zombie apocalypse.....would your gun do the job!?

[Tariq]

I love how when these topics come up everyone owns a sword and, having swung it around in their house, assumes they know how to use it.

Using any sword, especially those requiring very specialised technique like a katana, is not easy.

Most of what people own wouldn't really be up to the job anyway.

A good sword costs thousands

 

[remus]

part of why id like to try blacksmithing and give making one a go. would likely be worse but would still love to try...

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I'm fairly sure that anyone can kill something with no functioning brain, with a sword, without training.

Also, I chose a door because it limits the number that can get to me at any one time, plus every time I took one down, it'd make getting through harder for the next one.

If you need training to see the tactics of that and be capable of utilising a sword to aid you, then you'd have to have been immensely dense beforehand.

 

[jcheeseright]

I've thought about this at length, and honestly i reckon for 28days later style zombies you need to just GET THE FUCK OUT. For walking dead style zombies a decent hammer should do the job!

 

[Longshot]

I'm fairly sure that anyone can kill something with no functioning brain, with a sword, without training.

Also, I chose a door because it limits the number that can get to me at any one time, plus every time I took one down, it'd make getting through harder for the next one.

If you need training to see the tactics of that and be capable of utilising a sword to aid you, then you'd have to have been immensely dense beforehand.

This all just further compounds my earlier point about people who own swords (read: shaped pieces of metal, because as Tariq points out they are not the same thing) thinking they know how to use them when they clearly don't.

You think you would "stand in a doorway with a katana," a katana being a sword which is primarily designed as a slashing weapon and which requires long slashing motions (and therefore space) to be effective, and even then requires a hell of a lot skill to (a) angle the blade correctly and strike with the right technique to achieve the cut and ( B) not just end up with the blade lodged into your opponent (who in this scenario would then just see you as some some of treat on the end of a long metal stick and eat you). Have you ever tried to actually complete any kind of cutting exercise on a solid target with one of these swords? Or will this skill set just materialise magically?

Moreover, since most of that skill set comes from watching movies, have you ever seen any movie where anyone 'stands in a doorway' whilst effectively wielding a katana? Even Hollywood suspends the suspension of disbelief when an idea is that bad. And what kind of magical doorway is this anyway? Surely after you somehow completed the amazing space-defying cut that fells the first zombie it would just collapse into the room, rather than somehow floating all over the place and blocking anything at all. At best it would cause a lump on the floor that the next one would just walk across. Moreover its fall would likely just further push you into the room, thus defeating the whole object anyway and possibly trapping you in the room, and all of this is if it didn't just yank the sword from your grip as it fell.

I'm sorry for the rant, but If you need training to see how the 'tactics' you've described in utilising such a sword in that way to aid you aren't ridiculous then you'd have to have been immensely dense beforehand.

 

[adam bussey]

This all just further compounds my earlier point about people who own swords (read: shaped pieces of metal, because as Tariq points out they are not the same thing) thinking they know how to use them when they clearly don't.

You think you would "stand in a doorway with a katana," a katana being a sword which is primarily designed as a slashing weapon and which requires long slashing motions (and therefore space) to be effective, and even then requires a hell of a lot skill to (a) angle the blade correctly and strike with the right technique to achieve the cut and ( B) not just end up with the blade lodged into your opponent (who in this scenario would then just see you as some some of treat on the end of a long metal stick and eat you). Have you ever tried to actually complete any kind of cutting exercise on a solid target with one of these swords? Or will this skill set just materialise magically?

Moreover, since most of that skill set comes from watching movies, have you ever seen any movie where anyone 'stands in a doorway' whilst effectively wielding a katana? Even Hollywood suspends the suspension of disbelief when an idea is that bad. And what kind of magical doorway is this anyway? Surely after you somehow completed the amazing space-defying cut that fells the first zombie it would just collapse into the room, rather than somehow floating all over the place and blocking anything at all. At best it would cause a lump on the floor that the next one would just walk across. Moreover its fall would likely just further push you into the room, thus defeating the whole object anyway and possibly trapping you in the room, and all of this is if it didn't just yank the sword from your grip as it fell.

I'm sorry for the rant, but If you need training to see how the 'tactics' you've described in utilising such a sword in that way to aid you aren't ridiculous then you'd have to have been immensely dense beforehand.

what he means is he stands in the room and makes a barricade of dead zombies in the door.

 

[TPI]

A Jap sword is meant for cutting not Stabbing

Different to European sword's which are mean't to primarily Stab then slash

So Ed if you didn't know that then yes many people would need showing how to fight with one in Close quarter's aswell as Pointy doesn't alway's Equal Ouchy..

