Defensive Long Guns on a Budget

So you’re into guns for self defense. You’ve spent some time at the range, you know how to shoot. You don’t need me to tell you that long-guns can get lead on target with much more ease, and more power than a handgun can. The old saying is “You only use your pistol to fight your way to your long gun!”. I carry a handgun when I’m not expecting to use it, if I ever think I will NEED a gun, I’m bringing a long-gun.

Now here comes the big rub. We talked about rifles vs. Shotguns here, I stated I wasn’t in love with my shotgun as much as my rifles. There weren’t many arguments about that tactically, but there were some financial arguments. A good auto-loaded rifle is EXPENSIVE! You’re probably looking at between $800 and $2000 for many fairly modest auto-loading rifles like AR-15, FALs, M1A, etc. Even bone-stock Mini-14s are going for over $600 these days! A LOT of people don’t have that kind of scratch to drop on ONE gun, especially when they’ll likely be buying accessories, magazines, and ammo for them.

Meanwhile the ubiquitous pump shotgun can be found at any gun shop, and it doesn’t take much looking to find a gently used model for VERY short money. There are lots of great choices out there, but the most common guns of good quality are the Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500. They’re about equal in quality and price, and its up to the user to decide what’s best for them. I’m in the Mossberg camp because of the safety location, the slide-lock location, and the fact that the loading gate is wide open when the action is closed, but again both guns are great choices for short money, and can be had for REALLY cheap if bought used.

Of course for a defensive gun best to shy away from the long hunting barrels, and get something in the vicinity of 20″. Longer magazine tubes are nice too, but aren’t necessary. Just remember to practice reloading your shotgun, because even those 8-round extended magazines run dry QUICK!

Still I prefer rifles, so let’s look a little bit at cheap options. I’m going to stay away from bolt-action guns. They work, and can be deployed effectively, but I think it takes a LOT of skill to run a bolt quickly. Still if you want a bolt-action gun for cheap there are lots of nifty military surplus guns that might be deployed for self-defense, and there are many inexpensive hunting guns you could have shortened or modified for a handy defensive rifle….but that’s up to you.

Its worth a mention to the SKS rifle, they aren’t amazing, but they’re 7.62×39 which is cheap and effective, and they feed very quickly from stripper clips. They used to be scary cheap, but the price has gone WAYY up over the years. Still they’re worth a look to see if you can find one in your price range.

Also not my bag, but lever carbines have been the “Stealth Assault Rifle” for decades now. It doesn’t take much work to get scary fast at working the leaver, they come in a HUGE variety of calibers, and they essentially reload similar to a shotgun. Marlin seems to make the best quality-to-price guns in this range.

Another option that I don’t shy away from are pistol carbines. The coolest IMHO is the Kel-tec Sub2000

The hard part about this gun is there are LOTS of variations on it, specifically on what pistol magazines they take, and if its in .40 S&W or 9×19, and Kel-Tec is REALLY lousy about keeping the market satisfied with stock, so you may not be able to actually FIND one. Its a shame. There are also lots of discontinued carbines that might still sell for cheap.

Pistol rounds are pistol rounds, but they don’t make a lot of noise or recoil, the longer barrel and shoulder stock give it more power and accuracy, and you can have quick mag changes, often with high capacity, so there’s a lot to love.

So anybody got some other cheap go-to long guns out there?

This entry was posted in Guns, Self Defense. Bookmark the permalink.

0 Responses to Defensive Long Guns on a Budget

  1. Wolfman says:

    I still think I can get more rounds on target with an SMLE than a gangbanger with an ak. The trick is, dont let go of the bolt, and pull the trigger with your middle finger, the Tommy way.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Yeah I kept away from that. If SHTF and all I had was an Enfield Jungle Carbine and a stack of .303 clips, I wouldn’t feel under-gunned.

      Still I’d prefer a semi-auto (even an AK), but the Enfield rifle is one of the best bolt-action rifles ever designed IMHO. I’m kinda pissed there aren’t more cock-on-closing rifles out there. That action is just SO slick.

      Still Enfields aren’t exactly cheap these days, and .303 is getting hard to find, and new factory stuff is expensive. Not a great budget gun if you ask me.

  2. Critter says:

    well, you said cheap: while i wouldn’t be caught dead with one, the High Point carbine actually seems to work. if one had about a hunnit fiddy and a box of bullets, then one could get it and go to work.

    lever rifles would be my next bet. used Marlin and Winchester .30-30’s can be had in Lower Alabama for about two fiddy and ammo can be found at any 7-11. they’re not hi-cap or overly sexy but they are plentiful, cheap and they work. with a little practice one can become a fast action lever gunman for not much cheddar.

    and the ubiquitous Mossberg pumpenshootzen. about one fiddy and some shells from Granny’s Plant Store, Feed Lot and Ammo Depot and one is up and running.

    all of these would be better than a pistol in any kind of fight that we are expecting and would beat having to charge in to bayonet range with a Moisin-Nagant.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Good point on the Hi-Point Carbine. Their pistols suck, but I have heard the ugly carbines work quite well.

