My dad was frugal, he owned only five guns most of his life. A Winchester model 70 in 30-06 that he killed moose, bear, elk, mule deer, hundreds of whitetail deer and over a thousand groundhogs with.

An Ithaca Model 37 in 12 gauge that he used for all upland game, doves and waterfowl.

A Remington M 541 in .22 he used for squirrels and pest control.

A Hi-Standard Double-Nine in .22 he used mostly for target practice and plinking and a Ruger M95 in 9mm he used for self-defense.

And obviously some don't understand.

My overall criteria would be based on SHTF, since the other purposes become necessities in that situation, so the overall judgement would be based on reliability/ease of repair and availability of (inexpensive) ammunition. I'm going to assume that I'm not hobbled by Canadian stupidity surrounding gun laws and choose:

1. Mossberg 500 12 ga. (synthetic furniture, powder coated or hydro-dipped metal parts, field barrel)
2. Bolt action .308 Win. with iron sights and a low power optic.
3. Savage semi-auto .22LR
4. Suppressed Semi auto handgun (equivalent to Glock 19 in terms of quality/reliability) in .45 ACP or 9mm
5. Suppressed compact semi auto (AR or sim.) in .223

Although realistically in SHTF, it should be:

1. Mossberg 500 12 ga. - 3 of them
2. Suppressed Semi Auto handgun - 2 of them (same model/caliber)
3. Most hunting would be achieved by trapping small game, any dispatches would be wetwork LOL

Iron sights are in fact getting tougher.

That sucks doesn’t it.

Honestly the worry of "available ammo" isnt a big worry of mine. I pretty much get a generous lifetime supply of ammo for every gun I buy. And that's not counting all the reloading supplies I've got. Ive been through a few ammo shortages and im a slow learner but I did evidently learn. If I use up all the ammo I have in a crap hits the fan scenario and still alive there going to be plenty of others guns and ammo for the taking.