Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse (Part 2) : Weaponry

Now that you’ve started to hone your body into a weapon, let’s go to the next step and talk about what to do with the actual weapons you may be interested in using. Becoming adept with a firearm or confident with an edged weapon isn’t going to happen overnight. Generally speaking though, it’s better to practice and build confidence with a weapon than to hope you’ll be good with one “if it ever comes down to that”.

Something that might be helpful: A Guide to Firearm Tactics & Techniques that Work

Before getting started, remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Most people aren’t raised around guns or weaponry, so take it slow. Register at a local shooting range to take some classes. Don’t just run out and buy some sort of gigantic assault rifle and expect that the possession of a large caliber weapon capable of sending lots of lead down range will be sufficient as far as preparation goes.

I’d recommend starting out small and working your way up. A semi-automatic, .22 caliber rifle is a great beginner’s firearm to get things started at the range. They’ve got a lot going for them including:

1. They’re fairly easy to handle, lightweight and comparatively quiet (Always wear ear protection anyway. Safety first.)
2. They utilize relatively inexpensive ammo (which is good for practice)
3. They utilize enough moving parts to give you some good practice in taking apart, cleaning and reassembling a firearm without having SO many parts that you’ll need an engineering degree to figure them out

Once you’ve picked out your firearm, establish a training schedule just like you did for physical training. Find your local shooting range and become a regular. They say practice makes perfect and I don’t know if that’s true, but if you’ve cleared 50 chamber jams at the shooting range and number 51 just so happens to be when a skull sucking brain shucker is coming your way, I can assure you that it will go better than if THAT is your first jam.

Similarly, if you’re not into the firearms thing (and that’s cool too) and have decided maybe edged or blunt weapons are going to be the way for your to go, you still need to practice. If you’re planning to wield a katana, do yourself a favor and start training with an experienced martial arts instructor who knows something about these sorts of things. Learn some techniques and strategies and, more importantly, find out if you can pull that off or if you’re going to be chopping your own leg off. Don’t be afraid to go old school and get yourself a good blunt weapon like the old Louisville Slugger, but remember you still have to practice. Just because you played baseball 15 years ago doesn’t mean that you’ve got any hand eye coordination. Get your ass to the batting cage and then swing for the fences. Bonus points if you can find a batting cage that allows katana practice too. The owners of that kind of place probably have a shooting range somewhere nearby and should be your new best friends.

See part 1 and 3 of preparation:
Part 1 – Training Your Body
Part 3 – Maintenance