I'm gonna talk about Zombies (intelligently?)

[ol' scratch]

I will chime in. I love to hunt. However, it takes time. More time than I have right now. It also takes equipment I can't store (duck hunter). I typically hunt in Northern Michigan when I can because I don't have to worry about being rained with shot. There is also much more sky busting down here and morons who threaten you if you are infringing on "their" spot. I love to shoot and am looking at compitition shooting which does take time, but is much easier. I also know what it is like to be strapped for cash and wanting to fund my hobby. I started selling scrap and buying and selling antiques. I have built a nice collection doing this and am proud to say I haven't used family funds to purchase a firearm since 2008. Is what I have done any different than hunting to support my hobby?

I think it is wrong to put more emphisis on hunting and less on shooting. It is what people who are trying to divide the issue are trying to do. How many times have we heard some supposed gun prohibitionist say they support hunting, but don't support owning ammunition used in target shooting? Frankly, I am sick of some hunters who are so close-minded they can only see what they want. They did it in the 1990's, they are trying it again.

All that said, I still think the zombie thing is a little strange, but if someone wants to pursue it and they are safe, I have no problem with it.

 

[USAF_Vet]

Being the Halloween season, I hosted a "Zombie Apocalypse" Bug out exercise for my family and friends. Emergency preparedness is a good thing, but to get some people a little more interested, I had the range set up with various Zombie targets. It introduces a bit of levity to an otherwise serious (and sometimes boring) preparedness exercise. My kids are interested in shooting, and thankfully they are interested in hunting. However, for good or ill, zombies have permeated our society. It'll go away eventually, just like every fad, but while it's here, I've embraced it because it does get people interested. If hosting a Zombie Apocalypse exercise allows me to bring in new people to shooting, I feel pretty good about that. Not every shooter needs to be, or wants to be a hunter. Nothing wrong with that.

What I don't buy into is the lime green, bio-hazard emblazoned guns and accessories. I feel those are a bit of pointless overkill and a pure money grab. I've resisted buying the Z-max ammo, despite wanting some for collection pieces.

 

[Cosmoline]

I'll put this as bluntly as I can.

The fastest way for firearm ownership to go the way of the Passenger Pigeons is to shut down everything except traditional hunting. Hunting is a niche sport now, and subsistence hunting is restricted to very limited populations in this and a handful of other states.

To accuse those of us who do not hunt to live, or don't even hunt at all for that matter, of "demeaning" the shooting sports is not only insulting but ultimately suicidal. Without non-hunter shooters, the real "zombies" out there--the antis--would tear the guts out of hunters as fast as they did in England and Australia. Both nations having very strong hunting cultures but very weak shooting cultures. So in a sense the "zombie shooters" are indeed protecting us from zombies ;-)

And there's nothing wrong with having safe fun with firearms. Whether it's a CAS match, a smoke pole event or a zombie shoot. Hunting is a noble thing, but these days it's also legally complex and often extremely expensive. I'm a lawyer and I have trouble figuring out what can and cannot be shot in Alaska's dozens upon dozens of GMU's and sub-GMU's. It's like nothing our forebears had to cope with.

If you want a nation where firearms are restricted to professional hunters who have been tested and approved and who would never sully their CZ's with zombie max, you have a great many to choose from.

It’s not helpful. In fact, it’s counterproductive.

Boy you said it! As Franklin put it, if we don't hang together we shall surely hang separately.

The true riflemen of old are demeaned by this type of thing IMO

Be careful about throwing stones folks. First off they're mostly dead. The few that remain are busy preparing for winter right now and could give a wetslap about zombie shooting. Second, if shooting zombie targets "demeans" true rifleman, what does driving to the range in your big car do? What does incessantly shooting from the bench do? What does shooting in a covered hut do? If we have to subject ourselves to physical turmoil to honor the riflemen of old, then we'd better be riding mules to the range on the coldest day in January and shooting in the open with iron sights, no bench and no modern conveniences. And you can forget about using four wheelers on the hunt. It's mules and your own back, boyos ;-)

 

[DammitBoy]

Thank God I live where hunting and shooting is easy, inexpensive, popular and everywhere.

Ready for the Zombies just in case though...

 

[scaatylobo]

@skribs

I thought all knew to NEVER assume,and I am sure you know why.

I do believe in a separation of the sex's,men are from Mars and women from Venus.

Been on this planet for 65 years and married 3 times [ now to the bestest woman that ever drew breath ].

I will NEVER claim to "understand" women,but I can observe a few things.

One being that men are built for different tasks than 99% of women.

You will NEVER see a woman on a pro football team PLAYING against men.

You will NEVER see a woman in a male powerlifting contest.

You will NEVER see a woman in a UFC contest against a male of normal size/weight [ not counting midgets ].

