Odds ‘n Sods:

I recently had a reader in Quebec (who prefers to be anonymous) e-mail me to ask if I thought that the gold market was nearing its peak. The short answer is no. Adjusted for the inflation of today’s US dollar, the 1980 high in the spot price of gold would be over $2,200 per ounce today. I expect the next peak to be somewhere north of $1,500 per ounce. To be conservative and safe, if you have a large position in gold, you should start to gradually cash out once gold passes the $800 mark. Don’t be greedy and try to time the absolute peak. The chances of doing that with any accuracy are slim. Just plan to sell 10% of your holdings at each $100 interval, once $800 is touched. Where to put the proceeds, as you liquidate? Certainly not in dollars or in anything that is dollar-denominated. Plan to put the proceeds in other tangibles. A few suggestions: guns, full capacity magazines, ammunition, top quality hand tools, productive farm land (that can double as a survival retreat), and perhaps some European optics (rifle scopes and binoculars). Until we are the the very bottom of the upcoming recession (or depression) avoid fine art, classic cars, boats, resort real estate, or other luxury items. They will be dirt cheap if you wait for their respective markets to bottom.

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Michael Z. Williamson suggested the rifle chamber adapters made by MC Ace. I mentioned those in the early days of SurvivalBlog, but they are worth mentioning again. That company bought the tooling that was originally developed by Harry Owen, who advertised in the back of The American Rifleman magazine for more than a decade. We have several of them here at the Rawles Ranch. The one that we use the most often allows a .308 Winchester to shoot .30 US Carbine. They are great for target shooting and small game hunting. They presumably would also a way to be able to use up ammunition that you pick up in barter, after TSHTF. Just be advised that your point of aim will vary considerably versus your rife’s normal chambering, so do some paper target testing at known distances and prepare drop table cards, laminate them, and store those with each adapter. OBTW I should also mention that hey are also fairly slow to use (with some calibers you need to poke out the fired cases from the adapter with a dowel), so they should never be considered for self-defense use.

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Russ sent us this one: Portents of A Nuclear Al-Qaeda.

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Because of some business commitments with visiting SurvivalBlog clients, the Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update will be omitted this week, but it is expected to return next week.