The Walking Dead (AMCtv.com)
In honor of tomorrows release of AMC’s The Walking Dead Series 1 DVD set, we thought it appropriate to call out our choices for the most desirable Zombie killing guns. You never know when the Zombies will come, so its best to be prepared.
While scientific data on Zombie killing is fairly light, we’ve learned a lot from the T.V. and the movies – both excellent sources for hard empirical data. For example, it appears that Zombies are not very concerned about traditional ‘human’ factors like caliber selection, knockout power, or foot-pounds of energy. A simple head shot seems to do the job with most any caliber weapon. Given that, you’ll notice that our official recommendations are skewed a little more towards accuracy, capacity, and reliability. When you’re facing a horde of irritable walkers, you can’t be thinking about those tiresome jams, reloads or immediate action drills.
At risk of this site being boycotted by gun nuts everywhere, you’ll notice we didn’t include a 1911 model handgun. Against un-dead opponents, this is a great and proven option. But we’re talking about the walking dead here and capacity counts. No wimpy 7 round magazines for us when facing a few hundred hungry Zombies. High capacity and plentiful cheap ammo aside, we left out .22’s as well. Zombies require a skull penetrating head shot and the .22 just can’t provide 100% certainty. Shotguns? Probably great fun, but again, accuracy and capacity make good Walker medicine.
With those criteria in mind, here are our recommendations for when, not if, the zombie apocalypse comes:
 Heckler & Koch MP5 SD |
Good handling indoors and low recoil for fast follow up shots. Proven in battle. 30 round capacity, integral suppressor, and retractable stock. We now know that Zombies are learning to open doors, so indoor performance is key. All the cool movie action heroes use them. What’s not to love? |
 Beretta 92FS |
An obvious choice. Ready availability, plentiful 9mm ammo that can be retrieved from military outposts, high capacity, and outstanding reliability. Obviously it will have a Crimson Trace LG-402M Mil Spec laser grip. Duh.
Plus, this one has ‘real world’ proof of performance. In The Walking Dead, our hero, Rick Grimes, uses an M9 version to nail 15 zombies on a full tilt run while trying to escape from an irritable horde in downtown Atlanta. If that’s not scientific evidence, what is? |
 FN Happy Fun Combo - The Five-seveN and PS90 |
Maybe we’ll get trapped in the CheaperThanDirt.com warehouse where we will have to make our final stand. If that’s the case, and ammo availability is not a problem, we might choose the FN Happy Fun Combo of a Five-seveN and a PS90. Not a bad setup when your back up gun has a 20 round capacity. |
 Suppressed AR15 with Surefire 100 round magazine |
We won’t be equipped with just any AR15. Ours will be Zombie customized with horde-ready Surefire 100 round magazines. More importantly, ours will also be suppressed. Everyone knows that Zombies are attracted to noise. We might even spring for a supply of subsonic 5.56mm ammo to make it even quieter. |
 Glock 17 |
At risk of being politically incorrect, this is exactly the right situation for an extra high capacity magazine, so the Glock 17 with a 33 round mag gets added to the list. Of course, one would want a supply of standard capacity mags as well for portability. |
 M1 Carbine |
Handy and lightweight. .30 caliber seems to be plenty for zombies. Easy to aim and 15-30 round capacity. Ammo availability could be a problem, but you can carry a lot once you find a supply. OK, so maybe this one is not the most practical, but we had to include it because we just really like M1 Carbines. They were all over the place in Band of Brothers. |
 Sig 226 E2 |
The new Sig 226 E2 model is just plain comfortable in the hand. Oh, and its battle proven to boot. High capacity, ultimate reliability. We would pick one in 9mm. |
What say you?
I’ve myself tried out the Beretta 92FS. In my opinion its simply awesome. It surely needs to be handled with care.