I guess you see my point by now,I have hunted with women,and they do NOT drag out their game.

ESPECIALLY if they bag a elk.

I was an LEO for 26 years and I NEVER saw a woman go toe to toe with a full out bar fight,I have heard that a 'few' did so.A few !.

So women are MUCH better at having babies [ unless you have seen different ? ],and men are better at hunter/gatherer.

I know I am not of the new P.C. generation,but I have seen a few things.

 

[Gato Montés]

Well said Cosmoline. What someone does with their life is of no business of mine, especially if there is absolutely zero impact on me. The Zombie craze doesn't have any political baggage associated with it; people from both Left and Right persuasions dig it and that can only broaden the potential ranks of the shooting community. What I don't get is this attitude;

I just don't get it...at all. In all honesty, it angers me.

LOL, what? How uninteresting is your life where harmless activities of others emits such animosity? I just don't get it...at all. In all honesty, it SCARES me!

 

[danprkr]

On the on hand the zombie craze is silly. On the other it's a way to develop and practice the skill of shooting. And I think a large number of the zombie folks realize that. They also realize that if you say you're practicing for some sort of civil unrest or survival scenario you will be ostracized. "Come home kids that moron thinks we're going to have a civil war or some sort of natural disaster. He's unhinged, and spends all his time practicing killing people." So, they call it a game, hang this zombie facade on it, and work on those skills with the more or less blessing of their friends and neighbors. "Oh _____ has a silly hobby of shooting zombie targets, but no harm done."

Just my thoughts on the phenomena. Of course there are those that are simply playing, but I think down underneath all of it the skill is paramount, and when/if TSHTF the zombie shooters will form a core of skilled shooters to help out with enemies foreign or domestic or natural.

Or, undead.

 

[Apachedriver]

Our kids can't play Cowboy and Indians, Cowboy and Terrorists, Cops and Robbers, or any other variation that you can't think of because it's politicized right away. It's insensitive, offensive, racist, etc. We not allowed to fantasize any longer about being heroes, or warriors, or anything else because it's inhumane or whatever else some skinny neck freak gets all touchy-feely about it. If it's sexually immoral or deviant, why hell it's only a fantasy but anything other than that, forget about it.

I don't give a hoot about Zombies or their friends but it's about the only thing left that some people have today that can't be misconstrued as offending anyone's sensitivities.

Unless you're a hunter.

Those guys seem to work hard, as a generalized group, to be the liberals of the gun owning community. They are all for protecting our gun rights as long as the rest of us fit their mold of what gun ownership is for, what we should buy, shoot, and, good gosh, don't forget about the mandatory reloading.

Sorry hunters, we can't all be the manly men of the wild because of how we have to live in society today. Some can and some can't. Not to mention, if you are that offended with guns being used for anything not hunting related, you better stop supporting Midway USA, Remington, Civilian Marksmanship Program, S&W, and all the others like them. Those slimy creeps are taking your money AND supporting various Gun sports that aren't related directly to hunting.

What an offensive bunch those companies are, not to mention you better get a spam attack going on Shooting USA for having wretches like Miculek, Munden, Cisco, Byron and all the other with that offensive trick shooting they spend their time perfecting.

Oh, and all those wasteful school on personal defense, tactics, et al, don't think they're forgotten either.

Oh wait, how about we all just become liberals politically and then we can just hasten our end.

I'm an active military combat vet with 25+ years. The last thing I get is bothered by people wanting to take aim at zombies. If they can practice their skills legally, have fun doing it, and blow off some steam from their hectic lives, let them go for it.

If you want to talk about fringe weirdos that cause hardship for gun owners with illegal acts, that's one thing but shooting zombie targets?? Please.

 

[Neverwinter]

Fuss and opposition to safe and legal expression of gun ownership doesn't make sense to me. The zombie targets are no worse than the silhouette and mugger targets that get used all the time. People have long been paying for branding and cosmetic differences in products.

 

[smokey30725]

I for one am a big fan of all things zombies, including a lot of the guns, ammo, accessories, etc. That being said, I don't foresee the walking dead banging down my front door anytime soon. As others have said, its a passtime and may very well fade as other fads have done. No need to get riled up about it. If you don't like it, don't buy any of the stuff or participate. No harm no foul. I would also like to note that I am also very passionate about hunting and IDPA shooting as well. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[j1]

I cannot bother to read the entire post so I will cut to the chase (the end) and ask if you have talked of zombies intelloigently yet, and what was the intelligent part?

 

[CZguy]

I cannot bother to read the entire post so I will cut to the chase (the end) and ask if you have talked of zombies intelloigently yet, and what was the intelligent part?

Sorry, you'll have to read the whole thread.

Most of us are only special to our Moms and dogs.