My self the L85 is Fupping heavy enough according to certain people (Feel's quite light to me actually) to use it kind of like a hammer.

In reality I'd also carry my Glock but I'd use my Bushmaster Spear and my Recurve Bow.

Exsperience = Black Belt Fifth Dan Hakama wearing British Samurai = Tai Gyoku Ryu = Fup you it's hard to get too!

 

[remus]

yup and blades wear down alot quicker than people want to believe. bone has a bad effect on swords. and it will ikely eventually catch/slip out of hands thanks to blood and guts and gore. also its effectiveness is at slashing, most zombie things require destruction of brains( in the walking dead they at one point cut a zombies head off but it dosent actually kill it. similar in some others to my knowledge....

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=not+sure+if+meme&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&authuser=0&ei=TP6sUc68Laqu0QWjv4CIDg&biw=1280&bih=581&sei=Tv6sUfv_HenV0QW1toGwDg#um=1&hl=en&authuser=0&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=not+sure+if+joking+or+serious&oq=not+sure+if+jokin&gs_l=img.3.0.0l5j0i5l3j0i24.160947.163074.0.163969.11.10.1.0.0.0.110.692.9j1.10.0...0.0.0..1c.1.15.img.d7zVdDvvFuM&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.d2k&fp=a10a04a5587ca0d7&biw=1280&bih=581&facrc=_&imgrc=Q1SbVHj-gRUg6M%3A%3BZfY8Gby34gIGWM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fiheartguitarblog.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F05%252F1w58.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fiheartguitarblog.com%252Ftag%252Fnot-sure-if-serious-or-just-joking%3B600%3B450

So you're telling me that an ultra sharp sword isn't capable of cutting through rotting flesh (or anything else apparently) unless the person holding it has been trained? It's a slashing weapon... Yeah, and what? Last time I looked they have pointy ends. Next you'll be telling me I need training to stab someone with a screw driver.

Care to let me attack you with a sword whilst you amble towards me at 2mph? I'm fairly sure you'll realise it's not going to go well for you, even if I was a 2 year old, short sighted toddler.

I'm fully aware that to use it properly takes skill and training, but hacking shit up sloppily is insanely freakin' easy and zombies are hardly elite warriors from Feudal Japan.

Unless I missed that movie?

Also, unless you're autistic and have to take things literally by definition of your condition, I think it's fairly obvious that I mean for them to be killed ahead of the door, so they fall into it on the floor and pile there.

Not to magically hover upright in the center like Jesus on a cross.

 

[Ian_Gere]

I did some bo and jo training when I was a teen, but with my current sword all I've done is chop up wood for my fireplace. It's quite an odd instrument - guard like a katana, double handed varnished wooden grip riveted with brass like a massive steak knife, heavy bar of 316 Stainless Steel which is straight and single edged - it's not that sharp for most of its length, only the tip and 6" or so down is properly sharp. So its legal... its main problem is no ferrule.

A good sword does cost a lot, but it depends what you need it to do as to whether the job takes a good sword to achieve. Cutting rotting flesh wouldn't take a good sword. The point about getting the edge caught in bone is a good one. Not in my case however because most of the length isn't sharp enough - it would just shatter any bone under a good swing of it, like a 'kin broadsword lol! Bear in mind too that light-ish imitation katanas and fantasy swords are not made from folded iron and steel, just any old mid-carbon steel tempered more for spring than hardness, even if the surface of the blade has a pattern resembling a swordsmith's hand placed mud stippled edge or a grain like a damascus steel blade: they are just patterns stamped/etched onto the metal. It would turn after the 1st cut that hit bone, but thereafter it would still be sharp enough to cut rotten flesh but not to jam into bone.

The problem for most of these blades is, like mine, they have no ferrule, so if you did stick 'em with the pointy end and ran the blade even just halfway through, it could be very difficult to pull back out, because flesh sucks tight against a blade unless it's flat sides have a trough or raised hollow ground peak so that air is sucked into the wound as the blade is withdrawn. My sword was made in Pakistan - it has no frills, it's just a bar of steel made for fcuking people up by chops that crush muscle and shatter bone. Decorative swords probably wouldn't last chopping through more than a handful of zombies - you'd be better off with a machete, parang, or bill-hook, or maybe a full size kukri.

James is right about 28 Days Later stylee zombies though, except I've never seen a zombie film where the survivors have used Molotov cocktails. You'd have to imagine that burning saturated solution of sugar in petrol with a dash of washing up liquid for that extra splash-ability would put paid to the gnash-ambitions of pretty much anything...

