"Anecdotal Data Points": Au & Pb

[DoChenRollingBearing]

We are on a short vacation to "The Mouse" (Disney World, my wife's sister and our niece are going), but as I am not a theme-park kinda guy, I went about Orlando today seeking gold and bullets.

So, I spent about ONE HOUR calling gold and gun shops (especially the latter located close by..., uh, no). It took until the SIXTH call before I found a coin/gold shop that had Gold Eagles in stock, all numbers I called were from the local Yellow Pages. I went out there to buy 'em. While chatting it up with the owner, he told me that here the shops don't like to carry the stock, they all can get them "in one or two days" (probably true, why would he & THEY lie?).

He also said that HIS customers wanted Gold Eagles pretty much only, although there was reasonable demand for Maple Leafs. He has not seen nor sold a Krugerrand in a while (!, first time I have heard that).

But, he charged me only the 5.5% premium over spot (or a hair more) that my regular coin shop guy does.

The 24hgold.com/eBay's widget shows a 9% or so premium over spot (Eagles), so nothing very unusual there. But, only 1 of 6 stores ADVERTISING gold coins here actually had them...

***

Since I still had free time, I decided to buy more ammo (some of my "virtual friends" say I am abysmally low in stocks of AK-ammo, just 2000 rounds...). At the store closest to the coin shop, "one of the Southeast's largest dealers of guns & ammo" had only THREE boxes (only Hornady brand) available, that's it! So, I bought 'em. On the way back, I passed a Wal-Mart and bought the only thing they had: two boxes of "Tula" (Russian crap-o, they did have more), I will try it out sometime soon after I get back. Yes, I will clean my AK right after shooting the Tula...

OK, a few days ago I bought 200 of Federal and 240 of American Eagle (same 7.62 x 39 rounds) at an outdoor BigBox store (another city), almost cleaned them out of both brands (unless they had more in the back).

Bottom line? I found unusual scarcity of two goods I have been stocking up. Don't wait until "Black Friday" to start stocking up!

 

[pmbug]

Well, a scarcity of Eagles might reinforce your observations about Tulving raising premiums.

 

[Jay]

We are on a short vacation to "The Mouse" (Disney World, my wife's sister and our niece are going), but as I am not a theme-park kinda guy, I went about Orlando today seeking gold and bullets.

So, I spent about ONE HOUR calling gold and gun shops (especially the latter located close by..., uh, no). It took until the SIXTH call before I found a coin/gold shop that had Gold Eagles in stock, all numbers I called were from the local Yellow Pages. I went out there to buy 'em. While chatting it up with the owner, he told me that here the shops don't like to carry the stock, they all can get them "in one or two days" (probably true, why would he & THEY lie?).

He also said that HIS customers wanted Gold Eagles pretty much only, although there was reasonable demand for Maple Leafs. He has not seen nor sold a Krugerrand in a while (!, first time I have heard that).

But, he charged me only the 5.5% premium over spot (or a hair more) that my regular coin shop guy does.

The 24hgold.com/eBay's widget shows a 9% or so premium over spot (Eagles), so nothing very unusual there. But, only 1 of 6 stores ADVERTISING gold coins here actually had them...

***

Since I still had free time, I decided to buy more ammo (some of my "virtual friends" say I am abysmally low in stocks of AK-ammo, just 2000 rounds...). At the store closest to the coin shop, "one of the Southeast's largest dealers of guns & ammo" had only THREE boxes (only Hornady brand) available, that's it! So, I bought 'em. On the way back, I passed a Wal-Mart and bought the only thing they had: two boxes of "Tula" (Russian crap-o, they did have more), I will try it out sometime soon after I get back. Yes, I will clean my AK right after shooting the Tula...

OK, a few days ago I bought 200 of Federal and 240 of American Eagle (same 7.62 x 39 rounds) at an outdoor BigBox store (another city), almost cleaned them out of both brands (unless they had more in the back).

Bottom line? I found unusual scarcity of two goods I have been stocking up. Don't wait until "Black Friday" to start stocking up!

DCRB, local "American Patriot metals" here is the same, while I was looking at his stuff (junk silver and ASEs), another customer came in and said he was thinking about getting a couple of gold coins "because" and the owner told him he doesn't stock them, he could have them in a couple of days. This was a while back, I remember thinking "why would I buy through you if I could order them myself?"

 

[DoChenRollingBearing]

Update!

