3 gun defensive battery for <$1000.00

Three essentials in my opinion for most suburban persons...

(I doubt that we will be facing hordes of zombies...nor would a person be engaged in sniping operations... And "living off the land" would simply be unrealistic for most city guys...unfortunately many would wither away without a local Starbucks.....) So...here is my list...

1. Glock 27 (Concealable, powerful, and provides rapid reload, in a dependable package.)

2. SW 642 snub nose revolver (when you can't carry the Glock)

3. LCP (I know it's weak...but makes a great back-up for the above. This would be the "always with me" gun.)

Here's a 3 gun combo that I have now.

Used 870 - $200

New XD40SC - $500

New Kel-Tec Sub2000 in .40 - $325

So I'm a little over at $1025. But I also only have to carry .40 and 12 Ga ammo. Not a long range combo, but then my old eyes aren't set up for long range anymore either.

Model 1897, $250
FEG hi power, $320, or my adjustable sights makarov for 125 dollars.
Mosin. $120
Knowing your home is secure... Priceless. (i just had to lol)

Rifle: Romanian PSL or Saiga .308

Pistol: Romanian Tokarev or Bulgarian Makarov

Shotgun: used Winchester 1300 or a Remington 870

That gets you: a high-powered, accurate long-range rifle, a very solid, reliable pistol, and a very good, reliable shotgun.

One thing people planning a 3-gun battery should remember is to not neglect the power curve. You're only going to have 1 rifle, so it needs to be a rifle capable of bringing down most anything you'll encounter. The various intermediate calibers simply are not acceptable for this role. If you're only going to have one, it needs to be a full-powered rifle.

you believe would be capable of handling most situations you would encounter in a defensive/survival situation. You should be able to do everything from gathering food to hold off a small band of armed men with the guns that you choose.

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I wish you hadn't muddied up the waters by combining "defensive" with "survival." These can be two very different things calling for very different guns.

Survival:

1) Savage .308 bolt action rifle
2) Ruger 10-22
3) 4" or 6" .357 revolver for the "opportunity" shots one might encounter.
4) If you bought wisely, you might have enough left over for a 12 gauge shotgun, too.

Defensive:

1) Used Glock 17
2) Used 870 12 gauge
3) Used Mini-14 or AK-47 or a pieced together AR

I really don't know if doubling up on long guns is a good idea, for a purely defensive battery. Shotguns are basically a jack of all trades, master of only a few. Best for shooting birds and clays with birdshot. Decent for short to medium range shots on large animals, using slugs. Okay at short range on medium sized animals, with buckshot.

But really, from what I've seen in deer, living adjacent to a "shotgun county," you can basically consider a 12 gauge slug to be a .30-30 with shorter range. A 7.62x39mm will make a hole very nearly as big, with better range than the 12 gauge, and much less recoil.

Buckshot at any distance where the pattern is more than 2-3" wide, will just make a bunch of tiny holes like several shots with .32 FMJs. At point blank, it's a little better than a .30-30, but worse than a .308 or .30-06.

So really, I'd say the best low-budget defensive setup would probably be a used Ruger Mini-30 or non-Century AKM-variant, and a used Glock, and skip the shotgun completely. That should leave enough in the budget for extra ammo.

Or if you absolutely have to have a shotgun for your primary defensive longarm, about the only reason is to reduce wall penetration a little, which means you'd have little use for a rifle. That makes it a used Glock and some kind of used shotgun, plus a boatload of ammo.

Ahh, but Ryan, let's say we are hunting game OTHER than large animals like deer. What if yo uneed to hunt rabbit, squirrels, ducks, turkeys, etc?

Sure a 22 would work but not on flying birds. A 308 wouldn't leave enough to eat on a small critter. That's where a shotgun with small shot works great.

What if you need to hunt rabbit, squirrels, ducks, turkeys, etc?

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That's where my Ruger 10-22 comes in (in my "survival" battery) or even my .357 loaded with wadcutter .38's.

Using a shotshell as large as a 12 gauge to harvest a tiny squirrel seems disproportionate. Flying birds? Same thing: big shell for little edible meat. Besides, they must land sometime, don't they?

That's why I objected to him lumping the two categories together. It can be easily extrapolated that the intrepid soul that assembles such a 3-gun assortment might well have to carry it on his back, in which case, the 12 gauge sucks bigtime.

My clapped out Ruger P-89- $250 (bought new for ~$400 17(?) years ago)
My decent but well used 870 Express- $250 (bought new for $150 16 years ago)
My used Chinese SKS- $250 (bought for $100 10 years ago)

All work flawlessly..... I built my solution a long time ago on a serious budget... lol... so I already have my "budget 3 gun solution"

Service Grade M1 Garand $595 - CMP

Browning Hi-Power Argentine $295 - J&G

NEF Pardner 12 Ga Single Shot Shotgun $106.50 - Jerry’s

Total 996.50


for about 50 dollars more you could get a nice used pump shotgun.

I think I already have one that came in well under that:

1. Smith 586, bought used for $365 in 2006. Probably could have talked it down a bit, but I was pretty inexperienced buying guns at the time.

2. Yugo SKS, bought "new" for $125 in 2006. Sure, they cost more than that now, but that's what I paid four years ago.

3a. Remington 870 Express HD, bought new for $300 in 2008.
or
3b. Remington/Baikal 20" SxS in 12g with functional hammers, bought new for $350 in 2007.

So that's $840 with the coach gun or $790 with the pump gun. Either way, I have lots of room for ammo.

Ahh, but Ryan, let's say we are hunting game OTHER than large animals like deer. What if yo uneed to hunt rabbit, squirrels, ducks, turkeys, etc?

Sure a 22 would work but not on flying birds. A 308 wouldn't leave enough to eat on a small critter. That's where a shotgun with small shot works great.

Click to expand...

Main thing is that this is a defensive battery, according to the thread title. For a dual purpose defense and sporting arsenal under $1000, I'd say a used Glock, used Rem 700, and used Mossy 500 or Rem 870, with 28" and 18" barrels. That's the other time I'd recommend a shotgun for a primary home defense arm, when you don't have the budget for an intermediate caliber semi-auto, but do already have a duck gun (or a desire for one, anyway).

But for defense only, 2 long guns is redundant, unless one is a spare (in which case you're best off with 2 identical guns). And shotguns are far from optimal for antipersonnel use and medium/large game. 12 gauge slugs and buckshot will get'r done, no question about that, but the recoil is really disproportionate to the results. Shotguns are really specialized for wingshooting and maybe tree squirrels.

Actually, now that I read the first post a little more thoroughly instead of skimming it, and noticed that survival was also listed... I'd say for survival, used Glock, used Ruger Mk.II/III or .22/45 or Browning Buckmark, and a used Ruger Mini-30 or non-Century AKM variant in 7.62x39mm. .22 pistol instead of a shotgun, pretty much for the reasons that David E said.

Lee Enfield SMLE-$150
Rock Island 1911 new-$425
Mossberg 500 20ga-$250
Thats $275 left over for ammo