Zombie Survival Guide ----CHOOSING YOUR FIREARM---- Part 1

                                                   ---Chapter One---
                                         by: Professor Reality. Edited and revised by: Mr. Facts.

                                        materials from: Max Brooks

Okay, just to make sure we're on the same page, I'm talking about Max Brooks Solanum zombies, you know the deal already, in case you don't, what I mean is that you have to destroy the brain to kill these Zombies, and that they are very slow. Anyhow, this is just a guide explaining the Pros and Cons of some firearms. This is just for fun, if this situation was real, we'd use what we could find. Part 1 will focus on firearms oriented towards hunting/sporting.

Now if you wish to read the full survival guide you can meet my friend, Mr. Facts at http://zsgmrfacts.blogspot.com or to hear a bunch of foolish ranting about zombies meet my other friend, Dr. Truth at http://zmddrtruth.blogspot.com.

Anyways, the guide will list either certain guns, and/or categories of guns, and will go over issues like commonness, maintenance, mobility, accuracy, rate of fire, etc.

Here we go:

Bolt-action rifles:

Bolt-action rifles were once used as standard infantry rifles, and sniper rifles, but majority of them are used for Hunting/sporting purposes nowadays. A Bolt-action rifle tends to be low-maintenance due to it's simplicity, and boasts superior accuracy and range, it however, lacks a moderate rate of fire. Bolt-action are variously chambered, some examples are the .22 LR, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, etc. Ammunition, and the gun itself can be easily found at gun stores/sports stores, and are best suited for long-ranges. Overall, they are a good choice, and the real only major con is the rate of fire. I'd say the pros outweigh the cons though. Against zombies, this kind of gun will give good performance, as the bullet velocity will definitely pierce a G skull, or just blow it apart altogether, there will be only small amounts of recoil, ensuring top-notch accuracy, the slow rate of fire should not make it your main choice if forced to fight a crowd of ghouls.

Pros: Common, usually powerful, very accurate, far-range, and low-maintenance. Cons: Low rate of fire, ineffective at close ranges. Stats: (Out of a 10) Accuracy: 9. Recoil: 2.75. Power: 5-8. Range: 9. Rate of fire: 2. Maintenance: 1-2. Mobility: 4.75-5. Overall reliability: 7.5.
Best used in long-range combat in rural, open areas, where targets that are far off are easily spotted. (Deserts, plains) Should you take it? Yes, do NOT pass one up, no matter the caliber.


Lever-action rifles:

Ah, conjures up memories of the Wild West. Well what we have here is a Lever-action rifle, the repeating firearm frequently seen in Cowboy movies. Well, although this is somewhat a rarity these days, this gun boasts a slight edge over bolt-action rifles in terms of rate of fire, and mobility. Despite it's uncommonness, it's not that rare to find at least 1 in a sporting store/gun shop. Ammunition'll probably be kind of hard to come by. The maintenance, range, and accuracy isn't as well as that of a bolt-action, and it overall is not as reliable due to scarcity of ammo, but the superior rate of fire, ammo capacity, and mobility may leave it as a preference over the bolt-action for some. The choice is ultimately yours. But I'd have to say that the bolt-action rifle is the better choice between the 2. Against zombies, a Lever-action rifle will provide the velocity to puncture a skull, and the repeating fire will provide faster rate of fire, it provides a relatively good amount of accuracy, but should not be used if faced with a close encounter with a mass of Z's.

Pros: Lightweight, moderate rate of fire, larger ammo capacity. Cons: Rarity, rarity of ammo.

Stats: (Out of a 10) Accuracy: 7.5-8. Recoil: 3. Power: 4.5-8. Range: 7.5-8. Rate of fire: 3.5-4. Maintenance: 3. Mobility: 5.75. Overall reliability: 5.
Best used in mid-long range combat in areas with many obstacles (woods, more urban-like areas) as rate of fire and mobility will count. Should you take it? Maybe, not bad at all.


