Guns & Ammo » Zombie Nation

Should Gun Guys Care About ‘The Walking Dead’?

James Tarr — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Zombies are rather popular in American culture right now, especially among gun owners. The biggest example of the undead’s popularity is the TV show The Walking Dead, which saw huge ratings in Season 3. Not only did it have good ratings for cable—it’s broadcast on AMC—most nights it beat every other show on TV, including shows on the big three networks (ABC, NBC and CBS).

One reason zombies and The Walking Dead are so popular is the heavy emphasis on firearms in the genre. When you’re dealing with a creature that wants to eat you and can only be “killed” by destroying its brain, nothing works better at keeping their teeth away from your neck than guns.

That said, there is also a large contingent of gun owners whose opinion of the zombie craze can best be summed up by the conviction, “Zombies are stupid.” OK, I get that—if you can’t get past the whole “dead walking the earth” thing, the entertainment value of anything zombie tends to slide toward zero. That said, The Walking Dead is hugely popular for a lot of reasons, and there are a lot of lessons—symbolic and otherwise—in it for anyone interested in firearms for self defense and emergency preparedness.

The Mother of All Natural Disasters
Can you think of a more extreme example of a natural disaster than the Zombie Apocalypse? Emergency responders overwhelmed or out of the picture entirely, power and utilities down, deadly creatures roaming everywhere. Even the federal government has gotten into the emergency preparedness game with Ready.gov, recommending everyone have a kit loaded with everything you and your family would need to survive for 72 hours.

The best perspective on why you should prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse is something that’s been posted for years on the FAQ page of the forum at ZombieHunters.org:

Q: Do you really think Zombies are real or is this some sort of zombie movie fan site?
A: Zombie Squad realizes that it is quite possible for someone to live their entire lives without encountering the undead nuisance. However, we hold fast to the belief that if you are prepared for a scenario where the walking corpses of your family and neighbors are trying to eat you alive, you will be prepared for almost anything.
Zombie Squad is very serious about promoting public awareness of the need for survival preparation and contingency planning.

The Long and Short of It
Everyone tends to think of a natural disaster as a short-term event, hence the “72-hour” bags. But what if the problem goes on and on? The heroes in The Walking Dead have been dealing with corpses for three seasons—about a year in their world—and it appears their world has forever changed. Finding food and water is just as much of a priority for them as avoiding the undead. It took months, if not years, for life to return to normal in Louisiana after to Hurricane Katrina, and people in New England had no power for weeks after Sandy.

You Dance with Who You Brung
After a disaster is not the time to be thinking about buying a gun for protection or stocking up on supplies. The survivors of The Walking Dead use whatever weapons they can scrounge—knives, screwdrivers, handguns, crowbars, shotguns, baseball bats, rifles, a samurai sword and even a crossbow.

Also, the survivors quickly found out sound attracts walkers, so in the third season we saw them using guns with homemade suppressors. I particularly like the one made from the body of a Maglite. In the most recent season, they twice stumbled upon supplies of AR-15s—and ammo—and they are very very happy about it. If you don’t have what you think you might need to defend yourself or your family simply from a burglar—much less the looting which frequently follows natural disasters in this country—you’re doing it wrong.

Hurricanes and Tornadoes Don’t Riot or Loot
Whether the undead ever walk the earth or not, there will be more natural and man-made disasters. Most of the problems besetting the people living in those areas aren’t the storms themselves, but the people using the situation as an opportunity to misbehave. In The Walking Dead, the biggest problem the main group has to deal with by the third season isn’t the zombies, but rather other survivors who want their stuff. The mere presence of a gun won’t deter a zombie, but it sure works on regular people thinking about causing trouble.

Even without any disaster, the world is full of thieves—protect what you’ve got, and don’t start yapping to your neighbors how you’re a one-man army, and you’ve got a generator and enough guns, ammo, food and water to last for years on your own. If things get bad they’ll be standing on your porch knocking. If things get really bad, they won’t knock.

You Can Never Have Too Much Ammo
Does this really need explaining? In the zombie genre you’ll see guns, guns and more guns to deal with the shambling hordes of zombies. Most of the time little thought is given to ammunition by the director or producer, but we know different. Guns have to be fed. Most of us will never burn through an entire magazine shooting at people, living or dead. However, for those rare exceptions, there is nothing like having a lot of ammo available, preferably already loaded into magazines which hold a large number of rounds.

In October, G&A published a story in which an older gentleman with health issues was beset by home invaders—three guys with guns and masks entered his house, plus there was a driver in the getaway car. The homeowner fired multiple shots at the men, seriously wounding one and driving the others away. While they weren’t zombies, the lesson is clear.

Teamwork Saves Lives
Whether it’s the Zombie Apocalypse or a tornado that’s torn up your town, things will need to get done. It is far better to be part of a team working together than trying to go things on your own. In The Walking Dead, somebody always needs to be on watch to make sure the biters are sneaking up behind you. In the aftermath of a natural disaster, you’ll discover your neighbors have all sorts of useful skills, such as carpentry, plumbing or auto repair. Some of them can also stand guard on your house while you sleep.

People working together can accomplish a lot more. During the L.A. riots, store owners worked together to defend their properties. Thanks to teamwork—and their “assault rifles”—they saved their stores.

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Guns of 'The Walking Dead'

First Look: Zombies and Guns Galore in ‘World War Z’ Trailer

Dylan Polk — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 22:15:42 +0000

For zombie enthusiasts like ourselves, any movie trailer that boasts tons of zombies getting blown away by tremendous firepower is enough to get us on the edge of our seats with a wide-eyed stare. When that movie is based on a best-selling zombie survival account, well, we just start marking our calendars, canceling any and all plans that day, no matter how important they may be (Grandma’s birthday? Ain’t nobody got time for that!).

So when we finally got a glimpse of the trailer for World War Z, the Zombie Nation online crew was immediately overjoyed. Boasting plenty of guns and military-grade firepower, plus a cavalcade of zombie carnage, this is one film zombie hunters won’t want a miss.

Check out the trailer for World War Z, in theaters June 2013.

How to Pick the Best Zombie Pistol

James Tarr — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:28:29 +0000

It is said that you use a pistol to fight your way back to the rifle you never should have put down in the first place. It is also said that handguns have one distinct advantage over long guns in that they are worn, not borne; wearing a handgun in a holster means that you never have to put it down to do something, as you do a rifle or shotgun. While there can be no denying that rifles and shotguns have distinct advantages in both power and reach, it is the handiness and convenience that makes the handgun indispensable when the excrement hits the wind generator and the dead start walking the earth.

Before the question of which handgun is best for defense against zombies can be answered, several other just as important questions must be asked. First, what kind of zombies are we talking about?

Traditionally, zombies are the walking dead from voodoo mythology. These are the true animated corpses, not alive in any sense of the word and sometimes controlled by others. What I’ll call Romero zombies are what we have all seen in such documentary films as Night of the Living Dead. These are bodies that are in every medical sense dead, and yet they are still animated to what extent their rotting bodies allow. The third type is not really a zombie at all, but should be mentioned anyway—these are the infected. Afflicted with any number of viruses or plagues which turn them into mindless killing machines, the infected are in many ways the most dangerous of the three.

Matching the tool with the job is important no matter what you’re doing, whether it is auto repair, or clearing the undead from your lawn or your town. What kind of pistol will work the best against the above threats? That depends.

Romero zombies are perhaps the simplest of these threats to dispatch. Severe trauma to their central nervous system (i.e. brain and upper spine) will put them down. If you’re using a pistol, this means that you need to have something powerful enough to penetrate the human skull reliably from any angle. The human skull can be remarkably resilient, however, so pay attention.

Voodoo zombies are true animated corpses. They are dead flesh walking. They have no beating heart, which means that even if you shoot them full of holes and there is not a drop of blood left in their bodies, they will keep on coming. Should you shoot them in the head, then? Unfortunately, a corpse is a corpse, and a dead brain is a dead brain whether or not it has been perforated by bullets. Shooting Voodoo zombies in the brain won’t stop them. So what will stop them?

It has been suggested by some in the scientific community that shooting out the eyes and ears of Voodoo zombies will reduce or eliminate their ability to track you. This is an unproven theory, and one I would not like to bet my life on. Besides, the history of Voodoo zombies shows that they are quite frequently controlled by other people, so maybe they aren’t even using their rotting eyes and ears. No, the only way to stop a Voodoo zombie is to eliminate their power of locomotion. Broadswords, or better yet, two-ton dumptrucks traveling at highway speeds would do a better job of this than a mere pistol, but we have to work with what we have.

Go for the support structure, meaning the pelvis and thigh bones. Once the zombie is reduced to crawling you’ll have a lot more time to think and act. Magic or science, their bodies are still made of flesh and bone, and if you destroy their joints so that they can’t come after you or grab you, you’ve eliminated them as a threat even if they are still animated. To do this, you’ll need to use a caliber powerful enough to not just reach the center of the body, but break bones.

The infected are not dead per se, but are mindless attackers who feel no pain. Many police officers have had to deal with suspects out of their mind on drugs who were in the same condition. Gunshot wounds to the hydraulic system of these people will not stop them, because until they have totally bled out they will keep on coming. There are only two ways to stop the infected—shut down their brain or eliminate their ability to come after you by destroying their support structure. Either method requires a handgun chambered in a cartridge powerful enough to perform these tasks.

The first step in deciding which handgun is best suited to one or all of these tasks is realizing which handguns are not. The process of elimination makes things a lot easier. For example, revolvers, while reliable and time-tested tools, are just not a good choice when it comes to dealing with the undead, for two reasons—capacity and speed of reloading.

There is never just one zombie. Everyone knows this, and it’s hard to hear the word horde without automatically associating it with the undead. Where there is one zombie (using the generic term), there are a dozen, that’s why they are such a problem. Alone, they are easy to outwit and—except for the sometimes very mobile infected—outmaneuver. In groups they can surround you and break down your barriers through sheer body weight. Revolvers only hold half-dozen rounds, and even if you have speedloaders, they are still slower to reload than semi-automatics.

