mjlush Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 (edited) This is a good 4 years too late but I'm working on a project looking at how modern technology survives a 'soft apocolypse' (ie 99% of the population just evaporate, the idea being that its so generic that its widely applicable).I chanced on your post researching making smokeless powder, my current estimates suggest guns will last for hundreds of years but although ammunition will last at least 50-100 years but it will probably be used up in 10.My blog is over on OMG, the moderator removed the link to my blog because it's against the rules! (but they probably don't mind a non-commercial link in my signature) and email is mjlush at gmail dot com, I'd be very interested to hear your thinking/research on the matter. Edited March 31, 2015 by Phi for All link advertising blog in thread removed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommygun Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) Why don't you get a copy of The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives by Tenney L. Davis and you can discover how to do it for yourself. Thanks for the info. I am also interested in researching this topic. To answer the original poster's question... Yes, it is possible for smokeless powder, modern primers, and all other components of ammunition to be manufactured in a postapoclyptic scenario. Benjimin Franklin said it best. "Neccessity is the mother of all inventions". Smokeless powder has been around sence the 1800s. Yes, we've improved on it sense then, but the knowlege is still there. Colt had a manufacturing plant that did not run on electricitty...it ran on steam. Which could also be used to produce electricity. I think if an apoloypse did happen, someone would figure it out. Just my opinion. Edited April 15, 2015 by Tommygun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artzillonaire Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Calling this science forums and then using moderators that clearly don't understand science and having rules that restrict or ban the dissemination of scientific knowledge is an oxymoron. All the things you ask about can be done without electricity or anything all that fancy. Without laboratory glassware and proper thermometers it becomes more difficult but far from impossible. Making black powder is very easy and all the ingredients are easily located or produced virtually everywhere that any level of technology is at hand. Making nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose or guncotton and other high explosives is also quite easy. Even making primer materials is relatively easy. No special cooling is needed. Cool water from a mountain spring will work perfectly, but cold tapwater is just fine! And other methods also work if cool water isn't available. Charcoal is obvious. KNO³ or potassium nitrate can easily be leached from bat shit or reacted brick morter or even graveyard dirt! Sulfur can be obtained from pool chemicals, by burning iron ore, and many other sources. H²SO⁴ or sulfuric acid can be obtained from car batteries. Nitric acid is the hardest. But one good way in a pinch is to get nitrous oxide from a dentists office and pass it over a damp bed of heated quick lime. Bubble it into a beaker of mineral oil. A red oily liquid will build up under the oil. That's nitric acid. Both the nitric and sulfuric acids will need to be concentrated quite a bit before they will work to make guncotton or nitroglycerin. Primer can be made with nothing but concentrated nitric acid and mercury! Just thirty years ago it was common for boys with a scientific bent to make and experiment with these things. They are dangerous but they are no where near the world ending hazards that some here make of them! I did all these things when I was a kid. Fooling around with these things is still completely legal in the USA. Just don't get any crazy ideas or make a huge stockpile.... If you want more info feel free to contact me. I can tell you every aspect of recreating basic technology in an apocalyptic scenario. -2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 35 minutes ago, Artzillonaire said: Calling this science forums and then using moderators that clearly don't understand science and having rules that restrict or ban the dissemination of scientific knowledge is an oxymoron. ! Moderator Note If you don’t like the rules, don’t post here. Thread closed as the OP’s question was answered and it is only attracting low quality posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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