Well, it finally happened.
The zombie apocalypse is upon us. Those foul-smelling, brain-dead undead corpses are in the streets.
Well, we can’t let that happen! Nope, it’s up to us to gear up and hit the streets and fight back!
Or just to survive and try to stay alive.
Regardless of your goal, you need weapons.
Which weapons? Well, we just so happen to consider ourselves somewhat of zombie experts.
(Watching movies counts, right?!)
So we picked a few of our favorite weapons…from melee to handgun and long gun selections, these will help you take on the zombie apocalypse.
Admittedly, this is a fun article, and in real life, logistics are important. But for this article, I’ve largely thrown logistics to the wind.
(If I hadn’t, then this list would be Glock 19s and AR-15s, and that’s it. That’s no fun.)
So let’s pretend it’s video game rules, and ammo is everywhere of all types.
With that in mind, see what I think the nine best zombie apocalypse weapons are.
Table of Contents
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Melee Options
1. Ka-Bar EK 44
I’m a Marine, of course; I gotta give Ka-Bar love.
Not just the standard Ka-Bar, but the EK 44. This is a commando knife designed for stabbing and not so much slashing.
Slashing at a zombie will hardly cause any serious damage.
You gotta dig deep into the creature’s skull and destroy the brain. The EK 44 penetrates and digs in as it grinds and moves.
This handheld spear has a dual-edge and a very long and easy to grip handle.
The built-in handguard keeps your fingers from sliding off the handle and onto the blade. This foot-long fighting knife ain’t for the timid.
It’s an aggressive knife designed for fighting, not as a tool.
When they get in your face, you can put this in their face!
Handcrafted by the orc-like craftsmen at Ka-Bar, the EK 44 will dig in deep and make the living dead, dead once more. Put them where they need to be, back in the ground.
While the EK 44 is a fighting knife, it’s not devoid of utilitarian design.
You can skin game and cut through a wide variety of tasks. If you wanted to be practical about it, I guess.
Downsides
You gotta get in nice and close to use the EK 44. It’s best as a sneaky weapon or a situation where the zombie is pinned and stuck somewhere and needs that last stick to put down.
It’s a last-ditch weapon in our fictional zombie apocalypse.
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Prices accurate at time of writing
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2. Gerber Downrange Tomahawk
Tomahawks are so damn cool, and I’m glad the United States cutlery industry seemingly embraced them all at once.
The Downrange Tomahawk is the only one still issued to members of the United States military for crash rescue and escape situations.
Once you get one in your hands, you’ll see why it’s such a beloved tool.
A big fear we all have when slamming an ax head in the brain of a zombie is the tool getting stuck.
Gerber thought of that, though. The large cutout in the head helps prevent the blade from getting stuck.
Kinda like those fancy tomato knives sold on TV. Thanks, Gerber!
That ax blade is tough as hell, too, and won’t bend or break. It’s cerakoted to prevent zombie rust from destroying it.
There’s even a little extra range with the Downrange Tomahawk due to its almost 20-inch length.
You can swing it with excellent control and deliver zombie stopping blows without remorse. Besides the ax blade, you also get a hammer and pry bar built into it.
More tools are always better than fewer tools, right? Beyond slaying zombies, you can easily crash and bash your way into a building to hide or scavenge.
The MOLLE sheath is a nice touch and makes it easy to pack on your gear or pack.
Downsides
While it offers a ton of utility, a tomahawk can’t replace a knife. That means you need both a knife and the tomahawk.
That adds weight, and with the Downrange weighing 2.5-pounds, you might have to pack on another 1.5-pound knife.
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3. United Cutlery M48 Talon Spear
M48 Talon Spear! I can’t say it without using an exclamation point. It’s so dang manly!
A spear seems to be a natural choice for hand-to-hand combat with the damned undead.
It gives you several feet of range, allowing you to strike without getting too close to the stinking corpses of the undead.
The M48 Talon Spear allows you to impale them through the skull without getting your boots dirty.
This beast has an 8-inch spearhead with an overall length of 44-inches and some change. The handle is made tough with fiberglass, and the spearhead is crafted from stainless steel.
It’s a good combo that results in a tool that’s tough as hell.
Zoom through the heads of zombies with style and grace! That’s only one task the M48 Talon Spear accomplishes.
You can hunt, dispatch wild prey, and pretend to be an ancient Spartan!
Downsides
Downsides include the fact it’s rather long and a little unwieldy indoors.
For outdoor combat, the M48 Talon Spear slices, dices, and disseminates with little effort. Indoors, well, you better watch your back because you won’t be spinning around very fast.
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Prices accurate at time of writing
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The Handguns
4. FN Five-seveN
Drilling a zombie in the head doesn’t sound hard, but you’d be underestimating how those smelly turds move and groove.
