Wanted to ask about lead saving , see two uses, melt it and mold bullets , or as a trade item, they used to use lead on pipe joints, also as trade fishing line weights ,, had some friends that saved and used wheel balance lead weights as bullets they were civil war reactors ,,, so in that line of thinking I have a black power six shooter in 44 cal. and uses lead bullets , not big fire power but man I would not want to be shot with a civil war 44 cal. ,,that is my take on lead and its value and use.

Copper prices spiked about 5 years ago, a roll of 12 AWG Romex wire, used in wiring houses, went from $12.00 to $120. Copper pipe made a similar upward swing. I plan for future events, have a site selected for a large solar panel array and also have enough #4 copper stranded wire to connect the solar panels to my shop. Other copper investments include half and 3/4" diameter copper pipes, appropriate copper fittings and rolls of silver solder. I have 2 new spools of stranded #10 copper wire and a few hundred feet of Romex wire and I consider these as investments. You would be surprised what gets tossed into the dumpster on large construction projects. It pays to go dumpster diving.

I think you've made a good assessment. I had previously thought that the sheer weight of copper rounds would make them impractical. If there comes a PAW in our lives I will not worry at the government's warning about melting down copper pennies. I have a few coffee cans that I use for saving pre-1982 pennies and pre-2011 nickels.

My take on copper: they are not precious and I think it's probably a new way for the industry to package a sell to those of us concerned about our fiat money system. I looked at them a year or so ago when they ere "hot" but decided that it wasn't a wise purchase for me. If for no other reason, storage and/or transport if I need to move it. Even a few thousand dollars worth of copper gets weighty. If you want to make a more sizable investment it only makes that problem bigger. If I thought copper was a good diversification idea, I'd almost rather buy copper piping or wire. It could be melted down and minted at a later date if deemed necessary or could be more valuable as a barter item in the form of wire or piping. Even in a post collapse scenario people will need wire and pipes. Just my 2 cents which is far from what you'd call "expert" on the copper subject.

I'd like to know your opinion on copper rounds. They are getting a lot of hype right now but Steve Quayle said they are not a precious metal and not to waste your money. Another article I read is that there is an obscene markup to copper.

I have earned my living giving people financial advice for the last 16 years. Only about the last 4 have been while becoming awakened to the realities we are facing with our current system. I've become a rather large silver bug and to a lessor extent a gold bug for the last 2 years. I think it's key to not over extend yourself into either extreme. I think everyone should own some precious metals but you should diversify your preps. That means you should also have cash, food, guns/ammo, tools, ect. The truth is that none of us know exactly what the future holds or how it's going to go down. If you're not well rounded (i.e. diversified) you might not put yourself in the best possible position. I agree with most of what the article said.

This is about as good an essay as I have seen on the value of metals in an emergency situation.

http://www.greatnorthernprepper.com/bar ... investing/

And here's another that is very good:

http://ready4itall.org/a-realistic-view ... -for-shtf/