Wednesday, May 6, 2020

zombie apoc weapons book 7


ZOMBIE APOC WEAPONS BOOK 7
Chapter Three
Melee Weapon & Blade
Technically, all blade weapons are melee weapons. The original four weapon categories call for rifle, pistol, blade and melee. To me, the difference between a pistol and a rifle is their tactical use. Both are firearms, but both are used differently. The same with melee and blade weapons ( which would have better been labeled knives. Because a sword is a melee weapon, even if it is also a blade. Basically, someone forgot semantics matter, or were just being too cute by half ). To me, a knife is a tool that can be used as a weapon, in a pinch.
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Yes, knives are ONLY used as weapons many times. If you can only carry a knife, it is your weapon. But if the other weapons you carry are superior, you knife can be kept for its tool use, and only needed as a weapon as a last resort. Knife bayonets can be both melee weapons and camp tools, but I dislike that practice. It is too easy to be using your knife in everyday use and it becomes dull. If you didn't get a chance to sharpen it ( because Murphy's Law ), and you suddenly need it, its ability as a bayonet diminishes. A separate knife to my mind is one of the few things worth the weight.
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Just as with a pistol, there doesn't need to be a prolonged discussion on the optimal knife. Like the pistol, it is whatever you are comfortable with. Me? I love the Swedish Mora. Number one, it ain't from China. Number two, it is affordable. If you stockpile one expensive knife, you are a moron. They break. They get lost. They are stolen. Mora's are $15, carbon steel blade. They are $10 for the stainless ( for stashing in higher moisture areas, like the bathroom. Just oil it as you would a carbon steel blade-it just doesn't need as heavy a coat ).
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If you don't mind Chinaman blades, you can buy Mora style knives for $5. If you are over at Bud-K, they have the “Wahoo Killer”. I don't mind stainless. Plenty of kitchen knives are stainless. But you can get either a good or a bad stainless. I just stick with carbon in Mora because the price is almost the same. The Mora is a great little knife for its price. I can buy them on a whim. I can have multiples, on a budget. I'm sure there are better knives out there. Apply the 80/20 rule. 80% of the performance at 20% of the price ( I know, that rule originally applies to group dynamics. It is still applicable here ).
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The Mora is small and light weight, handy for chores and unobtrusive while laden with gear. The one issue I have is the sheath. Great for a budget sheath, and much better wearing than leather ( which you don't even really see much anymore, for sheaths OR shoes. You'd think we ate enough hamburgers, wouldn't you? ), but it blows except for light clothing concealed wear ( the clip perfect for tucking into the waistband ). For tactical wear? Terrible sheath. That's okay. If perfection was possible you would all worship me as a god. Luckily for you, because I would be a vengeful god, I'm not perfect. Neither is anything else.
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Now, a word on melee weapons and weight, which to a smaller degree applies to knives. Melee weapons are tiring. Even men born to be warriors, well fed and well trained, have only so much endurance on the battlefield. You, who were born to surf ( serf ) a couch, have no training in melee weapons. Your diet probably sucks, a combination of GMO corn and hormone pumped meat ( which was fed on the same corn ). The only reason it works, after a fashion, is pure volume. You have excess calories.
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Come the zombie apocalypse, you can say goodbye to excess calories. If you do manage to get livestock going again ( will the starving humans and zombies leave any cows standing? ), the wall building and offensive patrols are going to consume a lot of calories. You may or may not have enough of them. I just wouldn't count on that. Choose your melee weapons ( and your knives ) carefully. I initially was going to go with a Gurkha Kukri, the improved machete hacker. But the weight was problematic. Both to carry and to swing about for any period of time.
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By the time a sword or sword like melee weapon has reduced your arms to limp noodles, the darn thing is dull as well. That is one issue with slicing weapons. A heavy sword can somewhat compensate with the weight, but some choose the blunt weapon to begin with to assure a functioning weapon through the fight. But then they fatigue you even quicker. If I had to choose between slicing and bludgeoning, I would forego the slicer. It is more prone to breakage, it requires more skill ( if nothing else, not cutting yourself ) and it works great, but then after losing its edge it works against you.
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I can hear a lot of you offer a spear or similar for consideration. Spears are cheap, are perfect for using salvaged metal, and can offer advantages over almost any shorter weapon. But like any muscle powered missile weapon, they don't work well against human adversaries who outclass you in weaponry. This isn't JUST a zombie apocalypse. Your enemies include most other men, not just the dead ones. And if not complete idiots wasting all their ammunition, they will be ambushing you with firearms.
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While your rifle is slung over your shoulder ( you really think you are going to use a spear with a carbine front slung? ). Now, I grant you, these issues are not insurmountable. You could have formations of rifles in the middle and spears outside. They hold off zombies until you can back sling your rifles. If humans attack, the middle defends as the outer ring drops the spears and gets their firearms deployed ( obviously, the terrain and the type of zombies matter. I always thought fast zombies were more “realistic” ).
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But it does beg the question if you are willing to handicap yourself with that weapon. IF you consider it a handicap, even. We continue this chapter next time.
( .Y. )
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27 comments:

  1. re:
    dulling

    I like single-use weapons such as arrows.

    *****

    re:
    fatigue

    We studied fatigue.
    We hit a heavy-bag (for martial arts) at full-force as long as we could.
    Timed.
    The numbers were identical.
    The strongest fittest went about twenty-four seconds.
    The weakest... same.
    We burned through all our muscle-stored glycogen that fast.
    Replenishment took over a half-hour for any of us... while shaky and mental-fogged.
    Battle?
    Fist-fight?
    Wrestling a tiger?
    A losing proposal.

    Did I mention I prefer 'distance' weapons?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most excellent fatigue study. I didn't realize it was THAT bad. Just a technicality-we were talking melee weapons-which are avoided if using a bow.

      Delete
    2. I would concur. When I was young and studied martial arts, our sensei often commented that if you did not take down your opponent(s) within 30 seconds you were probably in for a very bad outcome. That was proven to us during intense exercises like the one LM noted. It was definitely an eye-opener for those of us whose only prior experience with that sort of thing was watching the minutes-long martial arts scenes in movies where the hero dispatches multiple attackers over several minutes and doesn't even end up winded.

      Delete
    3. Damn Hollywood! I don't trust them to depict reality, much, but it is hard to know when they are BS'ing unless you have experience with everything. Appreciate both of you sharing this with us.

      Delete
  2. Good call on the Ghurka kukri - Plus a little too short, causing you to get closer where your enemy can get inside. Stationary work - now your talking.

    Cold Steel 97BWM12S Bowie Machete - now you are talking serious badassery for a low price. Thin blade so lighter weight but depth of blade (bottom edge to top) is wide enough to stiffen it. Remove black blade coating - it sticks in cutting material. If its a primary weapon, an Assengi (again, Cold Steel - 95FS model) is a fearsome weapon, long enough to be used two handed so harder to be disarmed with. Hack or poke like a pool cue for stabby injuries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bowie:
      https://amzn.to/2WM3U39
      Assengi:
      https://amzn.to/2WqQLMo

      Delete
  3. From the 'all your protection needs' department:

    https://genesiustimes.com/cdc-recommends-everyone-now-wear-tin-foil-face-masks-while-in-public

    I wept.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obviously fake news, as the author claims to have great hair.

      Delete
  4. Yes marge is spot on, plan your fatigue levels of actions, just like tactical-b.o.b back pack weight carrying planning. Ka bar sized g.i. knives would be the limit for close quarters combating sizing because there us so much more skill sets needed than that of a humongous bladed fantasy device can make up for in fighting shortcomings. The romans used the shorter blade gladius weapons in their phalanx formations of battle for those fatigue endurance factors, that also combined arms with spear men, archers, and some chariots if in favorable terrains. Keep things light weight, your tired bones will appreciate it. A machete sized and hatchet axe sized melee items would be just those camp and ranch tools first. Chopping chicken heads off is all about what most gamer soylent dorks could pull off semi successfully anyway. But they can be used demonstratively by Deplorables in drunken tirades against the slaves for slacking job performances, thus keeping order and discipline in your compound.

