how to kill a zombie 2
How To: Battle Zombie Hordes 2
By David Hambling EmailApril 14, 2008 | 8:00:00 AMCategories: Ammo and Munitions, Bizarro
Zombie2Last week's posting on How To: Battle Zombie Hordes generated a variety of thoughts on suitable weaponry, ranging from well-considered to borderline insane. The aim, you will recall, is to fight your way through the undead legions to reach a place of relative safety; its a matter of survival rather than winning. And one of the biggest dangers seems to be over-estimating the power of firearms.
It is widely accepted that the best way to stop a zombie is by destroying its brain with a bullet to the head. In practice this is a difficult feat of marksmanship under combat conditions (even the police only manage 25% hits ) so you want to carry as much ammunition as possible. Some readers suggested using the small, lightweight .22LR round, suggesting that this has enough energy not just to penetrate but will "bounce around inside the skull".
It's a questionable choice. While the .22LR has been a favored calibre for gangland killings , such shootings are carried out at point blank range and the victim has to be shot several times in the head to ensure a kill. The preference for .22LR here is probably more to do with being quiet and portable, it is certainly not a powerful round. In one bizarre case a man was actually shot in the head with a .22 while sleeping and did not realize it; the bullet was only found when he went to hospital complaining of a headache (his wife later admitted 'accidentally' shotting him in bed).
Of course it depends very much on what sort of .22LR ammunition you are using, as there are many varieties in this caliber, ranging from subsonic heavy bullets to smaller "hyper-velocity" rounds and they all have different properties. But it's worth remembering that .22LR had not been adopted as a military cartridge, in spite of the large number of conscripts out there using the 'spray and pray' technique, as it is considered more useful against small animals than humans. That's got to raise questions about its use as a zombie-stopper.
Similarly, the myth of the all-conquering 12-gauge shotgun still has many posters in its thrall. But the pattern of shot spread is only a few inches at close range ??? you still require a very accurate aim. At longer ranges you have to ask whether the pellets will be able to penetrate the skull and how many are needed. Ammunition weight becomes a real issue: the 20-round magazine for an AA-12 weighs over two kilos (you weren't really going to try this with a 5-shot pump gun were you?) , compared with about half a kilo for a 30-round clip of 5.56mm. That's about a factor of six.
One idea that nobody explored was using the new Taser XREP shotgun rounds which strike the target and then disable with electric pulses. Zombies clearly still use their nervous systems and muscles, so this Taser shotgun round would certainly bring one down. And given that zombies lack the sense not to touch someone convulsing under the effects of electric shock, you might be able to get more than one. A major advantage of this round is that you don???t have to rely on those tricky head shots ??? just aim for the torso. Of course, a Taser would only immobilize for twenty seconds or so with the standard XREP, but in that time I for one would be in the next county.
It was alarming how many posters were willing to go hand-to-hand. It's a basic tactical rule to avoid danger where possible: don???t bring ships within range of shore batteries, don???t fly aircraft through flak, and don't get close enough to get bitten by a zombie.
You may feel that dismembering zombies with a hatchet is child's play and yopu could do it all day. But if you miss just once you're dead. Think about how easy it is to hit a tennis or golf ball in practice ???- and how hard it is to replicate that in an actual game. In the adrenaline rush of zombie-fighting, your swings will be all over the place. One careless move and there's a bemused zombie wandering around with your hatchet firmly embedded in its shoulder, leaving you pondering how to tackle its mates unarmed. (Unless you're in the terrific zombie/yakuza flick Versus -- in which case, it's a chance to show off your cool martial arts skills.) How To: Battle Zombie Hordes 2
By David Hambling EmailApril 14, 2008 | 8:00:00 AMCategories: Ammo and Munitions, Bizarro
Zombie2Last week's posting on How To: Battle Zombie Hordes generated a variety of thoughts on suitable weaponry, ranging from well-considered to borderline insane. The aim, you will recall, is to fight your way through the undead legions to reach a place of relative safety; its a matter of survival rather than winning. And one of the biggest dangers seems to be over-estimating the power of firearms.
It is widely accepted that the best way to stop a zombie is by destroying its brain with a bullet to the head. In practice this is a difficult feat of marksmanship under combat conditions (even the police only manage 25% hits ) so you want to carry as much ammunition as possible. Some readers suggested using the small, lightweight .22LR round, suggesting that this has enough energy not just to penetrate but will "bounce around inside the skull".
