You awake in the "World War Z" universe, choose your weapon....

Cafe Society
1

By some strange twist of fate, you awake within the Post Apocalyptic Universe described in both the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z, you’re in a walled compound that is under siege by Zacks (Zombies), before you can join the defensive forces on the wall, you are issued your .22 caliber rifle(s) guns that use removable mags are issued two mags per gun, if you use a tube fed gun, you are issued two guns, why two? so you always have a loaded weapon ready, as well as backup for any equipment failures, once you deplete your current rifle, the loading crew hands you a freshly loaded weapon and takes the empty one back to load it up, this compound was not able to secure a supply of extended magazines, so you are limited to factory magazines

Why .22’s, this compound did not prepare in time, and that’s all that was left as available weaponry, all the bigger calibers had been taken

Thankfully, per the ZSG, the .22 round is more than capable of punching through a zombie skull and scrambling their Braaaiiiinnnsss

the choices in the poll are the only options, as the gun store had been picked clean by the time your compound got to it

here are your options;

Ruger 77/22 Bolt Action with 10 shot Ruger rotary mags (two per rifle)
Ruger 10/22 semiauto with 10 shot Ruger rotary mags (two per rifle)
Marlin Model 795 semiauto with 10 shot Marlin stick mag (two per rifle)
Marlin Model 60 semiauto, 14 round tube magazine (two rifles)
Savage Mark II-G Bolt Action with 10 round stick magazine (two per rifle)
CZ-452 Trainer Bolt Action with 10 round stick magazine (two per rifle)
Marlin Model 39a Lever Action with 19 round tube magazine (two rifles)
Remington 552 Speedmaster semiauto with 15 round tube magazine (two rifles)
Henry Lever Action with 15 round tube magazine (two rifles)
All guns are iron sights only, scopes have been looted too

all three lengths of .22 ammo are available and all are capable of pulping Zombie gray matter

Choose your weapon and your ammo…

I would choose the Marlin 39 lever action, first because leverguns are just plain cool, they have that little extra something missing from mass-produced bolt/semiauto rifles, secondly because it has the highest capacity tube magazine (19+1 Long Rifle, 21+1 Long, 26+1 Short), thirdly because it can eat all three case lengths (S, L, LR) in the same tube, you can even mix them up and it’ll eat 'em all without complaining, thirdly, it has the longest barrel, so it’ll be quieter than it’s competitors, that might not matter on a firing line, but if you ever need to stop a Zack on your own, the Model 39A’s BANG will be the quietest of the bunch, fourth, Marlin’s MicroGroove rifling is just incredible, great accuracy

The Henry lever and Remington Speedmaster are also able to eat S, L, and LR interchangably as well

So, choose your Zombie Shootin’ Iron and help defend the compound…

2

I picked the Ruger 10/22, having read WWZ/ZSG and knowing that small calibers work fine. However, not having read the OP, I assumed there would be bigger/more clips available. Still taking them. Decent quality, accurate firearms with enough power to do the job, while still having little kick and being fairly easy to use.

If you’re saying the tube-feed rifles are two-per-person, that makes things interesting. Two rifles each means if one breaks over the head of a zombie or fails, there’s still one left. Heavier to carry than just one, but they offer redundancy.

3

I took the Marlin 39a lever action, mostly because it has the largest magazine. Really not happy about having only a damn .22, and not even a .22 magnum available. Can I at least get some hollow points? I care enough to send the very best…

And I’ll be looking for an upgrade asap…preferably a Winchester '94 in .357 magnum, with a sidearm chambered for the same round. Or a shotgun, preferably a pump, without the plug, and a .357 magnum sidearm…

4

Can’t I get a Lobo?

5

Trick question. You take the katana because it doesn’t run out of ammo and won’t make noise that will attract other zombies.

6

Aaaaaaaaand, dead inside five minutes. :stuck_out_tongue:

7

Okay, Oakminister, you can have your choice of HP ammo, do you prefer high-velocity, hyper velocity, standard velocity, or subsonic?

