Saxon's Survival Hour #193: THE SURVIVAL GUNSMITH
Today's excerpt begins on page 119 of The Survivor Volume 1.
By Clyde Barrow
As our society continues to deteriorate and we return to simpler times, very few present occupations will have any value or importance.
The barter system will soon prevail as the medium of exchange.
Unless you expect to be able to provide all of the needed goods and services for yourself and your family, you need the means to trade for these necessities.
As a professional gunsmith, you are in an excellent position to guarantee your survival during any economic or social crisis.
The gunsmith will become a vital member of any survival group or community.
Your services will be sought by everyone owning or using a firearm.
Gun sales have increased greatly in recent years.
The majority of these new gun owners have neither the skill nor the facilities to repair their weapons.
If you aren't already a gunsmith, you will need a Federal Firearms License to freely practice the trade.
When the availability of manufactured goods begins to slow and possibly ceases, you will be the sole source of supply for all firearms related items in your immediate area.
A supply of replacement parts and accessories, along with a small manufacturing and repair facility, will enable you to write your own ticket.
You can trade your valuable services for virtually any need you may have; food, medicine, fuel, etc.
You must prepare now to assure that you will have sufficient supplies to meet these future needs.
While the stockpiling of items like coffee, sugar and gasoline in times of inflation and general shortages is looked upon as hoarding, the prudent gunsmith should engage in precautionary buying of gunsmithing supplies.
Many of these specialized materials may soon become scarce or unobtainable.
I suggest that you sell whatever surplus possessions you now have and invest in the following items:
REPLACEMENT PARTS
While it is impossible to stock parts for all makes of firearms, a determination of the most popular guns in your immediate area will help to focus your efforts.
You should also collect an adequate stock of parts to maintain all of your personal guns.
ACCESSORIES
The key here is bulk buying.
Ammunition, cleaning materials, gun oil, reloading components, springs, screws, and other often needed materials can and should be bought in wholesale quantities.
These can be sold or traded off in smaller units as needed.
Even if no true crisis occurs, it is an economic certainty that prices will only go higher, so bulk buying now is a wise business investment, at worst, and at best could prove to be your means of survival.
Some accessories, rifle scopes, reloading presses, etc., are too expensive for the average gunsmith to buy in bulk.
I advise you to buy as many as possible at wholesale prices, and later trade them for other items you may need.
Rifle scopes will be in great demand because they will help conserve ammunition which will soon become a scarce and precious commodity.
MANUFACTURING AND REPAIR MATERIALS
Often it will be necessary to repair an existing part or fabricate one completely from scratch.
Gunsmith suppliers sell bulk units of assorted spring stock, high carbon steel rod and gun steel.
Buy these raw material now in the largest, cheapest quantities you can.
Any excess can always be traded off to mechanics, tool makers and farmers who will also need these materials for their prospective activities.
Thieves and looters may steal all of your guns.
But they will probably leave individual parts and materials.
And they can never steal your skills and knowledge.
Kurt Saxon thought civilization would have collapsed by now.
He spent the majority of his life collecting knowledge of home based business.
His goal was for all his readers to survive at a more comfortable level than those that were less provident.
He knew the importance of communicating at a level folks could understand.
Most of what he has compiled for our benefit can be easily understood by everybody.
He also includes a subtle sense of humor.
You can find the majority of his life's work here.
Hear him read his stories.
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A gunsmith might be wanted during a social crisis or unrest.
i like that you said Thieves and looters can steal guns but not skills and knowledge.