Zombie Outbreak FAQs #3

A Story by D Allen

More survival information you will definitely need before the zombie apocalypse.

This is the next part in my zombie outbreak preparedness public service series. I'm covering some of the most common frequently asked questions from wanna-be zombie outbreak survivalists.

Q: What are the best guns for killing zombies?

A: In my last Zombie FAQ I mentioned weapons, but I didn’t really talk about guns and knives. Let’s do that now.

So, there's a full blown zombie outbreak and you need to eradicate a few zombies (and a******s) here and there to ensure your survival. First, imagine an entire town or city full of zombies, lunatics, and a******s. How did this happen? Remember, first there will be a pandemic viral outbreak of something like a mutated flu virus. This viral outbreak will kill a lot of people. A 30% or more death rate from any pandemic outbreak is significant enough to completely alter life on this planet alone without the threat of a piggy-backing Z-virus outbreak. Imagine one out of every three people you know dying and then combine that with collapsing social services, ensuing chaos, evaporating law and order, undisposed bodies mounting, and now some of the dead become the walking dead, roaming the streets, eating, biting, and infecting the survivors.

Weapons are social equalizers. If something threatens you, a gun or other weapon can improve your chances of surviving the encounter. A bear attempts to molest you in the woods...your chances of surviving are greatly improved if you have guns handy. A lunatic wants to murder your family and take your s**t...your chances of preventing this are greatly increased by having guns handy and know how to use them effectively. So you will need to appreciate some important weaponology considerations.

The great thing about America is that there are plenty of guns and ammo accessible to the average Joe. If you don’t have guns and know how to use guns, well you could at least make friends with cool people like me who do; although, for a zombie outbreak, I’m not planning on being very friendly, but maybe other people will.

The best weapon depends on three key factors: 1) what weapons you have access to; 2) your knowledge and skill at using different weapons; 3) what threats you need to deal with.

You’ll hear a lot of weapon-people talk about their favorite gun or their favorite this or that. Look, listen up, in a zombie outbreak you have to reserve favoritism and go for what works. It’s a given fact that some guns are better than others for a wide variety of reasons. In a pinch some gun is better than no gun. I suggest you check the web and also visit your local gun dealer to ask questions or stay tuned to the next part of my public service series for more weaponology info. Try this: Ask your local gun store sales rep what are the best guns for surviving a zombie apocalypse. Trust me; they have heard this question a lot and they are used to dealing with concerned customers.

By the way, my favorite gun is the M240G. Blame my gun tastes on my 21 years in the Marine Corps (Oorah!!!). I am extremely partial to that sweet piece of beautiful killing machinery, the M240G (Marines call it the “240 Golf” or the "Ma Duece") - you see me pictured with my M240 Golf, which I nicknamed Maggie. I have fired 240 Golfs a lot, I am very comfortable and accurate with it, I know how to fix it and clean it, and I know what it can and cannot and should and should not do in extreme situations. I know how to prep for crossing a deep river while carrying the 240 Golf. These are all very important gun selection factors, but think about it. The 240 Golf is a heavier gun with impressive and common 7.62 ammo; however, it’s designed to combat lightly armored military personnel and vehicles, so unless zombies start wearing body armor and driving Hummers, and flying helicopters, the M240G is just too much weapon for the situation. 240G info: www.armyranger.com/index.php/history/weapons/machine-guns/m240g

So again, gun selection should be based on your access, ability, and the targets you want to shoot. I don’t recommend anything smaller than the 9mm or .38 caliber bullets for killing zombies. Both of these rounds are highly available and pack sufficient punch to blast through a zombie brain at a good safe distance.

Get some reliable 9mm semiautomatic pistols with high capacity magazines, at least 15 rounds or more. You can even find higher-capacity 9mm magazines easy enough on Ebay and other places on the web. These need to be your bread and butter weapons for surviving the zombie apocalypse.

Tips: Don’t ever rely on just one brand of gun and one brand of ammo. What you’ll find is that different brands of ammo work differently in different guns and sometimes not at all in some guns. While 9mm ammo is very plentiful and should be easy to find, some of the 9mm ammo you find may not work or work well with some 9mm guns. Find out what ammo works with what guns before you find yourself surrounded by a frenzied zombie horde, your guns fully loaded, but they won't work because you didn't know all ammo is not created equal.

Q: How many different 9mms should you have?

A: As many as you can afford. Try to stockpile lots of them and all different brands.

In the next part of this series, I’ll discuss my other weapon recommendations and I’ll talk about a bunch of other weapons...

Shotguns, chainsaws, and machetes…Oh my!

Flame-throwers, claymores, and swords…Oh my!

Hand grenades, machine guns, and baseball bats…Oh my!

If you are interested in the best zombie eradication weapons and want to know what works well in real life zombie pandemonium situations compared to Hollywood fiction, stay tuned.