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Letter Re: Ammunition Shortages in U.S. Might Become Chronic
Hi Jim,
A man with the Customer Service department at Midway explained that backorders
are expected to continue and there appears to be no reduction in demand.
Browsing
their
web site,
I
see 'expected' delivery dates pushing further into the future, and up to
six weeks delay for the less expensive and common caliber hunting bullet,
mostly .30
caliber
bullets. Many premium bullets are also on 'back order' since my last visit.
And now, even less common caliber bullets are backordered as well as other
reloading components and reloading tools. The shortage at Cabela's also
continues. The Civilian Marksman Program (CMP),
advises that delivery could take 100 days for their still inexpensive M2
ball (.30-06) for the M1 Garand [and
many other] rifles.
I believe that you've mentioned the possibility that "Ballistic
Wampum" could
be more useful than silver for the purposes of barter. The ammunition and component
shortage is making a me believer. If events unfold as they might, the shortage
could become increasingly severe and chronic. It may actually now be easier
to obtain silver than bullets or certain and popular loaded ammunition. Over
the last two years, I've done better with ammunition than silver, and have
decided to trade in silver if necessary, for bullets. In memory of the Lone
Ranger,
silver would be a poor substitute for lead as the sectional density of a sliver
bullet would be significantly less and therefore less effective. As I am no
Lone Ranger, I would need all the advantages possible, and rather have the
good stuff.
More folks are waking up everyday, and I suspect most of them will feel the need
to protect and feed themselves. Many of those folks will be without the means
to do as they discover that they cannot afford buy a good supply or any supply,
and if able, may find that shipment could be months into the future. The Fed's
recent action makes continued and escalating hyper inflation a given. If delivery
in months away, prices might change, or delivery might become impossible at some
point. I'd error on the side of caution. - E.L.
