Indeed. This era is precisely wrong for making your own ammo on the go. For it to be believable, you'll need either a lower level of technology (jury-rigged weapons, mechanical weapons) or a higher one (a small device which can transform handy materials into ammunition, or a magnetic accelerator weapon). A magnetic accelerator gun might actually be less choosy about the projectiles it fires, because they could be kept away from the sides of the barrel by magnetic forces.
If you wrap it in wire, it might be.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who replied (or will reply :P). Admittedly, it was disappointing to hear the truth (as I thought I had found a cool, creative way out of the "random ammo not dropped by enemies"), but I'll just get it over it. ;) Thanks for the alternative weapon ideas, too. I guess as an American I'm a little pro-gun/self-defense biased, so I was hoping for a way to showcase an ordinary citizen defending his or herself (again, not looking for a debate, just saying) throughout a game against non-human enemies, but I guess really, learning to handle knives and other non-limited weaponry is a good idea, too. ;)

I'd also like to point out that giving weapons and ammunition more weight is nowhere near a bad thing. I.e, ammo could be scarce and only found in logical places, but it would also be realistically powerful (i.e, a single bullet can potentially kill or wound just about anything...short of an elephant, that is).

If it were me, though, I'd probably say "screw the realism," and do the reloading mechanic anyway. It's a great mechanic. It's the sort of thing that would convince me to buy the game. And after all, it's not any less plausible than the myriad of other superhuman things that videogame characters do.

You could always have the game start with the player finding a sporting goods store and turning that into their base. That way you could introduce the ammo press loading doohicky without stretching realism too far.
Or perhaps finding one of the many, many insane survival nut cellars that exist in the US ;)
They are likely to have all kinds of dangerous stuff lying around, including a workbench with the necessary tools to load shotgun cartridges and other ammo.
A boy scout built a nuclear reactor in a shed, so there are plenty of people doing dangerous stuff around that could be found by the player.

If you are going for realism, how about realistic reloading. If you change mags every 3 roungs fired, you will be out of mags very fast (unless you pocket the spend mag, which isn't really recommended in a combat situtation.)

So far the only game that had this were the original Rainbow Six.

Whilst it's still mostly in the realm of sci-fi, there are theoretical devices that fire bullets made of ice (gas propulsion, rather than explosive), so you could reload simply by finding a water source.

Here's what I'd suggest (and this is semi-realistic):

Coming from someone who's done alot of research into reloading shotshells...the actual reloader wouldn't have to be that big. If you're willing to stuff the propellant and projectiles into the shell yourself (using some small tamper) all the actual "reloader" has to do is seal the shell. All that takes is good leverage. So theoretically if the guy was really strong (a given since he's the hero in a post-apocalypse situation) he could get the required leverage out of something that could fit in his belt. (And honestly there are small bench reloaders now that could fit in a backpack.)

As for the propellent, it really doesn't take much at all. About a hundred grains of black powder is the most you'll ever put into a shotshell. So if you just had him carry a big bag in his backpack, he could reload several thousand rounds before needing more. (Which he could pick up at strategically placed sporting good stores, walmarts, etc.)

As for the shot, he really could put just about anything that was small enough to put in the shell. (Now in real life that would be pretty stupid...but hey...it's a game! ;)

You could then have only have two or three guns throughout the game, and just have him gather a bunch of different reloading equipment and skills for different types of bullets :)


Just an idea :)

Thanks to everyone again. ;) I appreciate the workaround concepts.

This aspect especially interested me, thanks.

Yeah, you laugh, but my ex girlfriend's dad honestly DOES have one of those. He's kinda obsessed with stockpiling/preparing for the collapse of civilization.

On the plus side, since we're still on good terms, I'll have somewhere to go in the event that shit hits the fan.

I thought of something like this before, but when I made the game, I just ended up using older weapons like muskets and whatnot. Creating a musket ball would probably be the most accurate thing you can make that won't backfire or jam too badly. Plus it fits a survival/horror theme :D