Jim,
I read today your recommendation to stock hollowpoint pistol calibers for barter. Why, exactly? I typically have been buying and storing inexpensive but name brand ammo for barter purposes, and usually in solids – 158gr .38, 230 grain .45 ACP, etc. I also use this sort of ammo for practice, and save the high performance ammo for defensive use. Thanks for your time, – Flighter
JWR Replies: I anticipate that only half of my post-TEOTWAWKI customers will be knowledgeable about guns. To the uneducated, hollow-points seem tremendously more deadly than full metal jacketed or soft led loads. So, with that in mind, when I buy extra ammo for barter, I tend to buy hollow-points. This same reasoning even goes for .22 rimfire hollow-points! Yes, I know that they don’t expand appreciably more than lead round nose. But my potential barter customers will think that hollow-points are “better” so they will give me more for them in trade. It sounds silly, but I see this sort of thing go on with know-nothing customers at gun shows all the time.(I’ve been renting tables at gun shows for almost 20 years.)