Poll: What weapons will you use in a zombie apocalypse?

[Karelwolfpup]

depends on the kind of zombies you're talking about tbh
Are they classic Romero zombies or 28 Days Later style zombies?

tbh, for Romero zombies, a bolt action or semi auto rifle seems a good all round choice. Accurate, high power, minimal ammo waste. If I have to get anything under a certain range (like say, under 50ft) I'd say a shotgun and/or something blunt like a baseball bat or sledgehammer.

If its 28 Days Later territory, fuck it, AK74 and a G3 all the way

 

[mrdude2010]

The weapons you all will use is none because you will die immediately. You probably have no training in survival, firearms, or any specific melee weapon. Stop pretending like you would do anything other than feed horribly. These threads are so stupid.

 

[mrdude2010]

Both. But mostly my full tang Chinese barbarian sword. Easy decapitation, it's not likely to break for years of use. It's light easy to carry around. It would likely outlive me.

you realize that it's really hard to decapitate a human, and that even the best-forged swords wouldn't last through too many chopped off heads. If the sword is light, it's not going to hold up for years of chopping through spinal columns, no matter what steel it's made of.

 

[J Tyran]

My first line of defense would be one of those sets of Kevlar reinforced overalls. Like the ones police wear in raids so they don't risk getting spiked by broken glass or bitten by dogs and things. They are not armour so they wont stop a knife or a gunshot but they should keep zombie teeth out.

After that a sledgehammer will do nicely.

Wait. A vest that doesn't stop knifes or gunshots? I know about stab-vests not protecting from gun-shots and bullet-resistant vests not stopping knives, but you have to be really cheap to issue a vest that doesn't protect from either during raids.

Hence the fact they are overalls not a vest, the vests go over the top of that. The overalls are simply reinforced (and fire retardant) with Kevlar so when the rapid entry teams break down doors, smash windows and climb through and stuff like that the risk of getting injured by broken glass or any sharp edges is reduced.

They are not meant to be weapon proof, they simply protect from environmental hazards. Heres a video of the kit they use, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMAbGoSxuXQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=83s

But they would keep teeth out.

 

[The Heik]

I think its because of the sheer speed and efficiency of guns. Sure the bow is more silent but it requires more skill, has smaller range, and kills stuff a lot slower.

Bows actually don't require that much skill over guns (it really comes down to basic positioning and due practice). I'm experienced with both a .22 rifle and a compound recurve bow, and considering the zombie apocalypse as a weapons setting the bow just makes more sense in the long run. Guns may have more fire speed, but that's very rarely going to see use as just spraying rounds into your undead target will mean that you're just wasting bullets. Aimed shots are the only way to ensure your target goes down efficiently, and seeing as most people aren't accurate with most firearms past 50 feet, range doesn't really come into the equation either (unless of you have a sniper rifle, but that brings a whole other mess of factors into play). And lets face it, when the zombie apocalypse comes around, gun stores are going to be among the first places raided for supplies. Ammo WILL become scarce, and every round you miss with a gun is one you can't put into a zombie to save yourself. The simple fact that you can collect your arrows after combat (or easily build new ones if you can't recover the ones you've fired) means that you'll be able to fight your enemy from range long after a gun's ammo would run out.

 

[RedLister]

Have to go with my cricket bat here. (hmm shaun of the dead style!) Pretty well built so i got to be able to do some kinda damage to a zombies face. Chose this because like Heik said gun stores would of been the first to be raided for supplies. Also i live in the UK....what gunstores?! Never held a real firearm in my life either. Probably break my wrist firing the damn thing in true ponce style.

 

[Vicarious Reality]

Frankly i do not think i would do very well with my guns, though if i had to leave i would probably take a gun as well as my chinese japanese long sword
My #20 HI Sirupati Khukri is nice but probably too heavy and short
Not sure if i would take my Remington shotgun or my 223 Howa rifle, i could carry more cartridges for the rifle but it is heavier and far more difficult to use at close range... and more difficult to reload

 

[Khazoth]

A gun, on myself. Why is it everyone is really keen on living in a zombie apocalypse? At best you hole up in a room with people who smell like crap for the rest of your life until you inevitably either run out of food, or die while running out to get more food.


I will never understand the whole. "I would totes be an awesome zombie killing masheen"

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Other specifically passive aggression. I think the best course of action would be to have a series of pit-falls all around your home-base, further fortified if your home base is a series of tree-houses. I admit, this would take a lot of prep-work before the Zombie Apocalypse but they wouldn't be able to climb trees, ladders or, walls once they've fallen down into a pit. Adding in zip-lines would be awesome and make for quick travel between tree-houses. Once you're set up and things have gone completely wrong (ie: Zombies OMG) all you really have to do is hang out up in your tree-forts until the hoards of zombies decompose to death.

 

[Imthatguy]

My fists.

I can see it now UFC Zombie Edition shit itd be tight.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

The weapon of choice I would have is a chemical substance that neutralizes the effects of bath salts in a relatively short amount of time. Preferred method of transference of said chemical would be controlled vaporization, through a pressurized system (whether it's hose-like or gun-like in design is irrelevant, so long as it delivers).

