Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we again look at 80% receivers. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

For those of you of the Chartist persuasion: Gold Price Exclusive Update Shows Sector Cycle Is Down

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Palladium: This Is What a Run on the Bank for Precious Metals Looks Like…

Economy & Finance:

CNBC reports: Private payrolls soar in January, the best monthly gain in nearly 5 years

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At Zero Hedge: California Is Losing More Jobs To China Than Any Other State

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Cyptogon
reports: Jeffrey Epstein’s Mystery Bank Came Alive After His Death

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Will the Coronavirus Cause a Global Recession?

Cryptos:

CryptoExchange Hacks, In Review

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Anthony Pompliano Believes Bitcoin Price Climb to $100K Has Started

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The Sky’s the Limit for Ripple’s XRP as Price Busts Past 2 Key Resistances

Tangibles Investing:

I am regularly frustrated by FFL dealers who refuse to ship me pre-1899 guns, unless they go through an FFL. Here is a typical e-mail reply that I received, when I made a query about buying a rifle that was manufactured by Ludwig Lowewe, Berlin. (This was a company that went out of business in 1897, when the Loewe Company was merged into the DWM conglomerate.) The dealer wrote:

“It came to me from an FFL and I am an FFL.  Since it was in his book, it goes in mine. I don’t mind shipping antiques straight to a non-licensee, but in a case like this there’s a paper trail that leads to me. When I ship a gun with a paper trail, I pack the paper trail with it.”

This displays a statist “I’m just following orders” mentality. But in this case the “orders” are self-imposed. Rightfully, whenever an FFL receives a gun that they learn to be a pre-1899 antique, then they should log it out of their bound book with the notation “Inadvertent entry – Pre-1899.” That should be the end of it! Licensees should not clutter their books with pre-1899s, any more than they should with any muzzleloaders or air rifles that they receive. None of them are “firearms” under Federal jurisdiction! (See: Title 18, U.S.C.)

I’m reminded of an often-quoted passage by Goethe: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”

For stupidly statist dealers like these, I have a simple solution: I direct them to ship the “papered” pre-1899s that I’m buying to a friend of mine, who has an FFL. We meet once every couple of months, usually at a gun show, where he simply hands the pre-1899 guns to me. The only drawback is that my FFL buddy lives 200 miles away, so getting together can be a challenge, especially in the winter months.

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I’d like to gauge interest: Would anyone be interested if I were to add 80% complete receivers to my product line at Elk Creek Company? I’m thinking about adding:

  • Polymer 80 Glock 17 size frames and jigs
  • Polymer 80 Glock 19 size frames and jigs
  • SIG P320 80% complete Trigger Modules and jigs
  • Alloy AR-15 80% lowers and jigs

Let me know if any of those interest you. I should be able to buy them in quantity, so that I can sell them at a substantial discount to their normal retail prices.

Provisos:

SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers.

News Tips:

Please send your economics and investing news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who closely watch specific markets. If you spot any news that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers, then please send it in. News from local news outlets that is missed by the news wire services is especially appreciated. And it need not be only about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!




36 Comments

    1. I am interested in these partially complete items. I suspect that other vendors would add my contact information to a freely available list. My hope is that Elk Creek would hold my information only long enough to complete the transaction and honor any warranty if applicable. Thank you.

    1. TMs jig is pretty good, it was tough catching them when they were in stock when I was looking. I know it is not a “jig” but, if you can afford it, a Ghost Gunner is fantastic.

  1. Had this same conversation with a local store… Would be interested in an 80% lower, and a jig!, if I could pay cash for it and walk out the door without showing any ID or other traceable documentation. A shipping label, record of transaction, etc… may be enough to make me object.

    1. You need a PO Box in another state… A state you file taxes in which doesn’t have state income tax and excellent gun laws. A hem…. Nevada, Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Texas… to name a few…. Go and fetch your 80% lowers there and drive them to your residence….

  2. If you read the law and relevant federal regulation definition of “receiver” a lower receiver of an AR-15 is not a firearm, therefore they can be sold with no paperwork. Just like an antique gun the dealer you reference above wants paperwork on. There is precedent for this, look at the failed recent prosecutions for people in possession of lower receivers.

  3. As many others have said, “Yes” on the 80%’s. I trust that any information that happened to be exchanged would be far more secure with you than with any other online retailer.

  4. A FFL that you know has improperly recorded might want to know they will be reported for it and a investigation initiated for the infraction. No reason a violation be allowed to continue and proper books not be kept.

Comments are closed.