Here’s a thought. Let’s say that you’re one of the many people who doesn’t own a gun of any real consequence — say, a .22 bolt-action rifle Christmas gift from Grandpa when you were ten, which you’ve fired occasionally but not often, or an old .38 revolver inherited from some uncle or other and only test-fired: and that’s it.
(I know, in these times and for my audience, this is scarcely believable; but I bet everyone can think of at least one person like this among your acquaintances, relatives and workmates. This is about them.)
Suddenly, you realize that things are going to get real and fairly soon, and you’re going to need a gun (or even two) fairly soon as well. Fortunately, you have a buddy who can teach you about the gun(s) and how to shoot them (what we Olde Pharttes call the “manual of arms”), but there’s a problem. You don’t have much money to spend, and the next gun show in your area is a month away — and you need a gun right now.
Your local gun stores are either out of stock, or worse: the guns they do have in stock are hideously expensive, and you only have a few hundred-odd dollars available, because the rest is being spent on building up emergency food supplies for you and your family. (Okay, I bet that now my Readers will know of a few people in this predicament.)
Still, you know that hoarding food supplies is pointless if some guy with a gun suddenly decides that he wants what you’ve got; you need to protect yourself, and get it done cheaply and quickly. Fortunately, you find an online source — an online outlet’s warehouse close by, and they have a stock of guns you can go to with fistfuls of dollars in hand, but you hardly know anything about guns.
What to do, and what are the best options?
As we all know, there is a list of must-haves when it comes to making a gun purchase of this sort. You need:
- an inexpensive gun
- chambered to shoot common (and therefore likely cheaper) ammo
- that you can learn to shoot quickly.
Her are my thoughts on the whole thing.
If there’s any chance you’re going to be facing some up-close-and-personal interaction, not much beats a shotgun. They’re cheap, easy to work, and despite having a small cartridge magazine capacity (5 or so), they’re the business. And there are lots of choices, and they’re all cheap. Here’s the best (I think) of the lot, the Mossberg Maverick 88 pump action, costing much less than three hundred dollars:
For ten bucks more, Savage’s Stevens 320 line also comes recommended:
Both are chambered in either 12ga or 20ga — 12 is more effective, but the 20’s recoil is much more manageable.
But Kim, you ask, what if I’m wanting to keep a little more distance between myself and Larry The Looter — say, as he comes up the driveway or is climbing over the back fence?
The bad thing about a shotgun is that the shot spreads soon after it leaves the muzzle, which means that the further away the target, the greater the dispersion of the pellets, and the greater likelihood of a partial- or even clean miss.
A rifle? Why, sure — if you’ve fired a bolt-action rifle before and know how to work it, then that’s the one to get. (Lever-action — “cowboy” — rifles are surprisingly expensive at the moment.) When you scan the wholesaler’s catalogue, however, you see that very few of the rifles have iron sights anymore — it’s no longer fashionable, for some reason — so your ever-shrinking fistful of cash needs to get a scope as well, even if it’s just an inexpensive one.
Well, step forward a couple of manufacturers who sell scope-inclusive gun “packages”. There’s Savage’s Axis line of rifles, which typically sell for (well) under $500 and include a scope:
Even better, they’re chambered for most of the popular (therefore cheap, and likely available) cartridges like the .223 Rem (5.56x45mm), .308 Win or .30-06 Springfield.
I would suggest that you couldn’t do much better than that, if you’re likely to need a gun which can reach out a little. For only a few more dollars, you can also get a Mossberg Patriot, similarly chambered:
Frankly, I myself would pick the Mossberg, but my reason for that is purely a personal one (no details because unnecessary). Either rifle would be fine.
Lastly, if you don’t have one of those old .38 revolvers in your possession, you might want to get a handgun simply because they’re easier to carry around, either in a holster (please) or just tucked into your waistband (please don’t).
Like the shotgun, there is an optimal choice for a handgun: a revolver (because it’s like a fork: you pick it up, and it works) chambered in… well, here’s where things get interesting.
I myself would recommend the .38 Special cartridge — the “+P” is better still, albeit often more spendy — but regardless of what caliber you choose, you’ve got to suck it up and buy quality / premium self-defense ammo (which is not necessarily true of the long guns).
As for the revolver itself, you have a couple choices: firstly, the Rock Island M200:
It’s ugly, it’s basic (.38 Special only, not +P), and it only costs $250. Remember, it’s likely to be a last-ditch gun, so there’s no point in spending more. But if you do, there’s always the Taurus 856 (also .38 Spec only), for a hundred-odd bucks more:
(This model’s the hammerless double-action-only, which is fine for the purpose as described. It might even work better for you than one with an exposed hammer.)
For almost double the price of the Taurus, though, you can get the Ruger LCRx:
Why does it cost so much more? It’s a Ruger, so it’s not going to break, and it can shoot the .38 Spec +P cartridge, which is a much better self-defense load than a regular .38 Special. Your choice.
Aside: why the .38 Special and not the 9mm? Simply put, the 9mm is pretty much confined to semi-auto handguns — which require a great deal more instruction and practice time than the original “point-and-click” interface of the revolver.
And why not the .357 Magnum? Expensive, not as available as the .38, very difficult to control in a small revolver, and the guns that can handle the cartridge are much more expensive.
Okay, one last thing: Someone, somewhere is going to start yammering about an AR-15 semi-auto rifle being The Ultimate Choice — perhaps your buddy, who is a vet and is willing to give you the proper instruction. And the ammo is dirt cheap (and other gun guys may be willing to give you a hundred-odd rounds from their stash), so why not?
Fine.
The problem is that because the AR-15 model is so easy to customize, you’re going to get confused about the thing. Don’t be. Get a basic out-of-the-box AR-15 with iron sights and two spare 30-round mags, and all will be well. What’s “basic”?
Step forward the Del-Ton Sport-M2, for only $600:
Del-Ton? Who they? No idea, but when it comes to AR-15s these days, that scarcely seems to matter. Here’s one guy who tried the Sport-M2 out, and found it quite acceptable. Or if you have a hundred more bucks in your handful of cash and want to take less risk, quality-wise, there’s always the Smith & Wesson M&P Sport II (which would get my vote):
Don’t listen to the guys who say they can “build” you an AR-15 for less than the Del-Ton, by the way, because that inevitably involves a lower from X, an upper from Y, a trigger group from P and an optical sight from Q, all of which need careful fitting and testing — and you don’t have the luxury of time.
Myself, I’d just get a Mossberg pump shotgun and a Rock Island revolver, because it’s easy-peasy (which is what you’re looking for, right?) and the total cost for that combo, without ammo, is about $500 ($600 with a couple boxes each of 20ga and .38 Special).
Cheap, nasty but fit for purpose.
