It took me a few hours to work it out but it is simple, so simple in fact that i can type this up at work with out refering to the game.

It works like this first off reloading is a repair skill, so like any skill you have to put enough point into it in order to open up some the specific ammo types. First thing you need to do is decide on what ammo you want to use. I created a character that will use 3 round types .357, .44 and .308, i sold off all the other types of guns hanging on to all the ammo though. As someone said the primers are the [censored], pistol powder is pistol powder as is rifle powder rifle powder, but the primers are small pistol, large pistol, small rifle, large rifle, and the .50 caliber. You get the primers from other ammo you break down which is why i feel it is important that as a player i decide which weapons i want to use early, and then i buy, collect as much ammo of the other types as possible to use for the materials to make the ammo types i will use. My character at this moment has a repair of 55 so i stopped there for the moment as i can make all the rounds i intend to use for the time being.

In order to make .357 ammo i must break down the 9mm ammo i have into the base components, I can break down 9mm into 4 pistol powders and 1 small pistol primer, 10mm breaks down to pistol 5 or 6 pistol powders and a large pistol primer. Since i am using .357 weapons i need to make the ammo and that is 1 small pistol primer and i think 4 pistol powder and some lead that you get either by a recipie that breaks down scrap metal into lead or by recycling the lead from the broken down 9mm or 10mm rounds. Now believe this or not but i even broke down the existing .357, .44 magnum, and .308 ammo i had and remade it into ammo of the same caliber, and as of last night i had fired close to 40 to 50 rounds of my reloaded .357 ammo and have registered very little damage on the weapon, i am not sure but i think the stuff the player makes is better than the stuff you buy any of it. I could be wrong but so far it seems this way. I hope this little bit helps if you still are unclear just hit me again and i will do my best to answer.

On the Wikia site they will give you the base ids for the casings, primers, so i would recommend that you save the game console command in some items and play, that is what i did to figure it out. I then just reloaded the save and played on.

Asai

This is true, but I'm finding most of the UI in NV on pc clunky tbh, and primers are a real pain as well early on.

It's not in the manual. Some people think it's a bug, since it's kind of counter-intuitive. (i.e, when you buy the "box", it should probably just automatically open up and become 25 primers. Or, it should have a use function in your inventory, to open the box.)

/shrug

You have to use shells and primers from .50 cal rounds. But the lead and powder can come from any bullet.




The surplus and bulk boxes are bugged. I've had some auto open when i close trade window (weighing me down with 1000 5.56) and others stay closed till i drop them.

heh i like the idea of making ammo, but well i didn't really have too. I just did it for fun.
pretty time consuming figuring out which types to break down for which weapons and use the correct ones, and get the boxes or something.

Far quicker to just buy the ammo like in fallout 3.
saves fuss. But i can imagine in hardcoe mode it might be more useful. I actually avoided hardcoe mode, purely because i was afraid my game would have a save bug, but they've got rid of that by now fortunately. that and well it's hardcoe, and i'm lazy.
but i'll do hardcoe on my next character and see how that goes.

It not in the manual. I figured it out by logic.
"Hmm... I have this box in my inventory so how do I UNPACK it... Hmm... What if I drop it on the ground...? HAH! Victory!"

I did not know that thanks for that bit of information i have a few boxes i picked up not really knowing what they were for. I got a mod that lets me use the school house in Goodsprings as a base of operations complete with a fast travel map marker so i store everything there. I will have to play a bit with the boxes i have and see once i get them from storage.

I am still having trouble keeping track of the brass for the .357, .44 and .308 it seems like i loose a few everytime i come back in from the field, i have had no problem finding enough 9mm and 10mm rounds to break down to make the above mentioned ammo, but if i do not somehow get better at collecting the brass i will be waving a club soon. I think the reload mechanic is borked, i can see loosing brass in an automatic weapon, but a revolver i find that a bit too much. BTW those 3 ammo types are the only ammo this character uses. I as much as i hate to do this might just need to console command some brass in, yea i know it is cheating but just CCing in the brass is not the same as CCing in the completed ammo.

Asai

Are you sure your losing the casings and not just discarding cases that are no longer reloadable. I dont know if they implimented that or not but brass shell casings do have a life span on how many times they can be reloaded before they are junk.

