Category: Investing/Barter

Two Letters Re: Cost Comparison: Factory Loads and Reloaded Ammunition

James, Grandpappy isn’t comparing apples to oranges correctly. His reloaded ammo pricing is for premium self defense bullets, which cost $150 or so per thousand. Most people are going to reload cast lead, which would cost $50 or 60 per thousand for a .40 S&W for example. If you price new premium self defense ammo, like Doubletap, it is going for around $700 a case. If you purchased new brass (why?) Hornady or Speer premium SD bullets, you would still be able to build your own (which we supposedly should not due to legal concerns) SD ammo for half the …


Cost Comparison: Factory Loads and Reloaded Ammunition, by Grandpappy

There are some significant cost differences between reloading shotgun shells and reloading pistol and rifle ammunition.  The following cost summaries illustrate these differences (all cost data collected in June 2009): Pistol Ammunition Summary: $0.270 = Total Cost of one New Factory-Loaded 40 S&W 165 Grain Pistol Cartridge. $0.206 = Total Material Cost to Reload one Used 40 S&W 165 Grain Pistol Cartridge. $0.064 = Cost Savings of Reloading one Used 40 S&W 165 Grain Pistol Cartridge. Rifle Ammunition Summary: $0.800 = Total Cost of one New Factory-Loaded 308 Caliber 165 Grain Rifle Cartridge. $0.480 = Total Material Cost to Reload …


Welcome to the Savage World of the Year 2009

“Welcome to the savage world of the year 2009”. That was the tag line of the 1992 sci-fi film Freejack , starring Emilio Estevez. Do you remember it? The movie that featured Cadillac Gage V100 wheeled APCs painted in bright colors? My old friend All-Grace-No-Slack-Really-Reformed Kris just reminded me about this movie. Kris noted: “It was a bit corny but it had some good scenes and characters such as Amanda Plummer as the gun-toting nun.” This film provides an insight on what futurists then thought 2009 would be like, as well as a retrospective on life in 1992. Let’s look …


Letter Re: Keep Ammo in Original Boxes?

Mr. Editor, I’ve purchased ammo for self protection and for future barter. Is it best to keep the ammo in the original boxes (e.g. the nice green UMC boxes with the plastic insert that holds the rounds in place) and put those boxes into ammo cans? Or should I just dump all the ammo into an ammo can loose? I could fit many more rounds in each can by dumping them in loose, but I’m concerned about impacting the future barter value of the ammo. And also, if I end up selling some of the ammo before TSHTF, I would …


Letter Re: Gun Show Report–A Window of Opportunity?

Jim, On Sunday, I attended what is billed as the largest gun show in North Carolina and thought you and your readers might appreciate an update. What I saw lead me to believe that supplies of black rifles and magazines are catching back up to demand but that ammunition and reloading components remain in short supply — especially primers. When I attended the November show, I had to wait in line 30 minutes or so just to get in. I heard the March show had a two hour wait. Today, there was no wait at all. It was crowded inside, …


Letter Re: Rethinking Uncommon Rifle Chamberings

Mr. Rawles- I read “Patriots: A Novel Survival in the Coming Collapse” a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it. Thank you. I wanted to mention: I try to follow conventional wisdom about caliber choices for SHTF weapons. Interestingly, in the current ammo shortage, it’s still somewhat easy to get ammo for oddball calibers. For example, if one needs 7.5×55 Swiss, 7.65x54R Russian or 7.5×54 French, many online dealers have it in stock, while 9mm, 45 ACP, 12 gauge buckshot, 308, 223, 7.62×39 etc., are very hard to come by. For people who don’t have the budget to stockpile a …


Letter Re: Canadian Gun Shows–Behind The Power Curve

James, Just sending this letter as a quick update to the situation with ammunition and “black guns” or defensive weapons in Canada. Contrary to what many people think, Canada does allow citizens to get licensed and own firearms of most types. Basically anything except full auto weapons unless you previously owned one years ago and were grandfathered after that particular portion of Nazi legislation was implemented. This last weekend I was fortunate to attend Canada’s largest gun show in western Canada located in Cow Town, Calgary, Alberta. This gun show is nothing compared to the big shows across many of …


