Category: Investing/Barter

A Full Scale U.S. Dollar Panic Before November?

The news wires were abuzz last week about the global credit squeeze. Bankers are unwilling to make loans when they can’t calculate risk. What risk? Here is a big one: Many of their clients have derivatives exposure, which means that lenders can no longer calculate their credit worthiness. In the banking world, the standard “safe” answer to any loan question in the absence of data is almost universally no. I surmise that if this situation gets any worse, governments may step in and make loan guarantees. (Meaning that the taxpayers would shoulder the risk instead of the bankers.) That may …


Letter Re: Ammunition Prices in the Future?

Sir: I have pondered your recent posts about stocking up on ammo. I’ve decided to spend $6,000–the same that I spent last year on storage food, a wheat grinder, and heirloom gardening seeds–to buy some ammunition to squirrel away. That will pretty well tap out all of my available cash. I’ll mainly be buying mil surplus rifle ammo (.223, 7.62×39 and .308) plus some civilian pistol ammo–mostly .45 auto, for my two Glock 21s and my Glock 30. But I’m also taking your advice from a post earlier this year and buying 300 rounds of .40 S&W, even though I …


Letter Re: Ammunition Prices in the Future?

Jim, I followed the link today about ammo production declines. Do you have any idea how this may effect pricing to the public? I hear from some folks that they expect ammo prices to drop as more of the stockpile hits the market after the (hopeful) end of hostilities in Iraq, et cetera. I wondered if you had an opinion of how things may evolve. Thanks, – Jason in Idaho JWR Replies: I expect ammo prices to remain high, and in fact continue to climb as long as global commodities prices–especially copper and lead–remain high. The world’s credit markets are …


Letter Re: Computers – A Cache of Spare Parts For Your Guns

Greetings, As the British would say, it was one of those rare moments of ‘serendipity,’ but I was watching “The Postman” the other night on cable [television], and decided to field strip and clean a couple of rifles while doing so. As I was reassembling my CAR-15 in particular, I told my wife, as I charged the bolt – and felt everything moving as it should in a rightly reassembled firearm – that, “guns are a lot like computers these days – either you put them (back) together the right way, or they simply won’t work at all.” The very …


Ethical Preparedness for WTSHTF, by SF in Hawaii

What (if anything) are you willing to kill for post-SHTF? To consider this question, first let’s start with a quote on justifiable homicide from Wikipedia: Under early Athenian law, it was considered justifiable homicide to kill an adulterer caught in the act or a burglar caught in the act at night… in eighteenth century English law , it was considered a justifiable homicide if a husband killed a man “ravishing” or raping his wife (Blackstone, Wm. at p. 391), but modern law treats this as only a circumstance that will mitigate murder to a conviction for manslaughter . In other …


Cutlery Considerations for TEOTWAWKI, by Gage

In a post-TEOTWAWKI environment many of the services we take for granted now will be nonexistent. We will be growing or own produce, butchering our own livestock, cooking our own food, performing our own minor surgeries and protecting or own lives. We will have to rely on our own skills, knowledge and equipment. Of all the tools available to humans none has more importance than a wide selection of cutlery. History has revealed to us six simple machines that revolutionized the world: the wheel, the lever, the pulley, the inclined plane, the screw, and the wedge. As you may have …


Letter Re: Why Gold and Silver Investing? Will They Have Utility for Barter?

Hello Rawles Family, First off let me say thanks for all the work y’all have put into sharing the knowledge you have. It has opened many eyes and caused may to be saved in the event something really does happen, I’m sure. I have recently started preparing for several types of emergencies and one of them is the collapse of the American dollar. I have seen several times that you suggest pre-1965 [silver] coins, and gold coins. They are a good item to have in this situations but I continually find myself asking “Why?”. My position on this is, people …


