I have tried this method with live non-zombie subjects and it seems to be a useful tactic.

zombies-dont-burn-them.jpg

We’re not sure why you see it in every zombie movie, but it stands to reason that the only thing worse than a zombie is a flaming zombie. Remember, it can take a long time for a zombie to burn to death – more than ten minutes, in some recorded cases. Do you really want a burning zombie lighting you and your friends on fire? Play it safe – chances are good that there won’t be any fire-fighting infrastructure during a zombie outbreak if things get out of hand.

My preferred method of Zombie Combat is shooting them with a 50cal belt-fed machine gun through a gun port. The firing station is either completely enclosed with an access hatch to the sewers (for quick get aways) or up high in a secured building. I prefer hollow-point ammo because even if I don’t get a head shot the hole I blow in them will remove enough muscle and tissue that they won’t get back up any time soon. Contrary to popular thought, a head shot is NOT necessary to remove the threat – shattering the spinal column will do until you can swing the weapon back through its firing arc.

This method works well for both Fast Zombies and the older, classic “Night of the Living Dead” shamblers. It’s less effective against vampires because these retain at least a semblance of human intelligence and they’ll take to cover after the first few bursts. But again if they can’t get at me then I can still call this a win so long as I escape with my skin intact.

Zombies can’t climb a shear wall. Unfortunately, as you stand up top easily taking them out, you are helping them build a ramp as they will happily climb on top of each other to get to you and your tasty brains. So knocking out the stairs will only delay them.

I highly recommend the book “Zombie Survival Guide.”

Blowing them up cripples them and leaves them alive to grab you as you walk by.

Along with the track-down-and-exterminate-all-the-crawling-hands problem.

Since most “zombie plagues” are blood borne, slinging diseased flesh and gore all over the place would seem to be a really bad idea.

Hence my zero sympathy for the folks in 28 Days Later who eschewed entire police armories in favor of improvised clubs and knives. Heaven forfend someone touch one of those icky firearm thingies even with civilization gone to hell in a homicidal undead handbasket.

(Thumbs up to the guy who at least kitted himself out with the riot shield and body armor, though)

So stock up on ammo, and keep a good selection of melee weapons. I would suggest that pikes and spears are more useful than swords. Ideally you would form a phalanx of armored men, as the Greeks and Romans did (I don’t know if they specifically faced any zombies), such that your pikemen could split the heads of zombies while spears and swords finish off any that get closer.

I have to agree, a flaming zombie is worse than a regular zombie; you’re just increasing their destructive potential when you light them on fire. They usually scream and become agitated in addition to setting other things (such as your ammo stockpile) on fire, their faster movement giving them an added advantage in melee combat.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1107178

only the first animation in the list still works

Chainsaws are a bad choice in general- somebody mentioned the spattered goo problem and that is serious. But chainsaws make a lot of noise. You lop one head off and you suddenly have 3 more to deal with. You could end up up loppin heads all day… except that the gas runs out and all you have is a dull chunk of metal that makes a lousy club.

Some arm-chair zombie exterminators will claim a good knife or tire iron is all they need. I’d be checking for bitemarks on their arms every ten minutes if i had to share oxygen with these blowhards… and that just in every day life. If so much as a Level 1 zombie alert went out i’d get as many counties between us as i could manage.

Give me a vintage WW2 M1 rifle anyday. Semiautomatic makes you aim your shots, and it makes a fantastic brain-basher if all else fails.

Hilarity ensues as you watch from behind a bush while your neighbor tries to stomp out the zombie.

a chain saw is a much better weapon

I have to disagree with this option as well. Since most “zombie plagues” are blood borne, slinging diseased flesh and gore all over the place would seem to be a really bad idea.

On the other hand, that source also suggests that, in general, zombies are law-abiding enough that if the local authority issues rampaging permits, the zombies will abide by their terms.

The only reliable way to stop a zombie is to interrupt its residual neurological activity – shoot it in the brain (or use your titanium crow bar, or maybe a much less expensive length of rebar).

As for a zombie trap, a simple self-closing trapdoor over a deep pit will do. Or maybe something like a manhole cover that flips. Just stand opposite the zombies and they will fall right in as they stagger towards you.

Then, with the zombies contained in the pit (storm drain, cattle pen, whatever) the flamethrower might be useful.

You have to think these things through before an actual need arises, or you go off making a flaming mess in your front yard and upsetting the neighbors. Don’t ask me how I know this….

Head shots are good, but with an estimated zack count in the US of 200 million, I don’t have enough ammo.

They also freeze solid in the winter, so flee north above the snow line if you have to.

Ozark Pyrotechnics Exploding Targets
Tannerite Exploding Targets

Put BBs on the zombie side for better results.