Weapons of the Zombie Apocalypse

By Glenn Dean

The Zombie Apocalypse is coming – will you be a survivor? Can you tell an AK-47 from an AR-15, and know which one is the better choice when hunting zombies? This book explains the critical information you need to know in order to properly select and employ the weapons you will need to survive the coming invasion of the zombie hordes. It examines in detail the best ways to kill zombies; how to select the right personal weapons to employ; how to pick a vehicle to traverse the zombie-infested wasteland of the future; and how to select the right tactics to defend you and your loved ones from the zombie horde. This is a crucial reference no future zombie hunter or zombie apocalypse survivor should be without.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glenn Dean
• Release date: Mar 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476324951

Glenn Dean

Glenn Dean was commissioned as an Armor officer through the Army ROTC program at the Florida Institute of Technology with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. He was subsequently assigned to operational Armor and Cavalry assignments in the 24th Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, and the 1st Cavalry Division, as well as a tour in Recruiting Command. After completing graduate work in Industrial & Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he transitioned to the Army Acquisition career field. He currently works in weapons systems development and has worked in combat development, program management, and technology development in the fields of small arms, medium caliber cannons, ammunition, and combat vehicles.

Book preview

Weapons of the Zombie Apocalypse

By Glenn Dean

Copyright © 2012 by Glenn Dean. All Rights Reserved.

Smashwords Edition

All photos and illustrations are in the public domain.

Smashwords License Statement

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover photo: Fougasse, an ideal weapon for the Zombie Apocalypse. UK Government photo via Wikimedia Commons.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1: Zombie Lethality

Chapter 2: Small Arms and Melee Weapons

Chapter 3: Hand Thrown/Emplaced and Shoulder- Launched Weapons

Chapter 4: Incendiary and Improvised Weapons

Chapter 5: Vehicles

Chapter 6: Aircraft

Chapter 7: Big Guns

Chapter 8: Other Weapons

Chapter 9: Tactics

Conclusion

About the Author

Introduction

With the coming end of the Mayan Long Count calendar in December 2012, many believe that the end of the world is nigh. The question is: what form will the end of the world take, and what happens after the end of the world on 22 December 2012?

Recent US government actions provide clues to the answers to both of those questions. In May 2011 the US Center for Disease Control published a guide called Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp) that provided guidelines for preparation and family action in case of an emergency. According to a June 2011 press release, US Army stood up the Zombie Combat Command (http://zombiecombatcommand.com/), and published Field Manual 999-3: Counter-Zombie Operations at the Fire Team Level (http://www.box.com/shared/154kr4e0vz). The message could not be clearer: the coming post-2012 apocalypse is a Zombie Apocalypse, unleashed by a viral plague, where Earth’s living billions will be turned into and overcome by a ravenous, flesh-eating horde of the living dead.

The mainstream press is becoming ever-more aware of the coming apocalypse. In February 2012 noted disaster preparation experts at The Weather Channel released a video guide titled How the Weather the Zombie Apocalypse (http://www.weather.com/outlook/home-family/holidays/articles/zombie-apocalypse-weather_2011-10-11). Noted institutions of higher learning are studying the issue, and issuing general theories and guidelines about how to respond. Of note is that while the CDC’s Preparedness 101 focused strictly on non-violent defensive preparation for the apocalypse, leading university studies indicate our response should be otherwise. The landmark University of Ottawa study When Zombies Attack: Mathematical Modeling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection (http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/Zombies.pdf) comes to the chilling conclusion that passive measures cannot suffice, and even developing a cure to stop the infection behind the Zombie Apocalypse cannot long provide a stable coexistence between zombies and humans. In short: the only defense is active measures. As the Ottawa study states:

"In summary, a zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilisation, unless it is dealt with quickly. While aggressive quarantine may contain the epidemic, or a cure may lead to coexistence of humans and zombies, the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often."

While other zombie researchers have come to similar conclusions, there are few guides for the general public on how to aggressively respond to a zombie outbreak. Noted researcher Max Brooks, in his 2003 Zombie Survival Guide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zombie_Survival_Guide), does provide a good analysis of various types of zombies, as well as provide historical set of vignettes about zombie attacks as well as analysis of weapons and survival techniques. It falls short in detailed analysis of weapons effects and weapons choice, however. This is an area of study where the analysis and advice of a dedicated military weapons developer and tactician like the author of this book may provide additional insight.

This book is intended to provide that additional detailed insight to help you become a Zombie Apocalypse survivor. Relying on the technologies and analysis used to develop modern military weapons, this book provides a survey of the range of weapons choices and effects available to the apocalypse survivor, and indicates what general types of weapons would be preferred for selection based on effectiveness, ease of use, and availability. We will show that weapon selection for the Zombie Apocalypse differs greatly from weapons applications for use between living combatants, and that many traditional military weapons prove frighteningly ineffective in a zombie defense scenario.

This book contains nine chapters. In chapter 1, we’ll explore zombie biology and zombie defeat mechanisms – in other words, zombie lethality – in order to set the underlying parameters and theory of weapon selection. Chapter 2 will explore small arms and other hand-carried ranged and melee weapons. Chapter 3 will examine hand-thrown and emplaced munitions; chapter 4 will explore incendiary and improvised weapons. Chapters 5 and 6 will then look at various vehicle and aircraft transportation choices, while chapters 7 and 8 will examine long-range weapons such as rockets and artillery as well as other unusual weapons. Chapter 9 will provide some suggestions on the tactics of employment for the various weapons covered, as well as guidelines for offensive and defensive preparation. Finally, we’ll summarize what we’ve learned with a few final recommendations to the zombie defender given the few months left to prepare for the apocalypse.

Chapter 1: Zombie Lethality

Before analyzing the preferred weapons with which to fight the hordes of the Zombie Apocalypse, you must first understand how to defeat a zombie, which of course relies on knowledge of zombie biology. While there are other works that go into greater detail on the many variations on zombie biology, most notably the Zombie Survival Guide, we will provide sufficient discussion here to understand the basics as well as to