I think all of these threads have a fundamental flaw in them, namely the idea that there any "3 best" guns.

Guns are tools. Certain guns are better for certain things than others. What is the best set of tools for my situation may or may not be the best one for your's. And you shouldn't just think of "Whats the best gun?" in a vacuume. You should put some serious thought into what you have, why, and what is best FOR YOUR PLAN.

Take me for example. I have two major plans should things get so bad that I need to evacuate the area and get to my safe place.

Plan A: Roads are open and/or I get enough advanced warning to move supplies over to my safe place. This means I don't have to make any tough choices - all my guns, ammo, food, etc, come with me.

Pln B: OSHI- essentially, am forced to foot it over to where I need to get to. I am lucky in that I have a second set of hands/legs (the wife) to carry stuff. Food, medical supplies, etc aplenty are already at the safe place, but which guns to take now becomes a serious issue.

If you need to foot it 100 miles (or more if you count having to avoid major intersections, possible trouble spots, etc,) whats your main consideration? WEIGHT followed directly by COMPACTNESS. So here is the weapons-related loadout for the wife and I.

Me: Glock 17, concealed underneath weather-appropriate clothing. Spare ammo & mags.

"Sweetheart" (a savage model 10 "scout" rifle with a custom ultralight barrel, weighing in with scope and sling at about 6.5lbs) & spare ammo for Sweetheart

Wife: Taurus PT1911, spare mags
Custom built AR15 w/Cav Arms MkII lower, pencil barrel, iron sights (weighs only 5.8lbs) + pmags

The AR15 and Sweetheart are both concealed in our bags. The pistols will do for surprise encounters (of which there will ideally be none) with the longarms used only at last resort, when trouble just cannot be gone around or avoided. The point here is that, other than the pistols, both of our longarms + ammo and other kit weigh less than 10lbs, allowing us to load up our packs with other important stuff such as food, basic medical supplies, and other stuff.

This is a good balance for what I'd be doing, worst-case. I expect never to really need to execute the plan (the woman loves her AR15 and I hunt up in the mountains with Sweetheart, and believe me the weight is a great thing, so its not wasted investments.) Your situation is probably different.

Remember that a weapon has no intrinsic merit; it has merit based on the situation it is used in. For most situations this isn't a big consideration because you should have supplies and a solid plan for getting most of your stuff to your safe place in one trip. In the case in which you CAN'T, lightness and handiness take prime consideration. Who here thinks he can hike 100 miles with an M1A, Rem 870, pistol, ammo for all and supplies (food, water purification, medical supplies, etc.,) needed to make the trip? Even a fantastically fit human will be slowed down considerably by the extra weight, and most people will simply just start dumping ammo/weapons by day 3.