There are a limited number of 10/22’s with 1:9 twist barrels for the Augila Subsonic Sniper 60 grain loads, but feeding/eject can be a little fussy with those rounds as they’re a .22 Short casing topped with a looonng 60 grain projectile…

Lobos/machetes and other meelee striking/bludgeoning/cutting weapons are being made, but are not yet available, once ready, they will be available to any defender who wants one, but even then, the .22 rifle has one big advantage over hand-to-hand weaponry, distance, it can more effectively drop a zombie from a distance

to elaborate a little further on why I chose the Marlin 39, since .22 Shorts are able to pulp zombie gray matter, I simply load the tube up with 27 rounds of .22 Short, and can go longer between reloads/gun swaps

…I blame the “Still Alive” podcast as the reason I posted this thread, I’ve been listening to it over the past few days and enjoying it, it’s a well written and acted show, if not a little predictable and aggravating at times

8

Totally hypothetical question, fellow zombiekillers: if by some coincidence you had to teach some schmuck how to fire a rifle whose most relevant experience is playing Quake, which rifle would you teach? The options are locked to those in the OP.

9

For a newbie shooter, I’d start them off on a bolt action, teaches proper shot control, shot conservation and making every shot count, bolts tend to be generally more accurate than semiautos or levers as well

With a semiauto, a newb would have to resist the urge to “spray n’ pray”, it would be possible to do this with a lever as well, but not as easily as with a semi

10

If a .22 does the job, then cool. I’d rather have lightweight, readily available ammo than something heavy and hard to find. Remember, you don’t need “stopping power”, you just need to put a bullet in the head.

11

F-that.

When the zombie take over comes, I don’t want to be that close to them. I’d prefer an AK with a collapsible stock and an 80 round drum. Combine that with a 9mm and I’ll be feeling somewhat secure. For a silent weapon, I’d go bow and arrow.

I suppose as the last line of defense, I’d want a Lobo or something… I wouldn’t take it as my primary though…

As to 22’s, I’m not really familiar enough with them to choose from.

12

Since I don’t know how to shoot, if I’m on the wall with my fellow survivors, I’ll take a polearm.

13

Don’t forget, only a head shot will do- spraying rounds everywhere may not really help you.

I seem to recall from the books that edged weapons were favored for close quarters, while sniper rifles were favored for long distance. Watch the blood spray, though- doesn’t solanum transfer pretty easily?

God, I’m a geek…

14

I went with the Marlin 60 since I already have one of those. Easy to use, accurate, fairly easy to clean and maintain. With a little practice the tube magazine is very easy to quickly reload. One drawback I can think of is that the Marlin 60 does have a bit of a jamming problem if not cleaned properly.

15

I’ll take the Marlin lever-action, and hopefully a metric fuck-ton of ammo.

16

I picked the lever action Henry, but I’d probably take the bolt action too. Why? I’ve never fired a gun. I know a little about guns, and like them a lot, and am not afraid of them, but never got my hands on a real one. I have always heard that the bolt & lever action ones are easiest to learn and easiest to maintain - is that the case? Cause I gotta go a long, long way with this gun, and I’ll have to clean not only zombie blood out of it but sand and grit and dirt, too.

I’m sure if you gave me a semi-auto I’d have it jammed up at the worst possible moment.

17

I chose a Remington 552 because it’s the one I’m most familiar with and it’s versatile. For my non-firing weaponry I’d take a machete and a katana (one of the real and sharp ones, not the kind you buy in gas stations and sci-fi cons).

18

Blunt objects don’t seize up, need reloading or sharpening. I’ll take a nice heavy cricket bat, thanks.

19

Ruger 10/22. I’ll stick with what I know, and I know the 10/22 very well. I must have put 10s of thousands of rounds through various rifles over the years. I can regularly pot clay pigeons out to 50 yards with one, so if I can see the zombie, I can hit him. As for ammo, give me Winchester Target loads.

20

Mika, the bolt is easiest to maintain and clean, the Henry lever is a bit more complex, however it is a great firearm, butter smooth action, light, pointable , and easy to carry all day, it’s just a little harder to clean than a bolt, run a boresnake down the bore when accuracy drops off and you’re good

The Marlin 39A is easier to clean (separates at the receiver, is a take-down folding design) but a bit heavier, the 39A is made of forged steel and American Black Walnut, and is one of the oldest continually produced shouldered firearms in the world, the design is over 100 years old and even predates the 1911 handgun…

The Henry is a newer, modern interpretation of the classic levergun, not as heavy as the 39A, the Henry has a much better warranty to boot and Henry has stellar customer service (not that that would matter in the zompocalypse though)

Wonder how .22 tracer rounds would work on zombies, maybe a rimfire version of the 5.56 P.I.E. Rounds?