There’s no rule that says you have to spend half a grand or more on your EDC gun. There are a number of very good alternatives out there for the concealed carrier on a budget. Take, for instance, James Aeryk Strain’s Smith & Wesson SD9. you can pick one up for under $300 — less used — and it will reliably perform all the functions you need in an EDC pistol.
I have, amongst my guns a Sigma. It works and I would not cry if the cops took it away. I have money in the bank and I’m retired and debt free. A 1500 dollar carry pistol is just bling and overpriced bling at that. If you’ve spent much more than 500 bucks on your edc you’re doing it wrong.
My opinion only. You do you.
Yup. That’s why I can’t bring myself to carry my Bond Bullpup. It’s reliable, accurate, has a great trigger and I love shooting it, but if the cops ever had to confiscate it I’d cry. I don’t want to have to think about if it’s okay if I loose this gun when it comes time to shoot.
Nothing wrong with a $1500 edc unless you drive a $1200 car. Then you might have a problem. š
Iāve never spent more than $400 on an edc personally….
Watching the pennies now can have great benefit if you ever have to fire your edc. Good lawyers are not cheap.
I can afford a Mercedes. But I drive a used Toyota.
Yup. Besides my ’01 ford truck, my Land Rover is a ’94.
I’d love to have a new Honda, but I don’t want a car payment.
Only complaint I have with the Honda is the interference engine. But they are good vehicles. I’m thinking when my 4runner finally goes toes up I’m going to get back into a pickup.
I can only afford a rusty ass 30 year old pickup truck. So I drive a rusty ass 30 year old pickup truck. It screams “crazy redneck with a gun”. The Earnhardt and Black Rifles Matter stickers in the back window probably don’t help that image either.
By this logic, it won’t matter how much you spend… If you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that what you did was legal, as it should be, then why worry about price at all? Spend what YOU can afford. Not everyone makes the same. If your idea of saving is driving a used toyota, maybe the guy in the benz could be driving a maybach when he’s not in his lambo or being driven by a personal chauffeur or flown in his private jet…. who’s to say that guy in the benz is not saving as well? Just food for thought. Don’t judge a book by it’s price tag.
I spent around $700 at the time for my Sig P938 because I couldnāt find anything cheaper I liked in this size and in 9mm. I hated the trigger on the MP Shield, the G26 was too wide (G43 wasnāt out yet I believe)…I donāt regret it as I also find the motivation to shoot it at the range. Now that I am more used to Glocks that I was at the time, the G43 could be an option.
Makarovs, P64’S, SigPro!2022) all get some decent rotation depending on the season and the situation
Along with a decent knife or two,a light,a phone,a pry bar/chisel/driver tool and a few handcuff keys.
taurus 24/7 g2 9mm compact
its reliable i like it and i can operate it
with that and a kershaw cryo ll and a streamlight 1L 1AA my edc is under $400
maybe one day after the kids are all moved out and i have some money laying around ill upgrade to a fn 9mm compact a zt and a surefire
until then im just fine
there isnt anything in my edc im afraid of dropping scratching denting losing or being confiscated should i get into an altercation
which is nice
I’m an older guy, long time shooter, hunter. Lots of great things now. I think this is the golden age of guns. For a lot of decades there were very few new developments in the gun industry. The budget guns were junk. Now even the budget guns are great and almost anyone can afford to be armed. Even the ammo is well developed now, when in the past we had to reload to get the performance we wanted. It’s a great time to be a shooter.
I bought a SD9 in grey/black a while back because I wanted a EDC that was 100% stock. I also believe that if its reliable and you can shoot it accurately then if some cop wants to take it then big deal if its not too expensive. My summer carry with shorts is a 738TCP, it has over 500 rounds through it and runs fine with XTP bullets, one hiccup with a Hydrashok in the first 100 rounds.
My problem with the SD9 was that gun FAILED in the 2nd magazine, right at the 26 round count. Dead trigger. It went back for service immediately and was fixed but I will NEVER trust that gun with my life, IMO S&Ws QC has gone down the toilet. It isnāt the workhorse my Sigma is but the problem was my .40 cal Sigma had work done on the trigger and while a subject of many debates I decided on something that was 100% stock/unmodified.
Iām back to my Sigma for now but will probably end up buying a Ruger Security-9 for EDC. I have money and some nice guns but Iāll be damned if Iām going to let a cop touch one of my $700 Inox Berettas. $300 ā take it, my attorney will handle it but you arenāt touching my āniceā pistols. The cops around my county are bit grabby when they run your plate and it comes back that you have a CCL. The last time I was pulled over the cop had his hand on his gun the entire time. The first words out of his mouth were āWhereās your gun at?ā
Thereās nothing like going through 16 hours of class and an anal probe background check to get a CCL to be treated like a criminal. My old Sigma was secured for the āofficers safetyā.
My offense? A burned out tail light. A lot of drama over nothing.
The car? A 2016 Audi A6.
The SDs are hit or miss. To have a spring break in the sear ( that was S&Ws explanation ) on a brand new handgun will always leave me with doubts about its reliability. I might rethink that if I get 1000 rounds through it without a hiccup but I think a cheap Ruger is in my future.
Sorry Gary but IMO the SD is not a “great” budget gun. It’s cheap and the slide rattles as do the magazines. It feels cheap and makes a lot of noise just carrying it.
The slide has about a 1/16 of an inch play side to side which S&W says is normal. The sights are cheap plastic. I mean so cheap the white dots have been known to fly out.
I do agree about the vast improvements in ammo.
Too long sorry, not reading.
Condensed version: Dead trigger out of the box at 26 rounds. Fixed at S&W. Cheap gun that shouldn’t have left the factory. I don’t trust my life with it. Probably never will.
Fin
*Comes to website to read articles about guns*
*Complains when one of the comments is ‘too long’ to read*
Even in IL, where I’m assuming you live, not all cops are jackbooted thugs. The only time I’ve asked CCW holder about his weapon was during a DUI stop. The rest of the time, I normally thank them for taking their personal protection seriously.
That’s 100% true. Most cops are very cool about CCLs but my last traffic stop was not the norm, especially for a burned out tail light. Different people, different counties, different departments, it happens. I didn’t make a federal case about it or act like some idiot on YouTube taping it. In the end I just want to make it home and so does the officer. If he felt better securing my gun then OK, whatever makes him feel safe. It was the one and only traffic stop where it was an issue.
Most of the time the cops will get much cooler when you hand them your DL and CCL, at that point they know that you are a law abiding citizen. You can immediately see the change in attitude. This was a nervous cop in an affluent suburb so I obliged. The hand on the sidearm was the giveaway.
I didn’t mean to insinuate that all cops in IL are jackbooted thugs. My family is full of cops, some high ranking, some retired and some on the beat on the CPD. They are all normal people which is something that most forget.
Spoiler: Cops are normal people like you or me, they aren’t government paid pyschos.
I hope this wasn’t too long to read.
CAD/CAM has allowed even “budget” guns to be reliable performers. My EDC is a Kahr CM9. I got it on sale for $275—and it’s accurate, reliable, very well built, and so small it’s an engineering marvel.
It’s difficult to buy a bad gun.
Iām amazed at how inexpensive most of the small 380ās are. I picked up my bodyguard for just over $200 and itās been a great backup and pocket gun when I want to be a bit lighter than the g43. There are several great choices for under $300
Comments are closed.