Hey guys (if there is indeed any gals left in here, please speak up).
I was looking through some old files when I discovered a word document I had lying around after posting in the Bethesda forums some time ago. It never got any attention in those forums but I will post the little story again here.
If you have feedback you'd like to share please do so. I have not checked the scientific facts that could make or break the story, and I am no poet, but it was fun to write it nonetheless.
Edit: The reason for writing it in the first place was the discussion revolving around whether or not people could get ammunition in the wasteland - and after a while the discussion ended up with most of the posters agreeing that the main problem was how to make the primers, not the casing, gunpowder, projectile ect ...
Edit 2: Guess I should have called it something involving tits seeing as it will slip into oblivion here as well, he, he ...
Here we go:
"Chemical primers in the wasteland.
I knew I had some information lying around dealing with this subject and after having rummaged through some crates in my lockers I finally found what I was looking for. I smiled to myself as I uncovered the crate; lying on top of the pile of magazines was the Cat's Paw magazine from my old New Reno stash and I could not help to wonder how many bottle caps I wasted trying to get Sulik some err... relaxation in that town. He always said the spirits were disturbed in that place, but I misunderstood it at the time. Having found what I needed I retreated to my chair by the fireplace, (an old man's bones get cold out here in the wilderness), and started reading and reminiscing.
The article I flipped to was originally found in Guns and Bullets nr 35, authored by the legendary Gary Hamcock, and it dealt with how to make primers from chemicals. The title escapes me now, and my magazine is torn so I can no longer make it out, but if you find the issue I am talking about it should be easy enough to find. Having found the article that inspired me to start my experiment I got out my old notebooks and decided to share my findings with you guys. I always thought I would never leave anything behind (let alone live to tell my tale), but maybe this will be my legacy after all. I hope you put the information described on these pages to good use though; I would not want it to fall into the hands of the raiders.
I never really believed in killing fellow scavengers just for their gadgets; I was a trader at heart. However, I never really wanted to bribe those stuck up guards in the cities to buy ammunition at horrible prices either, and I needed plenty of it to survive the mutated creatures in the wasteland. So I decided to make my own. I got most of the information I needed from Guns and Bullets and was able to acquire the equipment needed through my travels. I also got some good advice from both Cassidy and Marcus, but my breakthrough came after meeting an old lady named Neela Hamsbridge who used to write for the Scout Handbook. Until that point I had had trouble with making affordable primers, but some weeks after I met her I had all the primers I needed.
She told me she had been working on a series of articles outlining how to tame and breed the mutated fauna of the wasteland. She started with the easy ones like rats and mole rats and during the years she got very skilled at handling all kinds of creatures, but she had to drop it after having tried to domesticate a wadamingo. Neela almost got killed in the process and decided to retreat with her dignity (and most of her limbs) intact. She did manage to tame some fire geckos though and this was the key to my breakthrough. I learned that she managed to catch a sick fire gecko while it was sleeping and that she had only discovered its pregnancy later on. The sick gecko turned out to have a missing gland and was no longer capable of using its fire breath, but this did not apply to the little ones and Neela has the burns to tell the tale even today. Neela told me about the glands and my idea for primes was a fact; without her knowledge I would never have thought of making primers from liquids at all.
I have to admit I never took the chance on taming the little bastards so I just went out hunting. Taking care not to hit them in the head I bagged a couple of them and went home to start my work. You see the fire geckos fire breath is produced when the fire gecko mixes chemicals from two separate glands in its mouth while exhaling forcefully. The chemicals ignite upon contact with each other (no spark is needed) and are sprayed forth towards whatever the gecko perceives as a threat. (I know; rip off from Reign of Fire, but I liked the idea so just go with the story will you?
)
After I got back to my hideout I cut out the glands and squeezed out the chemicals into two separate containers, taking care not to keep one in the vicinity of the other. I went on to get two syringes from my old Doctor’s Bag and filled one with gecko spit A and one with gecko spit B (Almost sounds like a meal at Mom’s, I know). So far so good you think, but how did I get them into the small hole in the back of the cartridge where the primer goes, and how on earth did I manage to keep them unmixed? Well; that took some tries I can tell you that. Basically what you need a container with two separate rooms; one room for each of the chemicals. The container needs to be small enough to fit in the hole in the cartridge and at the same time it needs to be robust enough to not break of its own accord, but fragile enough so that the firing pin can break it. (When breaking the chemicals mix and ignite the gunpowder in the cartridge – a microscopic drop of each chemical is enough)
I ended up with two feasible solutions; one is using the hair sack of hedgehogs; they are small enough and they manage to keep the liquid without leaking. It is a hassle to get them into the small hole without breaking them though, so make sure you work with gloves … (And forget it if your Luck is below 5) The best solution by far is to make a cast enabling you to pour molten glass or metal into it (I made mine by having two needles inserted into the small hole of a mock cartridge and thus ended up with a cylinder with two small holes in it. It fits perfectly into the hole in the cartridge; just use some fat or glue or even tar or sap to get it to stick to the inside of the small hole. I later copied the cast so I now have a tray with 30 casts attached to it; it is not too much trouble to make them now). The molten glass does not need to be clear of course so just superheat sand, or use some scavenged soft metal like lead and melt it. (I have a ceramic pot which I let sit in the embers of my fire for an hour.) After you have inserted the fluid seal the cylinder with wax or melted plastic and insert it into the cartridge.
Disappointed? Is it too complicated for you? Well, I never said it would be easy; I just said it is doable; bring your science friend if you can’t handle it yourself. Jokes aside though; if you live with friends or in a small community this should be doable. The bonus is you will never need to grovel to those Vault City bastards again. Good luck, and good hunting!"
