powder although not nessecarly muskets.

Assuming that you can make cases and primers (debatable, but to my mind not impossible) fairly modern centerfire cartridge weapons are a possibility. Given the constraints of the powder you can forget prety much any gas opperated weapon straight away, even an AK is not going to be capible of opperating effectively. In fact I suspect that most modern weapons would end up scraped or broken up for parts once the nitro powder runs out.

What will be availible are mechanical repeaters equivalent to the Lee-Enfield (well Lee-Metford to be accurate) or the Mauser bolt action designs or the winchester series of rifles all of which started life using black powder. Revolvers, obviously and if the machining and amunition production are up to it mechanical machineguns are also likely. Going out on a limb I suspect somebody will at least try recoil or blowback opperated weapons like the Maxim gun or now I think about it the Tompson SMG (Ok so maybe there is a bit of fallout relevence here).