yeah, but there might be unexpected wind that could carry it to another town. and then you may have some of the infected flesh that burned off in the air with some of the infection mixed in. but if sonic rips their bodies apart it could do the same thing i guess...

Hrmm...Flamethrower/Blast Furnace?
Extreme temperatures can kill just about any kind of virus, if the zombie infection is one, as well as kill the hosts.

I wasn't particularly saying a head shot was the only thing that could kill them. But think of a zed as being someone on PCP or something, a human with no regard for self preservation, feeling little pain, and raging unbelievably. A .22LR probably wouldn't kill/incapacitate it immediately unless you hit something very important, like the heart, brain, or spine. Anything else, and they could probably still continue attack for long enough to infect/kill/injure you.I've never read either. Anyone recommend them?

As for noxious zombie killing gas, that may remain hazardous in the area for a long time, depending on what you use, and kill survivors in the area horribly as well. It could wipe out zeds without leveling cities though, I'll give you that.

Some sort of trap that systematically drops them in a vat of water/lye mixture that dissolves them into zombie soup would be awesome. But the mess of refilling it would be pretty nasty. It could be a good means of disposal though, depending on how easily obtainable lye is. I have no idea.

Tom, sorry buddy, but it's a zombie weapon effectiveness thread now. If it were stuck on the gatling shotgun render, it'd be dead now anyway.

eh, i like zombies. and the zombie survival guide is actually a fun read, not the most practical, but fun. oh, and to grif about headshots, if i had an emplacement, say a bunker prison or fort to garrison myself in, i would want heavy weapons with larger munitions for a horde. the mental trauma would be too great in that situation to aim accurately. but if i had let's say, a reinforced mobile platform(a decent car with some rickshaw reinforcements, or a jeep.), i would like headshots to save ammo because i can run anyway.

yes

but if we're on the subject of effectiveness and common ammunition

uh

ever hear of a thing called double ought buck? gonna be a lot more effective at massive trauma than a single .22 round, and it's just as (if not more) easily available

plus you can get slugs for "distance" shooting, not that most people are qualified enough marksmen to even hit something at the set effective ranges of .22 rounds

I also still don't buy this whole "destroy the brain" ♥♥♥♥
if zombies still need to eat, then they are obviously feeding nutrients through the brain. since they (apparently) can stay alive for a good long while, they're also disposing of waste, which means at the bare minimum the esophagus, stomach, and intestines are in full working order. all muscle movement requires oxygen, flat out period, and that requires respiration in any large-scale creature, which means you need lungs and a circulatory system

pain or no pain, you will be able to kill zombies just as well as you can kill humans
you're just going to want to stick to the faster means

well, scientifically, you are spot on, and i completely agree with you. they would need a lot more than just the brain, and at that rate we could really just quarantine an area for several weeks and they would be starved out if the whole "brain atrophy to the point all they think is food is living human meat" thing is true.

RE: grif's post
yeah, why arent shotguns a decent way of blowing zombies apart again, kalle? aside from the sound attracting more zeds, if you're going for headshots anyway bring a mixture of whatever gauge slugs with your normal shells, and rip some heads apart. the only real problem i can see would be rate of fire, but if you have a small party i think a shotgun would be a pretty decent addition to your arsenal.
correct me if im wrong for some blindingly obvious reason.
like, i can see why a .22 would be acceptable, but it really wouldnt do enough damage anywhere other than the head.

also, any pistol would be handy enough with hollowpoints, obviously, but what about an smg or an uzi/machine pistol? besides the gratuitous waste of bullets, is there anything stopping them from being effective? just while we've got some gun pros/grif in the thread.

