The company’s economy-grade Maverick has twin action bars and a crossbolt safety, but prices start as low as $252 MSRP. In a world where the general public still seems to think guns sell for $50 or $100, a Mossberg Maverick minimizes “sticker shock” and will get the customer through the night.
Sales Tip: When selling a slide-action shotgun to a first-time gun owner, please be sure to show them how to operate it. Remind them to work the slide vigorously, and show them where the slide release button is. It’s counterintuitive, but in defensive shotgun training we see more malfunctions with pump guns than with autoloaders.
Yes, it’s counterintuitive, but the problem lies with the user rather than the machine. The unfamiliar user struggles to pump a shell into the chamber after closing the action on an empty chamber, and often short-strokes the slide.
Mossberg is also back in the pistol business with their neat little MC series of semi-autos, holding up to 15 rounds of 9mm. Pricing is reasonable.
Budget Guns For On-The-Go & Home Defense
The Mossberg MC2c’s slim profile and increased capacity (double-stack magazines are available in 13-round flush
or 15-round extended options) make it a useful tool for concealed carry or home-defense.
Not every customer has the budget to walk into your shop and drop thousands of dollars on a premium-quality firearm. You didn’t need me to tell you that, of course. With recent events in America, millions of people — millions and millions — are buying their first firearms.
They aren’t buying them for hunting or target shooting. People are scared, and rightfully so. These folks are buying firearms for protection. And we all know reliability is a non-negotiable baseline for anything being purchased as emergency lifesaving rescue equipment.
This trend converges with another: The pandemic has led to economic devastation. People are out of work in frightening numbers, some facing foreclosures and evictions. Thus, demand for functional low-priced guns has risen significantly.
Teaching the use of defensive firearms and being in constant contact with other trainers in that small industry, I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of budget guns in action. Some work better than others. Here are a suggested handful of economy guns we’ve seen stand up and prove to be reliable enough to sell with confidence for self-defense.
Established Value Models
Since the 1949 introduction of their famous .22 pistol (for $37.50 at the time), Ruger has consistently made virtually every list of “best buy” and “best value” firearms with damn near everything in their catalog ever since.
Ruger’s Security-9 is a solid-shooting little polymer pistola that carries 15+1 rounds of 9mm in its standard mode (product code 3810) and 10+1 in its compact concealed carry version (product code 3818). Its MSRP is only $379, two-thirds of the price tag of comparable quality pistols in its class. I found it eminently shootable and reasonably concealable in both configurations.
A lot of shooters still feel the double-action revolver is the best starting choice for the new handgun owner. No worries about struggling with slide manipulation or whether or not to keep and carry it with a round in the chamber. No magazines to keep track of. The easy-opening cylinder is simple to check whether or not there are cartridges in the chamber. Not terribly dependent on lubrication and maintenance. Polymer frame construction allows less cost for the LCR, Ruger’s Lightweight Compact Revolver. Available in .22 LR and .22 Magnum for the recoil sensitive, the LCR can also be had in .327 Magnum, .38 Special, .357 Magnum and even 9mm with moon clips. Manufacturer’s suggested retail starts at $579, a decent value.
Ruger’s 10/22 rifle has been immensely popular, and starts at only a little over $300 MSRP. No, most of us won’t recommend a .22 for home defense, but for some of your more physically fragile customers who are also completely new to firearms, an autoloading .22 rifle might be all they can handle. The 10/22 is famous for its reliability, and the higher-capacity magazines Ruger now offers might just allow a homeowner to get enough rounds on target to make up for the tiny cartridge’s lack of power.
For over a century now, Mossberg has been justly famous for reliable, ergonomic firearms at low cost. Millions of homes are already protected with their Model 500 slide-action shotgun. In the course of the current buying surge, shotguns have been high on the new customers’ “want list,” and some gun shops report legal-length short-barrel pump guns are their single fastest seller to this particular customer category.
The Mossberg 500 is relatively light and easy to handle. Its top-tang thumb safety is ambidextrous and intuitive. The Mossberg 500 has always been a staple of the economy-priced gun market.
Taurus G3 – Tenifer Matte Black
there are lots of good, reliable self-defense guns that can be sold in confidence to cash-strapped customers.
Another maker in the economy gun niche is Taurus. Their QC has gone up and down and up again over the decades. Their G3 polymer pistol series appears to have reached a high level in this regard. The ones I’ve had go through my classes work fine for the required 500 rounds, and I’m seeing these pistols in gun shops with price tags in the $300 range.
Consider Quality Turkish Imports
Consider Turkish-made guns. Just because they’re from Turkey doesn’t mean they’re turkeys!
Canik striker-fired polymer frame 9mm pistols are making a lot of friends. I’ve seen them turn in stunning performances in the hands of master shooters such as Corinne Mosher. The ergonomics are similar to those of a GLOCK. I’ve seen students whose Caniks burble happily through 500 rounds in my classes without missing a beat, and haven’t seen one jam yet. Best of all, they start at around $360 MSRP. Even being labeled as a “gun snob,” I’d carry one without hesitation.
Another excellent Turkish-made pistol comes from Sarsilmaz: the SAR9. A 9mm as its name implies, it’s sort of a GLOCK with an ergonomic ambidextrous thumb safety. It works fine and I’d be comfortable carrying it anywhere.
Sarsilmaz may be the most misspelled name in the industry, but with MSRP starting at well under $400, I consider them an excellent buy.
Turkish shotguns run a wide gamut of makes and models. Some of the pump shotguns from there qualify as “best buys,” too. Other options imported from Turkey are Zanders’ Impala Plus series, Escort Shotguns from HatsunUSA and several lines from TriStar Arms.
I’ve run out of space, but the point is there are lots of good, reliable self-defense guns that can be sold in confidence to cash-strapped customers.
