Nice thing about MPSIMS is it’s choc full O’ folks much better read than I. Time to tap that.
I’m writing a short story right now and I’ve hit a bit of a wall.
The protagonist is battling a witch-like creature, and in preperation for the fight needs silver bullets, so she swipes a her grandmothers collection of World’s Fair silver collectable spoons (ever see those silly things in gift shops?) and… and… er… ummm.
Hey, where would a person go to get silver bullets made?
I know there are folks who “pack their own brass”, but are there like moulds for bullets? Would a blow torch melt silver? And tackiest detail of all, are silver bullets even effective on witches (actually, might be funny if it didn’t work, this is a comedy) or is it just supposed to work on Werewolves and Vampires (actually I understand theres a lot of heated debate among vampire afficianados on this point).
Also, if theres any firearms people reading this, could you give me some search terms for bullets? “Bullet” “Mould” and “Brass” haven’t been much help.
I don’t know about where you would go to get silver bullets made and a blowtorch might melt it if it was hot enough but that might take awhile.
Lets see… about the silver affecting Vampires and Werewolves it depends on which legends you follow and/or if you roleplay. Myself I am a RPer and I follow White-wolf guidelines (what I know of them since I am not too knowledgable though I know a decent amount)
According to them Vampires are NOT affected by silver. The things that can actually harm them are fire and sunlight a stake to the heart will not cause final death (like you see on Buffy them turning to dust when they get hit with a stake… not so) but it will paralize them enabling you to destroy their bodies (with fire or sunlight being the best because otherwise there is always a chance for them to return… and some vampires can survive in sunlight for a short time due to one of the disciplines which is called fortitude)
According to White-Wolf, Werewolves are affected by silver. Wounds caused by it are aggravated and hard to heal as well as the silver poisons their blood. When in homid (human) form they can wear silver jewelry as long as it does not touch their blood they are fine. I think the same may apply to lupus (wolf) form but why would a wolf be wearing silver jewelry?
There are other legends though and if you go by them you may get conflicting answers but I think in general silver was considered to affect all supernatural creatures since it is the Moon’s metal and the moon is considered to be a powerful entity. (look at Paganism most of it revolves around the earth and moon I think its remnants of that time and beliefs that our legends come from)
Of course, you’re absolutely free to create your own rules, as long as you remain consistent within your fictional framework…
For the silver bullets do a search on “reload” + “ammo” or “ammunition.” The very best way to research this is just look through the resulting sites; that way you can learn the subject the way your protagonist might be forced to…
Good luck. Hope you’ll inform the Dopers when you’re published!
Making silver bullets would be dificult, but doable. First off you would want some sort of mould. For simplicity’s sake, I think the easiest way to do that would simply be to remove the bullet from a standard cartridge and fashion a ceramic mould around it. Then you would have to melt the silver and put it in the mold-this would be the tricky part, as I really don’t know what common household devices could possibly be used to melt silver.
A simpler solution suggests itself though. If the character were to buy bullets, then drill or cut a hole in the bullet itself and simply insert some silver into it, would that be sufficient?
(As far as witches go, though, I don’t recall anything about silver being necessary- a regular bullet would be just as effective(and probably more accurate).)
Hey Inky- sounds like a good story. I used to reload .45 bullets and we could melt the LEAD with just the flame from a fireplace or the gas stove. A blowtorch would PROBABLY melt silver. There are moulds, in fact they are very simple, they look like a modified pair of pliers with the hinge at the farthest point away from the handles. Each half has the mould of half a bullet, close them up and the two halves form to make one bullet. Pour the lead in, let it set, open it up and let the bullet cool, then trim any flashing. We had several, diff calabers.
I dont know if silver is effective on witches, never heard that it was. One thing you might think of is that I once read that since silver is so much lighter then lead, a silver bullet would tumble end over end and not be accurate at any distance. Gold would probably be a better choice for precious bullets… L
Actually, silver bullets already exist. At least, bullets with some silver content. Try a search for Oregon Trail Bullets or Laser Cast Bullets. There may even be a source for someone who loads these bullets for sale to the general public. I am not sure of the silver content of these bullets, but you will be able to find out with no trouble.
I know very little about the vampire/werewolf mythology, but I think it is silver itself, not a “bullet” per se which kills. If this is the case, a shotgun shell might work for you. A shell can be packed with popcorn seed, lead balls, silver shards, etc.
Anyone can buy tools and powder to make shells. I don’t know from where, I hate guns. Good luck
Oh! damn good idea Stranger!!! Your right… you can get shotgun shell reload equip at Wal-Mart for heavens sake! That would be perfect for short distances!