It's a questionable choice. While the .22LR has been a favored calibre for gangland killings , such shootings are carried out at point blank range and the victim has to be shot several times in the head to ensure a kill. The preference for .22LR here is probably more to do with being quiet and portable, it is certainly not a powerful round. In one bizarre case a man was actually shot in the head with a .22 while sleeping and did not realize it; the bullet was only found when he went to hospital complaining of a headache (his wife later admitted 'accidentally' shotting him in bed).
Of course it depends very much on what sort of .22LR ammunition you are using, as there are many varieties in this caliber, ranging from subsonic heavy bullets to smaller "hyper-velocity" rounds and they all have different properties. But it's worth remembering that .22LR had not been adopted as a military cartridge, in spite of the large number of conscripts out there using the 'spray and pray' technique, as it is considered more useful against small animals than humans. That's got to raise questions about its use as a zombie-stopper.
Similarly, the myth of the all-conquering 12-gauge shotgun still has many posters in its thrall. But the pattern of shot spread is only a few inches at close range ??? you still require a very accurate aim. At longer ranges you have to ask whether the pellets will be able to penetrate the skull and how many are needed. Ammunition weight becomes a real issue: the 20-round magazine for an AA-12 weighs over two kilos (you weren't really going to try this with a 5-shot pump gun were you?) , compared with about half a kilo for a 30-round clip of 5.56mm. That's about a factor of six.
One idea that nobody explored was using the new Taser XREP shotgun rounds which strike the target and then disable with electric pulses. Zombies clearly still use their nervous systems and muscles, so this Taser shotgun round would certainly bring one down. And given that zombies lack the sense not to touch someone convulsing under the effects of electric shock, you might be able to get more than one. A major advantage of this round is that you don???t have to rely on those tricky head shots ??? just aim for the torso. Of course, a Taser would only immobilize for twenty seconds or so with the standard XREP, but in that time I for one would be in the next county.
It was alarming how many posters were willing to go hand-to-hand. It's a basic tactical rule to avoid danger where possible: don???t bring ships within range of shore batteries, don???t fly aircraft through flak, and don't get close enough to get bitten by a zombie.
You may feel that dismembering zombies with a hatchet is child's play and yopu could do it all day. But if you miss just once you're dead. Think about how easy it is to hit a tennis or golf ball in practice ???- and how hard it is to replicate that in an actual game. In the adrenaline rush of zombie-fighting, your swings will be all over the place. One careless move and there's a bemused zombie wandering around with your hatchet firmly embedded in its shoulder, leaving you pondering how to tackle its mates unarmed. (Unless you're in the terrific zombie/yakuza flick Versus -- in which case, it's a chance to show off your cool martial arts skills.) How To: Battle Zombie Hordes 2
By David Hambling EmailApril 14, 2008 | 8:00:00 AMCategories: Ammo and Munitions, Bizarro
Zombie2Last week's posting on How To: Battle Zombie Hordes generated a variety of thoughts on suitable weaponry, ranging from well-considered to borderline insane. The aim, you will recall, is to fight your way through the undead legions to reach a place of relative safety; its a matter of survival rather than winning. And one of the biggest dangers seems to be over-estimating the power of firearms.
It is widely accepted that the best way to stop a zombie is by destroying its brain with a bullet to the head. In practice this is a difficult feat of marksmanship under combat conditions (even the police only manage 25% hits ) so you want to carry as much ammunition as possible. Some readers suggested using the small, lightweight .22LR round, suggesting that this has enough energy not just to penetrate but will "bounce around inside the skull".
It's a questionable choice. While the .22LR has been a favored calibre for gangland killings , such shootings are carried out at point blank range and the victim has to be shot several times in the head to ensure a kill. The preference for .22LR here is probably more to do with being quiet and portable, it is certainly not a powerful round. In one bizarre case a man was actually shot in the head with a .22 while sleeping and did not realize it; the bullet was only found when he went to hospital complaining of a headache (his wife later admitted 'accidentally' shotting him in bed).
