11-12-2017, 02:48 AM | #91 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
Quote:
Obviously manufacturing propellants, primers, and brass (any of which can jam or damage your gun if they misbehave) is another matter, as already discussed at length.
__________________
I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
|
11-12-2017, 02:59 AM | #92 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
Successful lever-action rifles are a late-TL5 weapon, and the early milled receiver AK-47 is certainly no harder to make than a Winchester '66. Using blackpowder and a heavier all-lead bullet would allow ammunition to be made at late-TL5 as well, though it would lose some power and the gas and recoil system would need tuning for the different round (easy enough to do before going to mass production).
Fouling would be an issue with sustained fire, though with the AK's loose tolerances you'd still be able to cycle the weapon by hand in most cases, making it the equivalent of a level-action with a very large magazine. The same applies to the various cheap and simple SMGs designed and produced in WWII (e.g. the Stengun), though you'd want to in .45 ACP rather than 9x19 or 7.62mm Tokarev for the same reasons that 7.62x39mm would superior to 5.56x45mm - lower operating pressures and that larger bores tend to foul more slowly. Quote:
__________________
Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." Last edited by Rupert; 11-12-2017 at 03:03 AM. |
|
11-12-2017, 05:03 AM | #93 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
How do you envisage it being done? Deep drawing requires quite specialised machinery. You can build that with the machine shop you have, if you have designs, but otherwise you're going to have to re-invent it. Making cases on a lathe is very slow compared to drawing.
__________________
The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
11-12-2017, 09:00 AM | #94 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
Given that M4s and M16s are rarely if ever fired on burst now and I at least was trained to practically never use it, this seems to be incorrect. Having a semi-automatic rifle with a high rate of fire, large magazines, and good accuracy seems to be worth using even if you never switch it past Semi. I will also note that plenty of people own civilian ARs that lack the burst setting entirely, yet the weapon remains popular.
|
11-12-2017, 02:02 PM | #95 |
Join Date: May 2007
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
[QUOTE=AlexanderHowl;2134028]. . . and lead or steel for the bullet./QUOTE]The French used solid bronze bullets in WW I. They worked effectively. Look up "Balle D."
|
11-12-2017, 05:13 PM | #96 | |
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: The Land of Enchantment
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
[QUOTE=fredtheobviouspseudonym;2134946]
Quote:
But really, the bullets aren't the hard part. The brass casings are hard, unless you're willing to mill them, which is expensive and slow, and easier for straight-walled cartridges. You could weld brass sheet tubes onto a milled base, to keep it cheaper, but reliability would suffer, especially in a vigorously-ejecting automatic weapon. And propellant is hard if, as with the M16, you need a decently powerful and clean double-base propellant. These are all reasons I was a proponent of the "make a Winchester" plan. I think I'd favor .45-70, since there are many rifles that used it, as did most versions of the Gatling, and it's hard-hitting for any targets that might still be wearing a cuirass.
__________________
I'd need to get a grant and go shoot a thousand goats to figure it out. Last edited by acrosome; 11-12-2017 at 05:57 PM. |
|
11-12-2017, 05:59 PM | #97 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
I fit is a planned event, pick a weapon that it is easy to replace the ammo in terms of propellent quality, police your brass so you can reuse them several times, bring reloading equipment and lots of primers.
|
11-12-2017, 07:51 PM | #98 | |
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The plutonium rich regions of Washington State
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
Quote:
Luke |
|
11-12-2017, 08:37 PM | #99 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
[QUOTE=acrosome;2135002]See the notes in their respective text descriptions about the effect of cheap ammo on both the Martini-Henry _and_ the trapdoor Springfield.
__________________
Fred Brackin |
11-13-2017, 12:04 AM | #100 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
|
Re: Making more ammo stuck on a low tech world.
Quote:
It's slow, and a little tricky, and you'll have to heat-treat the cases at least once with most methods to remove work-hardening, but it's doable. With a proper mid/late TL5 plant I'd look at cold forging, followed by drilling the primer pockets and vents.
__________________
Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
|
Tags |
ammo, gurps, high tl, low tl |
|
|