Post
by RonnyRonin » Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:41 pm
I've tried to think fairly broadly about ways that one would happen upon ammo in a time when one would need it, if you have either ran low or been separated from your stash.
The first would be by barter or purchase. While the prepper trope is to assume that no one in their right mind would give up ammo, my study of bad times and human nature in general says that yes, there will always be something people will want more then bullets, and there will probably be plenty of factions that trust each other enough to trade ammo around. Depending on the situation, the price could be quite high, but everything is for sale. This is were I make the argument that the massive government stockpiles of military calibers is pertinent to the conversation. If the military/government is not a wholly functioning entity, I have a hard time believing that all that 5.56 will just languish in warehouses. Now, no one I associate with would ever be dumb enough to try and get their hands on said stockpiles, but I can't help but think that in anything but an all-out ongoing shooting war that stuff will eventually trickle down to all but the whitest of markets.
The second would be merging of clans/gangs/manpower. I have no intention of lone-wolfing it, and society as a whole seems to trend towards larger groups as resources allow. I think that as prudence dictates, many disparate groups would naturally come together and pool resources and form alliances for the greater good. While Serious Hunter A might have a dozen different big-game rifles in exotic calibers, and perhaps even the reloading tools to keep them fed for a while, I can't think he will really outweigh Slightly Paranoid Guy B who has an ammo can fort made out of either common NATO rounds, something Soviet bloc, or both. I have yet to meet the guy with an ammo can fort made out of 7mm, 270, and .30-.30. Also, even if communal kum-ba-yah sharing doesn't happen, trade will likely be pretty free within the group as you are giving bullets to the guy likely standing guard while you sleep. The Slightly Paranoid Guys that don't decide to throw in with a larger group and share the wealth might become food for point number three:
The third, touchier source is battlefield pickup, or resupply by victory. Assuming the traditional prepper protagonist has a well stocked BOL/BIL, or even better a well outfitted homestead, it is entirely plausible that one could attract the attention of brigands or bandits. Now, I have a hard time imagining many scenarios where the risk of marauders is as great as the conversation they generate, but I say it is still a plausible threat. I'm sure that they would start with whatever weapons they have on hand, but I can't help but assume that the longer a band has been marauding, or the more successful a band is, the more likely said band will have looted enough preppers/gun enthusiasts/police stations/former military installations (or simply the guy who ended up with a u-haul of stuff from a military base) to deduce what the easiest and smartest way to have caliber and gun inter-compatibility is; 9mm and 5.56. While I'd love to assume that my hypothetical potential brigands would be wielding .30-.30 lever actions and 12g shotguns, this seems frankly overly optimistic. If you did manage to successfully repel a band of land-pirates from your palisaded village, I'd bet dollars to donuts you will find the battlefield littered with AR mags and not bandoliers full of their grandpa's favorite hunting cartridges. I will agree with I assume the majority here in saying this last one is the most fanciful, and least preferred way of happening upon bullets, but it is at least on some people's radar or else there wouldn't be so many people with ammo can forts...
share your tobacco and your kindling, but never your sauna or your woman.
AK, Glock, Pie.