Handloading

Overview
Handloading in Deathwish (and in real-life) is the process of making gun bullets of different calibers out from raw materials. In vanilla 7 Days to Die, handloading is a simple process which survivors gather Gunpowder, Brass Casings and Bullet Tips to craft 9mm, 10mm, 7.62mm and .44 Magnum bullets, each having variable amounts of gunpowder.

In Deathwish 3.0, there's the added .22 LR, 5.56mm and .45 ACP bullets, which all follow the vanilla way of making bullets; crafting in different positions of the grid render different results, but always with the same way of having one casing, one tip and different gunpowder charges (.45 ACP uses Bullet Jackets).

However, the process in Deathwish 3.1 takes a leap into reality. Gunpowder (renamed Black Powder) is no longer used, as it produces too much smoke and is unreliable in handloading. It is still used in cruder firearms, but not in modern ones. Instead, smokeless powder is used.

Also there are different components in handloading. Primers, smokeless powders and different bullet tips, casings and even polymer tips are between the changes.

Primers
A primer is a brass component with minimal weight which is used to ignite the smokeless powder content inside a bullet casing. Primers are made with primer components, materials made from chemistry of varied ways. Usually, primers are made in bulk, since one unit of primer component and primer brass have very little weight and can be crafted by the dozens once access to them is available. However, crafting primer components is very tedious and time-consuming, involving lots of chemicals. Primer boxes can be found by survivors, usually having a good amount of them.

Primers are divided between: Small, Large and Magnum Primers. Each type of primer uses different amounts of primer component.

Casings
Bullet casings in Deathwish are divided between small, medium and large variants. Smaller casings are used in smaller calibers. There are different weights and molds for each type of casing.

In Deathwish, casings are no longer made exclusively of brass, and can be made of aluminum as well.

Bullet Tips (Projectiles)
Bullet tips, renamed Bullet Projectiles in Deathwish are divided between Small, Medium and Large variants. Smaller projectiles are used in smaller calibers. There are different weights and molds for each type.

Bullet projectiles can be made either from lead or tungsten. Lead is the most common material, but very large calibers use tungsten tips.

Smokeless Powder
Contrary to vanilla 7 Days to Die, Deathwish requires survivors to craft smokeless powder components. These components are made through either chemistry, smokeless powder pots or from disassembling other bullets. When made through chemistry, it is an extremely time-consuming process, but yields a lot of material. Pots of this component are tough to come by, and disassembling may take away other components which may yet be vital.

The type of smokeless powder component is irrelevant to the caliber used, but bigger calibers require more amount. This means though there are multiple types, all of them are used in the same way.

Jackets and Polymer Tips
A bullet may contain a jacket around the projectile, or a polymer tip. Those components are made respectively through forging and polymer-making. Polymer tips are only found in 5mm caliber bullets, but jackets are used in rifle calibers and .45 ACP.

Shotgun Shells/Slugs
A shotgun shell requires an additional component called Shell Hull, which is made out of basic components to insert smokeless powder and either buckshot or a slug into it. The Hull is crafted with a Shell Brass, a Large Primer, a Wad and Paper. Then the hull is filled with different amounts of smokeless powder or buckshot for different gauges or with a slug.

Chemical Products
The following products are able to be transformed into handloading material:

Primer Component (in order of least to most efficient; more efficient products yield more components):

Lead / Iron / Potassium Picrate Salts -> Lead Styphnate -> Mercury Fulminate -> DDNP

Smokeless Powder Component (in order of least to most efficient; more efficient products yield more components):

Cordite Filament -> Guncotton Powder -> IMR -> Ball Propellant