Of course it depends very much on what sort of .22LR ammunition you are using, as there are many varieties in this caliber, ranging from subsonic heavy bullets to smaller "hyper-velocity" rounds and they all have different properties. But it's worth remembering that .22LR had not been adopted as a military cartridge, in spite of the large number of conscripts out there using the 'spray and pray' technique, as it is considered more useful against small animals than humans. That's got to raise questions about its use as a zombie-stopper.
Similarly, the myth of the all-conquering 12-gauge shotgun still has many posters in its thrall. But the pattern of shot spread is only a few inches at close range ??? you still require a very accurate aim. At longer ranges you have to ask whether the pellets will be able to penetrate the skull and how many are needed. Ammunition weight becomes a real issue: the 20-round magazine for an AA-12 weighs over two kilos (you weren't really going to try this with a 5-shot pump gun were you?) , compared with about half a kilo for a 30-round clip of 5.56mm. That's about a factor of six.
One idea that nobody explored was using the new Taser XREP shotgun rounds which strike the target and then disable with electric pulses. Zombies clearly still use their nervous systems and muscles, so this Taser shotgun round would certainly bring one down. And given that zombies lack the sense not to touch someone convulsing under the effects of electric shock, you might be able to get more than one. A major advantage of this round is that you don???t have to rely on those tricky head shots ??? just aim for the torso. Of course, a Taser would only immobilize for twenty seconds or so with the standard XREP, but in that time I for one would be in the next county.
It was alarming how many posters were willing to go hand-to-hand. It's a basic tactical rule to avoid danger where possible: don???t bring ships within range of shore batteries, don???t fly aircraft through flak, and don't get close enough to get bitten by a zombie.
You may feel that dismembering zombies with a hatchet is child's play and yopu could do it all day. But if you miss just once you're dead. Think about how easy it is to hit a tennis or golf ball in practice ???- and how hard it is to replicate that in an actual game. In the adrenaline rush of zombie-fighting, your swings will be all over the place. One careless move and there's a bemused zombie wandering around with your hatchet firmly embedded in its shoulder, leaving you pondering how to tackle its mates unarmed. (Unless you're in the terrific zombie/yakuza flick Versus -- in which case, it's a chance to show off your cool martial arts skills.) How To: Battle Zombie Hordes 2
By David Hambling EmailApril 14, 2008 | 8:00:00 AMCategories: Ammo and Munitions, Bizarro
Zombie2Last week's posting on How To: Battle Zombie Hordes generated a variety of thoughts on suitable weaponry, ranging from well-considered to borderline insane. The aim, you will recall, is to fight your way through the undead legions to reach a place of relative safety; its a matter of survival rather than winning. And one of the biggest dangers seems to be over-estimating the power of firearms.
It is widely accepted that the best way to stop a zombie is by destroying its brain with a bullet to the head. In practice this is a difficult feat of marksmanship under combat conditions (even the police only manage 25% hits ) so you want to carry as much ammunition as possible. Some readers suggested using the small, lightweight .22LR round, suggesting that this has enough energy not just to penetrate but will "bounce around inside the skull".
It's a questionable choice. While the .22LR has been a favored calibre for gangland killings , such shootings are carried out at point blank range and the victim has to be shot several times in the head to ensure a kill. The preference for .22LR here is probably more to do with being quiet and portable, it is certainly not a powerful round. In one bizarre case a man was actually shot in the head with a .22 while sleeping and did not realize it; the bullet was only found when he went to hospital complaining of a headache (his wife later admitted 'accidentally' shotting him in bed).
Of course it depends very much on what sort of .22LR ammunition you are using, as there are many varieties in this caliber, ranging from subsonic heavy bullets to smaller "hyper-velocity" rounds and they all have different properties. But it's worth remembering that .22LR had not been adopted as a military cartridge, in spite of the large number of conscripts out there using the 'spray and pray' technique, as it is considered more useful against small animals than humans. That's got to raise questions about its use as a zombie-stopper.
Similarly, the myth of the all-conquering 12-gauge shotgun still has many posters in its thrall. But the pattern of shot spread is only a few inches at close range ??? you still require a very accurate aim. At longer ranges you have to ask whether the pellets will be able to penetrate the skull and how many are needed. Ammunition weight becomes a real issue: the 20-round magazine for an AA-12 weighs over two kilos (you weren't really going to try this with a 5-shot pump gun were you?) , compared with about half a kilo for a 30-round clip of 5.56mm. That's about a factor of six.