 

[Tariq]

I wouldn't carry a sword. Its quite impractical as you can't really do much else with it apart from kill, and not that effectively. Machete type blades would be the best, easier to maintain, still carry some power and tend to slice better.

Do love my Parang. Went camping in Malaysia, brought it back after using it for a while there. Used it over here for camping and cutting up logs for firewood. Still sharp

 

[remus]

any sword could kill the problem being to kill many. if zombies come one by one no pushing and shoving flip you could do it with a screwdriver. infact i dont think many of us would worry as much about the zombie apoc if thats all they are capable of. its when they pack tight in large numbers all coming through your door at once, attracting and ever increasing number of zombies that it becomes a bad tactic. course in that case lock the door, use you katanna to futher bar the door and look for a way out safely.... and if all your doing is hacking and slashing, most other melee weapons could do the same/ similar thing better.

have to say im glad noone has mentioned a chainsaw yet....

 

[Ian_Gere]

You'd have to modify a chainsaw to make it much use as a weapon - take the chain brake off so you can swing it around to use at various angles and reroute the air intake so that it doesn't get clogged and stop the engine if the saw goes through clothing &/or flesh (as it is designed to do). Which would also mean that one tired-arm slip from you and that's you finding the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" ironic...

(because you'll never walk again)

 

[Longshot]

Let's break this down:

"So you're telling me that an ultra sharp sword isn't capable of cutting through rotting flesh (or anything else apparently) unless the person holding it has been trained? It's a slashing weapon... Yeah, and what? Last time I looked they have pointy ends. Next you'll be telling me I need training to stab someone with a screw driver."

No, I'm telling you (for about the 10th time) that the katana is a weapon that cannot be utilised the way it should be - as a slashing and cutting weapon - since you chose to stand in a doorway with it! Then I'm telling you that if you want a stabbing weapon you'd actually be better off with the screwdriver since it is light, straight and only about 6 inches long, and is therefore easier to put where you want it to go, as well as being easy to retract quickly. A katana on the other hand is far heavier, curved and about two foot long, meaning that you are highly unlikely to put it where you want it to go with any degree of accuracy or force (when you bear in mind that you target here is a brain which will present itself as a target of about four inches wide and three inches high from the front) and also meaning that it is far likely that you're not going to get it back again the first time you screw up and embed it somewhere in the zombie's jaw.

"Care to let me attack you with a sword whilst you amble towards me at 2mph? I'm fairly sure you'll realise it's not going to go well for you, even if I was a 2 year old, short sighted toddler."

At 2mph a zombie would be over the 6 inch threshold of your doorway in under a second. This means that you have basically one chance to stab it (since we've established that only an idiot would try slashing through a doorframe) through the skull and into the brain forcefully enough to stop it completely. As also already established, that's probably just not going to happen. Moreover, even if you weren't so badly positioned in a dooorway I still doubt that you'd be anywhere near being effective at stopping this zombie because, as has been bought out here by several people who know more than you on the topic, doing it with any degree of effectivess requires skill. You would have to litterally cut the thing's head in half or off to stop it. This requires cutting through both flesh and bone, and your katana can be as 'ultra sharp' as you like but unless you land it exactly on the point of the sharp edge with the weight of the blade following correctly behind it (something which does require skill and training) you're most likely just going to find that you just keep smacking chunks out of the zombie's arms (at least until the blade dulls, as it will after the first few times it hits any bone) and that the zombie just keeps coming. The best you could hope to achieve would be just to smash its head in through repeated heavy blows with your piece of metal, and, again, there are far better bits of metal for that job than a katana. None of which work all that well in a doorway.

"I'm fully aware that to use it properly takes skill and training, but hacking shit up sloppily is insanely freakin' easy and zombies are hardly elite warriors from Feudal Japan."

Except (for the 11th time), you won't be hacking anything up in a doorway.

"Unless I missed that movie?"

I've already told you that they've never made a movie where anyone hacks anything up with a katana in a doorway; that's how stupid an idea it is. Even Jason Statham turned it down.

"Also, unless you're autistic and have to take things literally by definition of your condition, I think it's fairly obvious that I mean for them to be killed ahead of the door, so they fall into it on the floor and pile there."