To break through that skull, you don’t need much, and the 5.7x28mm round is just right.
Recoil is very low, and the FN Five-seveN handles well, making follow-up shots fast and accurate.
The ammunition allows the weapon to shoot nice and flat out to 100-yards — a bit optimistic for a pistol, but having the capability is always nice.
It’s a big pistol, but concealment isn’t an issue in the zombie apocalypse.
That size results in a big magazine with 20 rounds of capacity in the flush-fitting design…and slightly extended 30-rounders being somewhat common.
As a modern handgun, you can add a light, but sadly no optic options from the factory. Yet, the FN Five-seveN’s iron sights are perfectly suitable for a multitude of ranges.
Accuracy, fast follow-ups, and impressive range give the FN Five-seveN a real edge when the pedal needs to hit the metal.
Downsides
The biggest downside is the ammo’s penetration abilities. It will easily travel beyond the zombie’s skull and could potentially hurt another survivor.
Although the potential for stylish 2-for-1 shots exists…
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Prices accurate at time of writing
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And did we mention we have a full review of the Five-SeveN? Don’t we spoil you…
5. FK BRNO 7.5 FK Field Pistol
Modern zombie apocalypses need modern zombie killing tools, and the FK BRNO is as modern as it gets.
This is a new class of firearms called a “Field Pistol.” What does that mean?
At SHOT, it took me a few tries, but I hit a man-sized target at 100-yards with the BRNO. Zombies? No prah-blem.
A 100-yard headshot with a pistol is far from easy. However, setting up in a rested position will allow you to deliver some surprisingly accurate shots at 25- to 50-yards.
Since it’s the zombie apocalypse and the NFA doesn’t exist, you can attach the optional stock and really increase your accuracy potential.
Add on a red dot and stock, and you have an ultra-small weapon that is essentially a carbine.
The round is bottlenecked and flies fast and hard. It will deep dive into a zombie’s skull and effectively canoe it.
Why play around when facing a zombie horde?
Best of all, the FK BRNO uses CZ-style ergonomics. It’s comfortable to hold and shoot.
Everything is easy to reach and activate, and CZ-style pistols are the best to replicate for a task like this.
Downsides
Recoil is the big one. The FK BRNO has some substantial recoil..more than a 10mm.
And you know I like my 10mm and wouldn’t ever cry about the recoil.
You’ll need practice when using it as a handgun and get good at those close-range headshots while dealing with recoil.
Also, it’s like, $8,000.
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Prices accurate at time of writing
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6. KelTec CP33 with Suppressor
The KelTec CP33 proves that KelTec isn’t afraid to be weird.
A quad stack magazine gives users 33 rounds of .22 LR in a flush-fitting design. Zombies can only be stopped one way — and that’s a bullet to the brain.
The CP33 gives you lots and lots of bullets to dispatch zombies with.
Toss away your worries about recoil too, it’s a .22 LR in a rather big pistol. It barely moves between shots. Pew pew.
Oh, and you can easily mount an optic to it, giving you increased range and accuracy.
Add a suppressor to the threaded barrel, and you have a quiet option to dispatch a zombie or two without bringing a hundred more down on you.
A few magazines can hold hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and you can clear away the undead horde in near silence. Pop in your earphones and blast your favorite Sabaton song.
It’s zombie killing time.
Downsides
A .22 LR is a rimfire cartridge, and as such, they tend to fail to fire more than centerfire calibers. Reliability cannot match a centerfire pistol.
This makes the suppressor and +5 to your stealth almost a must-have. You don’t want to be running and gunning.
You want stealth, guile, and careful shot placement.
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Prices accurate at time of writing
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Yup, we have a review of this one too. Check out our video and article on the KelTec CP33!
Long Guns
7. Mossberg 590A1 with Bayonet
Fighting shotguns are as American as apple pie, and the Mossberg 590A1 is the American military’s choice for a pump-action shotgun.
It’s rough, tough, and will utterly eliminate a zombie’s head at close range. Shotguns are a little less picky about precision, and they allow you to have a little room for error.
Reliability is unmatched with pump-action shotguns. Mossberg builds these guns to be incredibly durable and to suffer the abuse the end of the world might throw at them.
Range is short, admittedly, but tossing slugs in allows for 100-yard potential.
Most 590A1s are equipped with ghost ring sights for enhanced precision, so those slugs work well.
Zombies tend to cling together, and that makes the 590A1 an excellent street sweeper.
Load in some Number 1 or Number 4 loads, and you can fire at head height and score multiple hits at 30-yards and beyond.
The Fightin’ 590A1 is also equipped with a bayonet lug that turns your shotgun into a short spear.
Close range fighting is one option, as is silently removing zombies and saving ammo.