In the movies, you’ll quite often see characters armed with Desert Eagles. While these are very fun pistols to shoot, they have no place in zombie defense. They are too big and heavy to carry for any length of time, so much so that getting them out and aimed at the threat with any speed is a losing proposition. Chambered in .357, .44 Magnum and .50 Action Express, they definitely have enough power—too much, actually. Recoil with a Desert Eagle is more than what you’re going to want in a target-rich environment. Their capacity is also somewhat limited, so no matter how cool they look, avoid them unless there is no other alternative.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are the so-called AR-15 pistols. Stockless, short-barreled versions of America’s rifle, these light recoiling weapons are fed by high-capacity magazines, and no one doubts the .223/5.56mm round has enough oomph to reach the brain stem. The problem, however, is that these are handguns in name only. The advantage of a handgun is that it can be at your side, holstered, at all times. These pistolized ARs have to be slung, and as such for our purposes, are no better than a rifle. If a stockless AR counts as a pistol, then my pistol of choice is an H&K MP5K PDW—but of course no one would consider that a handgun.

The ability of the undead to hear and pursue sounds is well documented, so many people might think that using a suppressed pistol is the answer. However, nobody makes a holster for suppressed pistols. This inability to be holstered is what eliminates any suppressed pistol from consideration, as far as I am concerned. While they usually don’t move very fast, zombies can quite frequently move quietly, and you need to be prepared to react in an instant. A pistol set on the ground, somewhere over there, is not the answer.

I have heard several people suggest that a suppressed .22 is the ideal zombie pistol. Low recoil and noise, combined with cheap and plentiful ammo, are admittedly good arguments for this platform. However, what good is a weapon that won’t put down the threat? While a .22 LR will put down a Romero zombie with one or six shots to the head—depending how many bounce off the skull—those little bullets will do nothing to a Voodoo zombie. Will a .22 kill one of the infected? Yes, with a good headshot on what is probably a fast moving target—good luck with that—or you can hit them repeatedly center mass and wait for them to bleed out. Meanwhile, they are still trying to kill you and everyone around you.

The ideal zombie pistol should be powerful enough to reach the brain the first time more often than not, or any bone in the body. All centerfire cartridges thought suitable for personal defense—9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP—do this, with the .45 probably being the best. The .45 ACP, however, has a lot of recoil, and the cartridges are fat—relatively few will fit inside most handguns.

The .40 S&W round is a good balance between the .45 ACP and the 9mm. Power-wise it is closer to the .45, but guns chambered in this caliber can hold more rounds. Consideration, however, should be given to ammo availability after the world turns upside down. UPS won’t be making any deliveries. While many people and law enforcement agencies—there’s a good chance you may be stocking up on ammo at abandoned police stations—use both .40 S&W and .45 ACP, you will find as much or more 9mm ammunition lying around as any other caliber. This ready availability, combined with the number of the cartridges you can fit into even modestly-sized semi-autos, puts the 9mm ahead of other calibers.

So, we’ve settled on a 9mm auto as the basic envelope. What features should it have? Well, good sights of course, but just about every pistol today has serviceable sights. It definitely should have a tactical rail on which to mount a flashlight. While a light may draw zombies to you, there is nothing better to light up those dark corners than a flashlight, and a weapon-mounted flashlight is best of all. Most importantly, the pistol you choose needs to be reliable.

The 1911 is the handgun against which so many are judged. They can be made very accurate, and its single-action trigger allows quick and precise shooting. The traditional 1911 payload of 8+1 .45s is significant, and high-capacity double-column versions of this design can hold twice as many rounds of .40 S&W with extended magazines. However, it usually takes a gunsmith to get guns like this reliable, and then there is the cost. Once the world falls apart, paper money will be useless, but until then we all have bills to pay and food to buy. Investing over $3,000 for a custom or semi-custom, high-cap 1911 is perhaps not the best way to spend your pre-catastrophe dollars. I believe there are better options.

DA/SA semi-autos are tougher to shoot than pistols which have the same trigger pull each time. This is especially true for new or inexperienced shooters—which you may be surrounded with. Between DAO or striker-fired pistols, the trigger pulls on striker-fired guns are better. The better the trigger pull, the more likely you are to hit what you’re aiming at.

Glocks are the striker-fired pistols against which all others are judged, and for good reason. They point naturally, their triggers aren’t too heavy, they are a lot cheaper than 1911s, but most importantly of all, they’re reliable. While they are not perfect—plastic sights, mushy trigger pulls—their positives far outweigh any negatives. I carry a Glock 34 every day, and if I had been asked last year to pick what I thought was the best zombie pistol, I would have chosen just that.

But then I had an opportunity to test the new Springfield Armory XD(M) 5.25 Competition model.

XD(M)s are striker-fired semi-autos with a grip angle nearly identical to that of a 1911 as opposed to a Glock. They have a spring-loaded grip safety, a safety lever on the trigger, an ambidextrous magazine release and a tactical frame rail. The XD(M) also features interchangeable backstraps in three different sizes to fit all sorts of hands.

The XD(M) 5.25 comes with an adjustable steel rear sight, fiber optic front sight, and like most XD(M)s, has a trigger pull around 6 pounds. This is all good, but what sets the XD(M) apart is its 19+1 capacity in 9mm. Twenty rounds before you have to reload will get you out of just about any zombie problem you might encounter shy of a World War Z-level chainswarm. Not just that, but the pistol is sold as a kit, and in addition to the pistol and three (count ‘em, three!) 19-round magazines, you get a holster and double magazine pouch, all for a street price under $750. That price should leave enough money in your wallet to buy ammo, not just for FMJ for practice, but the high-end hollowpoints for when the zombies show up. The zombies aren’t going to kill themselves.

Avoid the Bite: Tips for Unarmed Self-Defense from Zombies

Richard Nance — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:24:47 +0000

Since you’re reading this, you’ve probably considered how potentially dangerous a run-in with a zombie or, worse, a horde of zombies would be. You might assume that you could simply shoot an undead attacker in the head to send it back to the grave—permanently. Obviously, an armed response is the preferred course of action against an attacking zombie, but let’s face it, a gun can malfunction, run out of ammunition or be inaccessible when you need it most. There is also the possibility that the sound of gunfire would attract more zombies than you have bullets. Even a seemingly foolproof weapon, such as a knife or bludgeon, can be fumbled at the worst possible moment, leaving you with only your bare hands to fight off a hungry heathen.

To be truly prepared for a ghoulish encounter, you need to plan for the worst-case scenario: fighting the undead unarmed. When you’re relegated to facing a zombie empty-handed, adhering to these proven tactics will keep your cerebral cortex from becoming a tasty appetizer and, even more important, you from becoming the newest member of a cold and carnivorous zombie clan.

Stay Alert
Alertness is a cornerstone to any realistic self-defense program. Whether it’s recognizing a potential carjacker or detecting a zombie slinking in the shadows, being alert to the possibility of danger is the best way to avoid it. After all, the best fight is the one you’re not in, especially when it involves an undead opponent.

So how do you detect a zombie in time to take an alternate route? By paying attention to your surroundings. For instance, when approaching the corner of a building, distance yourself from the structure in order to get a bit more of a view around the corner with each step. (Tactical shooters will recognize this technique as “slicing the pie.”) For obvious reasons, the goal should always be to spot a potential threat before it spots you. Negotiating a corner in this manner keeps you from walking right into the outstretched arms of a bona fide member of the walking dead.

Remember, it’s hard to hear the low moaning of a distant zombie horde or the clumsy, trudging footsteps of a zombie just around the corner if you’re chatting or listening to music with ear buds securely attached. Don’t deprive yourself of your God-given senses. They may be all that stands between you and a terrifying close-quarter battle with one or more hungry zombies.

Escape or Arm Yourself
Escape is the ultimate goal in self-defense, regardless of whether your opponent is human or a mindless, groveling brain-eater. However, a human attacker may be armed or capable of outrunning you, so simply running away might not be feasible. Zombies, on the other hand, aren’t sophisticated enough to arm themselves with traditional weapons. (Of course, a zombie’s teeth and fingernails are no less lethal than a gun or a knife.) But because zombies are probably nowhere near as fast or agile as you, running away from a zombie pursuer is a sound tactic. The situation will dictate whether returning with a suitable weapon to put down the zombie is in order.

If you’re unable to outrun a zombie and you must fight, look for something that could be used as a weapon. Keep in mind that punching a zombie won’t produce the desired results. In fact, aside from being ineffective, punching a zombie is an excellent way to get bitten. Don’t do it. Your best bet is to find a weapon capable of putting the “dead” back into “the undead.” Of course, a stabbing instrument, such as a knife, screwdriver or pen, thrust through an eye socket can penetrate the brain and kill a zombie. A baseball bat, metal pipe or even a stomp to the head from a booted foot could crush a zombie’s skull, turning its brain to mush.

Use Agility and Speed to Your Advantage
Zombies aren’t known for their speed or agility. Nor do zombies possess superhuman strength or abilities. But they are fierce opponents because they are not deterred by pain or fatigue. These attributes enable a zombie to continue to attack until it is physiologically incapacitated, as would be the case if the zombie were beheaded or paralyzed. This is in stark contrast to living beings (including you) who will undoubtedly be affected by the pain and fatigue associated with close-quarter combat.

Don’t be lured into fighting the zombie’s fight. Standing toe-to-toe with an undead opponent is not smart, especially when you’re unarmed. Close-quarter combat with a zombie is challenging enough when you’re properly armed. Defeating a zombie in unarmed combat is possible, but it should definitely be considered a last resort.

When facing a zombie unarmed, exploit the advantages of your speed and agility. A relatively narrow stance is more conducive to movement than a deep, rooted stance and should therefore be employed against a slow-moving zombie. Being light on your feet and using angles to evade and counterattack will keep your undead assailant guessing as it plunges forward, step after plodding step.

Once you extract yourself from the immediate danger area, you may be tempted to stop and rest. Be alert, because though zombies don’t move quickly like a pack of hyenas, they are constantly moving toward their next meal. When you must rest, seek an elevated platform, preferably one that affords you a clear view of the approaching zombies. It has been said that most zombies are not dexterous enough to climb a ladder, but I wouldn’t bet my life on that assumption.

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Use Low Kicks to Maintain Distance
Despite what you may have seen in his films, legendary martial artist Bruce Lee was a staunch advocate of kicking low when it came to real-world self-defense. While Lee might not have foreseen his kicks being used against zombies, they certainly fill the bill as your default zombie counter-attack. There are several advantages to employing low kicks against a zombie.

