Opinion what would be the best weopon for a zombie invasion ?

[augmentedspartan]

How am I not being realistic? People WILL rush towards guns, because they bring that sense of protection that people want when in danger. Then when they realize that guns aren't simply pointing and pressing the trigger, they will be overrun by zombies. People don't care if they can't use a gun, they will risk shooting one than just running and hiding, because that sense of power to be able to defend oneself is really strong. So, you might scavenge a city and find dead bodies in apartments of people who tried to barricade their rooms and they probably have a gun which they might have not finished shooting. Yes, you will not find ammo literally on the middle of the road, but you might find ammo next to corpses in cities (in countries with less gun control laws).

 

[DeusExAlice]

Your faith in the God-Emperor of Mankind will you see you through this outbreak far better than any tool or tactic of man.


*waves incense burning censer around*

 

[Riddle78]

The zombie apocalypse? A handful of things.


-Spear & Shield. Spears are incredibly easy to use. Ram the pointy end into the victim's chest or face. If you made it to have large lugs beneath the blade,the zombie (or hostile human) won't be able to drag themselves down the haft to take you with them. If you make sure the head is easily removed,like with ,say,the removal of a single bolt with an allen wrench,it can then become a staff and knife. Utility. A shield can keep the zombies from attacking you,and,when applied properly,is a devastating weapon. You can literally make a long spear and a shield within three hours by taking apart a compact car. The shield will literally take ten minutes: Take off the door,attach straps.


-Pneumatic Cannon. All you need is a backpacked air compressor,a crank-charged dynamo,some plastic plumbing,a couple of valves,and some know-how. A weapon that,while noisy while preparing to fire,will never run out of ammo,and can fire literally anything you can fit in the muzzle,at an incredible speed. Just imagine what this thing'll do if you load it with a bunch of steak knives.


-A squad. Strength in numbers. As a group,your effectiveness exponentially increases for every member,in relation to the weakest link. More people means more weapons,more eyes,more carrying capacity,and,most importantly,someone to talk to. Take people you've trusted for years,but ignore strangers trying to be your friend. Take the belligerent ones; They're,at least,not trying to fool you.


And,a few tips.


-Avoid firearms. Ammunition will run out. Quickly. The manufacture of ammunition is complicated and involved,and mandates some immobile machinery. Then there's the issue of the weapon's maintenance. You need to clean it. You need to make sure it doesn't get damaged. Even in pristine condition,it might jam,or worse,something might break. Too many moving parts for it to be reliable After The End. That,and it's noisy. Two shots,and everyone will know exactly where you are. And no,suppressors won't work for most firearms; They fire supersonic rounds. You CANNOT silence a sonic boom.


-Learn to farm. Where do you think the local supermarket gets its produce? Grocery stores will be picked clean within the first two weeks. Pack enough to last until the first crop,and farm like your life depended on it. Because it kinda does.


-Be pitiless. It's the end of the world. Shit happens. You see an infectee,you kill them without slowing down. Even if they're in your crew.

 

[augmentedspartan]

[QUOTE="Alad V]
-Avoid firearms. Ammunition will run out. Quickly. The manufacture of ammunition is complicated and involved,and mandates some immobile machinery. Then there's the issue of the weapon's maintenance. You need to clean it. You need to make sure it doesn't get damaged. Even in pristine condition,it might jam,or worse,something might break. Too many moving parts for it to be reliable After The End. That,and it's noisy. Two shots,and everyone will know exactly where you are. And no,suppressors won't work for most firearms; They fire supersonic rounds. You CANNOT silence a sonic boom.

[/QUOTE]
If you try to live through a zombie apocalypse without fire arms you are screwed. Unless you go around shooting at anything that moves, you can easily conserve ammo because you can use your melee weapon for small groups of zombies (if you even need to, better to run away undetected than to kill any zombie). Plus how do you expect to fight off people? Sneaking isn't like games you know, people won't just look at one direction and wait for you to slit their throats, plus the sound of them choking on their blood or hitting the ground will alert everyone around. Also, silencers DO work. Sure they aren't like in movies which make guns have no sound, but it is a big improvement and the sound is almost nothing compared to a gunshot without a silencer. If you shoot and move a bit, zombies probably won't locate you. And a lot of weapons have suppressors, including many handguns and rifles.


So DON'T avoid firearms, keep them by your side because you aren't Kratos and you won't be able to defend yourself with only melee weapons.


EDIT: [media]



[/media] Look at this video, you can't tell me silencers don't work.

