“...Lead car batteries and lead bullet molds, husband your brass...”
-
But, What do you do for primers?
That's why you adopt the caliber of your enemies.
They use .223/5.56? That exotic deer rifle caliber is nice, but you also need to have a rifle chambered in .223/5.56 at the ready.
They use 9mm? That classic .45 ACP 1911 is cool since it won two world wars and all, but you need to have a 9mm as well.
Mercury fulminate is prepared by dissolving mercury in nitric acid and adding ethanol to the solution. Used as a priming composition in small copper caps that seat in to the base of a center-fire casing. Please note that there are more modern primers that tend to be more stable but this one is relatively easy to make, but in small quantities please!
There is NO good way for the average (or even talented) reloader to make PRIMERS or BRASS CASES.
(That’s WHY that the intelligent patriot HAS already acquired those “hard to find in a crisis” items.)
5,000-10,000 primers in the size(s) that you & your friends NEED are relatively cheap to buy & empty “once fired” cases are CHEAP too, if one “shops around” the “back tables” at most any gun show/ flea market and/or “looks about on-line”.
(In many areas of the USA, “range scrounging” will yield more cases that you can ever use & in a relative few range sessions.)
NOTE: My “EDC” pistol is in 9x19mm & in just one afternoon, last fall, I “picked up” over 1,000 “once fired” cases that were “left behind” by previous shooters & “free for the taking”.
(Short of acquiring a SMG in 9x19mm, I’ll NEVER wear-out that many pistol rounds, given that I get at least 6 reloads of each case.)
ADDENDA: I “currently scrounge” cases for .38SPL, 9x19mm, .45ACP/.45 Auto Rim, 5.56NATO, 7.62NATO, .30-06 & 12 gauge.
Just my OPINION, TMN78247
USA, Retired
PLEASE do NOT even attempt to recycle the lead out of lead/acid batteries. = We may NEED you to help us defend against the “enemies domestic” that we GIs took an oath to protect the US CONSTITUTION from.
(Attempting to “recycle” lead out of batteries IS “hazardous” to your life & health & NOT worth the risks. - Recycle the batteries to an “aftermarket buyer” & use that money to buy scrap lead.)
Yours, TMN78247