In all likelihood, your legs will be significantly longer than your zombie attacker’s arms, so kicking enables you to cause damage while maintaining a relatively safe distance from the business end (teeth) of the zombie. Your legs are also much stronger than your arms, so a kick is capable of generating a great deal more power than a punch. When this force is directed at a decaying zombie’s knee, you can significantly impede its ability to chase you.

A powerful kick to the front or side of a zombie’s knee is likely to cause considerable damage. The severity of damage will vary depending on the amount of force generated in the kick, the type of footwear worn by the kicker and the extent to which the zombie’s leg has deteriorated through decomposition. Stomping the back of the knee, while not as likely to severely injure, is a good way to take an attacking zombie down a notch. Remember, zombies are undead, not superhuman. A powerful kick to its knee could very well render one immobile.

Utilize Counter-grappling Techniques
When engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a zombie, one thing is certain: You don’t have to worry about being punched or kicked. Zombies are no longer clever or coordinated enough to attack this way. When facing a zombie, it’s all about counter-grappling and bite defense. The only weapons that need concern you are its teeth and nails. If you can negate these natural zombie attributes, you’ll be well on your way to escaping.

A zombie that grabs hold presents an imminent deadly threat. There is no time for deliberation when in the clutches of an undead walker who has chosen you from the menu. Anytime an attacker (human or otherwise) grabs you, the faster you respond, the better your odds are of escaping. Any delay enables your adversary to secure its grip, making it much more difficult for you to break free.

A common zombie tactic is to grab its intended human meal by the arm and pull him in close to bite or pull him to the ground to be devoured. When you feel those cold, undead hands grab your arm, immediately widen your stance to maintain balance. If you don’t lower your center of gravity, you may very well become “ground meat.”

Once you’ve established your balance, move your arm in a circular motion (clockwise for your right hand and counterclockwise for your left hand) to compromise the ghoul’s grip. This places you in a position of relative safety, since you are far from the teeth and the zombie’s own arm hinders its ability to bite you. Striking the zombie’s elbow should enable you to break the hold completely. If not, maintain your position on the outside of the creature’s arm and strike the elbow repeatedly until you’re able to break either the hold or the arm. If this is ineffective, direct a low kick to the back of the zombie’s nearest knee. This should drive the zombie to its knees, breaking its grip and facilitating your escape.

Disarm a Zombie by Grabbing Its Throat
When a zombie has forced you against a wall and closes the distance to sink its rotting teeth into your flesh, thrust a hand under the zombie’s chin and grab its throat. This will afford you a degree of control over the zombie’s head and teeth and keep your hand and arm relatively safe from being bitten. (This tactic is comparable to first securing a gun and controlling the direction of the muzzle before attempting to counterstrike or disarm the gunman.)

Once you’ve gained temporary control of the zombie’s primary weapon (its teeth), swing your forearm across your body to strike the zombie’s arm at or above the elbow to dislodge and clear its arms from the path of escape you are creating. Simultaneously, rotate your upper body in the same direction as your strike to peel yourself off the wall and send the zombie heading in the opposite direction. When executed properly, this technique will create a sufficient opening for you to run away from your confused attacker.

Conclusion
Do not assume your standard self-defense techniques are sufficient for defeating a ghoulish creature intent on wolfing your brain. Defending yourself from an attacking zombie is a unique endeavor, requiring a targeted approach.

At the first indication of a zombie, seek an escape route. If a zombie somehow closes in, arm yourself. If there are no viable weapons within reach, take out the zombie’s knee to hinder its mobility. If you’re clinched with a zombie, break the hold and create distance.

As a last resort, grab the zombie’s throat and hold on for dear life. Look for a way to improve your position and escape. Keep in mind that the most critical factors—regardless of whether the predator you face is human or zombie—are your willingness to do whatever it takes to win the encounter and your commitment to never give up.

Once free, don’t stay and fight. Run like hell!

How AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ Creates a Zombie

G&A Online Editors — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 21:21:28 +0000

The zombies pictured here were creations of Bill Johnson. Whether it’s graphic design, creating life casts, building rooms of horror or painting wounds on silicone prosthetics, Johnson has a special eye for his art. He’s been called on often for his trade secrets in the special effects industry as well as his sick talent for creating life-like death.

For more than 25 years, Johnson has been known as “Splat.” Though his credit appears on everything from The Patriot (yep, the one starring Mel Gibson) to Ripley’s Believe It or Not, he loves to work in the dark arts. You’ll find his spiders in the cult classic Eight Legged Freaks, his dead bodies in Zombieland and The Crazies, and the work of his paintbrush and silicone prosthetics in The Walking Dead. Bill Johnson just might be the most interesting man in the world.

Walking into the basement of his workshop is like descending into the mind of a serial killer. A coroner’s lab with authentic details gives you the feeling you’ve just been lured into a trap, but once the fear calms down, you can appreciate Johnson’s obsession for detail.

Check out the process that goes into making a zombie in the slideshow below.

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In the world of makeup, he received no formal education. But his years of experience working on some of Hollywood’s most haunting projects has tuned his skills into a career. In 2010 he was selected as a special effects makeup artist for Greg Nicotero’s KNB EFX Group to help create the most realistic zombies we’ve ever seen, used by AMC’s The Walking Dead.

Deep wounds are simulated with a special silicone prosthetic Johnson molds in a handcut relief days before. Once they are prepared to “set” on trays, he applies a temporary adhesive that’s carefully adhered before fleshy realism is added by airbrush and paintbrush.

Johnson has been a pioneer in the field of applying the type of silicone prosthetics seen on The Walking Dead. In zombie films, the viewer expects to watch hordes of zombies—not one or two—which means Splat has to apply his makeup fast. A hero zombie used to take the industry as long as four to five hours in makeup production. Johnson can achieve an even better result inside of an hour and a half. If he’s creating a zombie that’ll walk among a group as a background extra, he can finish that person in as little as 20 minutes.

You just can’t kill zombies faster than Splat can make them.

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Zombie Nation is the premier publication for surviving the zombie apocalypse. From firearms to tips and tactics, zombie hunters will be kept up to speed on how to avoid becoming zed-bait. Order your copy today.

Brownells Introduces the Zombie Elimination Crew

G&A Online Editors — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:13:18 +0000

When the walking dead are chasing after you, who you gonna call?

Anyone can be a zombie slayer in a pinch, but it takes a real crack team of zed commandos to really scrub the flesh-eaters from the face of the Earth.

Enter Brownells‘ Zombie Elimination Crew. At the end of times, these five survivors serve as mankind’s last stand against the zombie scourge that has literally devoured most of the planet.

Armed with products readily available from Brownells, the ZEC is certainly prepared for the zombie apocalypse–even if they don’t want a part in the fight.

Be sure to check out the ZEC’s website, and in the meantime, get to know the crew in the exclusive interviews below.

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Meet the Zombie Elimination Crew

Examining the Art of Zombies with AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’

G&A Online Editors — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:17:46 +0000

“Jawless Zombie” is played by Erin Bushko, while Christoph Vogt sniffs “Rick” and “Glenn” in the streets of Atlanta as “Smelly Zombie.” Larry Mainland’s portrayal of “Grandpa Zombie” has garnered him unexpected exposure through the international marketing of “The Walking Dead.”

Zombie Nation recently got to visit to an American Steampunk store called “The Boiler Room.” Located in downtown Duluth, Ga., it’s not entirely unusual that we’d start our project here, since the entire zombie culture seems to be based in and around the city of Atlanta. It’s true for a number of reasons. Dragon*Con draws more than 50,000 fans of science fiction and fantasy to Atlanta each year, and Georgia embraces Hollywood’s obsession of an apocalyptic future. Not only does the film industry benefit from really sweet tax incentives, the state’s weather is perfect for zombie survival and you’ve already got the Center for Disease Control hidden nearby with millions of ways to wreck our entire way of life. Why couldn’t the zombie virus start here?

We know it’s sick, but have you ever wondered how a film simulates a decapitated head or someone’s brains painting the wall behind him? We have. The artists called them “gags,” and young artists like those working at The Boiler Room are figuring out how to make them better.

“The digital revolution has changed the effects business,” says Matt Silva, co-founder of Penny Dreadful Productions. “Film quality has always been good, but the ability to project it and transpose it has not. Effects looked more real back then because they weren’t covered up as well. Since Dawn of the Dead, the shock level keeps going down, while the quality of digital footage goes up. The quality of makeup, costumes and props has to keep up because high def reveals poor effects.”

We had to ask, “Is anything real used in makeup and effects?”

“When George Romero was creating films about zombies, he once simulated guts with week-old chitlin’,” Silva says. “It’s disgusting, and because of those films the industry has famously banned the use of chitlin’. When zombies were tearing and eating ‘Otis’ on The Walking Dead, the actors were eating barbeque pork.”

In producing a film, production units have to consider rules when creating special effects. Some of the networks have some very unusual rules that leave you wondering, Why? Fox, for example won’t show bathroom scenes. MTV will air a show with a knife being removed from a body, but not inserted. If a film has too much blood, the editorial department will have to cut some out or come up with an artistic solution such as turning excessively bloody scenes into black and white (remember Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 2?). When filming zombies, KNB EFX Group and The Walking Dead Executive Producer Greg “The Blood Man” Nicotero worked around AMC’s rules against large quantities of brightly colored blood by developing a top-secret formula for crusty “zombie dark” blood. No other zombie film has access to it. If there’s too much blood in a scene on a TV network, it has to be darker.

We take details for granted when we watch a show, because the details are so well executed, they don’t interfere with our personal experience. We all know that blood seen onscreen isn’t made of real blood, but did you know that the special effects industry uses FDA-approved clays and powders to simulate dirt seen on an actor’s skin? Real dirt can carry staph and lead to an infection.

There are two types of zombies onscreen. There are actors who just stand in with some makeup to fill out a horde, and there are particular zombies with specific features that get close-ups and special time on camera. During our visit to The Boiler Room, a few of these hero zombies stopped by to answer our questions. In addition to appearances in other horror film projects, these real-life actors gave us the time of day to reveal what it takes to become undead on The Walking Dead.