 

[Riddle78]

I said silencers won't work for MOST firearms. A 5.56mm (.223) round is supersonic. To say nothing of a 7.62mm (.308). Most rounds fired from revolvers are supersonic,as with a large portion of semiautomatic handguns. Pay attention to qualifier statements. Firearms aren't a divine force. They're loud,complicated,and too prone to failure. They need ammunition,which is explicitly finite,no matter how much of a Scrooge you are with it. With a spear,it's simple. Simple to use. Simple to make. Simple to maintain. And,regarding hostile humans: Not everyone will have a gun. Especially outside of the United States. Even still,a car door shield will work wonders,especially if you decide to open it up and put in some sort of filler. Even packing peanuts would be able to slow down a round,or even cause it to deflect off target. There's a REASON shields are still used by modern forces: The concept is sound. Put something between you and the threat that can be abandoned quickly if you need to.


A spear is the ideal post apocalypse weapon for several reasons: Simplicity. Reach. Reliability. Self-Contained. Silent.


A firearm is complicated with numerous,very difficult to replace moving parts. A firearm has range,but only if it's loaded,and only if the operator knows what they're doing. A firearm can break,and you won't notice until you try to fire. A firearm is utterly reliant on an external factor for effectiveness: Ammo. And,as I brought up before: Noise. A suppressor isn't magical. Most gun worshippers will go straight for a military base and pick up a C7 or similar piece of hardware. More intelligent people will go to the hunting supplies shop and pick up something else. But not all of them can be silenced. The supersonic report will give you away. Sure,there are some subsonic rounds out there,and those would be the ideal firearms for the apocalypse. But there's still every other issue mentioned: Ammo,reliability,complexity. If you MUST use a ranged weapon,use a bow or crossbow. Less moving parts to deal with,and a bow is far more silent than any firearm.


And,I did bring up shields. Allow me to ask you a question: How can a zombie hope to touch you with an eight foot bladed pole,and a three inch thick,human-sized slab of metals and polymers between it and you? How can a HUMAN hope to deal that? You can pivot faster than they can orbit. What's more,how can a bunch of zombies hope to assail a tortoise formation? Ammo will run out for guns. I'll give them a month or two. Then,they'll be nothing more than cudgels and really shitty shortspears.


You don't need to be Kratos to use a spear and shield. Farmers used them. Farmers also used longbows. When the world goes to shit,going medieval is going to be your best bet,because it'll simply be more reliable. If you keep a kitchen knife handy,you'll even have a close-in weapon for when someone or something manages to get behind the spear's blade.

 

[lecrush]

I think it would be either a rifle with a really good scope and alot of ammo or a .99 millimeter pistol as long as you have an acuret shot

 

[Lucya Kunzenov]

Old school tempered steel crowbar. Long enough to bash heads in from a distance, simple in design, easy to find and can be used for something other than killing zombies. Breaking into places, working on fortifications, etc.

 

[Alexandra95]

If I'm allowed with a loadout of any choice, the superior loadout would be:


- an M4-styled assault rifle (abundant ammo reserves, many compatible customization parts and easy to control) or an AKM (abundant ammo reserves and low maintenance, as well as high lethality)


- an M9 or an M1911 pistol as sidearm (same reasoning as above)


- a simple knife for backup or any occasion not suited for guns/loud noises


- a swizz knife (tools are always handy)


- a lightweight rucksack for extra inventory


- a simple tactical vest with magazine- and other kinds of pouches


- a bat if possible (sometimes just smashing some skulls is the best option)


- lightweight but warm clothing


Here's a pic I made of how my desired rifle would look like

 

[lecrush]

If I'm allowed with a loadout of any choice, the superior loadout would be:
- an M4-styled assault rifle (abundant ammo reserves, many compatible customization parts and easy to control) or an AKM (abundant ammo reserves and low maintenance, as well as high lethality)


- an M9 or an M1911 pistol as sidearm (same reasoning as above)


- a simple knife for backup or any occasion not suited for guns/loud noises


- a swizz knife (tools are always handy)


- a lightweight rucksack for extra inventory


- a simple tactical vest with magazine- and other kinds of pouches


- a bat if possible (sometimes just smashing some skulls is the best option)


- lightweight but warm clothing


Here's a pic I made of how my desired rifle would look like

I agree with the rifles really nice choices!!!!!

 

[Riddle78]

While a rifle is accurate,and generally puts a powerful round downrange,we need to realize some things.


-Ammunition is finite. You will run out,eventually. And making more is out of the question,due to how complex it is.


-Noise. A silencer cannot make a sonic boom go away. Most rifle rounds are supersonic. This will attract far more zombies than you have bullets.


As an alternative,just look at the previous page. I have a couple of posts about it.

 

[Alexandra95]

[QUOTE="Alad V]While a rifle is accurate,and generally puts a powerful round downrange,we need to realize some things.
-Ammunition is finite. You will run out,eventually. And making more is out of the question,due to how complex it is.


