Bullets As Currency

I guess this is the proper forum for this discussion...if not, mods, please move...

I have heard and read several articles (print and TV) that discuss situation where the Brown Stuff has hit the overhead oscillating mechanism...

In those articles, there was discussion of what will be used as currency if we do have a break-down in society...

Of course, gold is a very popular item, but bullets were listed a couple of times as a potential currency...

That got be to thinking, since ammo prices are reasonable right now...should I stock up like I'm saving for the future...or are people "blowin smoke" thinking ammo will be a viable currency?

Stranger things have happened.

When it hits the fan, some people will wake up and realize that they were in error by not preparing for the worst. These people will understand that they need guns and ammo for self defense. Bullets and guns could be used for barter. If its that bad, the fake money that we have now will probably be worthless, so unless you have gold and silver, AMMO might be able to be swapped out for something that you need...like food.

As for blowing "smoke" be your own judge. Read up on history and see what happens when civilizations start coming apart at the seams.You don't have to go too far back really.

Where do you live that ammo prices are reasonable?
I want to catch a flight there and make some securitys purchases as an investment.

In my zone a 50 rd. box of Remington UMC .45 ACP FMJ (garbage ammo...Very dirty and generally inconsistent) runs $21 on "sale" at Dicks, and I've seen at a local gun shop two WWB 100 rd. bricks marked on the shelf at $52, each! FIFTY TWO DOLLARS...US!
I used to buy a brick of WWB for $9.99 at the Fairfax, VA Wal-Mart, 6 or 7 yrs. ago....And back then I'd thought ehh this stuff costs barely nothing on the gross.
Today a 550 rd. box of .22 runs $11. That same product used to be just 4 years ago a $5 purchase at Wal-Mart.

Ammo now costs more than gold per pound, or at least seems it. : (

I could very easily see ammo on a per round basis becoming a commodity if the monetary system were to fold.
People talk about gold and silver...But what you gonna do with that? It's pretty much useless.
You can't eat it and you can't fashion it into anything that will allow you to eat or survive. A gold knife or a silver machete?!
Good luck transporting it too as it's heavy and cumbersome.
Meanwhile ammo...It's heavy and bulky too, BUT if some fool wants to take your food or tools poof that ammo instantly becomes real world useful.
As well if you need food or tools, well there isn't much salesmanship required toward a bullet as there is explaining how a bar of gold or piece of silver can be useful for something other than fashioning jewelry you can't wear...Because you'll need bullets to defend it against armed persons wanting to take it, and you for being fool enough to wear hey look at me I'm rich and clueless shiny bits.

My own I gotta survive view, and no I have not lived through an apocalypse yet so maybe the precious metal hoarders just might be on to something. Maybe not.

- Janq

What will it cost five, six or seven years from now?

I doubt they'll be getting any cheaper than today from this point on.

I think that the value of precious metals will be early on in the downward spiral. People will have lost trust in credit and paper currency, but have not yet accepted the level to which things will descend. After that the only ones interested in precious metals will be those with power (armed forces under their control) and wealth (land suplies, etc), to whom precious metals will still be a sign of wealth and power.

I have an old box of JHP bought years ago and when I looked at the price tag I am just dumbfounded at how much ammo costs have gone up. .45 ACP used to cost about 25 cents a round in my area and nowadays you are lucky to find .45ACP for less than 45 cents. That's one reason why I bought a 9mm, just to have a cheaper round to shoot. My .22 is fun but not the same as firing a larger caliber.

But at least .380 is back in stock!

I guess it depends on where you are at.I once bought an AK with a Kruggerand amd times werent even hard.

I know lots of people that have gold and silver as well as extra ammo for hard times.

Agreed HG....The good old days are done and ain't never coming back.
Like nickel pay-phone calls and fifty cent gasoline, or Coke in a glass bottle and the real _original flavor_ Doritos whihc actually tasted good.

For ammo prices to drop there would need to be a sharp reduction in demand.
Supply of ammo is finite. Demand for ammo is infinite and has been ever increasing in the US by historical marker leaps annually.
Manufacturers cannot keep up with demand, still.
It's simple and unfortunate math. : |

I'm just waiting on the future to bring along pulse rifles and stun guns.
But they'll probably be powered by the blood of albino cats or some other such even harder to procure (and thus costly) commoditized item.

- Janq

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HotGuns

I guess it depends on where you are at.I once bought an AK with a Kruggerand amd times werent even hard.

---

And that is key.

The Kruggerand is an internationally accepted monetary unit, no different than a US dollar or a Deutsche mark.
It's value backed not by a nation but rather the then traded price of gold as a commodity. Money itself (paper and metal) are market backed commoditys, insured by a nations credit rating (US) if not it's own treasury.

With no nation, no credit rating because there is no longer a market to support and inflate it thus motivating purchase & sale of a given treasury...Then that same Kruggerand just becomes an ingot of shiny metal that is pretty to look at.
Same as with a Rolex watch (preferably gold but stainless will work in a pinch) how that too is a world recognized commodity trade unit, even as functionally it is really just a piece of fashioned metal jewelry.

Good luck to the precious metal collectors surviving off of a Kruggerand or a watch, or defending ones self against haters & raiders who have in hand pedestrian low class lead bullets and sharpened edge steel.

I'd trade my weight in gold for a mechanically simple and thus durable & reliable firearm chambered in a common round or shell type, along with a basic spare parts kit (springs and two firing pins) as well as a backpack (something I can easily carry on my body) full of production (no-reloads!) ammunition....IF I were forced to live life like the Road Warrior.
Throw in an ACOG and I'll swap my car with a full tank of gas; Which I'd then use along with the gun and ammo to follow and steal back from the sucka along with food and Huggies he/she might have hanging around as well.

- Janq

Thanks to everyone for the comments...I shall be stocking up...

Janq: My comment about prices being reasonable is a relative expression, as they were higher not too long ago...

Higher and in shorter supply...

I think gas prices are reasonable right now...if I go back to my younger days, $2.62 a gallon does not compare with $0.25 a gallon...but if you inflate that $0.25 out from, so, 1968 to today, one might not consider gas prices very reasonable...

Just a thought...

There's actually a good book out, "One Second After...", that is a work of fiction but outlines an all-too possible scenario. In one reference within the story, bullets are a form of currency, and if you read the book (no, I didn't write it) you can see how that could actually happen.

If money as we know it, all of the sudden has no value, then things like ammo, knifes, ax's and cutting/chopping type tools could be worth a fortune.

Yard sales and flea markets are a great place to pick up items like these on the cheap.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DaveJay

I think gas prices are reasonable right now...if I go back to my younger days, $2.62 a gallon does not compare with $0.25 a gallon...but if you inflate that $0.25 out from, so, 1968 to today, one might not consider gas prices very reasonable...

Just a thought...

---

My bad DJ!!

BTW agreed with regard to gas.

In fact i was just having this conversation on Monday with my good friend/mentor/employee who is 60 and recalls cheap gas.
We both agreed that following with inflation and being as you say_relative_ to that of the rest of the world, our gas prices are inexpensive...And could endure an additional penny consumption tax per gallon to say fund paying down the national debt (!).

- Janq

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Janq

and I've seen at a local gun shop two WWB 100 rd. bricks marked on the shelf at $52, each! FIFTY TWO DOLLARS...US!

---

My Super Walmart sells the 100rd .45 WWB for$34.95.