Today I found another local gold dealer (actually more of a diamond place and used Rolex place, never got their business completely figured out -- very nice and HIGH SECURITY though) who had two more AGEs. Well, now he does not have any left...

***

I also passed by two more gun shops looking for AK ammo. One was closed (out of business) the other had only Russian and Ukrainian. It's supposed to be OK for AKs, but........

So, of all of the places I went to in Orlando, only ONE had non-Russian 7.62 x 39.

***

Ahh, Jay! I did get a "reason" from this other guy as to why so few stock. You now need more $ than before to stock AGEs, and fewer want to run "inventory risk" (prices moving down after they buy). I guess his explanation made some sense.

The HQ of his company is in Tampa, that is where they also keep their stock of AGEs.

He also told some lady came in yesterday and cleaned him out of Maple Leafs (he had three).

 

[pmbug]

Sounds like he isn't hedging.

 

[benjamen]

From what I understand Florida is not very firearm friendly. If I remember correctly open carry in public is pretty much a no go.

As far as ammo, I picked up some .38 special for my conceal revolver with no problem at all. They seemed to be full stocked with any ammo I would need.

As far as AGEs, oddly those go for a higher premium in my area than any other common 1 oz gold coins. The last time I visited the LCS all they had in 1 oz gold coins were AGEs and a few random rounds. People had cleaned them out of Maple Leafs, Krugs, ect. due to the lower premiums.

$.02

 

[bushi]

...why would people use one particular pure gold coin over another, paying higher premium, is something I have hard time to understand. Gold, as they say, is fungible. I mean, it is not, and probably will never be, something that you will want to spend casually => you will be selling it (most probably) to someone, who knows something about it => you don't necessarily need "the public" type of recognition of the coin => you are overpaying.

My $.02

 

[DCFusor]

Fla is as firearm friendly as it gets, or nearly. It's one of the first "shall issue" states for concealed carry (crime went way down when they did, inspiring governor Bush in TX to finally sign a similar bill in TX - he'd not wanted to). Open carry is legal in the USA, period, except for schools and other government locations, as well as on private property if the owner of that property objects. It's his place, after all, so his rules go on his place.

They haven't discontinued the 2nd amendment yet - it's one of the few that remain.

There are some fairly weird laws about places that serve booze. In VA, a CCW (concealed) permit holder can carry open in a bar - stupid, that's the last place you'd want to have a gun showing. And the next to last place you want to take one out of concealment is in the parking lot to lock it in the trunk. But that's the law here. If you're an elected official, the law doesn't apply to you, however. Kind of like Rosie O going all anti-gun in public but having an armed bodyguard...

States or localities (the worst offenders) cannot preempt federal gun laws, though they try now and then. In VA, we have an outfit called Virginia Citizens Defence League that is like the NRA on steroids, and whenever some locality tries this crap, they take them to court and win 100%. It's well-established case law with precedent out the butt.

Since (all too) many cops don't know the law, VCDL has it printed out in wallet-carry form to show the usual cop what the actual law is, chapter and verse - it's come in handy with cops who think that whatever they think must be the law.

You are probably better off getting ammo from someplace other than a retail store. The few times I buy ready-made I get it at a gun show, Cheaper than Dirt, or Midway (highest quality, highest price).

The gun show avoids the hazmat shipping charge (or, it's already added in, but the dealer amortized it across a lot more ammo than you'd buy).

Note - I don't often carry open, unless I'm just trolling to see the reactions I get (mostly positive, but...). Why warn them or give someone a chance to grab it off you?

Avoid the steel "brass" or berdan-primed ammo for the AK (or any other gun). Cheap, but it jams much more - and is always associated with cheap powder that fouls the action faster (the whole point was cheap). Just don't do it. It's not that much cheaper and a jam at the wrong time can ruin your day.

 

[DoChenRollingBearing]

@ bushi

Easy to recognize is the main reason I buy AGEs, even at the 5.5% or so premium (buying). They are also US Legal Tender, meaning, maybe, that our Secret Service would FROWN BIG on counterfeiters... I can also stack them more conveniently in the plastic tubes (20 each) made for the US Mint coins.

Mis dos centavos!! $.02

@ DCFusor

Quite correct re FL being gun friendly. I need to learn more about ammo, but from what I understand my AK will eat just about anything, but the Russian stuff tends to be more corrosive and leaves behind more "junk", so I would have to clean the thing more often. The REASON I got an AK is that it is more-or-less idiot proof, a real PLUS when dealing with a Bearing with a hole in the middle where the brain should be...