Ya know, this whole thread is rank with modern day "survivalist" type ramblings. Your way overthinking the entire thing.
400 years ago, heck even 500 (what rhymes with 1492 ?) man has had basic iron tools and the knowledge to use them. they brought with them "gunpowder" by the barrels full, till they found sulpher here stateside. Then they started buying selling and trading for manufactured powder,,or they killed for and stole it! Most did not sit in the back shed and try to brew powder.
I personally know people whom are making traditional firearms,,lock, stock and barrel today, over the top of wood fired forges. Fired clay and Cuddle bone or brass ball molds? little trouble.
Why not just buy sulpher and kn03 and store it?
If, IF,,things where to somehow fall apart. Your going to be in deep doodoo in socal. It will/would be decades before current supplies of modern ammo run out, and food compition will take care of most folks long before that.
Anyone that's going to make it,,will be able to find and harvest their foods, and defend themselves quietly, ya know? So as to not draw attention?
Your best off to move away from there,,get to know some farmers really well,,maybe do some labor for them?
Yes, there are some survivalist underpinnings. No doubt.
But more along the lines of... the current economy is kicking my tail and I may end up living rather poorly, LOL! Not the end of the world stuff. If society collapses, the militaries of the world will dominate. They have the resources, the training and a command structure already in place. I do not feel I'd be able to outdo all that with some cache of M-16's, homebrew C-4, or any of that let alone some flintlocks and/or percussion guns, LOL!
Beyond that, it's just driven by personal curiousity. As in "how the heck is it done anyway?" In some of my other hobbies I've pursued that sort of thing as well. For example, I've built musical instruments from scratch. I've also researched bow making, cordage making and even spinning (as in yarn and thread). For whatever reasons, I enjoy fabricating stuff. Where I wealthier, and we were back in the day, I could have seen being a manufacturer of sextants and watches, etc.
But, anyway, no real militia leanings or any of that really, but I just figure the powers that be don't want a true collapse. And if one were to occur, there's little chance I'm going to survive it anyway.
A more likely occurance is that I'll end up with a choice. Live in skid row like others who end up homeless, or try to survive further away form the mess and crime that cities are. So's learning old time and/or Appalachian like skills strikes me as just good to know stuff.
But yes, at present it's a bit of intellectual exercise (some might say mastrubation, except that I've actually made up some charcoal and now know more about how it works out than I started) but a knowledge pursuit none-the-less.
Unfortunately, there is much in my life that is in the "for someday" category. Much to my chagrin.
What does give me peace though, is settling an issue. For example... if I need to do "X", have I decided how I'm going to do it? If so then at least the question is settled.
At this juncture I've tried actually making some charcoal, so now I have some feel for it and the little things related to it. For example, "How long does it have to bake?", "How much of a pain in the rear is it to granulate it?", etc.
Two thoughts. 1) Yes, I'm reinventing the wheel a bit, 2) I've got some 777 on the shelf as insurance anyway, LOL!