One idea that nobody explored was using the new Taser XREP shotgun rounds which strike the target and then disable with electric pulses. Zombies clearly still use their nervous systems and muscles, so this Taser shotgun round would certainly bring one down. And given that zombies lack the sense not to touch someone convulsing under the effects of electric shock, you might be able to get more than one. A major advantage of this round is that you don???t have to rely on those tricky head shots ??? just aim for the torso. Of course, a Taser would only immobilize for twenty seconds or so with the standard XREP, but in that time I for one would be in the next county.
It was alarming how many posters were willing to go hand-to-hand. It's a basic tactical rule to avoid danger where possible: don???t bring ships within range of shore batteries, don???t fly aircraft through flak, and don't get close enough to get bitten by a zombie.
You may feel that dismembering zombies with a hatchet is child's play and yopu could do it all day. But if you miss just once you're dead. Think about how easy it is to hit a tennis or golf ball in practice ???- and how hard it is to replicate that in an actual game. In the adrenaline rush of zombie-fighting, your swings will be all over the place. One careless move and there's a bemused zombie wandering around with your hatchet firmly embedded in its shoulder, leaving you pondering how to tackle its mates unarmed. (Unless you're in the terrific zombie/yakuza flick Versus -- in which case, it's a chance to show off your cool martial arts skills.) How To: Battle Zombie Hordes 2
By David Hambling EmailApril 14, 2008 | 8:00:00 AMCategories: Ammo and Munitions, Bizarro
Zombie2Last week's posting on How To: Battle Zombie Hordes generated a variety of thoughts on suitable weaponry, ranging from well-considered to borderline insane. The aim, you will recall, is to fight your way through the undead legions to reach a place of relative safety; its a matter of survival rather than winning. And one of the biggest dangers seems to be over-estimating the power of firearms.
It is widely accepted that the best way to stop a zombie is by destroying its brain with a bullet to the head. In practice this is a difficult feat of marksmanship under combat conditions (even the police only manage 25% hits ) so you want to carry as much ammunition as possible. Some readers suggested using the small, lightweight .22LR round, suggesting that this has enough energy not just to penetrate but will "bounce around inside the skull".
It's a questionable choice. While the .22LR has been a favored calibre for gangland killings , such shootings are carried out at point blank range and the victim has to be shot several times in the head to ensure a kill. The preference for .22LR here is probably more to do with being quiet and portable, it is certainly not a powerful round. In one bizarre case a man was actually shot in the head with a .22 while sleeping and did not realize it; the bullet was only found when he went to hospital complaining of a headache (his wife later admitted 'accidentally' shotting him in bed).
Of course it depends very much on what sort of .22LR ammunition you are using, as there are many varieties in this caliber, ranging from subsonic heavy bullets to smaller "hyper-velocity" rounds and they all have different properties. But it's worth remembering that .22LR had not been adopted as a military cartridge, in spite of the large number of conscripts out there using the 'spray and pray' technique, as it is considered more useful against small animals than humans. That's got to raise questions about its use as a zombie-stopper.
Similarly, the myth of the all-conquering 12-gauge shotgun still has many posters in its thrall. But the pattern of shot spread is only a few inches at close range ??? you still require a very accurate aim. At longer ranges you have to ask whether the pellets will be able to penetrate the skull and how many are needed. Ammunition weight becomes a real issue: the 20-round magazine for an AA-12 weighs over two kilos (you weren't really going to try this with a 5-shot pump gun were you?) , compared with about half a kilo for a 30-round clip of 5.56mm. That's about a factor of six.
One idea that nobody explored was using the new Taser XREP shotgun rounds which strike the target and then disable with electric pulses. Zombies clearly still use their nervous systems and muscles, so this Taser shotgun round would certainly bring one down. And given that zombies lack the sense not to touch someone convulsing under the effects of electric shock, you might be able to get more than one. A major advantage of this round is that you don???t have to rely on those tricky head shots ??? just aim for the torso. Of course, a Taser would only immobilize for twenty seconds or so with the standard XREP, but in that time I for one would be in the next county.