I agree with the selection above mentioned and I might even add the venerable AK for its simplicity and reliability. But I must point out that ammo selection is also important. We talk about head shots, but in cases of “Crush” (when zombies are too plentiful for a given number of shooters) it is imperative to slow them down enough to retreat to a safer location. One of the quickest ways is going for the pelvic girdle which will drop zombies faster and thus create a stoppage or at least a considerable delay in their movement. So ammunition that can break the pelvis is a must and I would favor personally loaded hardball to max safe power as per reloading manuals. Also, the pelvis is a much bigger and less wobbly target to hit than the head so less ammo is wasted and the now very slow or immobile zombies can be taken car of by other than ballistic means.
Hmmm. Excellent points here. Your comments about the importance of slowing them down makes me think of of the Zombie torso dragging itself around in episode 1 of The Walking Dead. I could definitely outrun that one! So point well taken, sometimes you just have to slow them down to allow time for retreat 🙂
You realize that people not into the Zombie stuff/fun are gonna think we are a bunch of spaced-out weirdos? 🙂
While I certainly don’t want to speak for you, I have to confess I’m an addict for all things Zombie related, and quite possibly a spaced-out weirdo. Although that’s mainly just on weekends 🙂
In walking dead evasion seems fairly easy, the suppressed MP5 and a laser site would seem a great weapon system with ammo to be found anywhere.
we would think by now our hero’s (trained law enforcement) would have acquired a large supply of reliable weapons all the same calibers and made every one including the children practiced in using them in a select fire mode to make every shot count.
Seems like these guy could use some smoke and flash bombs to draw them away as well… heck 1 guy with a slow moving noisy muffler a rc car pulling a boom box maybe with people noise soundtrack……
A 22 will easily penatrate a skull in fact I would have it before any of the guns on the list. A good ruger 1022 and 5000 rounds can go a long way. And it wouldn’t attract to much attention because of the fairly quiet report.
5,000 rounds, 5,000 undead. Not bad from a price / performance basis. I think that works out to about 3.5 cents per walker 🙂
22’s are crap, only usefull if you are shooting small fury 4 legged creatures like rats or rabbits. not to mention they are well know for misfiring.. I dont want my life dependant on such a piece of crap gun… a 22 should NEVER be used as a defensive weapon under any circumstance… Id go with a good ball bat or a golf club before a 22.
Oh man – I love the Walking Dead! But I’m so angry about the end of season two and the killed off _blank_ – (dont want to spoil it) because he was my favorite character. I’m worried about what they can do without him/her. I guess time will tell. Here’s one thing to thing about – has any one ever try loading a magazine with bullets? It is really difficult! Yet these amateur shooters seem to do it just find and they’re excellent head shots! Haha. Still love it. But seriously, maybe if they had a laser sight attached to those pistols – THEN they might be able to be that good of shots – lol
Loading magazines is only difficult if your a girl or a small child under 10 years old… I find nothing difficult about loading magazines and I can load them very quickly. When you buy a new magazine sometimes loading it to full capacity is a little difficult because the sping is new and just needs to be broken in.. If the magazine is designed for 15 rounds I will load about 12 or 13 rounds and leave them in there for awhile then the sping will weaken and you can easly load them to full capacity.
The bingo truly Claws along whatever you adore regarding John Kirkman’s The Walking Dead; the tension, the weather, the establishing, the planet, the way the account should go. Simply almost everything, perhaps the comic strip images. (The Walking Dead actually is a comic strip sequence in case you didn’t realize) Regretfully, Irrrve never obtained the opportunity to read all the books. The storyplot is excellent and their can be many unexpected situations! Should buy!
As for me, I have a mossberg 590 just like shanes from the walking dead, loaded with some federal Law Enforcement Tactical 12 gauge 00 buckshot & same in rifled slugs.
I also have a Glock 19 9mm and a Glock 21 .45 (Pics of all these guns are on my facebook page)
Ive also got a really got Gerber Black Infrantry Knife and tons of other great tactical gear.
Im looking for a AR-15 LE rifle for ranged and close quarter fighting, with a bi pod, AOG site ect.
Im not worried about noise, I can mow down hordes of zombies.. or humans.. and if necessary I am quite fit and I can run pretty darn fast.