Shotguns can also be very easily used to kill small, medium, and large game to feed yourself while avoiding being something else’s snack.
Downsides
Two big downsides of the 590A1 are the limited capacity and heavy recoil of a 12-gauge shotgun.
It’s going to take some real practice to learn how to quickly reload and handle the recoil of a 12-gauge.
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Prices accurate at time of writing
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Do we have a review of the Mossberg 590A1 Retrograde…of course we do! Come get some more deets on this cool pump-action here.
8. KAC SR15
America’s Rifle, the AR-15, has to be on the list…it’s a fantastic rifle.
In general, the AR-15 is accurate, easy to control, easy to maintain, accurate, easily upgradeable, and accommodates a ton of different types of shooters.
Choosing one AR-15 is tough, so I chose one of the best.
The KAC SR15 from Knight’s Armory is one of the best in the world.
There are lots of reasons why the SR15 rules, but in the world where a zombie apocalypse is happening, I have one specific reason.
Durability. The KAC SR15 is one of the most durable rifles on the market. Barrel life, in particular, is impressive.
20,000 rounds have been fired through Knight’s barrels, and they are still going strong.
Beyond that, accuracy is also impressive. A guy named Ash Hess won a DMR match with an AR pistol equipped with an 11.5-inch Knight’s upper receiver.
These things spit 5.56 rounds with impressive accuracy, and that’s a must for hitting those headshots.
Eugene Stoner helped develop the SR-15, and it’s a true example of how Stoner would have pushed the rifle forward.
As a carbine, it’s lightweight and, add on the right optic, you have a do it all rifle.
Downsides
I can’t really think of any. It’s loud even when suppressed, I guess.
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Prices accurate at time of writing
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Tried the SR-15? If so, rate it below!
9. CMMG Banshee 9mm with Suppressor
Hear me out here. How often are you going to be engaging the hordes at hundreds of yards? Or even at 100-yards? It’s likely not often.
If the horde is far away, it’s good to stay away from them and not draw their attention.
The CMMG Banshee in pistol or SBR form offers you a sub-5-pound weapon in a caliber and magazine that’s also lighter than your 5.56 options.
A 9mm Banshee is superbly easy to control with minimal recoil.
The radial delayed blowback system grants you lower recoil than most PCCs. Inside of 50-yards, you can absolutely dominate an environment.
The Banshee uses common pistol magazines from Glock and Sig Sauer to ensure they are plentiful and available in a multitude of capacities.
A 9mm PCC is also easy to suppress. With a suppressor and some 147-grain ammo, you have a quiet option to get the bastards before they take a bite out of you.
The CMMG Banshee packs plenty of controllable power for close-range engagements.
It provides a lightweight option that can be stashed or stored with ease when not needed. Hell, it’s light enough to be used one-handed.
Downsides
The bad news is that it’s only a 9mm. That’s more than enough to disable a zombie’s brain housing group, but only within 100-yards.
The lack of range isn’t a major concern but still must be mentioned.
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Prices accurate at time of writing
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We even wrote you a full review of the Banshee, so check it out to learn more.
Conclusion
Zombies are ugly, stupid, foul-smelling, and keep trying to eat my brains. How ever will I deal with it?
Oh, well, that’s easy! With guns, knives, and maybe a spear or two.
These are my favorite zombie-killing weapons; what are yours, and why did you choose them? Let us know below! Need to gear up for when things go South? We got you with our Essential SHTF Gear List.
14 Leave a Reply
I say an Uberti. Just so that you look cool while fighting!
I'd pick a Smith & Wesson Model 29 6 1/2" .44 Magnum, preferably a Model 29-2 .
Everybody else's suggestions are just stupid.
ok, boomer
590A1 with OPSol mini-clip lets you mitigate some recoil and load up extra capacity with 1.75in mini shells. This is perfect for the most demanding Zombie clearing tasks ^_^
You were having way too much fun putting this together! Love it. Added a few things to my shopping list. Great job. You should repeat this article around Halloween.
I think my 590 Shockwave might come in handy during a zombie apocalypse lol.
Hmmm, what about best combos? Beause the 9mm Banshee with a Glock or Sig so you have interchangeable mags and ammo would be tight. Plus a spear. Because its a spear :)
I can't believe you didn't include at least one flame thrower! (but I still had fun)
Just like ( fill in the blank)...SBR, Side-arm of choice, and a machete, takes care of everything J M H O .
AR Chambered in .458 SoCom and a 12ga semiauto TAC shotgun
HAHAHA! That was SO much fun to read. I learned a few things (I want a spear!), AND laughed all the way through.
Hastings M-134--'nuf said.
No mention of the old tried-and-true chainsaw?
"Shop smart. Shop S-Mart."
Groovy!