money matters
02-13-2004, 11:51 AM
Back in 1990, I bought a complete reprint of the first 3 years of Mel Tappan's Personal Survival newsletter. This was, imo, the best of the survivalist newsletters and did it all. Mel even reviewed PM assaying kits one month.
Jeff Cooper and Bill Pier were regular columnists as Mel was the Survivalist honcho having written Survival Guns and having a monthly Guns and Ammo column. These were after all the Ford and Carter years.
We talk about Money here at GIM. Cooper had so many good columns for PS newsletter, but Ballistic Wampum was an eye opener. Jeff opined that if you were going to do things right, every time you bought ammo you should by 2x what you need and store the extra. This was to his mind the seed stock for liberty and freedom.
Jeff said that ammunition in many areas would have greater utility value than silver or gold coins. Once it was no longer readily found, a .22 ctg would be more than welcomed to pay for a cup of coffee at the diner. His advice was to store .22 lr Hollow Points (looks better in a barter situation) in quantity. He recommended the other popular ctgs too for those who want to have a wider trading resource.
Lotsa water under the bridge since the article was written. There was a big bruhaha about Winchester Silvertip ammo, seems like Federal has a premium defense round that is just recently off market or soon to be. Silver tips developed a large cult following willing to pay extra to have them for defensive carry. These rounds that enhance terminal ballistics are probably the most desired if you would trade them. Probably not to anyone but your neighbors.
Back to Wampum. Cooper endorsed keeping ammunition for all popular firearms, since most folks will not have adequate ammo supply when TSHTF. He recommended .22LRHP, 38sp, 357mag, 9mmP, 44mag, 45acp, .223rem, .243Win, .270win, 30-30win, 308win, 30-06spr as the core holdings. Jeff stated, depending on your area you might also want to have some 45Colt, 300WinMag. Cooper advised visiting the independent gun dealer who caters to the "one box a year man" to see what he stocks.
Who knows how many .38-55's are out there?
Probably there are more reloaders than ever. the achilles heel of loading is the primer, sure you might be able to take a match head and a punch and remake your primers, but since they are cheap, just buy a bunch of em.
While many of us at GIM have coins, I doubt there will be much immediate trade for coins if we have a survival event. Much better to have a real barter currency like ammo. Save the PMs for later.
As Cooper succintly states, "Once the Committee bans firearms, a handful of .22's will buy your steak dinner." How could he have known about mad cow disease in `77? Point taken though, a box of 180 grain Nosler `06's just might get you 5 gallons of unleaded gasoline, or a stitch job from the local doc. Either one may be all you need to keep on going.
Jeff Cooper's first book of compiled columns "Fireworks" contains many of his PS Newsletter works including Wampum. A good read.
Also more than wholeheartedly endorse, "To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak The Truth". This book contains Cooper's core knowledge about defensive pistol shooting, trigger control, sight picture and holster stroke. He also covers the gist of his knowledge on rifles, and gives rise to the Scout rifle concept. Plus lots of fun in Africa and central america etc etc.
Money Matters
(if you've got everything else, and the tools & skills to keep it)
Jeff Cooper and Bill Pier were regular columnists as Mel was the Survivalist honcho having written Survival Guns and having a monthly Guns and Ammo column. These were after all the Ford and Carter years.
We talk about Money here at GIM. Cooper had so many good columns for PS newsletter, but Ballistic Wampum was an eye opener. Jeff opined that if you were going to do things right, every time you bought ammo you should by 2x what you need and store the extra. This was to his mind the seed stock for liberty and freedom.
Jeff said that ammunition in many areas would have greater utility value than silver or gold coins. Once it was no longer readily found, a .22 ctg would be more than welcomed to pay for a cup of coffee at the diner. His advice was to store .22 lr Hollow Points (looks better in a barter situation) in quantity. He recommended the other popular ctgs too for those who want to have a wider trading resource.
Lotsa water under the bridge since the article was written. There was a big bruhaha about Winchester Silvertip ammo, seems like Federal has a premium defense round that is just recently off market or soon to be. Silver tips developed a large cult following willing to pay extra to have them for defensive carry. These rounds that enhance terminal ballistics are probably the most desired if you would trade them. Probably not to anyone but your neighbors.
Back to Wampum. Cooper endorsed keeping ammunition for all popular firearms, since most folks will not have adequate ammo supply when TSHTF. He recommended .22LRHP, 38sp, 357mag, 9mmP, 44mag, 45acp, .223rem, .243Win, .270win, 30-30win, 308win, 30-06spr as the core holdings. Jeff stated, depending on your area you might also want to have some 45Colt, 300WinMag. Cooper advised visiting the independent gun dealer who caters to the "one box a year man" to see what he stocks.
Who knows how many .38-55's are out there?
Probably there are more reloaders than ever. the achilles heel of loading is the primer, sure you might be able to take a match head and a punch and remake your primers, but since they are cheap, just buy a bunch of em.
While many of us at GIM have coins, I doubt there will be much immediate trade for coins if we have a survival event. Much better to have a real barter currency like ammo. Save the PMs for later.
As Cooper succintly states, "Once the Committee bans firearms, a handful of .22's will buy your steak dinner." How could he have known about mad cow disease in `77? Point taken though, a box of 180 grain Nosler `06's just might get you 5 gallons of unleaded gasoline, or a stitch job from the local doc. Either one may be all you need to keep on going.
Jeff Cooper's first book of compiled columns "Fireworks" contains many of his PS Newsletter works including Wampum. A good read.
Also more than wholeheartedly endorse, "To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak The Truth". This book contains Cooper's core knowledge about defensive pistol shooting, trigger control, sight picture and holster stroke. He also covers the gist of his knowledge on rifles, and gives rise to the Scout rifle concept. Plus lots of fun in Africa and central america etc etc.
Money Matters
(if you've got everything else, and the tools & skills to keep it)