      The rest of your comment got me HOWLING with laughter! BTW can you get ammo in 7-Eleven down there?

    • McThag says:

      Bayonet range for a Mosin is like ten yards! Damn that thing is LOOOOOONG.

      • Joe in PNG says:

        That just means you can stick the baddie that busted down your front door without having to get out of bed… or downstairs…

    • Archer says:

      True on the Hi-Point carbine. Fired a 9mm version a couple years back. It’s actually pretty slick, almost no recoil, and it accepts their 9mm pistol magazines, too. Great if you happen to have both.

      Throw a red-dot on that ugly-stick, and I can think of plenty of worse guns to have if SHTF.

  3. Paladin says:

    Excellent recommendations!

    I’d also add AK variants. There’s a reason the AK Platform is found all over the globe – even if people think “ZOMG… TERRORIST!” when they see it 🙂

    You can spend as much on a high end AK variant as you can an AR nowadays, but I wouldn’t ignore the WASR and other “budget” ak’s floating around. I have two myself, and with aftermarket stocks and some minor tweaking they have been awesome guns. Particularly if you are looking at urban type shot distances. Ammo is inexpensive, as you pointed out, and hits pretty hard. Surplus mags are cheap and reliable. The guns themselves are famous for being virtually jam/trouble free through mud, sand, etc.

    Caveats are: Do your research so you know their “quirks” and how to deal with them. The front sight on the WASR is a good example of this. If you are handy at all and do your homework you can pick up two reliable AK type semi autos and enough mags to fill your pouches for what a single fairly standard AR will cost you from the sporting goods store.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      When was the last time you priced a WASR? I bought mine a year ago (sold it six months later….didn’t like it) and I had to drop 6 bills before walking out the door.

      Sure WASRs and Mini-14s are CHEAPER alternatives to the AR-15, but I think they’re running a bit steep these days to be considered budget guns anymore. Sure 10 years ago when they were $250, they were a SCREAMING buy (even when you factor inflation) but now they’re a bit steep IMHO.

      • Paladin says:

        Wow.. they HAVE gone up. Classic Arms still has a WASR under $500, and a Saiga w/4 30rnd mags for about $600, but that’s alot more than I dropped on either of mine way back pre-hysteria.

        Maybe I should have invested some of my 401K designated funds into rifles instead 🙂

  4. Joe in PNG says:

    For the picked clean bare bones budget, one can always use the old semiauto .22 rifle to defend one’s homestead. One should be able to locate an old Ruger 10-22 for around $150 or less, and any number of Marlin, H&R, Remington et al tube fed .22 autochuckers for $80 or so.

    And there is always the Mosin-Nagant “tomato stake” in 7.62x54r. Cheap enough that they just about give you one for just walking into a gunshop or show. Some even got built in bayonets for some old skool CQB.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      A semi-auto .22 isn’t too bad an idea. My Glenfield model 60 (marlin Model 60 contracted to Sears) came home with me for the princely sum of $60. Thing holds 17+1 rounds of .22 LR and I can empty the tube into a pie-plate at 15 yards in about 3 seconds. Reload is slow, but facing one or two attackers without armor, I find it hard to believe I couldn’t stop that attack if the old gun didn’t jam.

      .22 isn’t much of a man-stopper, but 18 rounds of .22 at about 1200fps is essentially a 12 gauge load of #4 buckshot! And given that you can do precision aiming with those pills, they’ll go a lot further.

      Add in a 10/22 with the extended magazines made by Ruger that actually work, it’ll work in a pinch.

  5. I picked up a Mossberg 500 and an AR-15 this year. I like them both quite a bit, but sadly haven’t gotten to grab too much trigger time on either one yet. While I have 30 rounds on tap in the AR, I am currently still more likely to grab the shotgun in a home defense situation because right now, it just FEELS better to me. It swings better to get on target, and I have more confidence in my ability to shoot it accurately.

    There was a good phrase I heard somewhere, I think it was Eric Shelton’s podcast back when he was still doing it. I can’t remember enough of the quote to even try to duplicate it, but basically: It takes very little training to run a shotgun acceptably well. It takes more training to run a rifle at the same level. But it is easier to learn to run a rifle at an expert level than a shotgun.