It was alarming how many posters were willing to go hand-to-hand. It's a basic tactical rule to avoid danger where possible: don???t bring ships within range of shore batteries, don???t fly aircraft through flak, and don't get close enough to get bitten by a zombie.
You may feel that dismembering zombies with a hatchet is child's play and yopu could do it all day. But if you miss just once you're dead. Think about how easy it is to hit a tennis or golf ball in practice ???- and how hard it is to replicate that in an actual game. In the adrenaline rush of zombie-fighting, your swings will be all over the place. One careless move and there's a bemused zombie wandering around with your hatchet firmly embedded in its shoulder, leaving you pondering how to tackle its mates unarmed. (Unless you're in the terrific zombie/yakuza flick Versus -- in which case, it's a chance to show off your cool martial arts skills.) How To: Battle Zombie Hordes 2
By David Hambling EmailApril 14, 2008 | 8:00:00 AMCategories: Ammo and Munitions, Bizarro
Zombie2Last week's posting on How To: Battle Zombie Hordes generated a variety of thoughts on suitable weaponry, ranging from well-considered to borderline insane. The aim, you will recall, is to fight your way through the undead legions to reach a place of relative safety; its a matter of survival rather than winning. And one of the biggest dangers seems to be over-estimating the power of firearms.
It is widely accepted that the best way to stop a zombie is by destroying its brain with a bullet to the head. In practice this is a difficult feat of marksmanship under combat conditions (even the police only manage 25% hits ) so you want to carry as much ammunition as possible. Some readers suggested using the small, lightweight .22LR round, suggesting that this has enough energy not just to penetrate but will "bounce around inside the skull".
It's a questionable choice. While the .22LR has been a favored calibre for gangland killings , such shootings are carried out at point blank range and the victim has to be shot several times in the head to ensure a kill. The preference for .22LR here is probably more to do with being quiet and portable, it is certainly not a powerful round. In one bizarre case a man was actually shot in the head with a .22 while sleeping and did not realize it; the bullet was only found when he went to hospital complaining of a headache (his wife later admitted 'accidentally' shotting him in bed).
Of course it depends very much on what sort of .22LR ammunition you are using, as there are many varieties in this caliber, ranging from subsonic heavy bullets to smaller "hyper-velocity" rounds and they all have different properties. But it's worth remembering that .22LR had not been adopted as a military cartridge, in spite of the large number of conscripts out there using the 'spray and pray' technique, as it is considered more useful against small animals than humans. That's got to raise questions about its use as a zombie-stopper.
Similarly, the myth of the all-conquering 12-gauge shotgun still has many posters in its thrall. But the pattern of shot spread is only a few inches at close range ??? you still require a very accurate aim. At longer ranges you have to ask whether the pellets will be able to penetrate the skull and how many are needed. Ammunition weight becomes a real issue: the 20-round magazine for an AA-12 weighs over two kilos (you weren't really going to try this with a 5-shot pump gun were you?) , compared with about half a kilo for a 30-round clip of 5.56mm. That's about a factor of six.
One idea that nobody explored was using the new Taser XREP shotgun rounds which strike the target and then disable with electric pulses. Zombies clearly still use their nervous systems and muscles, so this Taser shotgun round would certainly bring one down. And given that zombies lack the sense not to touch someone convulsing under the effects of electric shock, you might be able to get more than one. A major advantage of this round is that you don???t have to rely on those tricky head shots ??? just aim for the torso. Of course, a Taser would only immobilize for twenty seconds or so with the standard XREP, but in that time I for one would be in the next county.
It was alarming how many posters were willing to go hand-to-hand. It's a basic tactical rule to avoid danger where possible: don???t bring ships within range of shore batteries, don???t fly aircraft through flak, and don't get close enough to get bitten by a zombie.
You may feel that dismembering zombies with a hatchet is child's play and yopu could do it all day. But if you miss just once you're dead. Think about how easy it is to hit a tennis or golf ball in practice ???- and how hard it is to replicate that in an actual game. In the adrenaline rush of zombie-fighting, your swings will be all over the place. One careless move and there's a bemused zombie wandering around with your hatchet firmly embedded in its shoulder, leaving you pondering how to tackle its mates unarmed. (Unless you're in the terrific zombie/yakuza flick Versus -- in which case, it's a chance to show off your cool martial arts skills.)
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