“I’m known as ‘French Kiss Zombie,’” says Erin Bushko. “We [zombies] give each other names based on what we look like or what action scene we’re know for. I was the jawless zombie that was killed by one of ‘Daryl’s’ crossbow bolts. I worked on the first season, episode four, and took five hours in full makeup. Then I spent four hours wearing it. As I waited for my scene, people couldn’t stop staring at me. ‘TDog’ later said he was so grossed out that he couldn’t stand to eat his lunch after looking at me.”

Bushko obtained her degree in music theater after studying Shakespeare at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. She earned her way networking through jobs as an extra in films such as Zombieland. She says part of her attraction to zombie films is “not looking like yourself.”

Not all actors are school-trained theatrical artists. Christoph Vogt defected with his family from Poland, studied chemistry and computer science at the University of Georgia and entered the acting business through modeling. In The Walking Dead, he earned the name “Smelly Zombie” for his scene in the episode “The Smell of Death,” where he sniffs “Rick” and “Glenn,” who were covered in zombie blood to disguise against surrounding walkers.

“I didn’t have any acting experience,” says Vogt. “I got a call to show up for a casting call and thought I’d try for a role. As it turned out, I looked the part so well that they used the least amount of makeup to turn me into a zombie.”

Sadly, for hero zombies, the more you’re seen on camera or promotional materials, the less you are used. How a zombie was designed and how much time on camera one had will determine whether an actor gets invited back to portray a zombie a second time.

“Nicotero has brought back some characters from Season 1 who were good at taking directions and didn’t have restrictions with things like using contacts,” says Larry Mainland.

Mainland is new to acting and stuntwork, but he’s already appeared on a number of movies and television shows including Contagion, Level Up and The Three Stooges.

“I was ‘Grandpa Zombie,’” says Mainland. “My scene was the last on the first day of filming The Walking Dead and took only 10 minutes. The contacts drove my eyes nuts, and it was twilight, so I couldn’t see that well. Once they had led me to a car, it was 7:10 [p.m.]. The scene was a wrap at 7:20. The image of me getting out of the car went viral and led to a series of marketing opportunities for the show.”

Once the actors were selected, they were brought to Zombie School, conducted by Greg Nicotero himself. Nicotero instructed his zombie students to imagine how they died and consider how they came about their wounds. Each zombie needed to be unique.

Matt Silva studied his craft under famed graphic artist Bill “Splat” Johnson. He now applies his talents to building unusual props, costumes and “gags” like this silicone prosthetic used to simulate a disembowelment.

“We never got a certificate, but we should have,” says Bushko. “There was a lot of choreography to learn, though we were free-moving. We had to complete a zombie obstacle course where you move through things. There would be 10 people in a group, and you’d have to learn 10 or 12 different ways to move around things. One girl had the ability to walk with her foot sideways, so that became her thing. At first, there were too many zombies with their heads cocked the same way, so we had to each learn a look and let that be [us]. Once you’ve made your zombie, you can’t change what you’re doing.”

“You had to accept the zombie rules,” Mainland added. “They don’t talk. They have sound and smell. When you hear something, you’re supposed to turn to the sound with your ears first, then the eyes catch on.”

In leaving The Boiler Room, we walked away feeling more aware of the art of zombie filmmaking and were impressed by the high level of professionalism that exists in the special effects industry. It’s a competitive group of people who all seem to know each other as they fight for union wages. Zombie Nation admires the fact that these undead creators and actors take their performances so seriously for the art of our entertainment.

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Zombie Nation is the premier publication for surviving the zombie apocalypse. From firearms to tips and tactics, zombie hunters will be kept up to speed on how to avoid becoming zed-bait.

9 Awesomely Creative Ways to Kill Zombies

G&A Staff — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:10:23 +0000

Obviously, we’re in love with our guns. They’re among the most important tools to have during the zombie apocalypse, and could very well save your survival party. But what happens when you’re out of ammo, or when you’re faced with a catastrophic malfunction?

Time to get creative. When your gun can’t cut it, time to improvise. There are an infinite number of ways to kill zombies, but we’ve rounded up nine of our favorite ways, some inspired by our favorite zombie movies—er, documentaries—and some the products of our own twisted imaginations.

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9 Creative Ways to Kill Zombies

10 Crazy Things You’ll See at a Zombie Shoot

G&A Online Editors — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:03:36 +0000

Granted, having a kickass gun collection is a huge part of being a zombie hunter, but there’s more to it than just firearms. You have to be prepared in every way. You need to outfit yourself with as much tactical gear as you can fit on yourself, and be ready to ride into battle on whatever vehicle is lying around. At Outbreak Omega 5, hosted by DPMS Panther Arms, we got a look at some of the craziest zombie-killing costumes ranging from totally prepared to just plain outlandish. Here are 10 of our favorite get-ups for stopping the living dead in their tracks.

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10 Coolest Costumes from Outbreak Omega 5

First Look: Remington Versa Max Tactical in Zombie Reaper Z Camo

G&A Online Editors — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:47:07 +0000

When we weren’t busy popping zombie skulls at Outbreak Omega 5 in Morristown, Minn., we were able to get a look at some of the coolest guns made especially for zombie slaying. Among them was the Remington Versa Max Tactical in a special Reaper Z camo finish. This semi-auto shotgun features Remington’s SuperCell recoil pad, along with an adjustable comb and an included Picatinny rail. The Versa Max Tactical also features a skeletonized charging handle for quicker bolt manipulation, plus an 8+1 mag tube extension and an extended choke tube. The Versa Max retails for around $1,399.

The folks at Remington were able to give us a sneak peek at the world’s original and largest zombie shoot. Check out the video straight from Outbreak Omega.

Outbreak Omega Shows Zombie Shooting Going Strong

Dylan Polk — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:29:10 +0000

From tactical to trailer park, Outbreak Omega 5 not only brought out a variety of costumes, but also shooters.

If we’re to believe some of the old timers who troll through Zombie Nation posts complaining that this “zombie garbage” has no place in the shooting world, then this past weekend’s events in Morristown, Minn., should never have happened.

But the fact of the matter is that the DPMS-sponsored Outbreak Omega 5 went off without a hitch, and it’s high time for folks to realize that the zombie shooting culture isn’t going away anytime soon.

Touted as the “original and largest 3-gun zombie shoot in the world,” Outbreak Omega, hosted at Ahlman’s Guns Parts & Services, offered shooters the chance to live out their zombie fantasies in ways only imagined; shooters could blast zombies while sitting in cars and outhouses, or driving through the woods scouting for brain munchers. For a $10 fee, shooters could even fire full-auto rifles, marking the first public suppressor shoot in Minnesota.

How many other shooting events have offered Minnesota residents that opportunity?

Despite the draw for hardcore shooters, zombie haters would expect this crowd to be, to put it bluntly, nerds. Geeks. Pimply faced weirdos who spend too much time playing dress-up and not whining about “real issues.”

That broad, sweeping view couldn’t be farther from the truth. The crowd wandering between ranges was more diverse than one could imagine. Shooters of all ages, male and female, from different backgrounds and lifestyles — from active National Guardsmen to non-shooters — were seen perusing around the facility, all socializing and, for a lack of better words, just having a great time.

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And boy, did they have a good time. Going all out in a variety of costumes and gear, shooters were decked head-to-toe in zombie apparel — and were of course armed to the teeth, setting their firearms down just long enough to grill a few burgers and take a seat and share in each other’s company.

That’s what Outbreak Omega is all about. To the 1,200 participants who gathered Saturday in Morristown, Outbreak Omega was a chance to spend time with shooters sharing a common interest, while of course pumping thousands of rounds of ammo downrange.

It was a chance for families to spend some quality time together, and for parents to teach proper gun safety and discipline.

Perhaps best of all, it was a chance for non-shooters to get a real idea of what the gun culture is about: spending some time outside shooting and having fun doing it. And if it takes zombies to get folks out to the range, what’s there to complain about?

Let’s be honest: The zombie culture is no different than the Cowboy Action circuit. From shooting at humanoid targets to living out one’s own fantasies, the two cultures almost mirror one another. That much was crystal clear when the two cultures were fused together Saturday, Ahlman’s usual cowboy-styled ranges being transformed to host the living dead. The scenery fit the motif perfectly; old-style, ghost town signs and sets, haunting and abandoned, crawling with the infected, undead remains of the recently departed.

Yet for some reason, one culture is considered more legitimate than the other. To some, a shooter decked out in tactical gear with a patch reading “Zombies Suck” is frowned upon, while one wearing chaps and a Stetson hat is more acceptable.

Why is that? Just because one doesn’t fit the tastes of a few individuals, why is it viewed as nonsense, even when it’s bringing in people who may not have even held a gun in their lives? You can claim that anti-gunners will use zombies as fodder against the community, when in reality anyone that vehemently opposed to guns will use anything as fodder against shooters; so why oppose a fun, positive sub-culture that’s reaching out to non-shooters just like cowboy scene continues to do years after it began?

And just like cowboys, zombies have been a part of pop culture for decades. The first full-length zombie film, White Zombie, was released in 1932. In the ’60s, George A. Romero set the standard for modern zombie movies with his undead manifesto, Night of the Living Dead. Video games in the ’80s were the first to give young zombie hunters the chance to eradicate brain-munchers, and only in the last couple years have shooters gotten in on the action. If zombies have been around for 80 years, what’s going to stop them now?

When Outbreak Omega 6 rolls around, I encourage you to actually get out and have some fun. Otherwise, you’re going to be awfully exhausted railing against a craze that shows no sign of slowing down.

Young or old, age doesn't matter at Outbreak Omega.

Kill Zombies in Style with Reaper Z Camo

G&A Sponsor — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:11:37 +0000

Content brought to you by:

If Zombie Nation is any indication of popularity of the zombie culture, then Reaper Z is here and ready to invade.

Our products are not the standard sweatshop patterns offered by the overseas mills. We’re American designed, American made and American proud. We offer a line that’s a combo of art/sci-fi/mountain man/biker fusion, and we’re proud of it. The creative minds at Proveil Camo have outdone themselves with their latest zombie pattern and we’re ecstatic that we can make it available to the masses.

Erie Apparel, the home of Reaper Z, Reaper Hog and Reaper Black, is proud to offer unique, casual apparel and gear for outdoorsmen, women and children through our website, ReaperCamo.com. We live the hunting and shooting lifestyle ourselves, and you’ll see it reflected in the details and in the high quality standards of all our products.