    Keep sharp edges, and stay frosty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gameboys should be muscle toned, from choking the chicken

      Delete
  5. I thought about a crow bar but my 36" weighed in at 6 pounds. Maybe a aluminum baseball bat. demented Guy

    ReplyDelete
  6. I looked up the bat weights and most are under 2 pounds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe a bat was the choice of the video response guy to YM's video.

      Delete
    2. Rather than a bat, I’d consider one of those lightweight, telescopic batons. Small, and compact, until you need it. And yes, I looked at Amazon first. Best that I can tell, they only sell the training batons.


      https://www.budk.com/Batons-2975


      Speaking of meth, my brother was addicted to that stuff a long time ago. After about the first month, he started seeing alien craft, and was being followed by black helicopters, that were releasing paratroopers. Looking back, it’s kinda funny now. Oh, who am I kidding. It was kinda funny then, too :D

      Delete
    3. The Truth Is Out There. You just need the proper pharmaceutical

      Delete
  7. Bayonets are made out of a softer steel so they can flex when they're used. Being softer metal they're not good for general use as they won't hold an edge. They can be in a pinch but at the end of the day they're a bayonet to be used as a bayonet

    Told to me by someone that knows what they're talking about

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't know that. And I'm all stressed because I can't get a good edge on my bayonets. Also, perhaps I dismissed the spike bayonets for no reason. :(

      Delete
  8. I like the Mora knives too, but my #1 all time favorite is the Ka Bar USMC model. It is a little on the heavy side, but it feels perfect in hand. I also have a Ka Bar kukri, but its waaay too heavy for a carry weapon.

    For a melee tool in my AO, that I can keep handy, I'm seriously considering an ASP baton. Light weight, easy conceal, fast deployment... In another 10 years (if we're still kicking by then) I'll move toward a cane. Cane fighting can be pretty viscous. Im still not quite old enough so carrying a cane might raise some suspicion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never liked the Ka-Bar, but like I said, whatever is perfect for you.

      Delete
  9. Smokey mountain knife is another catalog company with a bit better items than bud k. I obtained a few buck or other brands of hunter's pattern type knives. More utilitarian and with actual working capabilities. Also it is less militaristic in appearance if you get the gentlemanly styled stacked leather handle with brass fittings and brown dyed leather sheath, you can wear it to your nearby deplorable's hamlets for shopping forays without hyper alerting some kinda deputy Tacklberry manning checkpoints.

    Have some form of classy knife to be prominently worn that is befitting of your hierchy among the tribal elders.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D&D or Beard Boy knives scream "I am a tool", and NOT in a good way. If you have to flaunt it, who is going to take it seriously?

      Delete
  10. In the making of stainless steel, there is point in the refinement where it will no longer be attracted to a magnet. This means it is quality. HOWEVER, if it is refined to an even higher quality it will again be attracted to a magnet. So don't assume you have a shit blade based on that test alone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good thing I didn't even know that was a test. It would have just confused me.

      Delete
  11. I like the grippy handle of the Mora Bushcraft Black. It somehow fell out of the sheath while running once though.

    If you strip the coating off your Cold Steel budget knife, you still need to protect it from rust. I prefer forced patina's with boiled vinegar. You need a container big enough to hold the blade. Pour the vinegar into the container so you only use the minimum amount to cover the blade. Then boil the vinegar. As soon as it boils, pour the vinegar back into the container over the blade. Let it sit for several hours. It will oxidize all the microscopic cavities in the steel, doing an excellent job of protecting it from rust.

    ASP batons have a problem in their weighting. The weight is balanced towards the handle, meaning you're hitting with the light end. It still hurts, it's just not as effective as you might think.
    Romans 14:11

    ReplyDelete
  12. 18 3/4 inch Negrito bolo
    Schrade six inch fixed
    Kershaw mini dive knife
    Boker Kalishnikov Automat

    These all have worked well for me...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is it me, or is Amazon's search engine doing a lot worse than usual? Tough time finding any of the above. Well, Bezos is getting the law sniffing around. Perhaps he pulled the self destruct switch.

      Delete

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