Friday, February 8, 2013

Ammunition, described in one word


In today's liberal/progressive/left-leaning news media, if you asked journalists to suggest one word that encapsulated the notion of 'ammunition', I'm sure you'd get many answers.  'Scary';  'dangerous';  'deadly';  'hateful';  these and many others all spring to mind.

I'm here to tell you they're all wrong.  I've got a much, much more accurate and descriptive word for the stuff.

'Heavy'.

I've just finished going through my ammo stash, extracting everything that's surplus to current requirements, and cataloging it in a spreadsheet for sale at local gun shows, starting tomorrow.  Some has already been sold to readers of this blog, who contacted me after reading my earlier post about it.  The remainder's been packed into seven containers, which I now have to carry out to my vehicle tomorrow morning (one at a time, of course) to transport to the gun show.  Believe me, several thousand rounds of assorted rifle, handgun and shotgun ammunition add up to a really heavy load!  (Don't worry, I have plenty left in the calibers and cartridges I use and need most.)

There's no way I'm going to be able to carry it all into the gun show.  I'll leave it in my vehicle, go in wearing a backpack with signs fastened to it - "See me for ammo in these calibers and gauges" - and meet prospective buyers outside every hour or so.  I'll ask 75%-80% of current retail prices as a starting point for negotiations, and hope to sell the lot before the end of the month.  If I succeed, that'll pay for my truck's new tires, plus a few other emergency preparations as well.

On the other hand, this exercise has highlighted the current price insanity over ammunition.  I paid less than 25% of current retail prices for almost all the stuff I'm selling!  If I get reasonable prices for it by today's standards, as an investment it'll have handily outperformed the stock market, precious metals, my retirement fund, and everything else since I arrived in this country.  Works for me!

Peter

9 comments:

The Great and Powerful Oz said...

Hah! Lead as a precious metal...

Solomon said...

be careful. goblins hang out at those shows so do what you do but better. you know what i mean..especially if you're gonna sell it out of your truck.

Glenn B said...

How far are you from NY?

Glenn B said...

I am salivating just thinking about a thousand rounds of .308 and 7.62x39 and some .45 too. If I could make it there this weekend, I would come out your way to help out with your finances.

All the best,
GB

Old NFO said...

Stay careful Peter...

Carteach said...

Being 'unemployed' at the moment (Yea... right), and being somewhat aware of several good ammunition sources, I have been able to be within striking distance when small lots have become available.

In the last few weeks I have managed to amass..... um..... 'A Stack' of ammo, and will be taking most of it to our clubs gun show in a few weeks. If the craziness is still going on, I'll sell it all. If not, I'll be shooting a bit over the next couple years.

Frankly, from what I'm seeing so far, I may be the only person there selling ammunition, other than dribs and drabs here and there.

John Peddie (Toronto) said...

Thereby beautifully illustrating the old stock market adage: "sell what others are buying and buy what others are selling".

Works as well or better with ammo, it seems.

Will be interested in your After Action Report.

Anonymous said...

Be careful - I have a vision of you getting swarmed like the dining hall manager at my (all female) college when he walked in carrying two large trays of left-over chocolate-covered strawberries. Thirty seconds later he was holding two empty trays. He never knew what hit him. :)

LittleRed1

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain. I moved house recently and had to move everything in the gunroom myself, including the ammunition. It didn't seem so heavy when I bought it one box at a time...

Love your site - many thanks, and greetings from Belgium!