How can you tout your Zombie Survival Tips with no mention of firearms?
I would like to know the best caliber to use. The bulk of the literature involving the proper way to dispatch zombies involve a shot to the head. Also, there is usually an admonishment to not get zombie blood in your eyes, mouth or cuts. Thus, I would surmise that it would be a good idea to use the smallest caliber weapon possible to avoid large splatter.
Hey CDC, you could answer that question! I'll warn ya though, it will get debated.
I think it would be good to invest in some decent bio-hazard protection gear too. Can't be too careful ya know.
You will want a decent size bullet. Remember that this isn't Holleywood and as such brains don't just explode with a whisper silent .22LR round. Also it depends on the type of "zombie" we're dealing with. Some of the variations out there we're simply dealing with a virus that causes swelling of the brain, loss of the use of the frontal lobe, a hunger for living human flesh, and severe halitosis. Others cause the actual cells to reanimate and continue performing the basic instincts located primarily in the brain stem. Also regardless of which type of zombie it is they don't feel pain and you can't send their body into shock.
Now if we're dealing with the first zombie ("Zombieland" and "28 Days Later" are good examples of these kinds of zombies) they "can" die from other wounds via bleeding out (but note that their blood seems to clot quicker than normal and they can live with wounds that would kill a normal human), but shots to the head are the quickest way to stop them. Caliber isn't a huge but you want it big enough to be able to punch through a thick skull and deal a good amount of damage. As everyone knows someone can survive a shot to the head from a small caliber bullet, and with zombies they have even more of their brain that they can live without. If you can really call it "living."
If we're dealing with the second type of zombie ("Dawn of the Dead" or any of the "Resident Evil" movies) where you shoot them and the size of the caliber matter a lot more. The zombies don't need any blood to survive and so they can't eventually die from gratuitous amounts of blood loss. Hell most of the time the blood has already colagulated with these zombies. No, what is needed here is either severe damage to the brain or brain stem. Thanks to Holleywood magic you would think that any bullet that enters the brain makes it magically turn into pink/red smoke but that just isn't the case! You are going to want to have the largest reasonble caliber. And by that I mean nothing smaller than a .40 when working with partners (you don't want to accidentally punch through the zombie and hit a partner on the othe side as your survivor numbers are already extremely low), and the bigger the better when aiming in directions that don't have survivors. That .50 cal you've been wanting to try? Go for it! Hell it just might take down multiple zombies. Ma'Duece mounted at head level? Watermelon shooting spree!
So just remember, head shots are important. Heads don't just blow up with any caliber. And be mindful of where other survivors are. Oh and have tons of ammo. Having a bajillion different guns does you no good if you don't have any ammo to use them!