Coin shop SITREP (the reality of selling prices) and Guns/Training thoughts...
Stackin' first, guns in a moment:
Lots of long-time stackers here, that are likely alreeady up to speed, but for those
who aren't... You might find this helpful:
Interesting times of late, a short window was open where you could buy 90% pre-1965
"junk silver coins" (the ultimate barter vehicle imho) back of spot when silver was in the
low $60's price range, as refiners & wholesalers were overloaded with long processing
delays, with many who stopped buying/processing anything other than .999 silver.
Now, with the recent spike and the backlog for refiners worsening, those wanting to sell
silver are getting quotes from $3 to $5 back of spot, to even $10-$15 back of spot in some
markets.
So, if you need liquidity or are thinking about trading the Gold-Silver-ratio, as well as something
to keep in mind for when STHF conditions exist, remember there may be significant discounts,
and at other times, significant premiums over spot and market prices.
Here's a cross-section of a few good YouTube channels to follow as far as local retail markets
from Minot ND, to Manchester NH, to Tampa Fl...
From Vermilion Coins in Tampa Fl. (yesterday was selling 90% junk silver for -$5 back of spot,
and buying at -$9 back of spot:
youtube.com
The Yankee Stacking channel, with Tim of the Coin and Stamp Shop in Manchester, NH:
youtube.com
The Silver Seeker YouTuber with the owner of Minot (SD) Coin & Bullion:
youtube.com
Also, I think Andy Schectman is one of THE stand up guys in the metals business, he's the
owner of Miles-Franklin, and he does a regular Monday night livestream where he and his
partner talk current market prices, trends, as well as discussing general market/geopolitical trends
from his regular YT and podcast guest appearances. They're a solid company to do business
with online and with vaulting.
youtube.com
Also for online shopping and the metals site most often used by local dealers nationwide
for pricing and/or price matching is APMEX (maybe the best online site for buying), although
in most midsize or larger cities nationwide - your local coin dealer will usually match their
prices, and there are obvious benefits to establishing local relationships with your local dealers.
apmex.com
If I had one thing that I would consider the most valuable concept to share, one that has
paid benefits for me in 3 different states nationwide: is to establish a personal relationship
with multiple local coin shops as well as pawn shops (they will be barter central in SHTF
environments for cash, metals, tools, generators, equipment etc), gun shops (many in my
area not only accept metals, they advertise it), and farmers markets... as well as finding
an auto repair shop, and a general handyman/contractor, HVAC guy etc that will take
gold & silver for payments.
That being said: Shit's starting to get real...
- Bond markets globally are cracking with long-term rates ramping = #1 mkt crash danger signal
- The EU is in fiscal and political collapse and is now going full authoritarian...
- And as most would now agree, the political, economic, and most importantly, the social/cultural
divide in America has now reached a point of no return. There will be no compromise or cooperation
politically between the radical left and the conservative right in the next decade... Not to mention the
growing divide (and soon to be, political civil war) within MAGA and the RINO Republican party itself.
More than ever... local matters.
I would never say that only "local," matters, but if you don't have a local "network" established
in every context, from the relationships I mentioned above, to like-minded mutual support networks,
to knowing and having at least some contacts with local politicians, law enforcement, emergency
services, and small businesses, as well as having your home and neighborhood "hardened" and
"awake," along with having a Plan B bugout locale, whether with family or friends nearby or across
the country, and ideally, an Ex-Pat option, which can be as simple as having a year-round storage
rental (stocked), in an area of readily available Ex-Pat rental condos in an area already established
and friendly to US Ex-Pats/Tourists which can be Mexico, Panama, Salvador, Paraguay, Uruguay,
Argentina, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean islands, to Singapore, Thailand etc. You don't even have to
necessarily own a home there, but you need to have traveled there, know local realtors, attorneys,
laws, and be familiar with it via vacations, friends, business associates living there etc. Lots of
Ex-Pat communities and resource info online... do your DD now, visit soon, don't wait...
History abounds with how things often started slowly, but then arrived suddenly and all at once..
