Think you have to break the bank to get a good home defense package? Think again...
We are very lucky to have Ronin (name protected) join our community and help us provide the dynamic content our readers crave. Recently Ronin had an opportunity to solve a problem that didn't involve using his weapon... Well, sort of...
Read on to find out how he was able to help a friend create a good home protection package for under $1000 bucks (USD)!
A good friend of mine recently approached me with an interesting challenge. He wanted to create a three gun home defense battery for $1000.00 or less. Wow, no Sigs, Kimbers, HK’s, Benelli shotguns, M1A’s or AR’s for that price! To make the challenge more interesting the guns had to be new, reliable, and available at local gun stores so my friend could inspect them before he bought them.
We spoke for a long time about his needs and realized he did not feel the need to fight off an apocalyptic zombie horde or the Russian Spetsnaz. He simply felt the need to defend his family without taking out a second mortgage on the family home or maxing out his credit cards. My friend admitted he was concerned with the direction the world was heading with terrorism, natural disasters, crime, and the climbing cost of food and fuel. He wanted to know he could defend his family and was coming to me for help.
My friend knew I was well versed with firearms, since I’ve made my living carrying one for a good part of my life. With all of these factors in mind, I began my search. I wanted him to have a close range, medium range, and a longer range weapon to have a good total package for home protection. That meant 3 guns!
So a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun for $1000.00 and they had to be brand new at that! I knew this was not going to be easy. The first gun I found for my friend was a new, unissued (or so close to new you could not tell) Yugo 59/66 SKS.
Simple, reliable, and accurate enough for what he needed and the ammo is plentiful. Some dismiss the Yugo because it does not have a chrome lined barrel like most other SKS variants. The simple solution to this problem is to clean it when you are done shooting. Also the Yugo just feels more sturdy than other versions, probably because many of the parts are milled and not stamped as with many other SKS variants. I called my friend and he came to the local mom and pop gun store I was at. After looking it over, he agreed it was a good choice and the purchase was made for $329.00 plus tax.
About two weeks later I found an NEF Pardner 12 gauge shotgun on sale at a major sports retailer for $199.00 plus tax.
For those that are not familiar with this firearm, the Pardner is basically a Remington 870 copy produced by Norinco in China. I looked the gun over and left, wanting to do a little more research on it before making a recommendation. After I reviewed numerous online and published reviews and really could not find any flaws in the performance of this firearm; I knew I could make my recommendation. Another benefit of this firearm is that just about any accessory for the 870 will fit the Pardner. So once again I contacted my friend and the purchase was made. After the transaction was done and with taxes paid we had a little over $400.00 to spend on a handgun.
The choice of a handgun I felt was going to be the most challenging. This would be the gun he would always have with him in the event of an emergency and I wanted him to have a quality handgun. I felt my friend would be best armed, considering his limited exposure to firearms, with a medium frame Smith and Wesson or Ruger .357 revolver. Unfortunately I could not locate a new one for $400.00, plus the my friend was insistent on getting a semi auto pistol. I looked at a wide variety of handguns and finally came across a new in the box Ruger KP95D 9mm for $302.00 plus tax.
This version of the P95 is a stainless steel slide with a polymer frame. It features an ambidextrous decocker, fixed sites, and 15 rd. magazine capacity. Now don’t let the low cost fool you, in December of 2004, Ruger was awarded a contract for 5,000 KP95D pistols by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command. I personally would have preferred a .45, but again like the .357 revolver a good one couldn't be found for the limited budget.
So we have spent $830.00 plus tax for a total of just $900.00 for a respectable yet inexpensive three gun home defense battery. My whole purpose in writing this is to show that one can arm themselves without it costing a fortune. I would recommend you do your own research on finding what may or may not work for you. You may or may not agree with my choices in firearms, but given the limited budget, and limited time I think he has a good reliable home defense battery. Now I just have to convince my friend to see what can be done with a $5000.00 budget! Doesn't that sound like fun?