Our goal is simple, to make every customer a happy one. We are a family-owned, Ohio company with genuine, honest values, and we emphasize those principles in everything we do. We’re confident you’ll enjoy everything about your experience with us.

Make sure to stop by say hi and be amazed by the new Reaper Z products at the Hornady Zombie Shoot on June 30.

In the meantime, check out the Reaper Z camo in action at G&A’s annual roundtable.

Plus, Remington produced a special edition of its Versa Max semi-automatic shotgun available in Reaper Z camo, made especially for Outbreak Omega 5 this past weekend in Morristown, Minn.

Visit ReaperCamo.com for new products and future events.

G&A Perspective: “Bath Salts” and the Zombie Apocalypse (GRAPHIC IMAGE WARNING)

Dylan Polk — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:46:23 +0000

Jackson Memorial released this image of Poppo last week only two and a half weeks after the attack.

Zombie preparedness is often looked down on by some in the shooting world as fantasy garbage, nothing more than make-believe readiness for an event that will never happen.

But what if the Zombie Apocalypse had a real-life parallel? What if there was actually something out there eerily similar to zombie lore, something that would actually put all this zombie gear to practical use?

For 65-year-old Ronald Poppo, Saturday, May 26, probably began just the same as any other sunny Miami day.

The homeless man had frequently sighted in that area, and that day, was lying underneath the elevated Metromover track when his life took a horrific turn.

Rudy Eugene, 31, had been visiting his girlfriend in Fort Lauderdale when he drove up to Miami Beach early that morning.

Somewhere along the way, he abandoned his car and began walking along the sweltering highway, shedding his clothes piece by piece until completely nude — it was around that time he encountered Poppo.

After beating him unconscious, Eugene climbed on top of Poppo and began an assault that is best described as “cannibalistic,” chewing off a majority of the man’s face.

When Miami Police officer Jose Ramirez arrived on the scene and ordered Eugene to freeze, the crazed attacker ignored the warning, growling at the officer instead. Ramirez shot Eugene once, then four more times when the first shot didn’t seem to have an effect, killing Eugene, but not before 70-80 percent of Poppo’s face had been chewed off.

Poppo is now recovering, but the profoundly disturbing attack left many across the world wondering what could have possibly caused such craziness.

But the horror didn’t stop in Miami. The next day, 43-year-old Wayne Carter in Hackensack, N.J., disemboweled himself with a knife, then threw parts of his intestines at officers who had responded to a call that the man would harm himself.

A 21-year-old college student named Alexander Kinyua admitted to the Harford County Sheriff’s Department that he murdered his roommate, 37-year-old Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, and ate part of Agyei-Kodie’s brain and heart.

Earlier this week, reports out of Florida indicate that 21-year-old Giovani Martinez bit a nurse, attacked a hospital staff, and threatened to eat their faces and rape their wives.

Horrifying and tragic are both words that spring to mind when you read about these attacks — like I said, zombies even enter that stream of consciousness. While these incidents may not be literal zombie attacks per se, they exemplify what Zombie Nation is all about: being able to defend yourself in the face of unthinkable, horrifying danger, which in this case could very well be a common source.

Given names like “bath salts,” “Ivory Wave” or “Cloud 9,” drugs containing methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) or similar chemicals have been suspected in these attacks and others like them — which in itself isn’t breaking news. After all, drugs have had people acting like maniacs for years.

But not this gruesomely, unless you believe the PCP urban legends that may have inspired Mason Verger’s fate in Hannibal.

So why take it? Users are led to believe the drug will act as some sort of aphrodisiac, increased arousal and a sense of euphoria. But what actually happens is far from bliss: Overstimulation, agitation, extreme paranoia and suicidal thoughts are among the psychological effects listed by the DEA.

Remember all the ridiculous notions about marijuana you learned from watching Reefer Madness? Well, if the movie was about bath salts, it might not be so laughable today.

Of course, it’s only natural when we see some suspected bath salts user ripping someone’s flesh off that we go to zombies; in an attempt to grasp the bizarre circumstances of a real event, our minds will naturally go to what we’re familiar with, no matter how outlandish that may be.

Although these attacks may just seem like random occurrences, there will always be drugs like bath salts or PCP floating around, causing the same horrific effects as their predecessors.

And chances are, you may never experience it. You may go through your whole life blissfully without having to stare into the bloodshot eyes of some drug-crazed lunatic.

Then again, if you’re unlucky enough not to beat those odds, it’s better to be prepared on how to deal with the situation, lest you suffer some life-changing injury.

At any rate, when you find yourself under attack by someone in a drug-induced stupor, time is of the essence. Know how to defend yourself and your family from such an attack. The odds may be in your favor, but there is always that chance. Just ask Ronald Poppo, he’s recovering, but it’s a long road, and the damage inflicted is all too real.

Society’s Most Annoying Zombie Cliches

Patrick Sweeney — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:29:23 +0000

The ole' zombie-in-the-crosshairs -- as seen here in George A. Romero's 1978 zombie manifesto, Dawn of the Dead -- may be a pretty tired shot, but it's not the most overused trend.

In our quest for ultimate zombie protection, we oftentimes get caught up in the buzzwords or popular, yet overused, scenarios that seem to (appropriately) infect the culture. Every shooting subculture is guilty of it – even our beloved zombie hunters. So in an effort to eradicate certain trends just like we hope to dispatch brain-munchers, here are 10 of the most overused, annoying zombie cliches.

Warp-Speed Infection
OK, who ordered this? I mean, normal infections spread at a known rate. Why do zombie infections all have to operate at 10 times the usual rate? The rate the flu spreads isn’t scary enough?

Slow vs. Fast
This is an argument? One at a time, it is simply a minorly different marksmanship problem. In swarms, it becomes a strategic, not tactical, problem. Just be glad they frakkin’ can’t fly, is all I say.

Immediate Decomp
Go to sleep alive, wake up dead and already their skin is rotting off? Sorry, decomposition doesn’t happen that fast outside of the swamp, and so there will be some pretty normal-looking zombies in the early days and weeks of an outbreak.

Heroic FEMA
Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good people in FEMA. But the very thought that a government agency could be spooled up fast enough to react to the speed of an outbreak’s infection rate is guffaw-inducing amusement.

Clean Water
There’s an outbreak? OK, since I’ve already stocked up on guns and ammo, my first step is to strip clean the shelved inventory of water-purification goodies in hiking stores. No way am I going to get infected from infected water, as long as I have the chemical industry to depend on.

Arguing Over Caliber
You’ve got a gun? And correct ammo for it? Good. Stop your whining, pay attention to your front sight and press cleanly.

The Unconvinced
In every movie, there are those who refuse to believe. This isn’t like arguing flat vs. spherical Earth; all you’ve got to do is look.

The Crazy Guy is Right
The loony guy, living alone, who tried to warn everyone? He turned out to be correct. Well, correct on this, but the other 57 loony things he believed still aren’t true. So don’t go asking him for more predictions.

All Cars Have Keys
The apocalypse breaks out, and suddenly everyone leaves the keys in the ignition? Nope, you’d better be very, very good at hot-wiring, or expect to do a lot of walking.

All Rifles Are Zeroed
Find a rifle and immediately start popping zombies? Guess again. I’ve had full-time police officers arrive in classes with ARs that were so off-zero they would not print on a sheet of typing paper at 25 yards. Be happy, but check the zero.

Find Soap
Yes, the zombie outbreak may kill you. But failing to wash your hands has killed people for centuries. Find soap, make your water clean and keep your hands clean, or that little knife jab in your hand from cutting 550 cord will get a staph infection, and you’ll be dead in a week.

At the Range with the CZ Scorpion EVO 3 A1

G&A Online Editors — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:04:03 +0000

CZ-USA brought their Scorpion EVO 3 A1 out to the range, and of course, SIP Editor in Chief Eric R. Poole couldn’t wait to light up some zombies. This full-auto chambered in 9mm Luger may share the same name as the famous Škorpion vz. 61, but it has little in common with its ancestor. However, this doesn’t mean we couldn’t have some fun with this military exclusive. Check out the video straight from the range.

Zombie Slaying with a Full-Auto Glock 17 Conversion

Patrick Sweeney — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:15:11 +0000

Yes, this is a fun job. Yes, you should be jealous at times. (Only at times, the rest of the time it is work. Trust me.) I recently had an afternoon with a full-auto toy par exellance: a converted Glock 17.

I know what you’re thinking: “Oh god, would that be the world’s best zombie-slayer? I would rule the world.” Alas, no you wouldn’t. At 1,000 rpm, it went through ammo at an eye-blinking rate. I could control it, but I am me. Not to get all bragging and such, but I’ve been at this a long time, I’ve shot a lot of ammo and I know how to control recoil. There were other shooters along, and at times I feared for the range signs up on top of the berms. A five-shot burst that spans eight feet, from lowest to highest shot, at seven yards? That is going to slay zombies?

Could I get a head shot out of a burst at regular distances? Sure, but why do it quickly with five rounds when I could do it in plenty of time with one? Ammo is heavy, and ought not to be wasted.

As part of the testing, I ran an impromptu practical stage. As designed, it required 23 rounds, and took most of the competitors about 20 seconds or so. The faster guys did it in the mid-teens. On auto, it took me 28 seconds (OK, there was a malfunction) and more than 23 rounds to finish.

Fun? You bet. But not as fast as I could have done the stage, shooting single head shots with the Glock on semi, and with a lot less ammo expended.

And remember, head shots rule. A whole 33-round magazine, hosed at full speed through the legs of the assembled shufflers, isn’t going to do you any good. Now, a mag, controlled, dumped into a fast-mover, that might be useful.

So, if in scrounging through the local PD, post-apocalypse, you come across a G-18, cool. Just don’t expect more from the giggle switch than entertainment. Depending on full-auto fire, when it wasn’t warranted, may be exactly what got its previous owner’s brains munched.

Belt-Fed for Zombies: Valkyrie Armament BSR Mod-1

Eric R. Poole — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:05:39 +0000

Content brought to you by:

Combining the Valkyrie Armament belt-fed conversion with a Slide Fire Solutions SSAR-15, the result is one that bridges the firepower gap between a rifle and a machine gun — the Valkyrie Armament BSR Mod-1. This entire build makes for an extremely controllable and accurate rifle that can’t be touched by any other small arm in the world. Period.