Letter Re: Knob Creek Report on Ammunition, Magazines, and Parts

Jim, I just got back from attending the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot near Fort Knox, Kentucky. I have never seen the ammo situation as bad there as it was on April 3rd to April 5th. I took four other people that have never been there and told them that they would be able to satisfy their needs at this show over any other. Boy, was I wrong! Supply on certain items was either non existent or had decreased dramatically. Several nationwide ammo dealers didn’t even show up and I have seen them there for 10 consecutive years. 9mm +P+ …


Letter Re: Lessons Learned by the Victim of a Home Burglary

Jim, I’m writing you today after our rural home/retreat was broken into while we were at work. I thought it would never happen to me, Oh, was I so very wrong. First things first, thank you for convincing me to purchase a safe and after reading the suggestion many times in you blog I eventually bolted it down. This is the only thing that saved me from losing the safe and all of its contents. The Sheriff told me of another burglary where the didn’t have his very large (“they can’t move it–its too heavy”) safe bolted down and they …


Letter Re: Ammunition Shortages in U.S. Might Become Chronic

Hi Jim, A man with the Customer Service department at Midway explained that backorders are expected to continue and there appears to be no reduction in demand. Browsing their web site, I see ‘expected’ delivery dates pushing further into the future, and up to six weeks delay for the less expensive and common caliber hunting bullet, mostly .30 caliber bullets. Many premium bullets are also on ‘back order’ since my last visit. And now, even less common caliber bullets are backordered as well as other reloading components and reloading tools. The shortage at Cabela’s also continues. The Civilian Marksman Program …


Letter: Full Capacity Magazine Price Inflation and Scarcity

James, I too purchased a PTR-91 [HK91 clone] rifle and ordered 50 magazines from PTR 91 Inc. The shipping was reasonable and when I received them, there were [actually some free “bonus”, for a total of] 55 magazines. They ranged from good to like new condition and had dates all the way from 1963 thru early 1990s. For $107 delivered, I got 55 magazines and a very big smile on my face. – M.E.K .


Letter: Full Capacity Magazine Price Inflation and Scarcity

Greetings – Just wanted to say “thank you” for suggesting the PTR-91 as a battle rifle option. I will freely admit to getting caught up in the AR-15 hysteria but I have come to my senses and saved money thanks to SurvivalBlog. German surplus G3 alloy military surplus magazines in good to excellent condition are easily available in quantity for $3-to-$4 each. Contrast that with AR-15 mags at $15+ each, and that’s a 5:1 ratio. Or, for the same $90 folks are paying for a single AR-10 mag, they can get more than 25 surplus G3 mags, shipped! In addition, …


Letter Re: Wealth Destruction–Real Wealth or Just On-Paper Wealth?

Sir: I followed the link in Thursday’s blog to this I followed this news story: 45 percent of world’s wealth destroyed: Blackstone CEO. It stated: “Between 40 and 45 percent of the world’s wealth has been destroyed in little less than a year and a half.” I don’t see how Schwarzman can be right about that. The factories are still there. the farms are still there. The houses are still there. And there are still warehouses full of everything from Machinery and bar stock to Sponge Bob Squarepants toys.So what has been destroyed are just “on paper” profits, not any …


How Many Magazines is Enough?, by Cowboy

It’s nice to know how many guns you have to share amongst those mags, or better yet how many magazines do you have to share amongst multiple like model rifles or pistols for that matter. That’s how I count them to see if I feel like I have enough or not. Plus, I like to count in the possibility of adding another gun or two into that particular category at a later date since buying extra mags is always cheaper than adding a new gun. If nothing else, extra mags are a great investment for later sale or barter especially …


Letter Re: Advice on Silver or Gold Jewelry for Barter?

Hello Jim, Been learning a lot from Survival Blog, thanks for the great work. I’m just wondering if sterling silver and 14 karat [gold] jewelry (plain [rings or chains], or gemstones would make good bartering items? Have been thinking of selling them and using the money for preparedness, etc but wondered about this. Thanks very much for all the useful information. – Mrs. H. JWR Replies: Although at first blush keeping jewelry on hand might seem practical, in actuality its drawbacks outweigh its benefits. Perhaps metals, but gemstones are a definite no. Gemstones–either diamonds or colored stones–will not be trusted …