So now you're not killing them in a doorway, you're just bascially stood outside a building? You're also still using your katana I assume, which is a weapon that is going to need about four foot of space minimum to wield effectively. So now you're four foot away from a doorway, the zombies attacking you can easily surround you and (here comes that magic again) the ones you kill are now apparently not just falling down four foot from the door (as the laws of physics suggest they would) but actually helping you out by taking themselves over to the doorway and lying down atop one another (moving a little bit to let you pass when you're ready to head inside I assume?). And if, at this point, you're thinking: "yeah but I'd be walking backward while I killed them so that would create a pile up as I moved through the doorway!" No (for the 12th time) as you walked backward you would once again find that you are in a doorway and so can longer wield the katana.

FINAL RECAP OF YOUR PLAN:

1, Stand four foot from a doorway.

2, Hack wildly at approaching lead zombie.

3, Have trouble getting its head because of its outstreched arms which aren't flying off like they do in the movies because you have no skill with your katana, which is also now basically blunt.

4, Hack even more wildy as you realise other zombies are now surrounding you.

5, Luckily smash the first zombie's head and then look confused as it falls sideways, nowhere near the doorway and leads to no sort of 'pile up.'

6, Retreat back toward doorway.

7, Swing at next zombie.

8, Wonder where sword has gone and realise it is now stuck in the doorframe.

9, Piss pants.

10, Run through doorway and manage to actually retrieve sword as you go.

11, Try to stab zombie.

12, Miss.

13, Try to stab zombie.

14, Miss.

15, Try to stab zombie and manage to drive the sword through its cheek where sword becomes lodged.

16, Shit pants.

17, Run away (provided you have entered somewhere with another exit).

18, Find new pants.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

Lol, I'll have to keep an eye on you. I can scarcely imagine how you might over analyse someone making a thread about riding Unicorns with miniguns attached to them or something.

Sweet baby Jesus.

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/35155082.jpg

 

[Dan_W]

Let's break this down:

"So you're telling me that an ultra sharp sword isn't capable of cutting through rotting flesh (or anything else apparently) unless the person holding it has been trained? It's a slashing weapon... Yeah, and what? Last time I looked they have pointy ends. Next you'll be telling me I need training to stab someone with a screw driver."

No, I'm telling you (for about the 10th time) that the katana is a weapon that cannot be utilised the way it should be - as a slashing and cutting weapon - since you chose to stand in a doorway with it! Then I'm telling you that if you want a stabbing weapon you'd actually be better off with the screwdriver since it is light, straight and only about 6 inches long, and is therefore easier to put where you want it to go, as well as being easy to retract quickly. A katana on the other hand is far heavier, curved and about two foot long, meaning that you are highly unlikely to put it where you want it to go with any degree of accuracy or force (when you bear in mind that you target here is a brain which will present itself as a target of about four inches wide and three inches high from the front) and also meaning that it is far likely that you're not going to get it back again the first time you screw up and embed it somewhere in the zombie's jaw.

"Care to let me attack you with a sword whilst you amble towards me at 2mph? I'm fairly sure you'll realise it's not going to go well for you, even if I was a 2 year old, short sighted toddler."

At 2mph a zombie would be over the 6 inch threshold of your doorway in under a second. This means that you have basically one chance to stab it (since we've established that only an idiot would try slashing through a doorframe) through the skull and into the brain forcefully enough to stop it completely. As also already established, that's probably just not going to happen. Moreover, even if you weren't so badly positioned in a dooorway I still doubt that you'd be anywhere near being effective at stopping this zombie because, as has been bought out here by several people who know more than you on the topic, doing it with any degree of effectivess requires skill. You would have to litterally cut the thing's head in half or off to stop it. This requires cutting through both flesh and bone, and your katana can be as 'ultra sharp' as you like but unless you land it exactly on the point of the sharp edge with the weight of the blade following correctly behind it (something which does require skill and training) you're most likely just going to find that you just keep smacking chunks out of the zombie's arms (at least until the blade dulls, as it will after the first few times it hits any bone) and that the zombie just keeps coming. The best you could hope to achieve would be just to smash its head in through repeated heavy blows with your piece of metal, and, again, there are far better bits of metal for that job than a katana. None of which work all that well in a doorway.

"I'm fully aware that to use it properly takes skill and training, but hacking shit up sloppily is insanely freakin' easy and zombies are hardly elite warriors from Feudal Japan."

Except (for the 11th time), you won't be hacking anything up in a doorway.

"Unless I missed that movie?"

I've already told you that they've never made a movie where anyone hacks anything up with a katana in a doorway; that's how stupid an idea it is. Even Jason Statham turned it down.

"Also, unless you're autistic and have to take things literally by definition of your condition, I think it's fairly obvious that I mean for them to be killed ahead of the door, so they fall into it on the floor and pile there."