Like I said; I'm no professor or poet, but it was fun to write it ...
I was looking through some old files when I discovered a word document I had lying around after posting in the Bethesda forums some time ago. It never got any attention in those forums but I will post the little story again here.
If you have feedback you'd like to share please do so. I have not checked the scientific facts that could make or break the story, and I am no poet, but it was fun to write it nonetheless.
Edit: The reason for writing it in the first place was the discussion revolving around whether or not people could get ammunition in the wasteland - and after a while the discussion ended up with most of the posters agreeing that the main problem was how to make the primers, not the casing, gunpowder, projectile ect ...
Edit 2: Guess I should have called it something involving tits seeing as it will slip into oblivion here as well, he, he ...
Here we go:
"Chemical primers in the wasteland.
I knew I had some information lying around dealing with this subject and after having rummaged through some crates in my lockers I finally found what I was looking for. I smiled to myself as I uncovered the crate; lying on top of the pile of magazines was the Cat's Paw magazine from my old New Reno stash and I could not help to wonder how many bottle caps I wasted trying to get Sulik some err... relaxation in that town. He always said the spirits were disturbed in that place, but I misunderstood it at the time. Having found what I needed I retreated to my chair by the fireplace, (an old man's bones get cold out here in the wilderness), and started reading and reminiscing.
The article I flipped to was originally found in Guns and Bullets nr 35, authored by the legendary Gary Hamcock, and it dealt with how to make primers from chemicals. The title escapes me now, and my magazine is torn so I can no longer make it out, but if you find the issue I am talking about it should be easy enough to find. Having found the article that inspired me to start my experiment I got out my old notebooks and decided to share my findings with you guys. I always thought I would never leave anything behind (let alone live to tell my tale), but maybe this will be my legacy after all. I hope you put the information described on these pages to good use though; I would not want it to fall into the hands of the raiders.
I never really believed in killing fellow scavengers just for their gadgets; I was a trader at heart. However, I never really wanted to bribe those stuck up guards in the cities to buy ammunition at horrible prices either, and I needed plenty of it to survive the mutated creatures in the wasteland. So I decided to make my own. I got most of the information I needed from Guns and Bullets and was able to acquire the equipment needed through my travels. I also got some good advice from both Cassidy and Marcus, but my breakthrough came after meeting an old lady named Neela Hamsbridge who used to write for the Scout Handbook. Until that point I had had trouble with making affordable primers, but some weeks after I met her I had all the primers I needed.
She told me she had been working on a series of articles outlining how to tame and breed the mutated fauna of the wasteland. She started with the easy ones like rats and mole rats and during the years she got very skilled at handling all kinds of creatures, but she had to drop it after having tried to domesticate a wadamingo. Neela almost got killed in the process and decided to retreat with her dignity (and most of her limbs) intact. She did manage to tame some fire geckos though and this was the key to my breakthrough. I learned that she managed to catch a sick fire gecko while it was sleeping and that she had only discovered its pregnancy later on. The sick gecko turned out to have a missing gland and was no longer capable of using its fire breath, but this did not apply to the little ones and Neela has the burns to tell the tale even today. Neela told me about the glands and my idea for primes was a fact; without her knowledge I would never have thought of making primers from liquids at all.
I have to admit I never took the chance on taming the little bastards so I just went out hunting. Taking care not to hit them in the head I bagged a couple of them and went home to start my work. You see the fire geckos fire breath is produced when the fire gecko mixes chemicals from two separate glands in its mouth while exhaling forcefully. The chemicals ignite upon contact with each other (no spark is needed) and are sprayed forth towards whatever the gecko perceives as a threat. (I know; rip off from Reign of Fire, but I liked the idea so just go with the story will you?
)After I got back to my hideout I cut out the glands and squeezed out the chemicals into two separate containers, taking care not to keep one in the vicinity of the other. I went on to get two syringes from my old Doctor’s Bag and filled one with gecko spit A and one with gecko spit B (Almost sounds like a meal at Mom’s, I know). So far so good you think, but how did I get them into the small hole in the back of the cartridge where the primer goes, and how on earth did I manage to keep them unmixed? Well; that took some tries I can tell you that. Basically what you need a container with two separate rooms; one room for each of the chemicals. The container needs to be small enough to fit in the hole in the cartridge and at the same time it needs to be robust enough to not break of its own accord, but fragile enough so that the firing pin can break it. (When breaking the chemicals mix and ignite the gunpowder in the cartridge – a microscopic drop of each chemical is enough)
I ended up with two feasible solutions; one is using the hair sack of hedgehogs; they are small enough and they manage to keep the liquid without leaking. It is a hassle to get them into the small hole without breaking them though, so make sure you work with gloves … (And forget it if your Luck is below 5) The best solution by far is to make a cast enabling you to pour molten glass or metal into it (I made mine by having two needles inserted into the small hole of a mock cartridge and thus ended up with a cylinder with two small holes in it. It fits perfectly into the hole in the cartridge; just use some fat or glue or even tar or sap to get it to stick to the inside of the small hole. I later copied the cast so I now have a tray with 30 casts attached to it; it is not too much trouble to make them now). The molten glass does not need to be clear of course so just superheat sand, or use some scavenged soft metal like lead and melt it. (I have a ceramic pot which I let sit in the embers of my fire for an hour.) After you have inserted the fluid seal the cylinder with wax or melted plastic and insert it into the cartridge.
Disappointed? Is it too complicated for you? Well, I never said it would be easy; I just said it is doable; bring your science friend if you can’t handle it yourself. Jokes aside though; if you live with friends or in a small community this should be doable. The bonus is you will never need to grovel to those Vault City bastards again. Good luck, and good hunting!"
Like I said; I'm no professor or poet, but it was fun to write it ...