I realize this is not a survivalist forum, but...

[jroback]

ahhh -- now I understand. thx.

[Larry White]

Smart man told me once that if you own one or more pistols one of them has to be a .22.------------------Larry White

[Carmoney]

I have had good experiences ordering from www.jmbullion.com

Their pricing structure seems more favorable than most of the other online sources.

[Miranda]

I think I'm not understanding something. Why 22 ammo, and not another caliber?

To add to the reasons for 22 long rifle, certainty that a lot of people will want it.

it has a value in food and self defense.

it helps that it is hard to cheat with look-a -likes.

the last one adds a certainty to the transaction,

so it can be used as coin-of-the-realm.

[prairiefire]

I'm not a survivalist, but the prospect of social unrest if the economy goes bad or terrorists disrupt our power grid or an EMP gets set off over the USA, uncontrolled plague like Ebola.....etc, could be some very bad times in short order with people not behaving in a very civilized manner. Would seem prudent to be well armed and have enough extra in ammo and guns to provide basic protection for one's family as well as to secure some element of a food supply. As a rule, I doubt that many of us would do a good job of surviving in such an environment - especially in large urban settings. It does give one pause to ponder such a scenario.

[dolbyconnor]

My buddy bought silver bars from apmex.com . I've made purchases from kitco.com . However, precious metals are often pretty poor investments as they don't make money for you...your only way to make money is speculation.

[SiG Lady]

All the gold/silver bars in your safe won't mean much if you don't have shelter, food/water, gasoline, and ammo. One can't eat gold bars.

[Reshoot]

We own a little gold, and a touch more silver. Way more important to my family is the ability to make 1,000 hours of electricity (with stored fuel). Running the generator, conservatively, gives us 6+ months of well water, hot water, 2 chest freezers and light when needed. We can from the garden and buy bulk food which we can and / or freeze. That, coupled with the ability to hunt, gives us 9+ months of food. As long as we are able to cut wood we can heat the entire house, even in sub zero temperatures. Even though the 13 kw generator will run the central air conditioner, we would spend hot weather in the basement.

No amount of money, be it printed or gold, will buy what is not available.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Reshoot

[Miranda]

in a world where they turn back time...

I am trying to think of a time when

gold didn't buy what is available.

It is very hard to imagine surviving there.

the knowledge and facilities to make useful items

will be a key to living then.

anyone here know how to make primers?

miranda

[openclassterror]

Primers are sporadically available and compact, inexpensive and easy to store for long periods. As long as they are not directly exposed to liquid moisture or chemical contaminants they last decades. Just buy lots and store them. It is easy enough to make primers if you have a cam-operated punch press, a punch die for each size primer cup, a punch die for each size anvil, raw material for the cup, and a way to make the priming compound safely. Main issue is this. Recipe for mercuric primers is simple (but corrosive), obtaining mercury is not. Modern priming compounds are manufactured using Barium, which is regulated as a radioactive substance. That is why 100 mom-and-pop companies don't start making primers whenever they get hard to find. You can store enough primers for 20 lifetimes in a footlocker, and they have increased in value more than the stock market average consistently for 20 years. Why not just buy them when you see them? Use when necessary, trade/ sell when not?

[kneelingatlas]

Primers...

Why not just buy them when you see them? Use when necessary, trade/ sell when not?

I started reloading ~2 years ago, pretty much the worst time imaginable to get what I needed, but I saw primers in stock one day online, bought 20K and used them to trade for everything else I needed. It worked like a charm

[Miranda]

hi openclassterror,

Well. That response is outside of what I expected.

I'll trade you an idea for an idea.

or perhaps gold for primers?

both concepts are storage based.

I'd like you to consider that storing a lifetime supply

of anything is not at all the same thing as being able to make

a lifetime's supply of anything.

Mostly this thread has been about the decisions around

buying valuable metals. From who, how much and perhaps why.

I was pointing out that the means to make something is more valuable

than gold sitting in a locking device.

so here is the trade,

a locker full of primers or the ability to fill the locker with primers?

miranda

[Steve RA]

I'd much rather have a footlocker full of .22 long rifles. The big problem, if something like that happened, is being able to protect whatever you might have from roving gangs.

[Dranoel]

What is there to say after a nuclear holocaust, zombie apocalypse, total downfall of civilization, etc, that gold will be worth anything? Under those circumstance there will be no economy to spend it in.

Personally if I was a survivor of any of the above and someone came to me offering a bar of gold for a weeks worth of food and clean water I would laugh him off my property with a rifle in his back.

[Miranda]

What is there to say after a nuclear holocaust, zombie apocalypse, total downfall of civilization, etc, that gold will be worth anything? Under those circumstance there will be no economy to spend it in.

Personally if I was a survivor of any of the above and someone came to me offering a bar of gold for a weeks worth of food and clean water I would laugh him off my property with a rifle in his back.

you'd feed him if you were sure the bar was not from a theft.

the best way to build a community is to keep resourceful people.

and we are walking into survivalist thinking...

miranda

[steviesterno]

i think the best thing is your brain. Without it, everything else is useless. with global markets the way they are, I don't see total pandemonium lasting too long on the global scale.

we just bought a house, so I'll be to start stocking some stuff, collecting rain water, and storing some ammo. We're going to garden, but don't have a ton of room. However, we both like to camp, know how little you actually need to not die, and we're both pretty smart.

I'm also a Chiropractor, so I should be able to help people that get all beat up in the wilderness and trade that for whatever is needed. we'll see how it goes.

I used to really be excited by the zombie invasion. But I'm not sure I'd be interested in living in a world like that for too long.