Don't think it can't or won't happen here: The nationwide George Floyd riots and the Covid
lockdowns, were only 5 years ago, and the 2008 and 2020 market crashes should still be
fresh in people's minds.
And if you aren't raising your Cooper's Color Code/OODA Loop level of awareness with what
we are now witnessing in places like Minneapolis, and recently in Chicago, Portland, Seattle
and blue hives nationwide, shame on you.
History is full of lessons: financial collapses, capital controls, and authoritarian government
crackdowns that all started slowly, then arrived suddenly, and all at once...
From 1917 Moscow with the Bolsheviks, to 1933 Berlin with the Nazis, to the 2001 economic
collapse in Argentina, where the author and YouTuber familiar to many here, FerFal (Fernando
Aguirre), wrote about his experiences, to the author Selco, who wrote about his experiences in
the Balkan Civil Wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s.
For what's unfolding once again here in the US: I'd highly recommend former Green Beret
Clay Martin's two books: Concrete Jungle (Urban civil war), and Prairie Fire (rural civil war),
all available on Amazon.
Get in the best shape you can...and hone your self-defense and firearms skills:
Build, and continually train firearms skills: go compete in local NRA shooting sports like
USPSA, IDPA, Steel Challenge, or NRL events, take a higher-level training class for pistol/rifle,
and take at least one long-range rifle class (300-1000 yds), because the static range skills that
90% of police departments practice and qualify for, are nearly useless in any serious SHTF
scenario (which is why they have SWAT Teams), With what we witnessed in cities like Portland,
Seattle, and Minneapolis during the George Floyd riots (Kyle Rittenhouse example: it won't
be static 3-6 foot, one on one, draw and fire scenarios... you need high-capacity mags for
your pistols (15-17 rds) and rifles (20-30rds), and you need to know how to do mag changes,
and think mobs and crowds, blockcades and car checkpoints on city streets, and even rural highways,
with people being pulled out of their cars again...
Here's a couple of intermediate to higher level online firearms training sites (with more fundamental,
beginner oriented sites listed below):
Ben Stoeger (top sport shooter) & Matt Pranka (former Delta Force) full class videos on "fundamentals" here:
youtube.com
Joel Park: sport shooter, popular instructor, great online resources:
youtube.com@joelpark556/featured
Velox training: mid-high level
youtube.com@VeloxTrainingGroup/videos
Achilles Heel training: high level drills/standards for police-SWAT-.Mil
youtube.com
Beginning to intermediate: Lots of good entry-level and basic fundamentals here:
youtube.com@TacticalHyve
Here's a video of an entry-level class for "Fighting Pistol" from the late James Yeager, which is
based on the fundamentals taught at Gunsite from the Jeff Cooper days and from Clint Smith of Thunder
Ranch; without getting into the modern sport-shooting oriented techniques, drills, and movement used
by the higher level sport shooting/police/SWAT, and military training instruction mentioned above.
This is a pretty good, fundamental, soup-to-nuts class to get you started: It was the first pistol class
I took years ago, and will give you a solid base of safe, easy to learn, and effective fundamentals.
youtube.com
Ask around locally to find qualified firearms training classes, or better yet, start researching
online and be willing to drive 4-8 hours+ to attend a 2-3 day class from a top instructor (many are Fri-Sun).
To be proficient in a real-world scenario, I firmly believe shooting needs to become a serious hobby,
if not also a competitive sport. At the very least, you need to understand what "dry firing" is (practicing
the fundamentals of your draw, grip, trigger control, target focus/indexing etc) in your home without live
ammunition, as well as shooting actual live fire measured drills at least once a month at a local range.
The best book on "Dry Firing" practice (highly recommended)!
amazon.com
Things are accelerating, the political divide is growing wider, and the social/civil rage is increasing...
Add in alcohol, drugs, SSRI's, mental illness, political/racial gaslighting, hard economic times,
rising unemployment, EBT benefits cut, let alone a political assassination, another false flag, or most likely...
Another George Floyd/Rodney King moment...
And we're there.
Interesting times, and they aren't going down (or to jail) without a fight (as we now see unfolding in Minneapolis).
Plan and prepare accordingly,
SOTB |
