Although the parts for a submachine gun aren't for the most part hard to fabricate, and can often be found in their basic forms at a local plumbing and hardware stores, most people don't know the first thing about the chemistry behind making smokeless powder. And even if you do, where would you go to buy the components for your gunpowder? A savvy pharmacist or chemical supply clerk will know right away what you're up to and might report you to the authorities. Even if you had a keg of powder, you may not know the first thing about reloading cartridges with it. And what if you don't have bullets available? What about primers? How can you know whether brass can be reused or not? Teaching you how to reload ammunition — even if the number of components on hand is zero — is what this book is all about. Of course, you might simply stock up while cartridges are still legal to buy and own. But even if you are wise (and wealthy) enough to do this, you might use up your stock during one of the firefights that will most likely result as crime and anarchy follow in the wake of the disarmament of honest people. Or maybe someone will break into your house and steal your ammunition. Or perhaps the government will discover your cartridges and take them from you, throwing you into jail for a couple of years to teach you a lesson in political correctness. Obviously, knowing how to create ammunition from scratch could save your bacon if you're interested in defending yourself. At the same time, this isn't a book about how to reload ammunition by using standard components (there is already a number of good books on the subject, and most manufacturers supply everything you need to know with their reloading kits) . So I'm not going to waste any space going into the how-tos, which powders are best, etc. But there are a few things to keep in mind, which are covered below. THE BASICS First, the key to reloading is having some sort of reloading die. This is necessary to compress the brass cartridge, which expands slightly during firing. A die enables you to resize the brass back down to its original specifications, so that its neck so it will hold a bullet in place, and decreasing the cartridge's girth so that it will chamber easily. The press itself can also be used to swage or resize bullets and other objects, thanks to its compound leverage. You can get by without a press, but it is tough. In the past, shooters have discovered they can use the chamber of a firearm to resize the empty brass. To do this, the chamber has to be cleaned meticulously. Then the cartridges are lubricated (to keep them from getting stuck) and placed into the chamber. The bolt is slammed down onto the cartridge, driving it into the chamber to resize it. Of course, this puts a lot of wear and tear on the extractor of the bolt, and the cartridge is only resized slightly. And because the neck of the cartridge isn't narrowed in this process, it's necessary to hold the bullet in place with shellac, tar, or some other improvised adhesive. These cartridges have to be placed into a chamber by hand because the bullet is likely to be forced back into the cartridge during recoil if it is chambered from a magazine. But in the wilds of Africa and elsewhere, shooters have been able to make do with this method of resizing brass they discover in the bush. If you're forced to reload ammunition without a press, several other tricks make the job easier. The best substitute for a press is a common bench vise. By filing down a nail so that it will fit through the primer hole inside the brass, it is possible to place an empty round in the press with the outside of the primer just above the top edge of the jaws. When the nail is positioned inside the brass with the head of the nail resting on the opposite jaw of the vise, simply tightening it will drive out the spent primer. Another method of doing this is to file down the nail and place it inside the brass with the cartridge sitting on a nut and the primer over the center opening of the nut. Lightly pounding on the nail with a hammer will drive the primer out the base of the cartridge. Simply drill a small hole in a good solid bench and let the spent primers drop through into a container. After the primer has been reloaded (as outlined below), it can be reseated with a vise. To do this, the brass is placed in the vise with the primer positioned over its hole, resting against the jaw of the vise with the mouth of the brass against the other jaw. Slowly tightening the vise will ease the primer into its hole and seat it. By working carefully to avoid crushing the brass, reloaders can reseat primers with a vise. A hammer and a flat, wooden surface can also be used to reseat a primer once you cut a small piece of dowel to fit through the mouth of the cartridge. To do this, the primer is placed on the surface and the brass positioned over it with the dowel in the mouth of the brass. Tapping very lightly on the top of the dowel will gradually drive the brass downward, seating the primer.