First off, I would like to eventually make pieces appropriate to the 3rd quarter of the 13th century, Holy Roman Empire/Bohemia area. Ideally this maille could also be used for earlier periods as well. From what I've read, that means round rings, dome riveted, alternating solid and riveted links. This might be getting ahead of myself, but the end goal should influence the practice.

Would these premade links be a good place to start, and would they be worth a crap as armor or things to do weapon tests on? I do want to make my own links for the final product though.

http://www.by-the-sword.com/p-41984-loose-cha...d-6mm.aspx
http://www.by-the-sword.com/p-41985-loose-cha...g-6mm.aspx

The other option, and what to go to for sure later, is buying wire and mandrel and making my own rings and rivets. I'm thinking wire and shooting for an inner diameter of about 6mm. What gauge should I be looking at? My first thought is using this 16gauge wire.

http://theringlord.com/cart/shopdisplayproduc...Steel+Wire

How do I make solid rings with that though? As far as the construction and patterns, I've searched enough here and elsewhere that I should be okay there.

Have you started making open ring mail?
It's easier and cheaper for starters, and allows easier mistake corrections in the weave and pattern. ;)

In my case I bought a couple of cheap shirts, which I unmade to get loose rings, now transformed in collars, ventails, coifs an other tricky pieces...

Start by making butted mail to get the hang of various weaves, expansions and contractions, direction changes, seams, and tailoring. Then make a few patches of alternating butted and solid links in different shapes to get comfortable with this because it requires a different technique. Then start to learn how to make riveted links because nothing you buy on the open market will look anything like what you want to make. If you don't want to make your own riveted links then forget about riveting completely. You will get something that more closely resembles 13th C mail by simply using alternating butted and solid links compared to the crappy pre-made riveted links that are available.

A good source for solid links is Seastrom but you have to buy in bulk to get a decent price.
http://www.seastrom-mfg.com/

I use these more than any other kind of link.
https://www.seastrom-mfg.com/washerdetails.aspx?productNumber=5702-476-30
I think I have gone through two to three hundred kg of them so far for different projects over the last decade or so.

Okay, I just purchased some rings to play with, butted style, and I guess we'll go from there. I almost can't believe those washers make good maille, but you would know better than me. Can you show a picture of something you've made with those washers? Thanks

The commercially available links are too big for most applications. When archaeological reports and museum catalogues list the dimensions of mail links, they use the outside diameter. When mail manufacturers list link diameters they use the inside diameter. Those so-called 6mm mail links you see being sold on various websites are often over 10mm in actuality. The washers I showed you above are closer to what you need to be similar to what we find in many extant examples. There are exceptions; mail has been found with links as large as 30mm or more but not for the period or culture you are interested in,.