This is the only real way a zombie apocalypse will ever happen. Failing that, I have a bunch of swords I've collected through time. I keep them well maintained and should suffice for awhile.

Also...

Melee against zombies. Guns against people.

In any case, the weapon's job is simply to open an avenue of escape. In the zombie apocalypse, no one wins a fight. You just waste ammo and energy, make noise, and risk injuries you won't have the equipment or knowledge to treat.

Zombies are like water. If it's in your way, you use tools and tricks to get over, around, or through it. You don't try to fight water.

This. Just because you have the power, doesn't necessarily mean you will win the fight. As the text on the Magic: the Gathering card Jace's Ingenuity said: "Brute force can sometimes break down a door, but knowledge is a skeleton key."

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

I've always been partial to the crossbow since it's significantly more quite than other firearms and is easy to maintain and repair. As an additional benefit you can craft ammo, and reuse it.

 

[Agow95]

Melee, I'd use a lightsaber, because if there are zombies eating my neighbours I damn well better get a laser sword or a iron-man suit.

 

[spartan231490]

both. Several firearms and axes and a machette will be part of my repetoir.

 

[sean360h]

Anybody ever hear of bow and arrow easy to make and maintain no jamming quiet easy to find and replace ammo and the ammo is recoverable
guns are for full auto situations

 

[Gypsybob]

Take a nice, sharp, two-handed sword perfectly made for true combat. I'd be screwed anyway in a zombie apocalypse, might as well have some fun in a red-mist suicide.

 

[cerebus23]

4 foot katana

Katanas were cheap swords for low ranked soldiers. Not only that, but today it's hard to find a decent katana.

Most likely you will have trouble with blades, steel quality or even the finish.

Even if you actually got your hands in a true katana, you'd have to worry about blade straightness, sharpness and always worrying about the blade coming off the handle. Which is not a good thing to worry about during a apocalypse.

It has no use as a tool. Practically no tree-cutting or brush clearing abilities and won't pry crates open.

Besides, it only has one cutting edge and it was designed for slashing (= blood loss) and not stabbing or actual good ol' bone breaker and limb chopper. Blood loss won't incapacitate a zombie until he is drained, but a weapon capable of reliably cutting limbs, breaking bones and penetrating skulls would be much better.

Why do people always default to guns when it comes to ranged weaponry? I'd take a composite recurve bow over a gun any day. Need to take out a zombie silently?

If you're able to do that, you're also able to do whatever you have to do without killing him. Besides, we don't know if zombies retain their hearing, or even if they can identify gunshots/direction from where the sound comes from.

How fast can you shoot arrows accurately? Guns are obviously what people will resort to.

I live in Britain, so getting a firearm would be difficult enough, so melee for me.

It's a zombie apocalypse. Nobody will give a damn about the law unless you're stealing from people.

Just find a gun store or a club. If the gun club is empty you can raid it, in a gun store I'm sure the owners wouldn't mind giving you one.

no they dont have blood but they have head, legs, arms, and etc to cut off.

and i have a katana already, carbon steel, almost full tang, lets where i put my hands on the handle. hence it is my first weapon of choice. had it 10 some years and other than some occasional tarnish, which is normal for carbon steel, a wipe or a bit of polish and its all good again, other than that i just needs grindstone, sandpaper high grade, etc to maintain the edge. i will not buy a sword less it is "cutting/combat" ready. and it is pretty easy to discern a stainless steel piece of trash from a good sword.

the katanas you reference were from world war 2 btw, where they were cheaply made because they were not really designed for combat primarity but as a last resort. any number of modern forges make battle ready katanas some even made in the "old school" forging processes of using different rockwells of steel sandwitched together to create a softer core and harder exterior, to a very hard cutting edge. to forges that use new steel alloys, that hold up to tons of abuse over typical carbon 1040 1060 steels.

Plus in a zombie apocalypse, i doubt any zombies will be armed with anything that will cause a katana to break, and a good sword will go through bone on a good swing, off line cuts are the biggest danger and chunking your blade into bone. where blade harmonics and etc come into play.

 

[spartan231490]

snip

Melee against zombies. Guns against people.


snip

In any case, the weapon's job is simply to open an avenue of escape. In the zombie apocalypse, no one wins a fight. You just waste ammo and energy, make noise, and risk injuries you won't have the equipment or knowledge to treat.

Zombies are like water. If it's in your way, you use tools and tricks to get over, around, or through it. You don't try to fight water.

My problem with this strategy is that it's naive to think you will be able to scavenge food forever(with the number of people I'm planning to have with me, and it goes double for my area), and with the number of people I'll have with me, I can't find enough food in the wilderness which means I have to grow it which means I have to stay in one place and grow it. The up-shot is that I have quite a bit of medical knowledge as well as how to find many medicinal plants in my area, even one that functions as a weak anti-biotic.

So my strategy involves going to a place that takes at least two full days to reach and that gives most people(and therefore zombies) absolutely no reason to go there. Then use armed patrols to eliminate any enemies that come too close

 

[Darren716]

A gun any day since the farther away I am from the creatures that want to use my brain as jam on their toast the better.

 

[Ian Fan]

chain with a weapon tied to one end and weighted second end.