    • Also, going back and rereading your post where you talk about shotgun ballistics, I don’t really see the unimpressive part. You say buckshot is really only impressive since there will be a lot of projectiles hitting for each shot….but for any shot within 25 yards or so, you WILL have all the projectiles hit the target, so it’s not like you’re going to have a whole lot of situations where only one or two pellets strike the target.

      • Weerd Beard says:

        Well you do once you get outside of 50 yards. In Home-defense ranges, sure you’ll likely land every last pellet, and hit the bastard with the wad, and generally with buckshot loads a solid COM hit is damn near 100% one-shot-stop, and likely rapidly fatal.

        Your point about FEEL is an awesome one. There’s a LOT to be said about that. I carry and use 1911s because they have always FELT best in my hand, ever since I picked up my first one I INSTANTLY wanted one of my own.

        I bought a WASR 10 last year, and it was only a month or two down the line before I noticed I was bringing my SKS to the range when I wanted to burn some 7.62×39. I sold it and bought an FAL that needed a TON of work. Still even in its flawed state I INSTANTLY knew it was the right rifle for me.

        Its ALL about the feel, and that feel will help you get good with the weapon.

  6. Murphy's Law says:

    Still a lot of old military Mausers out there cheap if you shop around, and I wouldn’t feel undergunned with one in 8mm, .30-06, .308, 7mm, etc.,

    • Critter says:

      i grew up shooting bolt guns, mostly surplus, and i can’t think of a reason not to own several. sadly, the days of cheap surplus rifles is over, but they’re still a bargain compared to this new fangled semi-auto business. *fond memory* i once bought a gently used Argentine Mauser in 7X57mm and 200 rounds of ammo for $200.

  7. Guns says:

    No doubt! the quality of Remington 870 is the best. It is all time my favorite gun.

  8. Critter says:

    oh, one can get all the ammo for the guns mentioned in my previous post at WalMart, but you have to get dressed up to go there.

  9. Greg Camp says:

    Others have beat me to it, but here’s a second for a Marlin 60, an SMLE, and a Mosin-Nagant–especially the first and last ones in that list. The ammo is cheap, so you can get in a lot of practice. The Commie gun is also noted for being reliable under field conditions (read mud, never cleaned, etc.). One of the carbine versions would be short enough to move around, while still being a long gun.

  10. Bubblehead Les says:

    Here’s some out of the box thinking. Just took Dave Canterbury’s (from the Dual Survival TV show) Basic Wilderness School this summer. He thinks the best Long Gun out there for POOR People is the H+R/NEF Single Shot in 12 gauge, 3 inch Modified choke Here’s his reasoning. 12 Gauge can be found EVERYWHERE in the U.S. One can use convert even the #8 Birdshot into Slugs by using the Cut Shell method. There’s nothing east of the Mississippi that can’t be killed with a 12 Gauge Slug. Depending on the load one uses, there’s nothing that can’t be hunted with that firearm. There are inserts that allow using bullets of various calibers. The gun is nearly indestructible. They are easy to use. They would be among the last things Banned if the Antis get their way (even Britain allows Shotguns). They’re dirt cheap. They can even fire Black Powder as a Muzzle Loader.

    Dave has a lot of the technical stuff on his You Tube Channel regarding his reasoning, and I think he has a Valid Point. Now, personally, he does come from the Primitive/ Minimalist School, but having spent 3 days with the man, all I know is that if things fall apart down to that level of Civilization, I’d be happy to have that Gun available to me rather than an empty M-1 Carbine.

    Now, for me, that’s the Bottom Line. But the idea of having a Lever Gun/Revolver Combo in .357 Magnum is also appealing. But that’s a Topic for another day.

    YMMV, of course.

  11. Ratus says:

    “Kel-tec Sub2000…The hard part about this gun is there are LOTS of variations on it, specifically on what pistol magazines they take, and if its in .40 S&W or 9×19…”

    It’s really very simple, they sort out into two major categories.

    Is it 9×19 or .40 S&W?

    Does it use Glock mags?

    If it doesn’t use Glock mags you can easly switch between S&W, BERETTA, or SIG magazines by changing the magazine catch. They used to sell them in their online store now you have to call or email Kel Tec customer service.

    I have one in 9×19 with the beretta 92 mag catch. May post about it.

  12. Archer says:

    Been said up there, but I’ll second (or third, or whatever we’re on): Mossberg 500. It’s reliable. 12-gauge can be found anywhere, and the variations on shot size means you can “custom” load for any game (including the two-legged criminal-types) — without even touching the honest-to-goodness custom loads. And it’s not terribly spendy; I picked up the package with interchangeable barrels (18.5″ open and 26″ choked) for about $260 at a *gasp* gun show [insert dramatic DUM DUM DUM sound here]. Changing barrels takes about 15 seconds.

    That’s my go-to long gun for defense.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *