Concealed Carry Corner: Affordable Carry Options

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we talked about some of the differences between urban and rural carriers. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I’ve gotten some questions about affordable options when it comes to concealed carry guns. Some have asked about the best new carry guns that are brand new as well as people asking about the best used carry guns. This week’s article is going to mix the two questions to cover everything in one article. Let’s take a closer look at some affordable carry options.

If I had to pick one pistol for a first carry gun, I would probably grab this option since it’s fairly new to the market and there are countless options for aftermarket support. Compared to the newer Glock 43X which has an MSRP of $540, these used Glock 43s have a much more affordable price for people who may be price-conscious and can't spend $500+ on a brand-new carry gun. A few years ago a used Smith & Wesson Shield was a fantastic choice but most of those have been bought up and the crazy deals on those are sadly days of the past in most cases.

Ruger LC9s/EC9s

One of the new affordable options on the market is the Ruger EC9S which was originally the LC9s and still is one of the more popular concealed options on the market. If you’re the type of person who likes to live an extravagant lifestyle, the EC9s has a variety of color combos available as standard from the factory. Some of these options include grey, FDE, turquoise, and even pink. With a capacity of 7+1, it’s not the highest capacity on the market but with an MSRP of $349.99, it’s hard to beat in terms of price.

Often if you search around you can find these pistols for $329.99 or even $299.99 if certain retailers have sales throughout the year. Despite not having all the latest and greatest features like modularity or capacity, the Ruger EC9s is a real value pistol for people who just need something reliable to protect themselves in their daily lives. Ruger has one of the best customer service and will warranty most things, giving you peace of mind when it comes to having a reliable pistol from a company that stands behind their product. 

Canik METE MC9

If we are talking about affordable options, it’s hard not to talk about the Mete MC9 from Canik. Canik took the overall design of the Walther P99 and shrunk it down to a really small compact carry pistol. I did a full write-up of the Canik Mete MC9 a while back but if you’re interested in a full write-up on this pistol, be sure to click the link here. In short, though, these pistols can oftentimes be found for $400 which is a huge value for money. This package deal comes with the pistol, holster, cleaning brushes, as well as a flush fitting and extended magazine.

If you’re trying to keep things affordable but buy everything at once, the Mete MC9 offers everything with the pistol.

If you tried to buy everything separately you would be paying roughly $150-$200 depending on what holster you chose and the overall configuration so while it may not be the perfect holster, it will certainly come with everything you need right out of the gate to get going. Canik offers the METE MC9 in a flat dark earth, tan and black two-tone coloring, or all black. If I only had $450-$500 to spend on an entire setup, I would pick up one of these MC9s and a couple of boxes of ammo to get me started. The gun also has a great trigger and feels like a larger firearm with an extended magazine. If you’re looking for a great package out of the box, I'd certainly recommend looking at the METE MC9.

Glock 26

So you want a gun with higher capacity, but have the overall profile be smaller? Something like a P365 XL or Glock 43X is just too much money? Back in the day, if you wanted a higher capacity carry gun, you always looked at the Glock 26 line of pistols. As standard, the flush fitting magazine in the Glock 26 was 10+1 with the option to take Glock 19 magazines. This ability to take the larger Glock 17 or 19 magazines made this an interesting option where you can have a smaller pistol that can be concealed easily with options for larger magazines. If you really want to go full urban, you can also throw one of the 33-round stick magazines into it for the full ghetto blaster experience.

In all seriousness though, these are slightly more bulky than the smaller options today, but they are extremely well-built and reliable pistols for a fraction of what they used to cost. I have seen these in varying conditions from $275-$365 depending on generation and condition. The newer Glock 26s are certainly more than the pricing I just gave, but for older models on the used market, you can certainly find a steal of a deal on one of these. Some people were turned off by the thickness of the Glock 26s but these pistols are priced great and I would be certainly willing to overlook it if the price was as low as these are selling for now. If you are looking for a reliable option for a great price, you absolutely shouldn’t write off the older Glock 26 models as a carry gun.

Overall Thoughts

I certainly can understand that not everyone is going to drop a ton of cash on a carry gun. Some just want the bare minimum to have the ability to defend themselves in a self-defense situation. If you are looking to snag a higher quality option, I would strongly suggest looking at the used market for some of the older carry guns that are fantastic. If you want something new, the Ruger EC9s or Canik METE MC9 are great choices as well. You have to decide what works best for you and your budget and once you have those goals then you can begin looking at pistols.

I hope this helps and let me know some of your favorite low-budget options. There are a ton of other options so I can always do a second part of this article if there's a need for it. If you have questions about carry guns or firearms in general, feel free to message me on Instagram @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there and we will see you next week for another edition of Concealed Carry Corner.

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