So now you're not killing them in a doorway, you're just bascially stood outside a building? You're also still using your katana I assume, which is a weapon that is going to need about four foot of space minimum to wield effectively. So now you're four foot away from a doorway, the zombies attacking you can easily surround you and (here comes that magic again) the ones you kill are now apparently not just falling down four foot from the door (as the laws of physics suggest they would) but actually helping you out by taking themselves over to the doorway and lying down atop one another (moving a little bit to let you pass when you're ready to head inside I assume?). And if, at this point, you're thinking: "yeah but I'd be walking backward while I killed them so that would create a pile up as I moved through the doorway!" No (for the 12th time) as you walked backward you would once again find that you are in a doorway and so can longer wield the katana.

FINAL RECAP OF YOUR PLAN:

1, Stand four foot from a doorway.

2, Hack wildly at approaching lead zombie.

3, Have trouble getting its head because of its outstreched arms which aren't flying off like they do in the movies because you have no skill with your katana, which is also now basically blunt.

4, Hack even more wildy as you realise other zombies are now surrounding you.

5, Luckily smash the first zombie's head and then look confused as it falls sideways, nowhere near the doorway and leads to no sort of 'pile up.'

6, Retreat back toward doorway.

7, Swing at next zombie.

8, Wonder where sword has gone and realise it is now stuck in the doorframe.

9, Piss pants.

10, Run through doorway and manage to actually retrieve sword as you go.

11, Try to stab zombie.

12, Miss.

13, Try to stab zombie.

14, Miss.

15, Try to stab zombie and manage to drive the sword through its cheek where sword becomes lodged.

16, Shit pants.

17, Run away (provided you have entered somewhere with another exit).

18, Find new pants.

And how many times did you draft this?

 

[Pointman PUG]

Lol, I'll have to keep an eye on you. I can scarcely imagine how you might over analyse someone making a thread about riding Unicorns with miniguns attached to them or something.

Sweet baby Jesus.

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/35155082.jpg

ed.....totally agree!

longshot....your reply is quite funny!....but have you looked at how the context of what your saying can be taken as a bit of an insult!

I started this thread as a bit of a laugh...let your imagination run wild and let your inner child's imagination to run free......

If you want boundaries then here they are

George A Romero style shambling zombies.....thats what I grew up with

any damage to the brain counts

beheading will work but it take a minute or two for the twitching

the older the corpse....the easier it will be (so using your fully auto 350 fps rifle with a high cap mag should make a mess of a 5 week old zombie.....just dont shoot your mate thats just turned...it'll just piss him off)

zombies are scared of flames

Finally......grow a sense of humor.....its hard enough being an airsofter without this bitchin and infighting!

now everyone hug,say sorry and go fight the feckin zombies!!!

 

[Chippins]

Technique doesnt matter when fighting zombies with no sense of self preservation, you'd practically point the sharp end at a zombies face and wait for it to walk into it, only really gonna get probelms if you start being fancy and try to chop shit up, or your blade goes dull.

That said i think my ideal zombie apocalypse weapon set would be a few russian trenching tools and polearm of some sort (probably a billhook or some sort of makeshift halberd) My airsoft kit would be more useful in that I wear proper kevlar plates and have one of those badass russian K6-3 helmets to stop zombie insides getting all over my face and oakley gloves have carbon fiber knuckle plates for any altercations that may occour.

Carrying a fake rifle of some sort may also make other survivors think twice before starting something too.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

Well, in that case PUG...

I'd just stand no where near a doorway with one of my large metal poles with a screw driver on the end, after having extensive, weapon specific training!

(Officer, problem?)

Ain't no zombies getting through around that area then!

Airsoft guns vs 28 Days Later style rage-zombies? You are fucked my friend.

Walking Dead style, been rotting for a few months, you'd probably have a fair chance against them. Though, not as fair a chance as you might get from, say... A hammer. Or really, anything else.

W... Wait a second... I think there's a glitch in the Matrix! D=

 

[Pointman PUG]

Well, in that case PUG...



I'd just stand no where near a doorway with one of my large metal poles with a screw driver on the end, after having extensive, weapon specific training!

(Officer, problem?)



Ain't no zombies getting through around that area then!





Airsoft guns vs 28 Days Later style rage-zombies? You are fucked my friend.

Walking Dead style, been rotting for a few months, you'd probably have a fair chance against them. Though, not as fair a chance as you might get from, say... A hammer. Or really, anything else.

W... Wait a second... I think there's a glitch in the Matrix! D=

feckin LOL..... <3