Letter Re: Greenspan, Gold, and the Safe Store of Value

Dear Mr. Rawles, Regarding the use of gold as a store of value, it’s important to realize that gold often functions as a fiat currency. It does have intrinsic value for jewelry, electronics, rust-proofing, and some chemistry applications but the vast majority of its value comes from the shared expectation that people will accept it as being valuable in the future. The only difference from fiat dollars is that it’s harder – but not impossible – to increase or decrease the gold monetary supply, and that supply isn’t controlled by any government. In a disaster situation things get even worse, …


Letter Re: Hand Tools–Their Importance, and Sources

Mr. Rawles: In yesterday’s blog, you mentioned that bolt cutters are important to have available. This reminds me of something that my father always taught me: There is no such thing as “wasting” money on tools. With maybe a few exceptions, you can never have too many [tools], because you can use the extra ones as barterables or to pass on to your kids. A lot of things can be improvised, but proper tools can’t [be improvised]. As a prepper, I have a big assortment of tools, mostly hand type. I do have some power [tools], but I consider those …


Letter Re: Confusion About Ban Markings on Rifle Magazines

Mr. Rawles: I was at a gun show last weekend, stocking up on ammo and magazines. A dealer had some original [Ruger] Mini-14 magazines (made at the factory, in white boxes) that were marked “restricted for law enforcement use..” or somesuch, stamped right into the body of the magazine. I also saw some Beretta M92 magazines with a whole bunch of the same kind of “thou shalt not…” small print. I thought that the [Federal] magazine ban had expired. I’m confused here. Could I get in trouble with my local police if I buy magazines with these marks? Thanks, – …


Letter Re: Advice on Buying Silver Dollars for Barter

Jim, In a recent SurvivalBlog post, you mentioned buying pre-1965 silver coins of the dime, quarter and half dollar type. What about silver dollars? My family and I are buying junk silver and including the silver Peace and Morgan dollars in our purchases. Should we concentrate on the smaller denominations? – Bill in KS JWR Replies: Unfortunately, the premium on silver dollars is considerably higher than on the smaller denomination coins. When four quarters ($1) would cost you $11 (11 times face value) a 1921 Morgan (the most common date) silver dollar in well-worn condition will cost you at least …


Reader Poll Results: Your TEOTWAWKI Resume — 100 Words and 100 Pounds

Some of these stretched the 100 word limit. (I skipped posting one that rambled on far beyond the limit.) The poll’s premise in a nutshell: “If someday you went to the gates of a survival community post-TEOTWAWKI and pleaded the case for why you should be let past the barricades and armed guards to become a valuable working member of the group, would you get voted in? Taken objectively, would you vote yourself in?”   I am a shoe maker (not just a repairman) can repair saddles tan leather have done ranch work mechanics weld gardening skills set a broken …


Letter Re: Employment as a Gunsmith, Both Before and After TSHTF

Mr. Rawles, I am a new reader of your blog. One of my co-workers recently told me about it and I am hooked. I never knew there was such a large gathering of like minded people. The reason for this e-mail is to ask about gunsmithing courses. Being new to your site I may not be looking in the right direction. If this is a subject that has not been covered can you or any of your readers recommend an online or correspondence course? Thank you. – Randy G. JWR Replies: I have not yet covered this topic, so here …


Letter Re: Storing Ammo in Cans–Should I Leave it in the Cardboard Boxes?

Hi Mr. Rawles, I’m currently reading and enjoying your fine book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation as well as a few other publications (such a Boston’s Gun Bible, by Boston T. Party), and actually have a rather simple question for you. At present, I am in the process of trying to prepare an urban retreat at our home in Orange County (in the PRK). Until we can early-retire and move to our newly acquired land in either Montana or Wyoming, we are stuck here because of our jobs. In any event, with regard to the subject of long-term ammo storage, …


Letter Re: The Importance of Proper Hearing Protection

JWR, I was having a discussion tonight with a friend of mine who has his own plans. One of the things that came up is those other things we may be missing from our “duty equipment”. It’s great to have rifles, pistols, magazines, bullet proof vests, gas masks and all the other kit. But the one thing we were both missing was hearing protection. While some people may argue that the damage done to the ears during a gunfight is “minimal”. If you are firing your MBR in indoor conditions, you will be in some very serious pain in a …