Belted Misconceptions
The goal of this project wasn’t to create a so-called “civilian-legal machine gun.” I’m not attempting to circumvent the laws of our government to possess something that I’m not supposed to have. After testing many platforms and high-capacity feeding devices, I’ve come to the conclusion that this primary weapon system trumps all others against zombies—including machine guns.

I realize I’m making a big statement by suggesting that a semiauto Valkyrie Armament belt-fed conversion complete with a Slide Fire stock is better suited for the Zombie Apocalypse than a full-auto machine gun, but we have to change the way we think in terms of zombies. Consider the fact that we’ll not be facing hordes of a human enemy for which the fire-suppression capabilities of a machine gun were designed. We’re focused on the walking dead that can only be exterminated by a head shot. The machine gun is more difficult to control, and in the world of zombies, efficient ammo use is key. Full-auto fire is simply more difficult to handle and a waste of resources.

In contrast, the Valkyrie belt-fed conversion with Slide Fire stock offers better-controlled rapid-fire capability, something you may not faithfully believe in until you try it for yourself.

For more on this rapid-fire zombie slayer, check out Zombie Nation.

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Enough Gun for Zombies: Kel-Tec KSG Tactical Pump Shotgun

Eric R. Poole — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:23:01 +0000

You’ll quickly learn to appreciate the compactness of the Kel-Tec KSG the next time you find yourself fighting your way out of a tight space filled with zombies.

The 14+1 capacity KSG tactical pump repackages the idea of 12-gauge stopping power. Being that this shotgun incorporates a full 18 1/2-inch barrel in its 26.1-inch profile, it has more than enough capability to accurately group premium slugs at close rifle distances. To achieve this level of performance, there is more than enough railspace on the KSG to attach an EOTech magnifier behind the EOTech Zombie Stopper holosight. Working the action, you’ll find the KSG to be truly ambidextrous to operate which is aided by the fact that spent shells fall through a bottom ejection port that also serves as a loading port.

When it all comes together in a desperate moment, you’ll stand a better shot of surviving said desperate moment.

As seen in Zombie Nation magazine available on newsstands May 8, 2012 (Photos by Sean Utley )

DIY Zombie Kills: Up Close and Personal Combat in the Zombie Apocalypse

Patrick Sweeney — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:18:56 +0000

What do you do when you run out of ammo and there are no more guns to take down the drooling walkers of the apocalypse? You have to stay alive, so you fall back a couple of centuries, and use blades and impact weapons — with proper precautions, splatter can be an irony.

Blades
First thing’s first: Kitchen implements and woodworking tools will be poor choices. You see, a blade that is meant to cut is likely to get stuck. Ever felled a tree, had the blade get stuck and have to wiggle it out? Do you want that happening when you’re hand-to-gory stub with the zombie hordes? And cheap, “surplus” machetes are even worse. Not only will they stick, but the low-grade stamped steel blades will bend.

You want a real-deal hand weapon, or tool that can work as a weapon, meant to chop and crush, not smoothly slice, not unless it has some horsepower and leverage behind it.

A chopper is something like the Hardcore Hardware tomahawk. With an aggressive edge, and a spike on the back end, it will open doors, break windows, even bust through cinder block walls to make firing ports. Made of super-tough D2 steel, it won’t weigh you down while serving you well. If you need more of a tool and less of a weapon, their Rhino works wonders at opening locks, among other things.

If you want a blade, then talk to the guys at Zombie Tools. They sent me their Apocatana, and it slices like nobody’s business. I really don’t think it would get stuck, slicing the top off of a zom’s skull, but if it does, you’ve got three feet of leverage to get it free, and can even walk it out, running on an angle.

As much as love a big Bowie knife, with zombies I’m not interested in creating sliced wounds. Zombies don’t bleed to death, they’re already undead.

Impact
A sledgehammer, you say? Do you need that much force, and how fast can you swing it? And when it comes to swinging, how long can you keep at it? No, you need something more agile. A roofing hammer? Just how long are your arms?

The perfect item might just be a police riot baton, 4 feet of hickory. However those might be a bit difficult to find, so let’s just jump right to the default tool, the ubiquitous baseball bat. As a traditionalist, I would be tempted to go with a classic American ash bat. But I would not want St. Peter to be noting my box score at the pearly gates as a “broken bat single” after the hordes overcame me.

No, I’ll get an up-to-date aluminum bat. It won’t break, the distinctive “ping” will let my friends know where I am and what I’m doing, and if I have to abandon it, there will be another in the next block. Plus, it will shrug off any disinfectant you care to use, up to and including burning alcohol.

Knives are for slicing rope, shredding fire-starter and cutting food. Once the apocalypse has come upon us, we’ll need bigger blades for the serious work.

Don’t forget the facemask or respirator. Viral plagues are no joke, and splatter can ruin your day.

What’s your ultimate instrument of zombie splatter?

How to Create a Secure, Zombie-Proof Home

Patrick Sweeney — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:09:24 +0000

You may not live in a fortified fortress like this, but there are still ways to keep the brain-munchers out.

The military has considered camouflage for a long time. The things that give you away, and lead to getting shot, are typically movement, light, shine, noise and outline. For zombies, we can add smell. Simply locking your doors and not attending to anything else in the way of camo will lead to a crowd of zoms milling around your place, attracting more zombies, lower property values and making it difficult to get out of your own driveway.

Additionally, excessively aggressive security measures will attract the attention of non-zombie scavengers. Look too prosperous, and some will ask to join you, and perhaps not entirely politely.

So, what to do?

First, physical barriers. Start by having solid doors, sturdy windows and using the locks on the doors. Windows on the ground floor must be locked, those on upper floors can be openable, but must be blocked to a small opening to prevent entry. Then make a perimeter. If the outbreak is shufflers, you won’t have to be too heavy-handed here. Enough of a physical barrier, starting as far out as you can to slow and re-direct them, will do. A picket fence without gaps in it would be enough to re-direct the walkers. If the outbreak is fast-movers, you’ll need as hard and secure a barrier set as you can manage, and that will not be possible very far out. Here, a six-foot high chain-link fence, motion detectors and fields of fire might be necessary.

Second, don’t attract attention. That means even if you do have power, you need blackout curtains. No showing light at night, even if it is just candles and lanterns. No loud music. No generators, unless you can make the noise un-noticed or un-reachable. A generator in the empty, adjacent house next door, with the muffler pointed up the chimney, will be very quiet. Open fires might not attract attention, depending on just how much stuff is regularly on fire, but the smells of food cooking are different than rubbish burning — or at least I hope so. If your “cooking” doesn’t smell any better than burning rubbish, you have a new problem set. That will be harder to disguise, but some smells are more pronounced than others. We all know when the local grill master fires up for the first time in the spring. We can smell his efforts for blocks. So resist the temptation to roast a pig on a spit over a great big open fire.

One of the things that comes with any civilization is noise. Even a quiet residential neighborhood is noisy. Take all the noise away, and the silence becomes noticeable. Use that noise to your advantage. The old rock-in-a-can trick works, but you can do better. Rig a wind chime so the wind doesn’t cause it to chime, but an opening gate does. Trip wires also. If you have three or four different wind chimes, you will be able to tell where the entry is by the tone of the chimes. No power, no batteries, simple and cheap. They can, however, be relatively negated by live, as opposed to undead, intruders.

Last, no barrier is an actual barrier unless you can ensure two things: You can observe it, and you can bring it under fire. You need to have safe observation points from which you can see all exterior walls of your dwelling. You cannot permit blind spots, which are mischief waiting to happen. Also, your perimeter has to be in sight. If you always have the fence gates closed, and on taking your hourly look, see a gate open, you know there’s a problem. If you can’t see that gate, and it is open, you have no way of knowing if the yard is even safe enough to go out for more firewood or water.

This isn’t rocket science, but it is unforgiving.

Zombie Headshots: It’s a Matter of Physics and Caliber Selection

Patrick Sweeney — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:43:49 +0000

You may not get a point-blank shot, like in this clip from "The Walking Dead," but zombie headshots are still a vital part of surviving the horde.

Consider the skull: an armored, curved structure with stiffening ribs and internal support structures located on top, where it can swivel and use detection sensors to locate dangers. Sort of like the turret on a T-72 tanks, but with more forehead.

It is that way for the same reasons the Soviets designed their tanks the way they did: protection. As we discuss this, also keep in mind a technical term: angle of incidence. That is, the angle between the line of travel of the projectile and the surface impacted. Hit something square — called “normal” in physics-speak — and it, perforce, absorbs all the impact energy. Hit it at a sharp angle, a glancing blow, and the energy absorbed is small and the projectile escapes, taking most of the energy with it. Here’s where gun choice enters the fray, folks.

When it comes to putting a hole through armor, we have to consider three different aspects of the physical object being used as the can-opening tool: speed, hardness and shape.

Faster is better, until the speed creates sufficient energy to break or deform the projectile before it has plowed through the armor. Knights of old could wear armor that would defeat arrows, which can only achieve a certain speed. Once you have armor good enough to defeat that speed, you can laugh at arrows – not with your visor open, however.

A harder projectile will penetrate armor better than a soft one will, but again, once you reach a certain speed, the hardness fails, and the armor wins — unless the armor isn’t thick enough, a secondary consideration.

Now, physics is an interesting thing. Once we go too fast, projectiles fail, until we get enough faster still. A plastic “bullet” fired at 300 fps will bounce off of a painted cardboard surface. However, boost that same plastic “bullet” up to 15,000 fps, and it will crater a metal plate. However, such velocities are beyond our ability to generate.

Finally, we come to shape. A round object will glance off a curved surface, more readily than a pointed or flat-faced projectile will. This has been observed, and accounted for by bowling pin shooters. Despite traveling at 900-plus fps, a round-nosed bullet will glance off an edge hit on a pin, where a hollowpoint or flat-pointed bullet will dig in.

As another secondary consideration, a bullet with good sectional density (long for its weight) will penetrate better than one that has a lower density, given the same weights and speeds. That’s why the U.S. Army M1-A1-A2 Abrams tanks hurl a depleted uranium “spike” at 5,500 fps to slap a hole through whatever armor that happens to be the target. Where a regular rifle bullet might be five times as long as it is wide, the Abrams M829A1 penetrator is just over thirty times as long as it is wide.

