Profession ammunition assembler

Ammunition assemblers put together explosives and other ammunition components. They perform this work in mass production in ammunition factories. The production itself focuses on the manufacturing of cartridges or projectiles.

Personality Type

• Realistic / Conventional

Knowledge

• Types of ammunition

  Types of small weapons, such as pistols and machine guns, their functionality, various types of ammunition and position on the market.

• Types of propellants

  Field of information which distinguishes different types of propellants such as black gunpowder to forms of smokeless powder derived from nitrocellulose. These create an expanding gas which makes the bullet accelerate from the barrel. Other differences emerge from the expansion rate, size and shape of the powder.

• Quality standards

  The national and international requirements, specifications and guidelines to ensure that products, services and processes are of good quality and fit for purpose.

• Materials of die

  This includes metal materials most often used for die such as magnesium, copper, and brass.

• Explosives

  Behaviour of explosives, pyrotechnics and blasting techniques. Associated risks and legal requirements.

• Types of cartridges

  Field of information wich distinguishes different types of cartridges based on size, shape, ignition type and the propellant. An example is the change in the diameter of the bullet, or caliber.

• Manufacturing of weapons and ammunition

  The manufacture of heavy weapons (artillery, mobile guns, rocket launchers, torpedo tubes, heavy machine guns), small arms (revolvers, shotguns, light machine guns), air or gas guns and pistols, and war ammunition. Also the manufacture of hunting, sporting or protective firearms and ammunition and of explosive devices such as bombs, mines and torpedoes.

Skills

• Check quality of raw materials

  Check the quality of basic materials used for the production of semi-finished and finished goods by assessing some of its characteristics and, if needed, select samples to be analysed.

• Extract products from moulds

  Remove finished products from moulds and examine them in detail for anomalies.

• Operate bullet press

  Handle the machinery which presses bullets through a lead core according to a uniform size and weight. Manually check the bullets for visual and dimensional characteristics.

• Finish shells

  Gauge finished shells by using acceptance jigs. Use a stamping press to record the shell data on the cartridge as well as on the projectile. Finalize the tubes by dipping them in molted parrafin and packing the tubes in crates.

• Assemble bombs

  Tighten pierced and threaded plugs into the base of aerial bombs. Slip metal sleeves around the projectile, and pack the product in metal containers together with additional identification data.

• Assemble ammunition

  Fabricate cartridges by greasing threads on fuses and inserting them in sockets. Place primers in cartridge cases and fill these with gunpowder propellants. Seal the cartridges by the use of adhesives.

• Perform product testing

  Test processed workpieces or products for basic faults.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB