Rshooter said:
I say dig in, and remember the Alamo......
IIRC the guys at the alamo did dig in. It didn't go so well for them.
Personally, I'd say three is a good number. Whatever centerfire handgun you're comfortable with, whatever .22LR you like, and whatever centerfire rifle you like. From what I've read of FerFal's posts, a midsized handgun or a small CCW sized handgun might be more useful than anything else you can spend your money on.
I was raised with guns. Some would say I was raised on guns. This has influenced my decisons on the whole "SHTF" concept but lately I have been thinking that after you have your essential bases covered you really need to consider other things over more guns.
What kind of shape are you in? Need any dental work? Better get that taken care of now.
How many blankets you got? Got a tent or some kind of shelter? Sleeping bag? Warm clothes? Clothes that will keep you dry? Lots of dry socks and a good pair of boots? How many ways do you have to build a fire and how good at building one are you? How often do you practice it? All of those things are more likely to keep you alive than guns and a lack of them are more likely to get you dead than not having an M1A.
How much food you got? Got water? Without water you got a slow and agonizing death. Without food you have a slower and just as agonizing death. Both of those are just as important as being able to send bullets at a threat.
My "minimal" battery is one of each of the three I mentioned. Exact flavor doesn't really matter - pick what you like best.
If your BLR and your Ruger MKII are what you like best I'd say go for it. I would lose the shotgun though. They are great for HD type work and very versatile but inefficient for some jobs. It takes an ounce of lead from a 12 gauge to kill a squirrel - for the same job a .22LR uses 40 grains of lead. For the weight of two 12 gauge shotshells you could carry about 50 rounds of .22LR.
To me that is a no brainer.
Don't get me wrong; I love them. Shotguns are well known fight stoppers and given the choice I love having one around. But if I had to grab what I had and go with it, the shotgun is out. Ammo is just too heavy and range is limited. For the weight I'd rather carry a good rifle instead.
If you really could only afford one I'd suggest a 10/22 with some reliable 25 round magazines and a couple ammo cans of hot .22 ammo. In the hands of a practiced marksman a .22 can make life very miserable for an attacker out to around 150 yards (I have hit with them out about that far) and with something like a CCI minimag it will punch holes right through your average car door. With 25 rounds of that on tap you have a handy little rifle that will do a lot of jobs adequately. Ammo is still cheaper for them than anything else and way more versatile. You can still drop a deer with .22 but if you shoot a squirrel with a .308 you'll lose a lot of meat.
Some will disagree with that and that is OK.
The last thing I'll say about that is that I had a great uncle who made it through the depression by poaching deer to feed his family and others. He used a .22 LR extensively and was known as one of the best marksmen around. One summer he shot 101 deer - 99 between the eyes. He used one round per deer because ammo was precious. If you fired a round you needed to bring meat home.
As for your exact choices, I'd say if that's what you have and you're comfortable with them they'd work fine. Fill an ammo can for each of them. Maybe two for the .22.
Then go buy some rice and blankets.