Thankfully, gun and ammo companies seem to have stopped marketing their wares in neon green for zombie killing. Nonetheless, a quick perusal of any decent book store will quickly show you that zombies are alive, er, dead, and doing well. Having read some of the accounts of various zombie fighters across the world, as well as watched a few of their documentaries, I have come to the conclusion that none of them seem to understand the problem very well and that is likely why they are eventually killed and eaten.
Most of the diaries recovered from zombie hunters seem to indicate a fascination with larger caliber weapons. This is understandable but quite incorrect. If the zombies were still living, all might be well, but since zombies are the undead, and can only be killed with brain shots, large caliber weapons pose several problems. For starters, you can only carry so much large, heavy ammunition. 12 gauge, 308 and others are terrible choices given the quantity of ammo you are limited to. On top of weight, the recoil makes follow up shots slightly slower, an issue when a horde of zombies attacks. Finally, noise seems to attract the zombies and so louder calibers are working against you.
The solution is simple, but as far as I can tell from my research, entirely overlooked. The humble .22LR is the answer. Ammo is lightweight, relatively quiet, and very fast for follow up shots. It can be made even quieter with a good suppressor, and in the case of the .22, no downside to the weapons balance or weight results from the use of a suppressor. As far as ammo quantities go, a healthy adult male can carry as much as several thousand rounds in their ruck, and still carry whatever they have scounged from the dead cities they insist on wondering through. Since zombie skulls are very soft, the terminal ballistics of the .22 should work splendidly.
Almost any .22LR rifle will work well, but to my mind, the Ruger 10/22 is the king of zombie weapons. You can get them in all shapes and sizes and they are designed around the .22 from the start. Magazines are not too large for the caliber and overall, the guns are extremely reliable, accurate and fast into action. Depending on your suppressor choice, a 10″ barrelled Charger pistol, with a brace, may be the way to go, but a 16″ rifle is a great choice as well. If you go the pistol route, you may be tempted to just slap a stock on there, but if you run into any ATF zombies, you may wish you had stuck with a brace. You could carry your SBR paperwork with you, but account after account shows zombie fighters continuously losing vitally import items, so I imagine your SBR papers might be among the first casualties of the zombie war.
A red dot makes a lot of sense for speed shooting hordes of zombies, but depending how long you are caught out, a good ghost ring setup may be more long term sustainable. Some combination of the two is no doubt ideal.
The one potential issue here is that in addition to zombies, there seem to be small bands of roving criminals who like to prey on valiant zombie fighters. Since we cannot really carry multiple long guns and ammo, some force multipliers may be in order. If you can carry the needed batteries or solar charging options, a set of NODS and an IR laser for your 10/22 may help. It won’t do you much good on the road when confronted suddenly by brigands, but when you sneak back into their camp at night, the combination will allow for some good quiet night rescues and brigand removal.
In parting, I suggest you avail yourself of the informative zombie literature and documentaries currently available and then setup a good 10/22. If you don’t find yourself fighting off zombies, at least you will have a great training and all around useful survival weapon.
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