Making your own ammo

[Amaris]

Hello guys

A few weeks ago I made some research how to make my own ammo, in case I'll run out of ammo is a survival situation.
Before I go into details I wanna ask you who is making his/her own ammo?
I started to make .45LC for my revolver and 8x57mm for my Mauser rifle

Amaris

[pico]

First you need to put in a deep supply of powder. My only issue with reloading is the fact that some brass for military rounds is not easily reloadable... 8mm mauser being of note. You should put in a deep supply of reloadable ammo, such as priv part and perhaps wolf gold. Get a bullet mold and learn how to use it. You can cast your own lead bullets fairly easily. I used to be into miniature wargaming, so I have thousands of lead and lead free miniatures I would melt if the need was there. They all melt at fairly low temps. Another option is obviously to buy the bullets, and get the correct dies. You can also make some brass cases by resizing others. This might be useful in a SHTF scenario where you could perhaps resize 30-06 to .308 or other round... even perhapssomething else.

It is smart to have the stuff on hand for long term times of woe and missery, but I have opted more for simply putting in a deep supply of ammo for all my firearms, and I have some ammo on hand for calibers I either no longer have or might run across in the future.

[Amaris]

I also experienced that you need a lot of stuff to reload, but after I bought the Mauser rifle I learned that the only way to shoot with this rifle was to make my own ammo, because the commercially available ammo was "too hot" for this antique rifle. So I started to research and today I made my first rounds.
The miniatures are a good idea to melt in a SHTF situation.

Amaris

[Marseyus]

Primers, make sure you have plenty of primers, but yes reloading could be handy, if anything, maybe even for trade in the long run, but also to keep your ammo supply up. For short term survival it's a horrible idea, however for long term it's a great one. If you need any tips on reloading ask, i've been reloading .308,.357,.45, for several years now and i'll reload almost any caliber for some competition shooters at the range. i have all the dies and tools to reload most calibers, but the best thing i can suggest is to buy the hardened dies, there 3 times as much, but wow do they save time. And yes the competition guys prefer to cast their own bullet, but it is cheaper to buy the bullets from a manufacturer. I just stock up on them every chance i get, but i do also have the molds and some lead just in case. If you have any questions on reloading send me a pm i'll be more than happy to answer them. And if i don't know the answer, my mentor out at the range does. He even makes his own powder. I think he was around when they invented gun powder lol.

[pico]

Amaris... what model of Mauser do you have? I have a fair number of them, and they are pretty damn strong actions. If you buy Hot Shot ammo, it is not too hot for the vast majority. If you have something like a GEW 1888, a few of those old guns are chambered for the original mauser bullet, that is actually a different size than the 7.92x57 mauser.

Have you thought about simply buying military surplus and using a bullet puller and reloading them into lighted loads? You could add a different bullet, but basically use the military surplus brass. This way you could have military surplus brass with either the same powder or your own blend, followed up with different bullets.

[Amaris]

@Pico

I have a TURKISH Model 1888/05 Mauser bolt-action carbine (8mm) reconfigured by Ankara in 1935. the bullets to use are.318
I got told not to shoot surplus ammo, because it's an old weapon, so I decided to make my own ammo. The only problem I stumbled about was the die set available for this weapon is manufactured for .323 bore diameter so I had to order an undersized mandrel to resize the neck of the brass. I'm still waiting for it.

Have you thought about simply buying military surplus and using a bullet puller and reloading them into lighted loads? You could add a different bullet, but basically use the military surplus brass. This way you could have military surplus brass with either the same powder or your own blend, followed up with different bullets.

I heard about this possibility, but never thought seriously to do it. Do you have any suggestions?

Amaris

[Amaris]

Primers, make sure you have plenty of primers, but yes reloading could be handy, if anything, maybe even for trade in the long run, but also to keep your ammo supply up. For short term survival it's a horrible idea, however for long term it's a great one. If you need any tips on reloading ask, i've been reloading .308,.357,.45, for several years now and i'll reload almost any caliber for some competition shooters at the range. i have all the dies and tools to reload most calibers, but the best thing i can suggest is to buy the hardened dies, there 3 times as much, but wow do they save time. And yes the competition guys prefer to cast their own bullet, but it is cheaper to buy the bullets from a manufacturer. I just stock up on them every chance i get, but i do also have the molds and some lead just in case. If you have any questions on reloading send me a pm i'll be more than happy to answer them. And if i don't know the answer, my mentor out at the range does. He even makes his own powder. I think he was around when they invented gun powder lol.

Thank you very much for this generous offer. I'll definitely contact you if I have any questions.
I bought surplus ammo for my Mosin I bought lately. I'm fairly new to reloading, but I really like this additional possibility.

Amaris

[pico]

Whoever told you not to fire it was very much incorrect. Those Ankara rebuilds are very strong. The receivers were heat treated to make them much stronger than the original setup. The only thing you should be concerned with would be the headspacing, but if you are already shooting underpowered ammo, the likelihood of there being a headspace issue is nearly nil.

As for pulling bullets, buy a bullet puller. They are fairly easy to use, and a good strike will dislodge the bullet from the case. I would then collect the powder and reuse it. Look for surplus ammo from sites like J&G, ammoman, or others that have more modern 8mm ammo, like from the 80's or 90's. Yugo ammo is fairly good. Then, you could simply drop in the bullet of your choice with the right gear.

[Amaris]

@Pico

Thank you very much for the information.
I already have a bullet puller and the headspace I measured with a No Go headspace gauge and it's fine.
I'll definitely check out the suppliers you mentioned and give it a try. It'd be very helpful if it'd work this way, too.

Amaris