SMGs and the like could be effective, but, like you said, would use a lot of ammo. They could be just as effective, if not more than as effective as pistols, though.

short bursts with an SMG is good, wasting bullets is bad though if bullet manufacturers are zombies.

if we're assuming you've got access to a fully-automatic SMG you've probably got access to an actual assault rifle

a decent carbine/PDW version of a generic assault rifle (ar15,ak, etc) would be reasonably quiet, portable, and by definition uses standard, easy to find ammunition

that said, a good battle rifle would be a great alternative, especially something like the m14. select fire up to full auto, with variants accurate up to 800+ yards? yes please

again, select fire is important. rock and roll can be useful at times, but firing single shots (not just bursts) is going to be just as important and useful

Before this goes any further, define the method of zombification. Just as a standard for future reference.
Are we talking:

-Virus that jacks the nervous system, leaving the rest of the body (more or less) intact
-Same as above, but can cause freakysauce mutations, Ala L4D. Adds flavor and excitement.
-Some sort of parasitic creature that can control a corpse, and turn into into a walking meatbag, such as a headcrab
-Supernatural (Pfft. As if. We're talking zombies, not magic.)

For the sake of time, we'll assume that they feel no pain, and need all the organs that Grif said before.

indeed. but the uzi is pretty small, not that an AK is really that heavy either, but i mean, if i had a kid with me and he NEEDED to fight i wouldn't let him handle anything automatic. i would probably give him the rimfire so he doesn't hurt himself or anybody else, besides the zombies.

as for the the method of zombification, i would say L4D. flavor is good, and having a tank charging at you would make grif infinitely more lovable in a zombie apocalypse.

The first, viral infectious raging runners, is actually a bit realistic. Slower ones may be more realistic, but any gun would do for them because head shots and fleeing for another try would be easy. 2 would be more complex and interesting, but not at all realistic. 50m tongues, puke that attracts common infected only on impact with living humans, wall jumping up 10 stories to fall down it without damage, 8 inch diameter spine, all pretty far fetched. Certainly spices things up though.



late response to grif's double ought post

Of course if you hit vital things like that they're probably dead, but not immediately, and in the seconds they're bleeding out or asphyxiating, the crazy raging things could still come after you.

With a shotgun, the sheer blast could just shock them into immediate dysfunction, as well as hit something immediately vital to their 'life'. It would definitely be effective at immediately killing/incapacitating them from a single shot to their center mass, and not need a head shot.

But I was still talking about the little suppressed .22LR. Put that in his gut, and it's probably a mortal wound, but one that kills well after it has had a chance to come running for you. The advantage of it is that it's so quiet unlike a shotgun, so more don't come running. Plus you can carry lots and lots of ammo. So if you can sneak around and manage the head shots, it's great.

Shotshells of a particular gauge/length are not as common to come across in numbers, but their terminal ballistics are obviously superior.
But they're louder and bulkier, so you attract more to rush you, without being able to hold a long lasting supply with you on the go.
For 4.3 lb, one could carry ~500 .22LR rounds, or ~30 12 GA 3" shells.

hell yes. That's the main problem with shotguns that I can see, opposite to ARs/SMGs is that you're unlikely to be wasting ammo (unless you're taking pot shots, but i dont think many of us would be that stupid), but might not actually be able to fire fast enough. I suppose if you're using a pump or auto shotgun you'd be okay though.
For the purposes of discussion do we want access to whatever we want, or are we sticking to more.. common weapons? like, not household stuff but not M4A1w/GL, silencer and reflex sights, or do we want to go all out and say we have a basically military supply?
feel ideas:

eh, im liking this discussion. bandannas for kicks.How strong are these zombies? Do we need 12GA shells? Yeah, if one was a level headed amazing shot, .22LR rounds would be fine and dandy. The fact is, in a zombie situation, I'd rather a handgun over a .22 rifle. I'm not an amazing shot, especially when there are zombies about freaking me out.

alsoDue to my frame, I generally prefer smaller arms, but heck, I'd take an AR if it was about. I'll just keep it off fullauto

Pretty sure there are semi-auto shotguns...
Or do you mean the reload? In that case, aren't there magazine-loaded shotguns?