A consideration that is outside of this discussion is accuracy: You’ve got to hit the target to do any good.

So what does all this have to do with zombies? Simple: if we hold to the classic view that the only solution to the problem is a shot to the head, then we have to penetrate the skull. Failing to do so is like smacking said T-72, but not hard enough to crack the turret. At that point, life gets interesting.

Faced with the zombie apocalypse, we’re planning on head shots as our Mjolnir. But, we have to keep speed in mind.

We have to have enough velocity. Yes, a bowling ball, dropped from above, will crack a skull, but doing so requires both the bowling ball and the height.

We need speed. We also have to have a hard bullet, as a soft one will not always do the job. Emergency room reports, police reports and coroners’ reports are replete with incidents of soft bullets at low velocities failing to penetrate the skull.

You need not search very long to find reports — albeit anecdotal, in many cases — of people who had been shot, whose only wounds were the entry and exit wounds in their scalps. The bullet skidded around the skull, failing to penetrate.

And then there is shape, and here a round-nosed bullet, especially an all-lead one, is not a wise choice.

Were we to construct a three-dimensional matrix of bullet/cartridges – one axis speed, the second bullet hardness, the third shape — we’d find that there was a “cloud” near the starting point of these, of combinations that were ready to fail. The variables are within our control, to a great extent, so it is a matter of wise selection.

Let’s take a 9mm Parabellum, and assume we’re loading our own ammo. A common practice and club match load, a lead 125-grain round-nosed bullet at just over 1,000 fps, would not be a prudent choice. Yes, it has enough speed and the bullet may be hard enough, but all the variables are on, or too close to, the edge. It would be prudent to drop to 115 grains, boost to 1,200 fps, and change to a jacketed bullet.

In .45, a swaged-bullet target load would be a similar situation. We’d be better off using a jacketed bullet, 185 grains, and as fast as we can move it.

Shotguns? Hmmm. We may well find that the anti-gunners and environmentalists have actually done us a big favor here. The soft steel of steel shot is still far harder than lead, and will — or be likely to — penetrate better than lead will. Still, headshots with #4 shot are ill-advised. Tactical, hardened, or plated buckshot will do better, primarily due to velocity. Again, don’t count on soft lead spheres at “reduced recoil” speeds of 1,000 to save your bacon.

The good news is that almost all rifles would be good choices. Obviously, not all rifles chambered in handguns cartridges would be good, but real rifle cartridges are really good T-zombie-72 armor breakers.

There is one that I have some bad news for you: the ubiquitous .22LR. Don’t just take my word for it, consider the facts: soft bullet, low sectional density, soft composition, and at best moderate speed. Yes, a .22LR will poke a hole through a lot of chance objects, but we’re really marginal here, and I cannot in good conscience recommend it for zombie control.

The Most Important Point: Fitness and Zombies

Patrick Sweeney — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:32:54 +0000

Cardio was Rule No. 1 of 2009's Zombieland (above), and for good reason. You're going to have to be in pretty good shape to avoid the walking -- or running -- dead.

As someone who is both gregarious and remote, I have been to a number of parties. It helped (or hurt, depending on your point of view) that I spent an inordinate amount of my time in careers and municipalities where people partied almost as a professional.

At one point, the coming apocalypse was discussed. Back then, it wasn’t zombies, we were still trying to figure out how to deal with Soviet nukes. Y2K was a ways off.

I made the crack that got me barred from a certain party circuit: “Well, if it is going to happen, I hope it happens soon, while I can still enjoy it.”

I was seen as some sort of war-mongerer, the nutjob, who dressed like like a lumberjack. As I said, it was a long time ago. It was quite a while before some of those party-hard members were willing to stay at the same party with me. Didn’t hurt my feelings, any.

The most important point of all, and the one they missed back then? Be physically fit. It would suck to try and dodge zombies while confined to a walker.

We’ve all heard the joke, right? The one where someone says, “I don’t have to be faster than the bear. I just have to be faster than you.”

Well, in its own macabre way, it is true. You have to be in good shape, or you will find that not just zombies, but a whole host of other hazards will do you in.

Overweight? Out of breath? Find not-so-heavy objects are kinda heavy? Congrats, you are not just high on the list of zombie-bait, you are also high on the list of infectious diseases, prone to entertaining interesting bacterial growths in cuts and scrapes, and less likely to be able to deal with bad weather. While not so selective, viruses and bacteria are not so easy to shrug off when you are out of shape.

“Aerobicize” is not just good advice for escaping the tottering swarms of zombies out there, but also to increase your odds with all the other hazards you will face now, before the apocalpyse and after. After all, until the plague breaks out, you are more likely to have to outrun stray dogs than fast-runners, and if you are in good shape you won’t throw your back out, which would really cramp your zombie-dodging style.

So get to it. Lay off the super-sized fries, do some extra walking, and would it kill you to do a few pushups, first thing out of bed in the morning?

You Missed the Point: Picking the Perfect Zombie Gun

Patrick Sweeney — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:34:41 +0000

As seen in 2004's Dawn of the Dead, that Remington 870 might not be perfect for other members of your survival party.

In the first post on what guns to pick, there were some who made flippant comments such as “You should already have your guns picked out.”

Yes, you should. But then what? If you really are prepared, you know more than just the “perfect” guns you’ve selected for yourself. And “getting two blocks to the police station” to see what you can pick up, c’mon. None of you ever leaves your house?

There you are, on a business trip, and the plague hits. Your arsenal of perfect guns is at home, with the wife and kids. What do you do? Quit? No, you get out and find a weapon.

Great, the first rifle you come across is a Ruger Min14, with empty 20 round magazine in place. The 21^st zombie to get to its previous owner is what caused it to be dropped into the mud. If you don’t know how to strip, clean, lube, reassemble and load it, it is just a clumsy club.

Your perfect guns are perfect for you. Someone new, with useful skills, joins your group. You are 6’4”, and your hi-cap Para USA .45 fits you perfectly. She’s 5’2’, is a nurse practitioner (high survival value) and your Para is an anvil. Do you know how to use something else, in order to teach her to use it to survive, so she can take care of your kids when they get whooping cough?

If you are going to survive, it takes more than just a few skills, and some limited knowledge. You can’t know too much, you can’t be skilled in too many things. You don’t have to own them all, but the more you know how to use, their strengths and weaknesses, and what it takes to feed them, the better off you are.

That said, anyone out there favor the Makarov? You should — the Ruskis have exported a bazillion of them over here.

The Mossberg ZMB Series: Zombie Tools That Won’t Break the Bank

Patrick Sweeney — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:33:07 +0000

Yes, yes, yes, after the apocalypse we’ll be able to “score” anything we want. Sure, right. Until then, we have to get what we can, and not everyone has a Mercedes budget when it comes to stocking the armory. What to do? How to stock up, without busting the budget? Mossberg to the rescue. Yes, Mossberg has jumped into the fray, offering us suitable tools for surviving the coming zombie apocalypse. (Or the end of the Mayan calendar, or whatever.)

All of these have the Mossberg ZMB logo on them, plus the all-synthetic furniture means that you can sanitize them with boiling water, bleach or other disinfectants. No need to worry about potential warpage from treating wooden furniture that way, nor residual infection from sloppily-cleaned wood stocks and such.

And the selections of common calibers means your re-supply options are greater. Now, I wouldn’t be all that enthusiastic about using small-pellet skeet or trap loads in a 12 gauge on a swarming cluster of zoms. You just aren’t going to get the penetration you need. But, with buckshot or slugs, you’ll be able to anchor fast-movers. The amount of 12 gauge and .30-30 ammo manufactured each year in the US is enough to sink a small island, so just about anywhere you search you’ll be able to find some. (Assuming there is any left, if the other searchers get there first.)

Get a Mossberg, and use the savings to stock up on MREs, medicines or reading material.

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500 Persuader ZMB

First up, the good old Persuader, done in Z-style, aka the 500 ZMB. The stock is synthetic, the forearm a tri-rail so you can mount a light, and the capacity: 8 shots of 12-gauge goodness. The Mossberg 500 chassis has been around since before zombies, and you can find parts anywhere, in case you break something dealing with an outbreak. The safety is on top, suitable for you left-handed survivors, and operation is easy. Even a university English professor can learn to pump a shotgun.

Introducing the Otis Zombie Gun Cleaning Kit

G&A Online Editors — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:15:51 +0000

When the walking dead are bearing down on you, it’s important to make sure your gun is in working order. Luckily, Otis Technologies has your back with its new Otis Zombie Gun Cleaning Kit. The kit includes a chamber brush and bore brushes for 9mm, .40, .45, .223 and 12-gauge. The kit will be available April 1 and will retail for $69.99. Check out the video from SHOT Show 2012!

New Zombie Guns and Gear for 2012

G&A Online Editors — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:11:24 +0000

All right, so you’ve got your Zombie Max ammo, your arsenal has just been upgraded and you’ve taken every measure to zombie-proof your home.

You probably think you’re completely prepared for the zombie apocalypse, right? Guess again. There are still plenty of items you hadn’t even thought about stocking, and luckily for you, dozens of manufacturers at SHOT Show 2012 have rolled out the latest in zombie eradication instruments. Here’s a look at some of our favorite zombie products, straight from SHOT Show.

For more new guns and gear from the 2012 SHOT Show, click here.

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Awesome Zombie Gear from SHOT Show 2012

Zombie Camo: How to Stay Hidden

Patrick Sweeney — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:15:35 +0000

"Survival of the Dead" (2010)

The best way to win a fight is to not get into one. The best way to avoid zombie attention is to not announce your presence.

That means you should first of all invest in light-proof curtains. Yes, you won’t be flipping the switch for long, when the power goes out it will go out, but that doesn’t mean fire doesn’t work. And when it gets cold, you’ll have to have a fire to stay warm. Fire means light, and light attracts attention.

Curtains? In the daytime, a little sunlight is a nice thing. Get a tan, don’t burn precious fuel to read by, and remind yourself, “Hey, I’m not undead today.”

Second, non-obvious barriers to “redirect traffic.” If the hordes are shuffling around, they will go where they can, so if your location presents a physical impediment, they will pass you by.