Pump-action shotguns:

The pump-action shotgun has seen duty in war, and use in Hunting. Shotguns devastate at close-range. This is an ideal weapon as shotguns are extremely common, and so is the standard 12 gauge ammunition. Pump-action shotguns have the advantages of a moderate rate of fire, without the trigger hand needing to be moved to cock the weapon. These guns will usually pack quite an amount of recoil, and as you know, are limited to close ranges only, however, I advise some goggles, and a mask. Expect an enormous splatter of blood when you headshot a Zombie with one of these puppies. These guys will offer very good performance for close-range fights, and the accuracy to pop some heads, the rate of fire is decent, but reloads require massive amounts of time.

Pros: Immense stopping power,and accurate at close ranges. Cons: Recoil. Massive reload time, and limited range.
Stats: (Out of a 10) Accuracy: 3. Recoil: 5. Power: 9. Range: 3. Rate of fire: 3.75-4. Maintenance: 4. Mobility: 5. Overall reliability: 7.
Best used for short-range combat in enclosed areas. (Breaching houses, rooms) Should you take it? I highly advise it if you prefer aggressive methods.

Break-action shotguns:

The Break-action shotgun is the shotgun alternative to a Pump-action. They are both extremely common, and serve the same purpose, with major differences in design. For example, instead of a pumping to cock the gun, the gun needs no cocking, just break open the hatch, slip the 2 shells in, and you're good to go. You can fire your shots in a quick succession, but reloading will be much more frequent, which won't help if you wish for an aggressive approach, and the either side-by-side/over-under barrels reduce accuracy. On the plus side, these shotguns tend to be more powerful than their pump cousins, by a good amount too, and the simple-action will require less maintenance. Have fun watching gore fly when you blow a Z's head clean off. These babies pack a mean punch, and the ability to quickly fire again if you miss a bit, however, reloads are lengthy, and frequent, and they aren't super accurate due to lack of easy to use sights.

Pros: Very powerful, and very low maintenance, and compactness. Cons: Inaccurate, and frequent reloading.
Stats: (Out of a 10) Accuracy: 2. Recoil: 6. Power: 9.5. Range: 2-3. Rate of fire: 3.5-4. Maintenance: 1. Mobility: 4.5. Overall reliability: 6.5.
Best used for outdoor short-ranged encounters, where you are more likely to miss, and will need to pull of a quick shot afterward. Should you take it? Maybe, nothing wrong at all.

Magnum Revolvers:

Now for a hunting handgun, we give you the revolver. They come in a variety of calibers, some more common than others. Typical cartridges used in hunting are the .500 S&W, and the .44 Magnum. These will not be abundant, but will be found at gun stores for big game. Since this is about hunting weapons, and not self-defense weapons, we will judge this on common hunting revolvers using the cartridges listed above. These will pack large recoil, or rather massive recoil, hindering the accuracy severely, but they pack a mean punch, and require very little maintenance. The large caliber bullets mean that range will be cut down a bit due to the heavy bullets, this can be somewhat solved with longer barrel lengths, sacrificing some mobility. Revolvers also have a somewhat low ammo-capacity of 6, and require lengthy reloads. Overall this gun should blow chunks out of a Z's head. One shot and the skull is shattered like an eggshell, bits everywhere! but the cons do outweigh the pros, still, consider picking it up for short-range shooting.

Pros: Immense power, low maintenance. Cons: Immense recoil, and horrid accuracy.
Stats: (Out of 10) Accuracy: 2.5. Recoil: 9.5-10. Power: 9-10. Range: 4.5-5. Rate of fire: 6.75. Maintenance: 1. Mobility: 9.75-10. Overall reliability: 3.25.
The best use of this gun is close/mid-range encounters, such as the back up for weapons requiring lengthy  reloads, like shotguns, bolt-action rifles, etc. Should you take it? I think not, try to avoid them.

Thank you for reading my guide regarding typical hunting-based weapons found in your average Sporting store. Due to my procrastination problems, Part 2 won't be here right away, but Part 2 should deal with more specific types of firearms, like Assault Rifles like the AK-47, M16 Rifle, and M4 Carbine. Handguns like the Beretta M9, and Colt M1911. Light Machine guns like the M60, and M240. Combat Shotguns like the AA-12, SPAS-12, and M1014. And other weapons you'd find if you raided a military depot. Anyhow, like I said, thank you for reading.

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