Let's talk cheap guns

I got my Savage Mark 2 brand-new for something like $120. Can only imagine they're at about the same price as the admirable Marlin 60--my second choice--if they're bought used and easier to clean if they're packed in grease.
At least around here, used Remington 870s and Mossbergs can be easy enough to find under $200 with long hunting barrels; HD length make them more expensive. Even cheaper if you're fine with them being ugly. And single-shots can get stupidly cheap.
IMO out in hunting country, if you have something in pump-action or semi-auto and no need to conceal anything, I wouldn't even bother searching for the handguns. Keep the space and money for another box of .22 or 12 gauge.

I would get a 2 barrel Maverick 88 combo in 12 gauge

Hi-Point makes cheap but effective pistols and carbines.

I agree with the concept and price point. A lot of the cheap guns I have are purposed as "stash guns" but I won't go into further details.

.22LR:
Mossberg Plinkster. This is a sleeper budget .22 rifle. Really stuck with 10 rd mags only, but it's $130 brand new, less if on sale.
Marlin Model 60. These can be found used cheap. You can use a spee-d-loader to quickly load the tube magazine.
Henry .22. A bit more money, but the quality is worth it and with this, you can use the very quiet .22 LR ammo and it won't affect cycling.

12 ga:
Pretty much any single shot shotgun from Savage, Hatfield, or Midland is gonna run 100-150. I like the Midland because they're coming out with barrels later this year for .22, .357, .223, etc. I'd imagine the barrels will run for around $100. If you're okay with a single shot .22, this is an option you should keep in mind.

For pumps, there's only one option and it's the Mossberg Maverick 88 field and home combo barrel.

Big game hunting rifle/scope:
Given your location, you're potentially dealing with VERY big game. I've recently been turned on to the .35 Whelen cartridge and I think that would suit a lot of your needs and it's available in cheap rifles like the H&R Handi or CVA's. I can't say the same about .300 Win Mag or .45-70.

The other option here is a Mosin-Nagant. Ever since I was a kid I was told the 7.62x54 can kill anything in North America. Very cheap if you can catch a deal on Mosins these days, but that market is drying up.

I have no idea what scope to recommend. If you want something to stand up to the recoil of the big game rifles, you'll have to spend money. My suggestion is for the big game, use a shotgun and slugs and for the not big game, a .308 Savage Axis or Rossi Wizard or H&R Handi or Mosin Nagant.

A real dark horse here is a .54 caliber muzzleloader and some Hornady Great Plains bullets; it will put a lot of big game down. Round balls will be great on deer too and it's all entirely too cheap.

Handguns:
Hi Point in .45 ACP comes to mind. That is a terrific stash gun given your location. Don't discount .45 FMJ as a defensive load for bears, it penetrates, and for cabin defense, it'll work great as gun under the pillow.

If you want to carry something that's not a brick while you chop firewood, any of the budget 9mm's will do. I think Ruger 9E's are a steal and if you want something smaller, Ruger EC9s or LC9s is it. If you want even smaller than that, the pocket .380's like the LCP are going for under $200 now, but if you're comfortable with .25 ACP's, Raven MP-25's can be had for $100.

For revolvers, I see a lot of used Charter Arms go for low prices and the older ones are great. I got a .357 for $250 last year and it's awesome. The .38 snubs are $200 wonders, the .44's are about $300 but I wouldn't bother due to ammo price and because of something I'll touch on later.

Heritage .22 LR/.22 Mag would be your best choice for a cheap .22 revolver. They have 9 shot models and various barrel lengths. My suggestion is to buy one with adjustable sights because the fixed sights suck. It's worth the extra $100 to be able to hit what you aim at.

What you shouldn't write off is black powder cap and ball revolvers like the 1858 Remington. If you can't store a lot of ammo and you're not going to reload, you can shoot thousands of times with a cap and ball revolvers with a few pounds of powder, balls, and caps. When Cabela's has them on sale, you can grab an 8 inch 1858 for $200. Spare parts kits cost maybe $40 and if you ever have something fail inside it, you can fix it cheap. Spare cylinders cost $50, you can load and cap those spares and carry them like speedloaders, and the 1858 is accurate. You can also get conversion cylinders to shoot .45 Colt and .45 ACP, but lead bullets only.

Do the materials for cap and ball revolvers cost money? Yes, but it gives you an option to always be able to shoot back if you need to shoot back at something and a .44 cap and ball is nothing to sneeze at, they're just as powerful as standard pressure 9mm or .45 ACP is today.

It's tough to pick a .22. There's plenty of cheap ones like Crikkets and Rascals and such, but they are almost all child sized. You could scour the pawn shops and maybe find something cheap and used. You could keep an eye on gun.deals and maybe pick up something really cheap like a Mossberg 802 or Savage 64 something, but that seems risky if you think you'll actually need to use it.

The two best options are probably a Marlin/Glenfield Model 60 or a used 10/22. The Model 60 has a fixed tube magazine, so there's less to lose, and it's somewhat cheaper. New ones are $150-160, and a used one for $100 is possible. And of course, everybody knows the 10/22. You should be able to find a used 10/22 for $150 or a little less. Gunbroker even has one "Buy It Now" for $140. 10/22's also have cheap and reliable hi-caps, which might also help for defense in a pinch.

For a shotgun, it's hard to beat the Chinese 870 clones. There's a sale right now on the Hawk 981 for $119 at CDNN. The defense models are good and cheap too. For ultimate penny pinching, you could probably find a new Savage 301 single shot for $100. People talk about about <$100 used H&R's and other single shots, but I've never seen anything like that.

Which rifle calibers were you considering? Hit the pawn/gun shops after hunting season, and you could get a hell of a deal.

I'd advise against the Mosin. If they were still <$100 per rifle or ammo can, it would be a no brainer. These days, it's more like $250-300 for a 91/30, and it's a minor gunsmithing project just to get it degreased and running. The ammo is also more expensive and scarce than .308 these days, the surplus is all corrosive, and it's very common for steel cased ammo to stick in the chamber. The rifle is heavy, crude, and clumsy, and awful to scope. I've seen used Mossberg Patriots and 4x4's, and even a sporterized Springfield in that $250 dollar range.

For handguns, Hi Points are the absolute cheapest reliable option. Ruger's cheapies are probably the next step up, and the cheap SAR whatevers and Turkish CZ/Tanfoglio copies are good too. Another option might be those surplus Beretta 92S's for a bit under $300.

Looks like you're thinking 4 guns for a SHTF scenario with a total budget under $1000?
But you can only carry, you know, like 1 long gun and a couple of pistols for any distance, right? And ammo is always bulky and heavy.
My $.02- get a decent budget flat top AR (M&P or AR556) $600, with a rugged russian or chinese 3-9x scope ($50), a High point 9 ($150, less if ugly) - that leaves $200 for a .22 handgun (revolver or auto) with a mix of HP/subsonic/ and shot shells- perhaps a 6" Heritage Rough Rider?
The AR can be quickly and easily broken down for hiding/burial- much harder to stash a bolt action where no one will look!
A dedicated shotgun would be nice, and many are takedown, but they are loud, short ranged, and the ammo is bulky and vulnerable to moisture and humidity.
.223, 9mm, and .22- the 3 cheapest, lightest, and most available rounds in the Americas. While not optimized for hunting, this mix will give you both long and short range options for most game with a good chance of success as well as any practical self-defense/ survival purpose.

TTv2 writes:

.22LR:
Mossberg Plinkster. This is a sleeper budget .22 rifle. Really stuck with 10 rd mags only, but it's $130 brand new, less if on sale.

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Absolutely. I've been nothing but impressed with the 702 I got at Wal-Mart two years back for $99. It's a little nose-heavy, but a fifty-round box of ammo or two wrapped in a sock and stuffed into the buttstock fixes that, and covers part of your ammo stash provided you have a screwdriver with which to get to it.

For a pistol in that caliber, another contender to add to what has already been mentioned is the Phoenix HP22A, running about $125 or so to your hand. A ten round magazine, a real hammer that can be cocked or put to rest, and sights that are at least adjustable for windage all combine to make this a pretty good value in a well-balanced, crisp-triggered, pocket gun.

TTv2 also pretty much covers the 9mm handgun range; there is a lot out there these days.

In .45ACP, the Tisas 1911-A2 runs well south of $400 at Bud's (mine was $345 or something like that plus transfer and NICS.) It's robust, Parkerized, and actually runs pretty well. Pretty much the same goes for the ATI and RIA offerings.

I would get a single shot 12 or 20 gauge and whatever cheap iron sight 22 I found. If you don't have a scope it's easy to make an airtight container from PVC. I would put the PVC hanging from the floor joists.

The real question IMO should be "what guns can I pick up within my budget at the next gun show?" The reason I say that is because if I were leaving a bunch of guns unattended for a long period of time I wouldn't want them attached to a 4473 with my name on it. That means private sale, and that means gun show.

Feel free to call this tinfoil hat thinking, but it's possible a jury might be willing to consider leaving guns unattended as some sort of criminally reckless behavior should someone break in and take them. I know it's irrelevant if the first generation criminal uses them in a crime because he would just say "I stole them from D.B Cooper's cabin" but if they end up in the system after a couple of criminals pass them around then at least the paper rail doesn't come back to you easily.

Like I said, feel free to make fun of me for this line of thinking...but I would sleep better at night knowing the guns I had out in a shack somewhere didn't have my name engraved on them.

There are plenty of tools to fit the bill there. I like the marlin 60, Maverick 88, Ruger 9e and maybe a savage axis. But the question is, if they need to be cheap because they may be stolen, why put anything up there? I would think the storage and concealment options may take precedence. No sense in arming thieves during a bad situation. So my thoughts would be to put your chosen peices in food saver bags, sealed up with a desicant pack, and maybe in a pvc pipe sealed up with end caps and buried. Nothing in a safe that says, "valuables inside". Then you have ammo storage to consider.
I like the idea, just as one who has had firearms stolen, my big concern would be to make sure my stash was still there if and when I needed it.