This does not mean an apron of barbed wire, topped with concertinas of razor wire. First, it is clearly a barrier, and will attract attention of the non-zombie type. Second, if they get tangled up in it, they’ll just thrash and moan, and attract more zombies. A couple of wrecked cars, winched into position to block a street at an intersection, will not be too obvious, and the zombies will most likely just shuffle on by.

Third, solid walls. Some zombies may retain basic tool use, depending on the nature of the affliction, so that means simply slapping a coat of paint on the windows does not create a solid barrier.

Hey, the world has collapsed, along with real estate values. Pick a location that has solid ground-floor walls. The city isn’t going to send someone around to collect on property taxes’ get some elbow room and inside storage of vehicles.

And last, be picky about the vehicles you use. Noise is an attractant, and you can afford to select vehicles that have a good muffler. Do so.

Commie Guns: Using the AK-47 for Zombies

Patrick Sweeney — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:15:14 +0000

t never fails: Start a discussion about zombies, guns or calibers, and the AK fans come out of the woodwork. I get it. You love the rifle. And if I were equipping a swarm of illiterate peasants who would receive a day’s worth of instruction, of whom I was unconcerned about casualty rates, I’d equip them with AKs, too.

But I’m not. I’m equipping me, myself and my family/friends, and they all get more than a day’s training. A lot more, if they expect me to be their ammo/weapons and training supply center. I want something ergonomic. If you were to look up “non-ergonomic” in the dictionary, it would have an AK there. Or it should. The thing is a mass of stamped sheet steel, with sharp edges, corners, hand-cutting extras like the folding stock latch, and sights only someone wedded to an SMG could love.

I have a bunch of AKs. The best of them, a Krebs Custom, is almost what an AR in 7.62X39 could be, but isn’t. Marc does a great job of improving the AK, but it takes a lot of work. I love mine, but I recognize its shortcomings.

Invariably, the discussions turn to the power of the 7.62X39 — more like a light-loaded .30-30 than the hammer of Thor — and magazines. Spare me the love letters over 75-round Chicom drums. Have you ever schlepped a rifle so-equipped all day long? Have you ever tried to shoot a rifle with one of those Cantonese goiters attached?

And the regular magazines? I’m all for durability, but do I have a metal shop worth of sheet steel just to have a ready ammo supply? Those things are heavy.

Don’t get me wrong, I recognize it for being a sturdy, reliable rifle that does a good job when needed. But it isn’t the be-all, end-all of defensive small arms. It won’t clear a street full of zombies simply by pointing and pressing the trigger. And don’t tell me it is infinitely more sturdy and reliable than the AR, unless you’re willing to throw yours on the ground and run it over with a full-sized pickup truck — a test ARs will pass, by the way.

Love it if you will, clean it because you must and depend on it, for it won’t let you down. But don’t try to make it more than it is. It isn’t a sniper rifle, it isn‘t a light machine gun and it isn’t ergonomic. But it is an excellent zombie-slayer.

Thoughts?

What are the Best Calibers for the Zombie Apocalypse?

Patrick Sweeney — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:48:07 +0000

Like it or not, not every cartridge is going to get the job done when it comes to keeping you and your family safe from the incoming zombie horde; Hornady had the right idea in making its Zombie Max Ammo available in a wide variety of calibers. That’s why we’ve picked our top eight calibers — four for handguns, and four for rifles.

But it’s not that simple. We can’t just pick eight that we think will best service our zombie-splattering needs. Remember, we have two contradictory tasks we may need to fulfill: stoppers to deal with fast-movers, and poppers to give clean head shots as finishers. You can’t have both; that’s just the way life is. Plus, we may be a long time between re-supply, and we might have to use whatever we can find.

As we like to both have fun with this lighthearted subject and learn all we can about its application in the personal defense realm, we decided to set up a zombie scenario to truly test our apocalypse acumen. We gave our zombie guru Patrick Sweeney a one minute run into the Guns & Ammo office ammo vault (we’ve been collecting since ’73) to grab and stash a box of ammo from each of his essential calibers for rifle and handgun. Sweeney, of course, had a great idea of what he wanted to grab, but he simply couldn’t carry ammo for this full suite of rifles and pistols. Only eight, that’s it.

So, these are the eight boxes he grabbed, based only on caliber. With one minute to choose, there’s no way anyone can look at specific bullet weights and manufacturers. We’re just filling our basic needs here.

Here’s how our experiment turned out…

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8 Best Calibers for Zombies

Be sure to let us have it in the comments below (we know you will), and include what you would do in this scenario. Here’s a gentle reminder: Practice counts much more than caliber.

Why You Hate That We Love Zombies

Patrick Sweeney — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:55:16 +0000

Why the zombie hate? Not the hate of zombies, but the subject of zombies? From reading the comments, I get the impression that a whole lot of you wish it would all go away. The basic idea I get from your comments is that you are somewhat embarrassed by it, and us, plus you think it detracts from “outreach.”

That is, if we’d all just go back to shooting Bambi with bolt guns, and stopped all this prepper/survivalist zombie nonsense, that “some” people would leave us alone. And others would come to like us, and join us. I’ve got some news for you: They won’t.

Do you really think that if we “behaved” ourselves that Feinstein/Schumer et. al would just move on to some other meddlesome project? That if we only owned and shot five-shot bolt guns, and double-barreled shotguns, Violence Policy Center (VPC) would dry up and blow away?

They won’t quit, and trying to make ourselves more palatable to Conyers, McCarthy and their cohorts doesn’t help, while doing two things: reducing our fun, and proving they can coerce us. Trying to placate the antis by self-restricting is like asking your mother to make a different sandwich, so the school bully won’t be annoyed at taking your PB&J again.

Yes, zombie shooting is different. The world is different. The old guard views benchrest, paper-punching club shoots as the norm. The younger generation, raised on video games and cable TV, finds such shooting about as much fun as a root canal. Trying to entice them into a gun club, offering the usual “smallest five-shot group wins lunch” matches is like offering them free dial-up for their smartphones. It doesn’t compute.

Is zombie shooting — and talking — a bit goofy? Sure, but so is everything else entertaining. And trying to inject a double-dose of serious into a gun conversation is a sure way to disperse a crowd.

As to the subject of myself, and how I could “stoop” to writing about zombies as if they were real, a moment’s pause, please. I had to check to see if you were pulling my leg. Of course they aren’t real. But nothing else we read, write and discuss is real, either. “Best carry gun?” “Best carry load?” Statistically, your chances — outside very few urban centers — of actually needing either are remote. It’s winning the lottery remote. But the mental exercise of considering either is useful.

And as for me, I’m not interested in being typecast as “a gunsmithing author” or “that 1911/AR/IPSC” author. I’m a writer, I write. In-between the features, the tests, the blogs and all the rest, I write other stuff.: novels, screenplays, comedy. When I need a break from the earnestness of “the best elk cartridge” torrent, I consider zombies.

Lighten up. The brain you save may be your own. And not just from being eaten.

Guns & Ammo » Zombie Nation

Should Gun Guys Care About ‘The Walking Dead’?

AKMS

Beretta 92FS

Colt Python

Glock 17

Heckler & Koch MP5K

M4A1

Mossberg 500

Mossberg 590

Remington 870

Remington Model 700 VLS

Smith & Wesson 3913

Stryker Strykezone 380

Guns of 'The Walking Dead'

First Look: Zombies and Guns Galore in ‘World War Z’ Trailer

How to Pick the Best Zombie Pistol

Avoid the Bite: Tips for Unarmed Self-Defense from Zombies

How AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ Creates a Zombie

Brownells Introduces the Zombie Elimination Crew

The Hoarder

L.R. (Long Range)

Mall Ninja

The Girl

Medic (aka, Bear)

Meet the Zombie Elimination Crew

Examining the Art of Zombies with AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’

9 Awesomely Creative Ways to Kill Zombies

Prosthetic Firepower

Roll Over, Beethoven

Wood Chipper

Flamethrower

Roll Out!

Zombie Motel

Zombie Zapper

Slow-Pitch Molotovs

Power Tools

9 Creative Ways to Kill Zombies

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10 Coolest Costumes from Outbreak Omega 5

First Look: Remington Versa Max Tactical in Zombie Reaper Z Camo

Outbreak Omega Shows Zombie Shooting Going Strong

Kill Zombies in Style with Reaper Z Camo

G&A Perspective: “Bath Salts” and the Zombie Apocalypse (GRAPHIC IMAGE WARNING)

Society’s Most Annoying Zombie Cliches

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Belt-Fed for Zombies: Valkyrie Armament BSR Mod-1

Enough Gun for Zombies: Kel-Tec KSG Tactical Pump Shotgun

DIY Zombie Kills: Up Close and Personal Combat in the Zombie Apocalypse

How to Create a Secure, Zombie-Proof Home

Zombie Headshots: It’s a Matter of Physics and Caliber Selection

The Most Important Point: Fitness and Zombies

You Missed the Point: Picking the Perfect Zombie Gun

The Mossberg ZMB Series: Zombie Tools That Won’t Break the Bank

500 Persuader ZMB

Introducing the Otis Zombie Gun Cleaning Kit

New Zombie Guns and Gear for 2012

Double Star J&T Zombie AK

EOTech XPS2-Z Zombie Stopper

MTM Caseguard Zombie Ammo Can

"Lifelike" Zombie Targets

Chiappa Zombie Blaster Shotgun

Lightfield Zombie Blaster Ammo

Gerber Apocalypse Kit

Brownells AR-15/M-16 Zombie Hunter Flattop Upper Receiver

Otis Zombie Gun Cleaning System

Awesome Zombie Gear from SHOT Show 2012

Zombie Camo: How to Stay Hidden

Commie Guns: Using the AK-47 for Zombies

What are the Best Calibers for the Zombie Apocalypse?

No. 1 Rifle Caliber: .223

No. 2 Rifle Cailber: .30-.30

No. 3 Rifle Caliber: .308

No. 4 Rifle Caliber: .270

No. 1 Handgun Caliber: 9mm

No. 2 Handgun Cailber: .44 Magnum

No. 3 Handgun Caliber: .45 ACP

No. 4 Handgun Caliber: .38 Special

8 Best Calibers for Zombies