Not that it really matters that much, but gunpowder when loaded into a cartridge doesn't really go bad, not for a long time. This is why you can buy pretty old surplus ammo and still shoot it with no problem, that's why there's even a market for surplus ammo at all. A bigger concern would probably be how long gun cleaning solutions remain good for. Most modern guns can run for quite a while between cleanings but eventually you're going to want clean your guns to keep them in good running order and simply swabbing them with a rag or q-tips is only going to get it so clean and if you're using older surplus ammo you're really going to want to give your gun a good cleaning regularly because of the corrosive primers often used in older ammo, esp. surplus Soviet/ComBloc ammo.
Right, but we're also assuming the ammunition is stored in the right conditions. While I expect ammo is fairly hardy, if it's just sitting in, say, a really humid room for a year and a half...will it still be good?
Yeah but gunpowder isn't that difficult to make either. I'm sure if you were in the military or on the force you would have learned out how to make gunpowder as part of your training.
Blackpowder, as I understand it, isn't hard to make IF you have the necessary ingredients. Getting them, though, may not be that easy. Modern gunpowder, though, is different. For one thing, it's smokeless (blackpowder kicks off a lot of smoke). It also, I think, creates more powerful muzzle velocities due to higher pressure generated by the powder.
So, basically, yeah, you could probably whip together rudimentary blackpowder, but making modern smokeless powder might be more tricky. Basically, it's fine for Captain Kirk to kill a xorn with, but it's not something you'd want to stick into your AR-15 and reloaded rounds.
You'd be better off finding a supply of lead and a bullet mold, but using as much old powder as you could find.
Of course, this brings up a separate issue entirely in the show, that being the fact that the survivors almost never seem to run out of ammo. They reload sometimes, but they very often do NOT appear to be carrying a bunch of spare magazines on them. Moreover, while there's a fair amount of reliance on weapons using the same calibre and magazine types (e.g., lots of NATO 5.56 and STANAG mags, a fair number of 9mm pistols), we've also seen a few AK-family weapons pop up. Now, it's true that they may have been chambered for NATO rounds, but if not, then there must be an awfully large supply of random Russian ammo lying around in the Southeastern U.S.
And, of course, then there's my favorite: Rick's Colt Python. While .357 isn't what I'd call
rare, I would expect it to be a lot harder to come by than, say, 9mm, or even .45 ACP for a sidearm. And you almost never, ever see Rick reload (and he doesn't appear to have a speedloader, either, which is odd, considering the pistol itself came from his old cop gear). All in all, the show plays pretty fast and loose with a bunch of issues that don't hold up to a lot of scrutiny. Scarcity of ammunition being chief among them. I mean, realistically, every single round is precious because
nobody's making anymore. Darryl's crossbow and Michonne's katana are really the way to go.
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Nope, not taught. At most, if you're an armorer you'll learn how to work on and repair guns but not making gunpowder, that's not a part of any military's training that I know of. There's really no need, there's not going to be situation ever where you're going to need to know how to make gunpowder, if you're in a situation where you're low on ammo you call in for for more ammo to be sent to you and you'll probably get it be it by truck or air drop. If they can't get in then it won't matter because while you'll have the brass for reloading, you won't have the primers or bullets, which renders the ability to make your own gunpowder moot, and that's if you even have the reloading equipment that no military unit, as far as I know, is issued or even buys with their own funds. Then there's the difference between basic gunpowder or blackpowder and modern smokeless gunpowder, blackpowder is a lot less effective than modern gunpowder and I don't know how well modern firearms would work firing blackpowder cartridges, I suppose good enough in a SHTF situation but in a modern warfare scenario I'd say that it's less than ideal.
Exactly. I'd figure you'd have far less powerful rounds (slower, less penetration, lower stopping power, etc.), your accuracy would be much reduced due to lowered visibility, and there'd be a lot more residue left over, requiring much more cleaning and eventual weapon breakdown. And, like you said, no primers to actually set off the round in the first place (unless folks switch back to, say, flintlocks).
