Zombie Apocalypse Guide

Prefered calibers

This chapter deals with the ideal calibers for both your primary and secondary firearms, as well as a small section on the ineffectiveness of certain novelty rounds/calibers

Calibers are judged upon their lethality, range, weight/bulk, and their availability in gunstores or ability to be scavenged from undead military/police personal. (It is assumed that the reader lives in a NATO country as their standard is 556 rifle rounds and 9mm for most small arms. Many of the rounds are compared to their peers (Ex saying a pistol round has good range means in comparison to other pistol rounds)

While one caliber might be more prefered, your personal circumstances or familarity with a caliber might change this

Weapons are Prefered to be chambered in the following calibers

556- It is less bulky and weighs less then other rifle rounds (you can carry more rounds), a low recoil,  but less lethallity then 7.62x39. Many argue that the 7.62 is supperior due to its increased lethality, but I will make the following counter arugments. Against the undead unless they are wearing a ballistic helmet, a rifle shot to the head is practically always a kill. If fighting the living, suppresive fire is a cornerstone of modern tactics, as such you can carry more 556 then 762. In summery the extra weight and bulk of the 762 does not justify the increased lethality or range.  It is also very abundant, as it is used by the U.S military and law enforcement, which makes it easy to scavenge. Additonally if your firearm is chambered in 556, you also safely fire 223 in it. Most if not all gunshops sell 556 or 223 rounds.

9mm- Widely found in gun stores and is used by the military and most law enforcement. While it has less stopping power then heavier pistol calibers, shooting a zombie in the head with a 9mm has a similar result compared to 45 acp. You can also carry more rounds then heavier calibers and it is widely abundant.

22lr- Ok, so I know I discredit stopping power and lethality a lot, but 22lr has really bad lethality and range. Yes it kills and wounds and is most definitily not a toy... but it sucks with ballistics, stopping power, range and penetration. In addition to this it has some real reliability issues. 22lr is rimfired, while practically every other calliber is centerfired. Even if you clean your pistol and are using quality ammo, it is still not a question of if you will have a feeding/firing issue, it is more of a question of when. So, why is it still a prefered caliber then? It is extremely lightweight and small, as such you can easily carry thousands of rounds, addionally it is easily found in almost every gunshop (and in large quanities). What the caliber lacks in quality, it makes up for with quantity.

12 gauge- While as stated before shotguns are unprefered, but if you do have a shotgun 12 gauge is the most prefered caliber. It is commonly found in gunstores and is widely used by the military and law enforcement. It has a good balance between range, lethallity and its weight.

Firearms are unprefered if chambered in the following calibers

223 - If your firearm is chambered in 223, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage as you will be unable to safely fire 556 rounds. Other then that 223 has pretty much the same stats as 556, except with worse ballistics and range.

7.62x39 - While it has greater lethality, it is more bulky, has less range and weighs more then 556. This means you can carry much less ammo. Many people argue that the Soviet AK (762) is a much better weapon then the M16 (556). Maybe it is (I personally disagree), but the 556 round is superior, as the Russians have switched from the 7.62 to 5.45x39 (russian version of 556) for the majority of their rifle. So if both the militaries of the West and East are choosing 556 over 7.62, shouldn't you?

20, 16, 10 or shotgun calibers other then the prefered 12 gauge - Like how the 9mm has been adopted as a near standard for pistol, 12 gauge is a near standard for shotgun. You will have slight availiability issues with finding other shotgun calibers in  gunshops. While also having major availibility issues in finding them on zonbified military and law enforcement personel. As such this slight disadvantage makes shotgun calibers other then 12 guage, unprefered.

5.7x28
57 is essentially a centerfired version of 22lr on steroids. It was specifically designed to replace the 9mm caliber to penetrate Russian paratrooper body armor in the 90s. It was based from the 556/223 round but was shortned length-wise so that it could fit in a pistol, often used in pistols and smgs by military or police special forces, but it is also used by a lot of cartels... 57 is by by all means the ultimate zombie killing pistol round, it has good penetration power and range for a pistol caliber round. A flat/low recoil and a lot of them can fit in a magazine due to its small radius (width). It eclipses the 9mm in everyway except for two things, stopping power and availability. While stopping power is b.s (if you shoot a zombie in the head what matters is if it penetrates), the lack of abundance is what really stops it from becoming a prefered round. The round was never widely adopted by the military or police, and few gunshops stock it. If your firearm is chambered in this during a zombie apocalypse you are going to have a very hard time finding more ammo.

45 acp - Called by some as "God's caliber", it is the two time World War champion. It has much more stopping power and increased lethality over the 9mm. But you can carry signifigantly less of them in a pistol magazine. An example of this would be how with the 1911 (the pistol used by the U.S from WW1 to 1985) chambered in 45 acp typically had an 8 round magazine. Meanwhile the M9 Berreta (1911's succesor in the U.S. military) chambered in 9mm typically had a 17 round magazine. This is a signifigant difference in the magazine size of a gun which is traded for a increase in stopping power and a small increase in lethality. When the hordes of the dead are surrounding you on all sides, I guarantee you that, you are going to be wanting the pistol with 9 more rounds in the magazine.

Novelty rounds that have niche uses

Incenedary shotgun shells -  These are shotgun shells that shoot out a blazing amount of burning magnesium sparks out, up to 200 yards. The appeal is pretty simple, being able to shoot fire over a large crowd of zombies, and burning them all. Except that is not how it really works, what is shoots is not napalm, but magnesium sparks. If the zombies had all doused in a flammable liquid, then it would very much work as intended. However, if they were not doused, then all this would do is bassically shot them with the equivelant of a bunch of really hot grainules of salt. Yes, it may blind the zombies or even push one back (if enough of the majority of the spread hit one target). But it is unlikely to do much, but create a pretty show. The only way this could kill a zombie would be if you shot one point blank or had them covered in the prievously mentioned flammable substance.

50 Bmg - This is an extremely effective zombie slaughtering weapon, if it is used in a heavy machine gun. However the most likely use for civlians is in an overpowered sniper rifle. It has the advantages of an extremly long range (people have done sniper shots as far as a mile away) and great lethality. But is heavy, expensive and you will not be able to carry much of them, as such it is very impractical.

Notes: from the prefered and unprefered caliber lists, you may have noticed a lack of sniper and long range rounds. Odds you have already picked round that best serves you and are already use to it