raiding for silver/pure iron

[csbioborg]

If you are a average group of witch hunters/milita guys with no ties to NEMA
you best bet is going to be finding silver and pure iron you can cast into bullets and put into explosives. Iron should not be a problem since you can just find junk yards for that. Where are you going to find silver? the bannks are going to be looted rather fast and even if they aren;t silver coint are not that common. If you are doing Chaos Eather red dawn style and iving in the woods and then raiding the city. Where are the respoitory of silver in your average city.

[csbioborg]

Ya i thought of jewlers but theywould be looted right way. I am wondering what the best manufacturing facilities or other places must people would not think to loot.

[Lt Gargoyle]

I think most banks would be safe from the average person. I imagine they have M.D. vaults. I am not saying they would not be looted, just not by the average person.

[csbioborg]

that is a great find I already can see people hiding in caves melting down batteries and plating bullets with them

[Nadrakas]

So I did a real quick search on Google and almost fell over when I found this:

http://www.silverinstitute.org/batteries.php

Batteries are going to be in almost everything so there you have it...a ready source for the dedicated scrounger.

WildWalker

Not trying to torpedo this, but you would need a huge amount of batteries to get an appreciable return of Silver. I've been searching, but nobody online seems to give an estimate of how much silver is in a Silver-Oxide (Silver-Zinc) battery. The specifics of how they work is the Silver-Oxide Battery uses Zinc as the negative electrode (anode), Silver-Oxide as the positive electrode (cathode) plus an alkaline electrolyte (References: http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=2651 and http://www1.duracell.com/procell/chemistries/silver.asp ).

Here is a link to a place that recycles Silver-Oxide batteries: http://www.precious-metal-refining.info/tag/silver-oxide-batteries/ (I have nothing to do with them...).....FYI: As of 29 Dec '10, silver costs $22.16 per ounce.


I don't think that melting would work though.

However, if we take advantage of Chemistry, then I think this might work (Don't try this for real...)

So, we have hundreds of Zinc-Oxide batteries. We crack them open, put the dry components in a large Glass Container and slowly add Water and stir until the dry components dissolve -- do not over-wet! Take a hand-crank, insert a metal wire from the hand crank and start cranking to generate electricity. Keep generating until the liquid is clear and you see silver at the bottom of the Glass.

Not sure how many you will need for a bullet, but lets say 100 nickel sized Silver-Oxide batteries will give you one bullet. So, start raiding your local electronics stores and Gas Stations (For the Car Batteries). Of course, you are going to want to make sure those batteries are out of power and that the rechargeable ones can't be recharged anymore.

Now...for another question: Will the Zinc-Oxide batteries be around in the future? The Lithium batteries were only around for about 10 or so years, so I think that battery technology will continue to improve and eventually (faster than we want) move away from Silver...especially if precious metals continue to rise in cost.


~ N

[Nadrakas]

Some quick info:

- Silvers Melting Point: 1234.93 K (961.78°C or 1763.20°F)
- Median Glass: 1973.15 K (1700°C or 3092°F)


Sources of Silver
- Electronics have some Silver in them. Probably a gram or two, depending on the electronic item.
--- A sub category would be Bionics & Cybernetics. Sounds gruesome, but stripping the dead may become necessary.

- Glass Mirrors: A thin layer of Silver is behind the glass. Crack & Melt. Welcome to 7-years of bad luck!

- Silverware (of course)

- Dentists and Dental Supply Companies: I think that even in the future silver will be used for fillings among those who can't afford better (like having your tooth regrown, retractable fangs, etc...)

- Silver Coins: As csbioborg pointed out, the local Jewelry Store, & by extension Pawn Shops, would be cleaned out early on. Some collectors though might have some, if you can find them.

- Solar Energy Panels: As of today at least. I'd imagine they would be similar to batteries in how they work, but perhaps with more silver(?).

- Super-Conductivity Research: If near Chicago, then you have it made: Fermilab, would have a lot of Silver. Hmmm...hopefully there are no "Blue Lines". Link: http://hep.uchicago.edu/ (Under Research)

- Electroplating Plants: Obviously ones that Electroplate Silver.


Probably not a good source anymore:
- Photography: Except for those few people who would still do chemical processing, most photography is all digital with photos being made from printers. Even today, most photography is digital, even among the professionals. It's just cheaper and you can send the photo's across the web for use by your publisher, the news agency, etc.


~ N

[csbioborg]

I've been thinking of doing a campaign in NOrthern Alabama
were NEMA and the military are nonexistent
the players would be witch hunters and the like
you could have a us marine on recruiting duty or any other military occ but they would not have any md weapons intially hence the importance of IEDs silver, iron etc
a .50 cal round does 6d6 damage which is honestly way to low
if you have evr seen a .50 cal hit something in real life
its instadeath so that should at least be doubled really tripled
even by canon though a modern day civilian .50 cal baret doing a head shot
could kill most demons pretty quickly assuming they are coated in silver
or iron depending on what type of demon
and the range is so great you are not in danger of the demons energy or spell attacks
so a small team of insurgents could manage to survive and slay if they were smart

[Nadrakas]

I've been thinking of doing a campaign in NOrthern Alabama
were NEMA and the military are nonexistent
the players would be witch hunters and the like
you could have a us marine on recruiting duty or any other military occ but they would not have any md weapons intially hence the importance of IEDs silver, iron etc
a .50 cal round does 6d6 damage which is honestly way to low
if you have evr seen a .50 cal hit something in real life
its instadeath so that should at least be doubled really tripled
even by canon though a modern day civilian .50 cal baret doing a head shot
could kill most demons pretty quickly assuming they are coated in silver
or iron depending on what type of demon
and the range is so great you are not in danger of the demons energy or spell attacks
so a small team of insurgents could manage to survive and slay if they were smart

I doth quoteth: "WOLVERINES"!!!!


~ N

[Spinachcat]

I love the idea of raids for Silver / Pure Iron!

You could easily use NEMA personnel...just 10 years into the CE timeline where things aren't any better, but finding ammo is nigh-impossible so 2ndary options must be sought out.

[csbioborg]

who do you think the witch hunters ar going to be in this campaign?
The PCs of course.
Although the whole concept of witch hunters is soething that I take with a grain of salt
its a legit OCC 5 years down the road but at the time of the Cataclysm where did all thes witch hunters come from
its not like demon lore is something you pick up in college
When I pay this campagin in a couple months its going to be guys that turn into witch hunters eventually

[tmikesecrist3]

anther thought I now people do not trust banks or the USD at this point not that I blame them save money in the form of silver rounds. there look like coins but they are not legal tender so the look like coins but there not. and there an OZ of silver right there. I actealy plain on saving in the form of silver its about the only way to save money with out losing money as the money in the bake losses value faster then you gain interest

[sirkermittsg]

not just junk yards but old garbage dumps. maybe they will develop a silver detector.....like a metal detector but specific to silver.

[GrampaAllen]

Antique shops and silver solder from hardware stores.

One and five ounce bars are regulary used by investors but those are 99 percent pure silver so you could probably mix those to stretch your supply, and make it harder for weapons although bullets do not need hardening.