Just to get it out of the way, I’ve commented before on firearms in TWD. First, the characters (all of them, not just Our Gang) are incredibly stupid with ammunition. As Eugene noted last season, ammunition is a finite resource. Blasting away on automatic is Good Television™, but it’s stupid in that world. Secondly, there are far too many automatic weapons. You can find AR-15s and AKMs all over the place. What you’re going to find rather few of are M-16s (plausible though, because of amouries), and automatic AKMs/AK-47s/AK-74s and other such weapons. Semi-auto, yes. Auto… not so much. In any case…
I was just thinking about the weapons characters choose. Abraham is a ‘dedicated soldier’; someone who, when I was at Edwards AFB, was called ‘ate up’. He’s really into it. He carries an M-16. Not an M-16A1 with the forward-assist; his has the non-FA upper receiver. Abraham rocks it old-school with the non-FA upper, the triangular handguards, and the three-prong flash hider. (The lower has the guard around the magazine release button, and the non-swivelling swivel on the buttstock.) Abe’s weapon of choice fits him.
Tyreese chose an M1 carbine. Here’s a guy who really doesn’t want to kill anyone. He didn’t want or need the firepower the others liked, but he needed something. The M1 carbine is lightweight and has very little recoil. Just the thing for a less-experienced user.
Rick was a small-town sheriff the (fictional) King County, Georgia. He seems the type, who would carry a Colt Python .357 Magnum in his small-town jurisdiction, rather than the kind of automatics favoured by his big-city colleagues. It fits him. (He sure aims it funny, though.)
In I think the second episode, where Glenn gets Rick out of the tank, there was a M2 (with ammo) mounted on the tank - and a tank. While I’ve never driven a tank, I think I would have at least tried to plow my way out of Zombieville before hiking out, and while getting an M2 and ammo off the tank in a swarm would be hard, it’d sure be handy to have if you (and at least 1 buddy) could go back after they had dispersed. The Governor had a confiscated tank when he visited the prison, too.
The Governor bushwhacked a decently sized military unit and got their weapons before that town fell, and any military units over run by walkers would have weapons left behind for somebody to pick up. It does seem like the surviving population is well armed, and as many times as they’ve had to “drop your weapons!” they seem to re-spawn like a video game almost.
It’s possible the crew stayed with the tank until it ran out of fuel, or were killed or incapacitated with it running. I think it’s likely there was no way to move the tank.
In keeping with the the intention of the thread, I can’t think of an Our Gang character the tank would ‘fit’ in the same way the old-style M-16 ‘fits’ Abe, the M1 carbine fit Tyreese, or the Colt Python fits Rick.
I still cant get over Darryl using a freaking crossbow. Why would you use a slow loading one shot weapon in that situation? Except for artificial dramatic effect?
The crossbow – A perfectly adequate and quiet ranged weapon!
I never understood why the characters didn’t employ spears more often, myself. An easy-to-use anti-zombie tool, perfectly re-useable! You would need a gun only against a really big mob of walkers.
I used to get a catalogue in the '80s and '90s from a company that sold knives. They sold a hunga munga. I called ‘An… implement.’ Apparently they became popular on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I’ve never seen the show (only the original movie). Anyway, it might be useful against zombies.
But it’s not a firearm, perfectly paired with a character.
Yes, the zombie apocalypse could be defeated by one of our oldest inventions. A group of people with spears and a bit of training could kill walkers by the hundreds. Fatigue would be a factor. And they’d need to stick to open spaces and always keep an escape route open. That’s boring to watch, though. More exciting to run up close and stab them with a little knife.
Honestly I can’t say I’ve noticed anyone carrying more than a backpack or couple bags with them for any distance or length of time. Ammunition doesn’t take up a ton of space (a backpack’s worth) but it weighs an effin LOT. But it sure doesn’t look like anyone’s lugging around 50 pounds of brass and lead (approx what 1000 rounds of .45 would weigh) in any of their packs.
No self respecting tanker would get off the tank to do anything that could be done mounted Still, 3.5 gallons/km makes for a thirsty zombie crusher in an environment where fuel isn’t coming in twice a day LOGPACs (Logistics Packages).
The M2HB is 84 lbs (barrel and receiver group) before you start talking carrying ammo along. It’s a heavy and awkward load to walk around with. You can remove the 24 lb barrel. You better hope the headspace and timing gauge hasn’t gotten lost and you know how to use it after you reinstall the barrel. Without confirming headspace and timing you can run into failures to fire, stoppages or the not so minor issue of having the weapon rapidly and violently deconstruct itself in your face. The tank doesn’t carry a tripod to ground mount it either. Coming up with a mounting that would be able to handle the weight and recoil is a whole other challenge before that heavy chunk of metal is actually useful.
The two M240s and their 11k rounds of 7.62mm in the basic load would be more useful. They aren’t the M240B for ground use. They lack things like a buttstock, bipod, and hand grips. You could at least steal the asbestos mitten off the tank in order to hold directly onto the barrel if you wanted to fire from the hip though. Jury rigging a ground mount would be easier due to lower weight and recoil, too.
That would be nice, but a long-hafted weapon like a spear would be better. Keep the zombies at a distance. (A small group of well-trained people wielding spears would be very effective against a bunch of walkiers.) A knife would be a last resort.
They’re quiet so they won’t attract more walkers, in practiced hands they’re lethal, and making new ammunition for one will be easier for the post-apocalyptic survivor than making new bullets.
Its a death sentence in a situation where there are several walkers in close proximity or two or more human enemies. If they had him also carry a firearm…
Moving an M2 involves one person to carry the barrel, one person to carry the weapon. You’d probably want at least two more to carry a couple cans of ammunition for it. Even broken down like that, the people on the show don’t really seem to be in the right sort of shape to move them very far. (I presume the distance from downtown where the tank was to the railhead where they parked the car was several miles.)
And then you’d have a weapon that’s great at taking care of light vehicles, but is complete overkill on human sized bodies. Or, preferably, human sized heads.
I always thought the same. As zombie killing is very specific, all you really need is a sturdy pointed stick without any flaring or edges that could catch and make withdrawing the weapon difficult. Choke points are great because then your spearmen can swap out, allowing the team to fight longer. Poke, pull, retarget, poke, pull, retarget, etc. And Glenn had the right idea - raid every sports supply store for catchers gear, shin, ankle and forearm guards, etc. Protect yourself, especially when you know there is a big fight coming.
Still, 3.5 gallons/km makes for a thirsty zombie crusher in an environment where fuel isn’t coming in twice a day LOGPACs (Logistics Packages).
