JWR:
Regarding to the recent post by John concerning tight budget armaments I have a few suggestions. Over the past year I have acquired a small collection of Hi-Point weapons and I absolutely love them! They are american made, reliable and oh-so economical.
Mother’s day before last I was looking for a unique gift for my wife (who also happens to be the mother of our five children!). I began thinking handgun. But, with the five kids and an aspiring 40 acre farm/retreat, budgets are almost always tight. Add to this the fact that my wife is a new shooter and I was not certain she would take to it, I didn’t want to drop a big load of cash on a fancy piece that stood a 50/50 chance of becoming a paper weight. So, after a bit of research I settled on the C9. What a neat little gun! She loved it! Unfortunately, so did I. To avoid being an Indian Giver I was forced to buy a second one for myself, which has become my everyday concealed carry piece.
Both guns have shown near flawless performance. In fact we have had only a couple of mis-feeds, all with Bitterroot Valley Ammunition Company (BVAC) hollow points made from once fired brass. All other ammo has been perfect, and the more we shoot them, the smoother they get. As a side note, they love any and all +P rounds. I should note that in general I really like BVAC’s ammo, but have relegated the reloads to practice, and keep something new and nasty in a +P self defense load in the “Serious” magazines.
The best part: Brand-New retail on these bad boys is less than $170, so you can get pistol, holster and a couple of spare mags for about Two Bills.
Next up in the Hi-Point product line is the TS9 carbine. I can’t say anything bad about this one either. It is light, handy, surprisingly accurate, and has not had a single problem with any kind of ammo. I added a stock mounted magazine holder (carries two spare 10 round mags, one on either side of the stock) and other than that left it as is. This little carbine is a great home defense weapon, an excellent trunk gun, and light enough to carry forever. With good +P hollow points it is more than able to bring down mid-size game (think feral hogs and black tail deer) at open sight ranges. As an added bonus the carbine magazines also work in the C9 pistols, which is a big cost saver when stocking up, and handy in a tight spot! Brand-New the TS9 carbine runs just a shade over three hundred, and if you haunt the pawn shops you can find them in the two hundred range. If you don’t mind the “Planet of The Apes” look, the original version can be found even less expensively.
Last on my list of super bargains is the Maverick 88 12 gauge pump action shotgun. These are built by an offshoot of Mossberg, and with the exception of the placement of the safety they are near identical to the 500 series pump guns. Mine has an 18.5 inch barrel, and a 5+1 tube. Stocks are black synthetic, and it came with a full stock and a pistol grip (“cruiser style”). The pistol grip went in the parts bin after the first box of shells, the “cool factor” was not enough to offset the “Oh god, I think my thumb is broken” factor. I have been very pleased with the gun so far and have fired everything from 2 3/4 field loads to magnum turkey loads, as well as all manner of slugs and buck shot through it. On sale at a little gun shop in North Carolina I picked it up new for $249. It is a tasty little “Zombie Gun” at a price that most budgets can absorb. If I were in a TEOTWAWKI situation and could have only one firearm, I’d take this one. The versatility of the 12 gauge is unbeatable- small game, large game, hominids of questionable intent, or the walking dead are all susceptible to one load or another!
I have been very pleased with the Maverick as it came out of the box, but if you want to trick it up and rail it out, it will accept most of the multitude of accessories made for its cousin the Mossberg 500.
These are my top three suggestions for the budget minded or financially-challenged prepper. With a bit of huntin’ and peckin’, you should be able to pick up all three for less than $800 (about half the cost of a single top shelf M4gery). Compounding the savings, this combo leaves you with one caliber and one gauge of ammo to stock, and only one type of spare magazine to buy (although I recommend a small number of the original 8 rounders for the C9, they fit flush to the grip). This arsenal would also be light enough to add to a “Camper-Hiker-Survival-Bugout-Kit.”