Urban Survival - Silver and Gold Predictions for 2011 and Beyond

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received this Anonymous comment from the Post titled "Are Gold and Silver Going to be Worth Anything?". When you need gold and silver they are valuable. When you need food, gold and silver might or might not be valuable. I can tell you from experience that every commodity has it's up's and down's. It certainly looks like PM's will continue to rise, but as sure as the sun will rise in the morning one day the PM bubble will burst too. Not saying don't buy PMs just saying be careful.

UrbanMan replies: Roger the being careful. Being careful in my book is multi-fold. It includes NOT leveraging all my available cash to buy silver or gold. It DOES include buying some silver to ensure I have all my Survival Plan bases covered.

Put it this way,...as of right now, knowing the collapse possibilities (TEOTWAWKI) Which person would you rather be:

Person A: Twelve months of food and one rifle.

Person B: Six months of food and one rifle, saving enough money to buy some silver, water purification filters, Survival gear, medical supplies, etc.

Sure, some people will say,...with food I can barter for anything else I need.   Yes that's partial true,......if it is available and that other person wants to trade.

I think the idea, in my book, is to be as prepared as you can afford to be, across the board as required against the threats you have wargame as likely.

In the below radio interview, James Turk, talks about his predictions for 2011 and from 2013-2015. Turk predicted that there was a 20% chance for Silver to hit $50 a ounce in 2010. He says that in 2011 that possibility has increased significantly that we'll see $50 an ounce Silver and Gold at $8,000 an ounce.

By my calculations, with Gold at $8,000 an ounce,..Silver should/would $200 an ounce, based on the current 40 to one ratio.

I'm NOT looking at like "Holy Cow, in the event of TEOTWAWKI, I'll be rich!", .....I am looking at it like "Jesus Christ, what kind of world would we be living in at Silver being $50 an ounce or more? Will food be available and at what cost?; What's the Security situation going to be? I need some Silver in order to buy the things I may need to assist in Survival".

The Gold to Silver ratio is now 40 to one. The historic ratios are more like 16 or 20 to one. Currently th 40 to one ratio is falling making Silver more valuable percentage wise than Gold.

Anyway, would it too redundant to suggest everyone have some Silver put away? I also suggest Survivalists make good use of the internet, particular financial blogs, and You Tube videos, to enhance their understanding of the current crisis. Most often, I play a video or audio while I work on something else and when a comment or key word grabs my interest, I'll go back and watch/listen more closely. I guess this is the Survivalists version of multi-tasking in a research and planning scope.

Urban Survival Planning - Manual Tools Essential

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following equipment tip from VisionMan.

When making plans for emergency or potential survival situations, it is important to pack tools in your bug out kits that could save your bacon. The problem is, many of us plan for a multitude of emergencies that may occur. We end up stuffing our packs to the breaking point with a payload that would buckle the knees of even the best pack mule. Lessons learned. The key to preparedness or even survival is to be armed with the right tools and the right knowledge.

To accomplish a lighter pack load, most experts recommend packing multi-task tools so you can hump it to your destination with less weight. The new Crovel, a core mix between a shovel and crowbar, is the ultimate multi-task tool. At first glance it looks familiar; like an e-tool, but the Crovel boasts the function of 13 additional tools. It also differentiates itself by its sheer strength. Made of 10-gauge hard steel, the Crovel crushes its fellow competitors who offer flimsy stamped steel shovel heads with wooden handles. When put through a rigid test, these competing shovels always bend and break.

The heavy duty structure of the Crovel includes a shovel head that flaunts a razor edge connected to a solid crowbar. Not only does it hold an edge, it can take the place of an ax. The handle is a harden 18inch gooseneck crow bar with a 1 inch hammer head. This makes for a formidable entry, prying or fastening tool, not to mention a fear-inducing weapon against a determined foe.

This tool will not fail, even if you do.
To check out the Crovel shovel, click: survivaloutdorgear - crovel

Urban Survival - Are Gold and Silver Going to Be Worth Anything?

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following question: "I understand the desire to have gold and silver in your stock of survival gear, which I do, but the more I think about it the more I wonder about the true usefulness of it. If the SHTF tomorrow or even 10 years from now, why would someone care about a small metallic coin over trading what they really need like food, water purification tablets, ammo, a rifle, gardening tools etc.? I mean the only value in a small silver coin is what the person on the other end of the deal values it at? I am the first to admit that they are small, can be carried in some quantity easily, but from my perspective, what do I care about getting 2 silver fishing weights when what I really want is some toilet paper. (Just an example on the TP by the way).

Would people REALLY want gold or silver when their world comes crashing down around them, or are the basics food, water, shelter, protection and the items associated with them a better bargaining chip? Wouldn’t I be better off stockpiling .22 Ammo or toilet paper or for large deals an extra firearm or two? Thanks."

UrbanMan's Reply: I think Gold and Silver,...or just Silver for most people, are going to have value in two separate phases of a collapse, and possibly, throughout the collapse depending upon collapse, infrastructure and economic factors.

First of all, at some point in the collapse, dollars will be worthless so the exchange of goods and services will be fueled by precious metals or trade goods. PM's could be the commerce unit of choice for 2 days, 2 months or may never end. At some point in the collapse, when food and other essentials become scare, the value will shift to these items. Then we'll see people saying "Gold? Who the hell wants gold? I want food!"

In all societies throughout history an monetary exchange system has been developed, this has historically been Gold and Silver. Afterall, what started this whole mess was the Government coming off the Gold standard for the U.S. dollar. So I think you'll see Gold and Silver being valuable, at some point as the collapse levels off and/or commerce starts to begin again.

The last reason is akin to why that big fat liberal George Soros has reportedly went into a high density Gold buying spree.....because if the collapse isn't too bad and this country does come back, there will be wealth re-distribution. If you are owning Gold and Silver you will be sitting much more prettier.

The bottom line is that to be truly prepared for Survival, you need a location to provide safety and shelter; a Bug Out Plan to another safe location; you need stocks of food, water in order to live; firearms, ammunition and the will/skill to use for protection; and an ability to barter for things you need,....some of the people who have something you need may not take anything other than precious metals.

And one more way to look at it. I'd rather have ounces of silver in my gun safe than to count on my 401K money being there or my ability to get money out of my bank account during the collapse. Plus, that fiat currency from the bank is going to continue to dminish in value whereas the gold or silver wil increase. So if you have traditional savings, like in the bank,...money market, CD's or a 401K - it would not be a bad idea to change some of that into gold and silver kept on hand.

The last thing you mentioned is possibly stockpiling ammo and other items for trade. Absolutely a great idea. I keep many items for possible barter,....I have a kit bag full of clothing and gear and buckets of trade items like butane lighters, tarps, clothing items, hand tools, etc. And in fact I just traded two 20 gallon barrels for 6 five gallon water cans. While most Survivialist may not believe in trading guns, since they may be turned against you, I still have the capability with a couple cheap .22 LR rifles and if conditions are right will used them for trade.

Thanks for the question. Prepare well.

Survival Planning - Caching Firearms and Ammunition

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following question: "Any information on how to package firearms inside the PVC pipes to maintain them as ideally as possible while emplaced?"

The dangers to firearms emplaced in a below ground cache are water leakage, humidity and oxidation. You would deal with this by oiling your firearms, sealing in a plastic water proof/air proof bag then into a waterproof container such as PVC pipe.

I would not slather your gun with oil. With a clean gun, I would run an oily patch through the bore then coat all metal parts with a light coat of oil. You can spend alot of money on gun oils and can use your brand of choice,...however I particularly like Snake Oil, Rem Oil, FP10, and the RIG line of oils as well as have used common 3 in 1 oil quite a bit of the time.

I have wrapped firearms in rags and sheets then wrapped with plastic bags, then placed in wooden boxes for below ground caches without any surface damage to the firearm, but a better technique would be to place the gun in a plastic bag and vacuum pack to remove all the air. The commercial available Space Bag with the one way valve to use a vacuum cleaner work well. I guess you could also use mylar bags and oxygen absorber as well or even the food saver bags if you could disassemble your firearm to a small enough package.

I know someone who has cached guns without vacuum packing, he swears by it and uses MIL spec desiccant bags from ULINE. I think you could get the same effect using commercial dehumidifers available at gun shops for use in gun safes. I prefer the vacuum packing to remove all the oxygen myself.

If you really want to be anal about it, you can wear rubber gloves so you will not leave a moisture laden fingerprint for rust to gain a foothold.

It would be a good idea to seal the PVC pipe with PVC sealant or use rubber cement. I would lay a seal of rubber cement around the end of the pipe and coat the inside of the cap. You can also run a bead of silicon around the lip of the cap once seated onto the pipe.

If you are caching survival firearms then you are probably also caching ammunition. This requires as much, or more care. Vacuum packing ammunition would be a good idea. Commercial ammunition does not have the bullet or primer sealant that military ammunition has. You can do it yourself with clear fingernail polish - a thin coat on the primer and around the bullet where it seats into the case mouth. I have not fired much field expedient sealed ammunition, but would imagine the fingernail polish could gum up your receiver and barrel. Really not necessary if you prepare the ammunition. If you are using a water/air proof container then the big threats would be temperature extremes. If you bury it deep enough, you can reduce the temperature extremes that will be on the surface of the ground.

I have recovered ammunition that was similarly prepared and cached underground for up to 24 months. It worked fine. I have also kept two type of commercial handgun ammunition (.357 Magnum and .40 S&W) in a steel container for six years and shot some if it every six months or so to test it. After 6 years in a steel container with the temperature and humidity changes, we started to experience a 1 - 3 % fail rate for primer to ignite....that 1 to 3 rounds per hundred. Small percent but not good.

Good luck on your cache. I would also put a cleaning kit in each firearms cache as well.

For your cache report consider emplacing and taking a geographic coordinate with a GPS of exactly where you emplaced it,.... but better yet if you also note a intermediate reference then a final reference point from to measure direction in magnetic degrees and a distance to the cache.

If you write these cache report down, then you can encode them or use a number substitution method in the grid coordinate. You an also include the type of recovery equipment necessary such as shovel, probing stick (gun cleaning rods work well for this), and tape measure.

As you emplace the cache, use ponchos or plastic to separate the layers of dirt, so you can cover up the cache and sterilize as close to as natural as before.

Good luck with your caches. They are certainly a good idea, especially in support of your Bug Out Plan.