I'm pretty sure they've implemented a calculation with the RNG. If you get lucky, the casing gets added to your inventory after you shoot a round off. But any casings in your inventory should be reloadable. If not, then it's going to be a bug. Unless, in GECK, I can find a "broken casing" or "worn-out casing" item ID.

Casings on bodies of your opponents come from leveled loot lists - which may or may not have any bearing at all to the type of weapon that they were using against you.

It was already explained but you need

Casing
Powder
Primer
Lead.




YOU CAN NOT MAKE AP

YOU can make

JHP
JSP
Normal
12/20 gauge magnum
12/20 gauge slugs
12/20 coin shot




No, and F.Y.I I never opened the box, I just walked to the reloading bench and it auto used the box and broke it down for me.

Also, unless I am wrong you have

Primer
Small pistol / Large pistol
Small rifle / Large rifle
.50
shot shell

Powder
Rifle.
Pistol.

Casings

Lead.

Lead can be made from scrap metal or bought,



188 Trade station and the gun runners are a great place to buy, also guy in good springs sells limited amounts of things. Novac shop has some too.

Besides normal rounds here is what you can make


# .308, JSP Hand Load - Increased damage.
# .357 Magnum, JFP Hand Load - Increased damage, armor penetration, and reduced spread.
# .45-70 Government, SWC Hand Load - Increased damage, huge armor penetration.
# .50 MG Match Hand Load - Increased damage, reduced spread.
# 10mm, JHP Hand Load - Increased damage, at the cost of increased target Armor.
# 12 Ga. Coin Shot - A cheaper variant of Buckshot.
# 12 Ga. Slug, 20 Ga. Slug - Reduced Spread.
# 12 Ga. Magnum, 20 Ga. Magnum - Increased damage

JHP= Jacket hollow point
JSP= jacket soft point
SWC= Semi wad cutter. (if I am not mistaken)

Thanks for that. Have been saving components and spare ammo I don't use but didn't know what the pros/cons where of the different types so haven't bothered to try loading my own ammo yet. The above list is very useful though.

i have no survival skill so i dont think i can make lead out of scrap metal. ive got excellent repair though.

anyways, does anyone know a good store to buy lead? i cant find that stuff anywhere..

Don't forget one of my favorite types:

.44 SWC- Increased damage, -6 DT (AKA sick armor penetration)

Add to that the cowboy perk and your .44 shooting weapons have some great, cheap, easy to find ammo that will really pack a wollop.

You can get it from:

You Can NOT make Armor Piercing!

-- This makes sense since AP rounds aren't made from lead, it's too soft. I think AP rounds are made of Tungsten (or depleted uranium)

------- There is one thing I don't understand though. Whats up with .223 having - 8 DT? in real life I thought the major difference between .223 and 5.56 had to deal with pressure differences. (More "bang" in the 5.56 ) I don't understand why .223 Rem would have any type of extra armor defeating properties, in fact shouldn't it be worse if the round's velocity is a bit slower in comparison to 5.56 NATO?

In the beginning I found the best thing you can do without a supply of primers is to get a shotgun and start breaking down 20 gauge shells, and rebuild them into slugs or magnum shells. (aww come on, how come we can't make magnum slugs!!??!)

If your in need of lead, don't forget you can break down just about any round and get lead from it. (not to mention it's powder, and primer) I have found though that I can't break down surplus ammo. =(

This mechanic is one that since my first post here i have figured out more and i have to say that i like it alot. Every round i fire is a handload, if i can add up to .20 or .50 dmage on top of the regular round damage i am on it. I have done very little with the survival crafting but it is going to be next on the to learn list after i have fully worked through the ammo. Nothing like this feeling in a game; having ED-E in the party who shows a giant rad scorpion in the distance, so far that scoped in, the sniper dot is larger then the bug itself, pulling the trigger, counting one and two, whack, the round impacts completely turning the rad scorpion over on its back dead, it is a beautyful thing.

Asai

Oh gawd yes...I say calling any of the "crafting" UI clunky is giving it far, far more credit than it deserves. Improve it 250% or so, and then it might be good enough to barely pass as "clunky." On a good day. For now, it's just a reason to avoid crafting if you're playing on PC.