-Noise. A silencer cannot make a sonic boom go away. Most rifle rounds are supersonic. This will attract far more zombies than you have bullets.


As an alternative,just look at the previous page. I have a couple of posts about it.

[/QUOTE]
The reason for the silencer is to reduce the sound enough to not need ear protection, lol


A rifle would be handy to fight off hordes from a distance, as you see I include both a knife and a bat for actual close quarters battle and silent kills (if you look away from any moaning or shouting).


Although finite, 5.56 and 7.62 rounds are by far the most commonly used bullets, so you'll have a good shot at actually finding some. Of course, some places shotgun ammunition is also abundant. In the American southern states there's plenty of gun shops to raid, and while I don't have gun stores here, I live a few kilometers away only from Raufoss ammunition factory.


So, it depends a bit on where you are, since some places there are no bullets in proximity while other places there are plenty.


I understand you bring up many valid points. I don't believe firearms would be your primary--more like a specialized weapon for one of your squad members (only one, to preserve ammo). As said, rifles are ideal for medium to long range combat, and albeit bows and crossbows work as well, there's no harm to have different weaponry. If you're lucky enough to get over-penetration rounds (or even the MN140 which is produced close to me) you'll be able to do some serious damage and put down heavy suppressive fire.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

My choice of Z-day weapons would primarily depend on what geographical location I'm in.


My current location is the UK, where firearms are about as common as chicken teeth. Therefore I would not rely on using one (especially since I have only ever fired a muzzle-loader), since I would have no knowledge of which guns load which ammunition, basic maintenance, etc. Most of my weaponry would consist of melee-range weapons, such as the flanged spear (also known as a boar spear) mentioned earlier, attached to a four-foot stave:

For the reasons mentioned above, the flanges behind the blade would be effective at preventing the target from advancing down once stabbed and the stave would be long enough that it could be used to fend off beyond arm's length while still being effective in close confines such as buildings.


A good secondary melee weapon is a multi-purpose weapon. Forget swords and their like, they are only effective for fighting. Try breaking down a door or chopping wood in a forest with a sword. It's a one way road to bluntsville. Instead, go with an ax(e). More specifically, go with a splitting axe.

As you can see, this weapon has a narrow sharp axehead backed by a sledge head. The original purpose of this is to drive the axeblade into a piece of wood, then split the wood by striking the sledge head with another hammer. In a Z-day situation, the axe can be used to fell zombies or trees equally well, while the sledge can be used to get past those pesky door locks.


For a silent close-quarter ranged weapon, I would go with a hunting slingshot.

While a difficult weapon to master, you can find almost infinite ammo from your surroundings. It's silent, surprisingly powerful and can be employed anywhere you can stretch your arms apart. It can be used as a way to distract enemies, fire a pebble away from your position to draw them away from you. It's compact, has no mechanical moving parts and requires almost no maintenance whatsoever. Learn how to melt down lead and find/make a bullet mold and you can raid building roofs and stained glass windows for very compact and very deadly lead bullets.


For longer ranges, I'd have limited options. Bows and crossbows are some of those options, but a bow needs some practice to be accurate and both are dependent on your ability to conserve or create ammunition. Arrows and bolts could be constructed out of a variety of objects, high density plastic tubes, thin brass or copper tubes and the wooden sticks gardeners use to support plants could be used. Obviously, professionally-constructed arrows would be my primary desired ammo and I might be enticed to recover the ones I fire when possible.


As for other survival equipment, I would get hold of a diesel-engined four-wheel drive vehicle, preferably one with a good deal of storage. I'd prefer diesel, since it's going to be a fuel source that is less sought-after since it can only be used in diesel engines, whereas petrol (gas) can have a vast assortment of uses beyond powering a vehicle (molotovs, anyone?). Bottled water and/or water purification tablets would be a must and at some point I would set about creating a water still or condensation collector. As for food, tinned and dried food goods as a priority and also try to learn how to cure meat, either with salt or smoke. Farming might be a long term goal, but it is time intensive and forces a person to remain in one area. Areas of active cultivation might attract hostile fellow survivors and farming even a small tract of land can be very hard work for very little actual reward. Hunting animals (ALL animals, sorry doggies!) for meat and not neglecting the offal and blood would become a routine.


My goal for surviving Z-day would be to remain mobile. Staying in a single location would inevitably spur battles for survival between myself and other survivors and, even if I win those battles, every fight and every injury inflicted on me would decrease my chances of survival, since I would expend ammunition, consume more food and waste medical supplies. If I had the option of joining a group, I would have to evaluate the group before I committed. If even a single person appeared to be a liability, I would cut out from the lot of them. If they were incapable of seeing the liability in their numbers, then they are already writing their own obituaries.


Mercenary? Maybe. But I might survive a day longer than the rest of them.


Captain Hesperus