Guest Post: Thad David #WinterofZombie
ZOMPOC Weapons – My Top Five
Thad David
Following the head of a rotting, running zombie with the crossbars inside of my scope, I notice one is moving much faster than the others. I move my lead over a mil dot and slowly exhale for my shot. Depressing the trigger the last little bit that’s needed, a round explodes from my M40A1 sniper rifle. The recoil knocks my Unertl scope off slightly so I quickly adjust to see a blackish red mist in the air just before the corpse hits the ground. How many of these things have I killed now? I think to myself as I reach down in front of me. I grab another box of 7.62 rounds. The piles of ammo behind me let me know I won’t run out anytime soon. It’s a good thing I raided the ammo factory before this whole debacle. Ripping off the top of another box, I dump the 20 rounds out in my boonie cover that’s lying on the ground in front of me and toss the empty box over to a large pile of more empty boxes, grabbing some rounds as I quickly load them in the internal magazine of my rifle. Sending the bolt carrying a fresh round home, I drop back into a comfortable resting position with my eye a few inches behind the scope. It’s been at least 12 hours of non-stop shooting. I can’t remember when I started and I can’t seem to make a dent in the seemingly endless horde of zombies that are coming for my position. I find the leader of the next horde and sight in. Slowly pulling the trigger back I hear an extremely loud BANG right behind me. BANG BANG! The noise jolts me awake and I look out from around my desk to see a construction worker hammering away at the building next store.
Another daydream of me killing zombies. When will the daydreams end? I hope never. I see those little stickers all the time, “Secretly I cant wait for the Zombie Apocalypse”, yet for me it’s no secret. I can’t wait for the day that I get to sit back on a rooftop and pick off as many of these undeads as I can handle. Which gets me really thinking, what would be the best weapon? As a Marine Recon Sniper I am sure you can already guess my go-to weapon would be the M40A1 I was trained on or the Remington 700 Police Sniper rifle that would be a very similar weapon. I wanted to take this time to write about my top 5 weapons and why I believe they would be the most effective tools for the ZOMPOC.
It’s important to note that weapon choice is based primarily on the objective at hand. Find your objective, and then find your weapon.
My objective during the ZOMPOC is to kill as many zombies as I possibly can.
One of my favorite quotes:
“I go where the sound of thunder is.”
– Alfred Grey
- M40A1 Marine Corps issue sniper rifle – Image
A thing of beauty, light weight and deadly accurate out to 1,000 yards. Sure you can shoot further but consistently hitting your target is another thing. In my dream world I would find out exactly how far out I could shoot. If this were my only weapon I would hollow out the upper portion of one of those large water towers. Cut a hole in the side wall and BAM instant elevated shelter. Shelter from the weather and elements, other animals and people. Try to sneak up on me in this fortress…good luck. Most of all it provides shelter from the roaming undead below me that would like for nothing more than to find me while I sleep. A few simple adjustments to the side railings and nothing would be getting up here without my permission.
With a few ammo runs, me and my sniper rifle would hold up nicely in a cozy little spot free to test out the max range all day long. You might be asking, “Now Thad, every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be rushing to Cabela’s and Wal-Mart for Ammo.” Which is why you don’t go to these places. Follow the sheep and get eaten like a sheep. Find out where the district supply houses are for these locations and now you have a big pay out. You’re bound to have at least one near by and this way you will have enough ammo to kill as many zombies as you want.
Pros – Long range zombie-hunting fun
High caliber weapon capable of putting down even the biggest of undead
Con – Ammo will become harder and harder to find as the ZOMPOC rolls on
- AR-15 with Thunderbird Suppressor – ACOG scope on top with side mounted Iron Sites on the side
The only way I would be leaving my water tower fortress is if I run out of zombies to kill. If I were to make my way to these greener pastures the best weapon to carry would be an AR.
Nothing will get you through a horde of 100’s of Zombies better than a nice AR. You can easily mow down the undead with this on your side. I would want an AR to carry with me cross-country or even down to my local resupply house. Let’s face it, during ZOMPOC day one while everyone is running from the gruesome and bloody zombies I will be running around collecting supplies. I can’t take them all with me at once, but this is only a secure and hide mission. I don’t need 100 cans of beans right now. As long as I can stash them where only I can find them they will be there when I need them. Securing a perimeter of secret safe houses, food supplies, and lots and lots of ammo would be one of my must-do early missions. Being equipped with a solid AR would be the only way to survive in the early days of the ZOMPOC.
Pros – Mid range and Close range shooting
Fast rate of fire
CQB at its best for clearing rooms of undead (Close Quarters Combat)
Cons – Ammo, I can hear all of you saying Ammo – Stick to the gathering ammo plan
Early and you will come out on top here.
- Sig Sauer MK-25 with a Silencer
So you’re standing there blasting away at this horde of undead with your AR-15, pop, pop, pop.Blood and guts are flying everywhere. You start to lose count of your rounds in the mag because you’re distracted watching zombie parts fly everywhere when you hear the infamous click, click, click. You’re out of rounds and 3 more are running right for you. Don’t think about grabbing a new mag. Sure, you could probably get it in, rack it back, and start shooting again but think this one through. What if you have a jam in the process? What if one of them is faster than you think they are? Don’t risk it. Drop your AR and before the sling has time to catch it you’ve already sent two into the head of the first zombie with your Sig you just pulled from your drop down leg.
Pros – Swift, Silent, and Deadly
Easy to conceal in the event some other survivor is giving you some slack
Very durable
Cons – Ammo – Always the ammo. Stick to the plan and get your ammo early. Hide it all over the place. You can’t afford to put all of your eggs in one basket here.
- ChanceInHell by CRKT – Long Blade Survival Knife
When dealing with any situation you need a knife, a good knife. When dealing with the undead I would imagine longer is better. Plus who hasn’t dreamed of chopping the head off of a Zombie that’s running your way. I know I have several times. The ChanceInHell by CRKT has an awesome blade length of 12 inches; just long enough to do some serious damage yet short enough to carry around easily without feeling like a Samurai Sword is on your side. Which would be badass, but I just don’t have training with it so I can’t recommend you carry one unless you know how to use it.
- TI MonoLock Family – Benchmade
Two is one and one in none: Learn it, Live it, Love it.
Carry two knives, always. You don’t have to carry this one but nothing makes up for a quality made knife.
Other items you should probably consider:
Leatherman – many tools for anything you need, and another knife.
550 Para-chord – The bracelet doesn’t count.
Compass
Maps – At least have one Atlas of US highways
My Crossbow loving friends:
I hate to break it to you guys but what this has in cool factor it completely loses in practicality. I hear people say all the time “Unlimited Ammo” How many bolts (crossbow arrows) do you have? And how many times can you run in and pull your bolts out of an undead’s head to reload in battle? Have you ever reloaded a crossbow? Not an easy task especially when a horde is running your way. Sure, they do make a reload assist tool that may get your reload time down a little faster but how much time do you think you will have in a Zombie attack? Have you ever shot a crossbow and missed your target? Good luck finding your bolt in the grass/dirt because it’s gone. Have you seen how powerful crossbows are? They will blow right through a bag of undead flesh and into the ground behind it: see searching for lost bolts.
I am sure I didn’t touch on everything and I am sure you have another opinion on these items. I’d love to hear some of your feedback on the weapons you would take into the ZOMPOC.
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