a firearm in case of that dreaded need to protect yourself and family, you still need to be used to it and comfortable wiht it. Meaning you need to go to the range/country and run a couple dozen rounds through it 1-2X a year.

if you do that over many years, a cheaper firearm may not hold up as long.

Also, my suggestion...if it is for self defense, get a semi automatic. In a pinch, you many not have time to rack it and it will also affect your aim to rack in between shots.

I'd get one that is easy to squeeze off as many shots as you can as fast as you can.