For Christmas I asked for and got World War Z
WWZ is one of the best written books I’ve read in a long time. They style is unlike anything I’ve read before. It is subtitled “An Oral History of the Zombie War”. There is no main character, rather the book is a collection of interviews with survivors of the zombie war from all over the globe. The plot is just the stages of the war from outbreak to disbelief to open war to reconstruction. Max writes each section in a compelling way. Each teller is a unique character, some likeable, some scum.
A great read I highly recommend.
A Gunner’s Persective
I decided to write this post now, before I finished the novel, because of a post by Hell In A Handbasket on the effectiveness of a 22. You see in WWZ after the nation reaches a stalemate – a point where they have some areas cleared and under control, and others areas over run with Zs – the standard weapon is a silenced 22.
The 22 they carry isn’t a current model, but one designed after the war, so it also might not be a standard 22 caliber. Seems you could develop a more powerful 22 cartridge if you wanted to.
But my real question is this: Can a 22 penetrate a human skull.
You hear it is used by assassins, but those shots are at point break range. With a hoard of Zombies you want to be a good 15-30 feet away as you shoot. Would a 22 still break through the bone of the skull and destroy the brain?
You may be asking why they went to 22. The main reason I think was resources. Resources are very limited when you have only part of the US under your control and no resources coming from anywhere else in the world. Also you can carry a lot of 22 ammo, which you need it is Z land. One story is of a downed pilot in the zombie infested swamp of Louisiana. At one point she kills 60 zombies with her pistol and has ammo left over. You could easily carry hundreds of 22 rounds, where as even 100 9mm would be heavy and bulky. Forget the size of rifle ammo.
Another reason for a 22 is it is easy to silence. Silencers are the norm on firearms after WWZ. The biggest threat a Z poses is calling other Zs. They aren’t that dangerous 1 on 1. You can out walk them, let alone out run them. But when they see you they start moaning loudly in anticipation of lunch. Which calls other Zacks in the area. And then you have a problem. And gunfire works just as well as moaning and carries further.
So my question for all you gun experts out there: Can a 22 penetrate the skull at distance?
yes, at 30 feet it can.
I once dropped a coyote at about 20 yards with a .22 head shot, just behind his ear. But the cartridge used was the CCI Stinger, which is way past subsonic when it comes out of the barrel.
With the lower-powered subsonic rounds, it might be a problem.