Am I understanding Gunsmithing correctly?

[Unruly]

So I was just looking at Gunsmithing, and I was sort of amazed by the sheer numbers of it.

Unless I'm misunderstanding, in 8 hours a character with the Gunsmithing feat could, ostensibly, make 10,000 bullets using a simple lead-casting mold and a hot fire(lead melts at around 600 degrees F, which is pretty easy to reach even with wood as fuel). The non-Gunsmithing numbers seem more realistic, since you're limited to 1,000, but even then it's something that I think looks kind of high.

Did I read the feat wrong?

Mixing gunpowder is more understandable for it's high yield, since it's a much simpler process overall. It's grinding, measuring, and mixing a handful of solid chemicals, and it's a process that scales up pretty easily, especially if you have the materials in powdered form already. All it would take is enough material and a large enough mortar and pestle. But casting lead shot, be it ball or conical bullets, is much more intensive. Most portable molds, historically, were for a dozen shots or less, and even after casting you have to go over each shot to check for gross imperfections and to remove leftover flash.

I know, I know, realism and RPGs, especially fantasy RPGs, don't go together, but it just really strikes me as odd. 10,000 bullets in 8 hours feels like it's approaching early mass-production speeds, not single-person speed.

[Gilarius]

1000 gp worth of bullets = 1000 bullets per day, not 10000. This costs you 100 gp.

It's the best way of making money I've noticed, until you saturate the market.

[Bronnwynn]

With the right equipment, I can totally pound out a simple minie bullet every three second. I probably can't keep that pace up for 8 hours, and it takes some setup time (notably, getting the lead melted and keeping a large enough stock of melted lead that I can continually fill moulds) but it's possible.

I'd need a very large melting pot, a *lot* of mass moulds, and a *lot* of space.

But, eh, gun rules. Where guns are wont to explode without the slightest provocation and a revolver in trained hands can't reliably hit a five foot square on a wall 25 feet away. Or 5 feet away, for that matter.

Edit: Of course, if it's 1000/day, that becomes much more reasonable.

[Unruly]

And thank you, Gilarius, for reminding me about the base cost part of the crafting rules! For some reason I had forgotten all about that.

It all makes much more sense now.