BUDGET FRIENDLY EDC HANDGUNS FOR THE NEW HANDGUNNER

STORY BY RICHARD SCHUTZ

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MANUFACTURERS

Budget friendly should not be confused with cheap or inexpensive. Firearms are seldom inexpensive, generally costing several hundred dollars and more. Some firearms are cheaply made, but even those are not necessarily inexpensive.

Budget friendly will mean different things to different people, depending upon your financial situation. For the purposes of this buyer’s guide, I chose an MSRP ceiling of roughly $400. There are a few handguns included that exceed that threshold, but generally, the over-the-counter cost for these handguns will be 5-10% less than the MSRP. Also, manufacturers often have base models that are considerably less expensive than the fancier models that they advertise and hope you will buy.

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

A budget friendly handgun should be the best handgun that you can afford, is appropriate for your needs, and one that you can learn to use properly and proficiently. It also needs to be totally reliable, since your life and the lives of your loved ones may depend upon it.

Remember that when it comes to handguns, bigger is not always better and smaller is not easier to shoot. Choose a handgun and cartridge combination that you can operate and shoot well.

If your reason for buying a handgun is for home defense only, then size and the need to conceal the gun isn’t really a factor. For concealed carry purposes, the handgun must be small enough to conceal, yet large enough to grip properly and help absorb the recoil from the shot.

REVIEW 1

SMITH & WESSON M&P9 SHIELD: THE STANDARD OF EDC HANDGUNS

First introduced in 2012, this single-stack, striker-fired, polymer- frame pistol follows the design of the M&P line that was introduced in 2005. The Shield has proven itself as a lightweight, reliable subcompact pistol for everyday carry.

When the M&P9 Shield M2.0 was introduced in 2017, most thought that the original M&P9 Shield would soon disappear. Well, three years and probably over a million Shields later, it is still with us. The M&P Shield in all of its forms and calibers is probably the most popular EDC pistol in the market. Smith & Wesson currently lists 15 versions of the original M&P Shield. It is available in 9mm Luger and .40 S&W, with and without thumb safety, FDE and black, Massachusetts- and California-compliant versions, with HI-VIZ sights and in several limited editions.

Unlike many other striker-fired pistols, the M&P9 Shield is available with a manual thumb safety at no additional cost. The trigger safety uses a pivoting lower half of the trigger which, when the trigger is pressed, rotates a stop out of the way of the frame, thereby allowing the trigger and trigger bar to move rearward. An internal firing pin (striker) safety plunger blocks the forward travel of the striker unless the trigger moves the trigger bar to the rear, pushing the plunger up and out of the way of the striker.