How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It - James Wesley Rawles [105]
4. Next, buy extra magazines for the guns that you hope to buy, or that you expect that your children might need someday.
5. Next, buy extra magazines for the pistols and rifles that your local police and sheriff’s departments issue. If they don’t carry their long guns in visible racks, then ask them what model they carry in the trunks of their cruisers.
6. Next, buy a fairly large quantity of ubiquitous magazines that will serve well as barter items (mostly M14, M16, Mini-14, M1 Carbine, Glock, and Beretta M92).
7. Buy a smaller but carefully selected supply of scarce European magazines (Steyr AUG, HK, SIG, Valmet, etc.). The day may come when not even large wads of cash will buy you any full-capacity magazines, but some owners will be willing to trade for magazines that they want or need.
8. Once you have your supply of magazines in hand, divide them into three coequal piles and store them in three separate locations, to protect yourself against burglary or other unpleasant future circumstances.
Ballistic Wampum: Common-Caliber and Regional Favorites
Common-caliber ammunition is preferable to precious metals for barter. In the U.S., I recommend stocking up on extra .308, .223, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, 12-gauge (2¾-inch only), and .22 long rifle rimfire. You might also lay in a smaller supply of the two or three most popular big-game-hunting calibers in your region. They do vary quite a bit. Ask at your local sporting-goods store which are the most popular. Where I live, it is .30-06, but in other parts of the country it might be .30-30 or .243 Winchester.
Horse Tack
Horses will be very important post-Crunch. So buying horse tack is a great idea. You can also consider those purchases part of your just-in-case Peak Oil insurance and just one more tangible investment. But be sure to keep that leather well oiled, inspected often, and away from moisture and vermin.
One alternative to leather is purchasing the Biothane nylon tack that is now favored by some endurance riders. Regardless of what tack you select, think ahead in terms of maintaining it. Buy extra hardware, rolls of different widths of nylon webbing (in olive green and brown, of course), sheet leather, leatherworking tools, a sewing awl, spools of heavy nylon thread, Barge Cement, Shoo Goo, etc. These are all available from Tandy Leather Factory (tandyleatherfactory.com). I have found that slightly used tools can often be bought at garage sales and flea markets, and via eBay, from people who flirted with the hobby but gave it up when they discovered that it was too much like work.
Those tools and supplies could form the basis for a second post-Crunch source of income or barter. Post-TEOTWAWKI there will suddenly be lots of people who want to carry handguns daily but are short on holsters.
Strategies for Bartering, Dickering, and Survival
Since there is effectively only one currency in our country, it is the only way to do business. It may prove difficult, but you need to discard your traditional mind-set about the currency and realize that we are riding a down escalator. An inflationary environment stands traditional logic on its head, since saving becomes losing, and investing is almost like throwing coins into a pond if the rate of return of any investment is lower that the real-world inflation rate. The only noteworthy exception, as already discussed, is investing in tangibles.
Here are some suggestions for protecting yourself from inflation by mastering the art of bartering:
Buy in Bulk
Buy most of your staple foods and groceries at a discount or warehouse store such as Costco or Sam’s Club. Don’t overlook the “closeout” and “dented-can” stores. (But avoid buying any bulging cans or those with dented rims.) Stock up on nonperishable items whenever they are on sale: things like lightbulbs, paper products, bar soap, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, lubricants, and so forth. As long as