Sage Advice: Topping Off Ammo and Rounding Out Gun Collections Before July

At a recent gun show here in The American Redoubt, I had an interesting conversation with a Vietnam War veteran who is mostly a dealer in ammunition handloading components. As we spoke, he was sitting at his table behind a quite tall pile of cardboard cases of cartridge primers, packaged with 5,000 primers to the outer case. The subject of the upcoming presidential election came up, and I asked him if that is why he had such a large inventory of primers. He responded in the affirmative and then added: “Every time there is some sort of political crisis, I sell out of primers within a couple of weeks. Sometimes the shortages of primers and some types of powder go on for months. So this time I stocked up pretty good. What you are looking at here is not my entire inventory; I have more than twice this many primers sitting in reserve at home.”

This dealer, who has been active at gun shows for more than 40 years, recounted the period of 1994 to 2004, when our nation had a poorly-conceived ban on the manufacture semiautomatic rifles with a list of “assault” features, as well as a ban on the manufacture or importation of 11+ round magazines. He said that one of the happiest days of his life as a gun show dealer came when that law expired, under its built-in sunset clause. He described those 10 years as “crazy times”. (During that decade-long ban, a standard plastic Glock magazine was selling for $75, and a Glock 33-round magazine sold for $120. Meanwhile, a 100-round Beta C-MAG dual drum magazines sold for as much as $525.)

When discussing the presidential candidates, the dealer said that he had mixed feelings about Donald Trump, who he described as “an opportunist” and “Machiavellian, at heart.” As for Cruz, he said that he trusted him as “solidly pro-gun”, but he added that he had nagging doubts about his wife’s connections to the banking elite and the CFR. When the subject turned to Hillary Clinton, he said, “That woman is pure evil. If she gets in [the White House], then we’re sunk. She’ll unleash a bunch of ‘gun control’ through executive orders. But the worst of it will be her supreme court appointments. They will all be hard core anti-gunners. We can kiss the Second Amendment goodbye.” He also warned: “If she gets nominated, the gun store shelves will get stripped clean, and prices will skyrocket.”

His specific advice (with the caveat: “before the Democrat convention in July”) was to:

  • Buy beaucoup ammunition and reloading components.
  • Buy a lifetime supply of full capacity magazines.
  • Buy a “black rifle” (a modern battle rifle) for every member of your family. (“That includes grandchildren.”)

I would add:

  • Make as many purchases as possible face-to-face with cash, and don’t leave a paper/electronic trail. (Depending on your State law, of course)
  • Buy a few extra AR-15 and/or AR-10 stripped lower receivers, if you can find them available as private party sales. (Again, depending on your State law)
  • Buy a few extra complete AR rifles and 30-round PMAGs by the dozen, for your future bartering stock.
  • Update any lapsed passports for your family members.
  • Using cash, buy one or two inexpensive prepaid “burner” (throwaway) flip cellphones, such as those sold by TracFone.
  • In anticipation of nationwide gun registration or an outright ban on certain types of guns, you should hedge by buying a couple of pre-1899 cartridge guns, as well as at least one bolt action rifle that is chambered-alike with your primary battle rifle cartridge(s). These would most likely be .308 or .223.
  • Buy waterproof caching tubes for at least part of your gun collection.
  • Pray for God’s mercy on our nation.

It’s All About Timing

Keep in mind that the Democratic National Convention will be held the week of July 25, 2016. Get ready for its probable aftermath by topping off your ammo supplies, your magazine supplies, and rounding out your gun collections well in advance of that week. Because starting in the first week of August, if Hitlery Clinton is indeed nominated, it is safe to predict that battle rifles, full capacity magazines, and military caliber ammunition will have their prices at least double, almost overnight. So it is in your best interest and in the best interest of your progeny that you stock up in quantity, and do so soon.

Remember: Stocking up before a crisis is legitimate investing, but doing so during a crisis might be misconstrued as hoarding. Regardless, it would be foolish to buy these items after their prices are elevated. Leave that to the sheeple. – JWR