Stranger your right its not the ‘bullet’ its the silver. It was just put in a bullet for ease of use. A Werewolf in the WW world can be hurt just as much as using a silver coated sword as a silver bullet and even the touch of silver on the skin (except when homid form as stated above) or in the blood can seriously hurt them.
Little Nemo I love that book I have to buy it for myself. I borrowed it from a library once and went through it TONS of info on all sorts of vamp legends.
I’ve already decided that the silver bullets, while a great plot contrivance, won’t be all that effective against the she-beast character.
The creation of the bullets won’t be as important in themselves as much as they will lead to the introduction of an additional character, Abe “Action” Abromowitz, the worlds only jewish survivalist.
A great deal of web hunting produced a description of a lead fishing weight maker, not unlike the item B_Line12 described, in any case this detail will probably just be glossed over.
Witches are not supernatural creatures, they merely wield the supernatural, so a silver bullet will not harm them any more than an ordinary bullet.
Whereas Werewolves and Vampires are of exclusively supernatural origin. Werewolves can only die from silver bullets or arrows, and Vampires die from sunlight, or a stake through the heart (garlic, holy water, and crosses are merely deterrents, though some cause damage)
OK, I don’t know about the rules in role playing games or whatever, but if you’re writing based on actual folklore, silver does two things: Jack and shit.
The idea of silver killing the supernatural came about right around the time the Wolfman, starring Lon Chaney was released. This is also the time that the Lone Ranger was enjoying immense popularity on the radio. Coincidence? No, say my sources.
I once saw an interview with John Landis, the director of An American Werewolf in London. What he said in the interview prompted me to do a little research of my own. Originally he wanted to make a vampire picture, but during reserach he found the vampires were a mainly Central and Eastern European legend, while werewolves existed in folklore in almost every culture around the world. So he changed his vampire story to a more universally connected werewolf story, and while researching werewolves more in depth, learned that the film had taken the idea of silver killing the werewolf from the popularity of the Lone Ranger. This is why in American Werewolf in London, the wolf is killed by police using very regular lead bullets.
In short, killing with silver is a Hollywood brainchild. Try looking up any special effects of silver on the supernatural in a publication that came out BEFORE the film the Wolfman. I doubt anything will be there. If there is evidence that contradicts what I’ve just said . . . I’ll eat this post.
Of course, we could always ask Cecil about this one if no one can come up with a definite answer.
The idea that vampires are killed by sunlight is also a 20th century movie invention. It first appeared in the 1922 film Nosferatu. Literary vampires like Dracula, Carmilla, Varney, or Ruthven all made daytime appearances.
I should mention that werewolves, vampires, and zombies can also be killed by beheading. Along with damn near anything else. So just give your guy an axe or chainsaw and he’s all set.
Oh, it’s older than that. Take the story of the Beast of Gevaduan. In 1764 a large, wolf-like creature started killing people in a rural region of France. Hunters went after it, and it was supposedly shot on several occasions, but it didn’t died. People began to think it was a werewolf. Then, one guy made some silver bullets (silver being a traditional charm against evil), had a priest bless them, and went hunting. He shot the beast and it died. In fact, this incident may be the origen of the silver-bullets-killing-werewolves idea.
Also, I think the part about vampires and werewolves reproducing by biting people is a modern Hollywood addition. In the older vampire stories, the vampire usually kept sucking on a person night after night, until they died from blood loss. Then, that victim became a vampire him/herself. It was a long, drawn-out process, never a one-time bite. Likewise, werewolves attacked people to eat them. I think werewolves were supposed to be a small tribe of people who decided that this was really cool way to live or something. Werewolves aren’t undead, so presumably they reproduce like any other person (i.e. through sex).
BTW: the funniest vampire movie I’ve seen was one I saw on, IIRC, the USA Network. I only saw a few minutes of it and don’t know the title, but these two guys filled a pair of Super-Soakers with holy water, and then cleared out a room full of vampires. The holy water dissolved the vampires like it was acid. It was a little gory, but hillariously funny!
Diceman I think the one your thinking of sounds something like The Lost Boys I don’t know if thats the one though I do recall them having a tub of holy water and garlic mixed together and though my mind is a little fuzzy right now I do believe 2 of the boys had water guns filled with the mix.
I don’t think you can just melt down silver, pour it into a mold (that’s how us Americans spell it!), pop it into a gun and fire away. I believe you need some sort of gun powder to make it go. I think it’d be pretty complicated, even for the world’s only Jewish survivalist.
You might be better off with the shotgun shell idea, or even to modify Initial Entry’s idea and silver-plate an already existing bullet instead. Maybe Abe can be a part-time jeweler too, proficient in the art of electroplating.
I gotta read this when you’re done, sounds like it’s going to be good.
So just give your guy an axe or chainsaw and he’s all set.