$300 and no gun at all, but...

Upon reflection (no pun), for a .22 rifle the handy Romanian M-69 Trainer is an excellent value for $120 (today's [small] gun show). Very bright bores are common.The OP can save the difference until .22LR is much cheaper.

I'm currently most concerned with fun in my firearm choice.

I'm thinking a .22 pistol would be most fun for me right now. So, I'd probably hit the pawn shops and see if I could find a nice used Ruger MKII or MKIII.

There was another gun shop I went to a while back that had a bunch of High Standard .22 pistols from $250 on up. I'd stop by there and see if he had anything interesting. Maybe bring a handful of silver to sweeten the deal.

tarosean said:

Did I miss something?

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If you live in a rural area you probably aren't following me. I'm expressing urban/suburban reality.

I was obliquely pointing out that shotguns are huge, and bringing them down to reasonable size involves paying the tax man $200. Unless you do that, you have a very difficult time using a shotgun for anything but home defense and licensed hunting of in-season game, and even that may be difficult depending on your living situation.

Uncut shotguns must be disassembled and packed into non-gun cases (baseball bags or whatever) to safely move from the house unless you have an attached garage. Even there you must be careful - people will break into your house to steal musical instruments and sporting equipment almost as eagerly as they'll break in to steal guns.

In my world, a shotgun is a special-use luxury. A handgun is far more generally useful. That's because I'm basically urban.

Ed Ames said:

If you live in a rural area you probably aren't following me. I'm expressing urban/suburban reality.

I was obliquely pointing out that shotguns are huge, and bringing them down to reasonable size involves paying the tax man $200. Unless you do that, you have a very difficult time using a shotgun for anything but home defense and licensed hunting of in-season game, and even that may be difficult depending on your living situation.

Uncut shotguns must be disassembled and packed into non-gun cases (baseball bags or whatever) to safely move from the house unless you have an attached garage. Even there you must be careful - people will break into your house to steal musical instruments and sporting equipment almost as eagerly as they'll break in to steal guns.

In my world, a shotgun is a special-use luxury. A handgun is far more generally useful. That's because I'm basically urban.

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I'm "basically urban" as well but I don't really think your post reflects reality. I'm not naive about the risks in this world but I don't think that it is unreasonable for someone to own a shotgun in an area like this just because it is a few feet long.

Doc7 said:

I'm "basically urban" as well but I don't really think your post reflects reality. I'm not naive about the risks in this world but I don't think that it is unreasonable for someone to own a shotgun in an area like this just because it is a few feet long.

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Hmm...maybe it's a matter of understanding. You can own them. I never said otherwise. They're just not very useful relative to guns that can be carried in a lunch box. It isn't unreasonable to own something that isn't practical...I own many things that are impractical for my current situation and I'm eminently reasonable...it's just unreasonable to buy the impractical first.

The first priority gun for most people is a handgun, because a handgun can be used/carried in the widest range of circumstances. A .38 revolver can stop a rape or a home invasion. It can also take down a rabbit or even a deer, law allowing. It may be legally barred from taking migratory waterfowl but they have taken many birds over the years.

For a city dweller I think there is a strong argument that gun #2 should be an AR in .223 because it can still be brought out of the home in disassembled form, many indoor ranges allow .223, and overpenetration risks are much lower than with effective shotgun ammo. Of course that's over budget for this thread.

A shotgun is a distant 3rd in my opinion.

Of course, if you live in a more rural setting the order may be reversed. At some point a shotgun is something you can use to shoot pests in the garden. I don't live in such a situation and I'm not sure I'll ever have the opportunity to but if I did my shotguns would seem more useful to me. Right now they are difficult to use for security reasons (even with a barrel pulled and put in a sports bag they hint I have stuff worth stealing) and there aren't very many trap/skeet ranges around anyway so they aren't used very often. If I had to abandon one branch of shooting altogether, my shotguns would be gone. Of course I didn't even own a shotgun until I had a good selection of handguns and rifles.

I'll be the dissenter here.. I've NEVER seen a used ruger or smith going for under 300. A rossi M58 revolver will though. A FEG P9R is another good choice. A used charter arms (take someone who knows revolvers to look it over). You might luck out and find a Sig SP2022 just a hair above that.

scythefwd said:

I'll be the dissenter here.. I've NEVER seen a used ruger or smith going for under 300. A rossi M58 revolver will though. A FEG P9R is another good choice. A used charter arms (take someone who knows revolvers to look it over). You might luck out and find a Sig SP2022 just a hair above that.

Click to expand...

Go to budsgunshop.com, select used guns/police trade-ins. S&W m10 used for $279. They had 'em cheaper a few weeks ago.

I bought a used m10 maybe 5 years ago from a local shop, same sort of deal. One day I went in and they had an entire counter full of used S&W Model 10s and Taurus 65s from a police/security company trade-in. I think mine was $199 at the time and people told me I overpaid. Maybe it was $250 but I think that was the price on the Tauruses.

