Hey people, I was wondering how ammo benches actually work. For instance, if I breakdown some 9mm ammo, what do I do next?

I would also like to know this. I have a vague understanding, but I still seem to be missing something.

What are you wanting to do with it? On the right side are ingredients for making ammo, unless its a breakdown, in which it gives you what you get as a result.

You breakdown some 9mm ammo and you get the components. What you do with that is up to you. Do you want to make a different kind of 9mm ammo? Are you wanting to use that to make other ammo entirely? Well, you'll need new cases and primers for that.

Where is the best places to obtain these items? I haven't found or been able to purchase a single primer anywhere?

While on the subject, I picked the handloader perk on my first play through. It unlocked a few recipes like .308 JSP and 45-70 SWC. However, it didn't unlock 5.56mm AP/HP, .44 mag SWC, and bunch of other custom ammo I was hoping to see. Is this a glitch that can be fixed with a patch or are they simply bullets I cannot make?

They're sold in boxes. Gun Runners usually has a few.

As I started to get higher in level I just started noticing more vendors carrying them. Primers seem to be the hardest thing to come by for me. I'd try the Gunrunners if I were you. I always have good luck there.

You can disassemble existing ammo for parts you don't have or can't find.

When I bought a .357, there was not much ammo around, so I used a few of the 60 or so 9mm rounds and my empty .357 shell casings. With those and some scrap lead I was able to reload some .357 rounds for the better gun.

You need all of the components and just select the recipe, and click accept.

I'm using Energy weapons this play through, Guns next time, so a question : do you automatically collect all your spent cases that you fire off? There seems to be very very few cases for sale at stores

I really think so.... but I'm not positive.

You collect a few of your own cases. I get most of mine from enemies though.

Always check merchants, they usually have cases available for free of their weapon. Also check the gun runners for ammo parts. If they don't automatically open, drop them and pick them back up.

Yeah, I am disappointed that you can't make all ammo types. .223 FTW.

A guy in the Westside ( :jammasterjay: ) will teach you how to make .44mag SWC if you have high enough guns and survival skill. Jules, I think it was. 50 guns and 50 survival I think?

On the note of crafting ammo, can you craft the weapons from FO3? Such as the deathclaw gauntlet? I know the railway rifle is a big no, since there are no railway ties in the game, but there's an image of one in Mic and Ralph's shop in the secret armory.

This is why it's important to take even the junk ammo if offered because you can brake it down and use the components to make the good stuff . also Hint if you get the hand loader perk and use hardcoe mode you can break down ammo to make it weightless .

I still have no idea what the numbers mean and there is zero explanation either in-game or in the manual. I *think* the first number is how many I have in my inventory, that would make the second number how many are required to make the stuff . . . but how many of the stuff? There is no indication anywhere of how much you'll end up with. I broke down 300 20ga shotgun ammo and ended up with 27 12ga. How the hell did THAT happen?

(I know how it happened. I'm just ranting against the game logic of gimping my character to the point of uselessness)

On top of which, ammo is swappable across a very narrow range. It's great if you're learning how to make real-world ammo but not exactly fun. Fun should never be sacrificed in the name of realism - but that's apparently just me. And Valve. And id. And 2K Marin. And Bioware. Hmmmm.

When I heard NEW VEGAS had that additional workbench, I was *ecstatic*!

But between the tiny, strangled trickle of enemy loot, the almost non-existent container loot (it's all filled with glue, tape and batteries), the lopsided ratio of animal/human opponents, the karmic penalty against taking stuff from dead people (who shot me first! And consider me Vilified!), the key-locked dungeons . . . look: I scrounge everything I find and my bench menu is still 75& dark.

As far as buying supplies from vendors, I've always found more options when I don't go to the ammo list. Anybody else confirm this? I think some ammo components can only be viewed in the unfiltered list of all items in a vendor. That aside, I've found plenty of supplies on all vendors that deal weapons.

Breakdown = disassembling bullets to give you components (i.e., if you don't use 9mm or .357, disassemble them so you can use the components to make other ammo types).

Everything on the right side is required to make the ammo, or in the case of a breakdown, what you get from it.