Ammo exchange index?

[a1c]

I would think the sheer volume of ammunition-like consumer products would make comparing it to industrial grade bulk products like coffee, grapes, and steel an obvious logic mistake.

What you're suggesting is that some broker or business would be willing to sell you a box of Hornady 9mm JHP 147gr TAP FPD in a 25 round box and that he would know the odds of that specific box going up in price and write you a contract for that box, then store the box for you until you or whoever you sell your contract to decides to come claim the actual box.

You seem to be assuming that the coffee or wine grape markets are any less complicated and diverse than the ammo market. They're not.

[Curtis]

I have seen this site posted before.

http://www.ammoengine.com/find/ammo/.40_S&W

[stormy_clothing]

yeah this all sounds well and good until you have 1 country buy all 8 billion rounds the US produces each year to shore up there portfolio, or speculators driving the prices through the roof or store employees hording it.

the last thing you want to do is to take something finite like the limited supply of bullets and give it a world value, unless you want the price of bullets to go like the price of gold anyway.

[Macadelic4]

I have seen this site posted before.

http://www.ammoengine.com/find/ammo/.40_S&W

See my post a few above yours. While a good site, ammoengine isn't the kind of service I'm talking about.

the last thing you want to do is to take something finite like the limited supply of bullets and give it a world value, unless you want the price of bullets to go like the price of gold anyway.

Interesting and valid point. If such a system were to be, say, only for tracking ticks and not for order execution, would it prevent this sort of situation? I understand the technical problems of linking two separate buying/tracking mechanisms, but do you think a simple informational resource would enable anyone more than they are currently? Or make people behave any less speculatively than they currently do? (Would sure get rid of gun stores' "Well, everything is about $X nowadays, prolly won't find it cheaper anywhere else...")

BTW, would anyone refer to such a system if it were free?

[a1c]

No, I'm assuming that people on Calguns don't buy complicated ammo in the quantities that Starbucks buys complicated coffee.

If we were buying complicated products by the truckload, metric ton, or shipload, then you'd have a viable reason to introduce all the overhead that tracking prices, assigning risk, and issuing contracts requires.

That's true, but I didn't realize that is what the OP was suggesting.

However I buy wine futures, even though it's only a case or two at a time.

[Macadelic4]

That's true, but I didn't realize that is what the OP was suggesting.

My apologies - I should have made my intentions (which are still even ethereal to me) more clear. That people have different understandings of what such a system might be is interesting.

If we were buying complicated products by the truckload, metric ton, or shipload, then you'd have a viable reason to introduce all the overhead that tracking prices, assigning risk, and issuing contracts requires.

We would have viable reason, but those of crazy enough to try something like this on a small scale don't need to have a viable one .

To shift the thread a bit, imagine this index doesn't cost you anything and mainly tracks reported "street value" purchases of ammo. Such purchases are small, numerous, and semi-complex with regard to the various factors of ammo. Retail prices are secondary, but might also be factored into the index.