But...P9R is a great choice too. I know someone with a pair of consecutively numbered P9Rs bought under a "two is one and one is none" umbrella. They have both been solid since the early 90s. They are a DA/SA semi-auto with decocker, which some people may not dig but I always thought was a good trade-off.

I have seen Rossi (I think) snub nosed 44 magnum revolvers at Academy on sale for just under $300.

M91/30 still under $170 locally, ammo $12 a box, $17 for soft points.

Go to budsgunshop.com, select used guns/police trade-ins. S&W m10 used for $279. They had 'em cheaper a few weeks ago.

+ 20 for the transfer (cheapest around here), there any tax on budz? There any shipping on budz? If not, I'll admit that fits his criteria.. but yeah.. its pretty difficult to do 300.

I know buds dont charge no shippin. all there prices say "shipped" tax is subject to interstate commerce... are you in their state?

jumbo.. havent the slightest clue if I am or not.. I'm in VA, but I dont order guns online.. never have. I usually can get as good if not better prices locally for the stuff I'm interested in (got some great home FFL's here that are pretty well connected).

so 300 it is.. cool.

A Bersa Thunder380 (my 1st gun) 289
a Mossberg 500 (my 1st longgun) 229 or
EAA SarB6p (gun I should be getting thisnweekend) 299

These are/were at my LGS, the Bersa is a gun I have recommended to many other people

12 ga pump. Gets food, defends loved ones and is stupidly reliable.

A husquvarna sxs shotgun

To be creative....

A $100 pawn shop shotgun (sxs would be cool, but a usable one would probably be more, so probably just a break-open single-shot most likely), and the $200 tax stamp to make a low-budget sawed-off

Maverick 88 12ga for 220 and some boxes of ammo if we're talking long guns.

Pistol could be a Tokarev for 200 (either 7.62x25 or one of those fancy 9mm ones) and some ammo as well.

12 gauge pump.
It covers a lot of bases.

Hi-Point 995 9mm carbine, easier to shoot than a pistol, better range, inexpensive (but scarce at the moment) ammo and reasonable stopping power.

You can add scopes, red dot sights, vertical grips, angled grips, flashlights, lasers etc to it with the TS model.

$300 is a huge budget for a guns. So if I had $300 and no guns the first gun I would buy is a Crosman 2400KT carbine from the Crosman Custom Shop for $165. Yes, $70 for the Williams peep and adjustable front sight is a bit much but we have $300 to spend. For a even tighter budget you can get the Crosman 2240 CO2 air pistol for $55 on Amazon and the optional stock is $23 so for $80 you have a pistol and carbine. With my remaining $135 I would buy a used NEF/H&R 20 guage single barrel shotgun with a modified choke. There we go, for $300 I have a great air rifle that I can shoot in my garage or backyard for $0.03 per round and a firearm that can hunt just about any game animal in North America and shoot clays.

My first gun and my wife's were Mossberg 12 gauge pump shotguns. (Yes my father-in-law bought my wife a 12 gauge shotgun when she was 12. She has shot it about 6 times in her life.) While a 12 gauge pump is versatile I've never needed a pump. A 20 gauge single shot will do just about everything a firearm is required to do and the whole family can use it. If I was going to really splurge a 20 gauge over and under would be divine but they are a bit spendy.

THis thread really got me thinking. Without a doubt a 22lr. But here are some guns to consider on Gunbroker right now

An old Mossberg bolt action 20 gauge with a 24 inch barrel. $99 Buy it Now.
A New England Firearms single shot 20 gauge. $79.
Glenfield 25(bolt action holds 5 or 6) in 22lr for $100.
Rossi 22/20 gauge interchangeable barrels for $138
A rossi 5 shot 38spl, rough finish but fully functional, sold for $137 in May.
A rossi matched pair 30-06/20 sold for 165
A rossi single shot 22-250 sold for $151
A rossi 243/20 gauge sold for $143
A rossi single shot 22lr sold for $87
A rossi trifecta of 22lr/.20/243 sold for $171

So, assuming I need a carry gun, The Rossi 38 is in for $137. So $163.

No 22lr is just not an option. In fact that would be my first priority. So I will go Rossi 22/20 gauge for $138. That way I have my 22lr toy that I cant live without and the ability to hunt with the 20. I shot a doe two years ago from 30 yards and could have again this last year if I wanted. No problem with buckshot in that 20 gauge.

So for $275 I have a CCW weapon, a plinker, and a shotgun. Not much left for ammo. But I bought a box of 40 plinker rounds of 22lr this weekend at Academy for $3. I also saw different types of 20 for under 8. I would probably get buckshot for 5.99. So that leaves me $16 for the 38. That can also be done.

I didnt leave any money for tax. But I could put off some of the ammo for a few weeks assuming more money would come available. But you can accomplish the protection/hunting/plinking requirements for $300

We own a 12ga wingmaster and a Taurus .38spl. Bought both last year for $200 or less each. Both have some cosmetic damage but the important parts are in great shape. We owm more expensive firearms but those are the two go to guns if God forbid we needed them. They just work,

The 12g shotgun IS the most versatile firearm period. Everything fom defense, to hunting small game to large dangerous game.