 

[TAKtical]

Smoke pole event??? Is that a real thing?

 

[Sapper771]

I think the zombie thing is silly too. So far, I havent seen that it is hurting anything. I think it is todays movie and video games that have spawned the zombie stuff. When I think of it, I think of reading Col. Cooper's stuff and how he would call the bad guys "goblins".

What bothers me is the ones who really buy into it. I was helping out at a LGS last week. The manager starts talking to me about a guy that was in the store earlier. He said the guy was going on and on about how zombies are real and that there is an actual injection that they are giving people down in Florida to turn them into zombies. One of the customers in the store overheard the conversation and chimed in that it was real and that he was getting ready for the zombie apocalypse too. He even knew the name of this virus. We thought the guy was joking......but he wasnt.

The only zombie thing I have bought were the bulk pack Hornady Z-max 223 bullets. I needed some 223 bullets, the price was right, and the green tips looked pretty neat.

 

[Tommygunn]

The manager starts talking to me about a guy that was in the store earlier. He said the guy was going on and on about how zombies are real and that there is an actual injection that they are giving people down in Florida to turn them into zombies.

Curiously this is closer to the original concept of what a zombie is as believed in Africa and some Caribbean Islands. Practitioners of Voodoo were believed to use a mixture of naturally occuring hallucigenics and toxins to produced a sort of hypnogogic effectn in the victim which was believed to put him/her under a "spell" and creating a sort of slave.
For a long time this was what a "zombie" was.
It was movies like "The Night of the Living Dead" that were responsible for forming what we now think a zombie is, a re-animated corpse brought to life through a wierd radiation or virus and who craves human flesh or brains for substenance.

 

[Skribs]

Hunterdad, that's not the fault of zombies, but poor information regarding the Tec-9. You need to explain to him that because zombies need a headshot to really be taken down, something with decent accuracy (but still high capacity and fast follow-up shots) would be better, like an AK or AR.

 

[Spartacus]

I've used the zombie excuse (jokingly) for years… “Why do you need a gun like that?” “Why do you need so much ammunition?” My response has always been… “Well for when zombies attack, of course!”
I've also pondered if the popularity of the Nazis zombies’ portion of Call of Duty has something to do with the fad.
Hunting to put food on the table was more of a necessity in the 1970’s. Food Stamps have since become a more popular means of filling the pantry.

 

[Cosmoline]

men are better at hunter/gatherer.

In traditional society, with spears, men are the hunters. Gatherers--not so much. But what does this have to do with shooting again? Women can absolutely equal men when it comes to SHOOTING game. My niece goes hunting all the time, and they just hand her the rifle when it comes time to make a shot. Girl don't miss. She was the Daisy national champ a few years ago and is liable to end up in the Olympics.

Smoke pole event??? Is that a real thing?

Oh yeah! Muzzleloading predates everything else, and since the revival of the post-war era there have been rendezvous and matches all over the country. Huge one in Friendship. It does pay homage to the riflemen of old, but there's no denying it's also a dress-up game.

Flintlocks vs. zombies. Now THAT has some potential to it. Sort of a slow-speed Tueller drill where you have to get reloaded and hit the target before the "zombie" reaches a marker point.

 

[HoosierQ]

Smoke Pole = Muzzle Loader.

When I was a kid there were lots of muzzle loader events but back then they were all with replica Kentucky/Pennsylvania and Hawken rifles...and most of those were flintlocks.

 

[MagnumDweeb]

Everything comes and goes. Old ways die, new ways come, new ways become old ways and then die.

If the zombie craze adds fresh blood to the ranks of the Pro-2nd, so what? The more Pro-2nd out there the better off we all are. Plus a lot of these zombie crazed types sell a lot of their guns at cheap prices used. I remember the first zombie shoot I ever went to. A friend of mine was hosting it and I went along to be an instructor. I took out my Arcus 94C (I believe it was) and showed them how easy head shots were at twenty feet. Few could reproduce it with .22lr revolvers and semis.

Rifles are still legitimate, but handguns are the new firearm to own nowadays. More folks will own handguns before they will ever own rifles or shotguns. And most folks will own pistols without ever owning rifles or shotguns. I see it plenty. Every one of my pistol packing friends think I'm weird for owning rifles that aren't AR15s. They don't see why I would want to own a rifle that isn't an AR 15 or some AK variant. To me this is good for us in the RTKBA community.

Hunting is no longer a main interest for owning firearms. Recreation is. You can keep those riflemen of old. I'm off to the range to pop some rounds at paper targets at twenty yards and pretend their zombies.

 

[JohnBT]

"The Zombie craze"

Children will be children and play their fantasy games.

 

[Sam Cade]

"The Zombie craze"

Children will be children and play their fantasy games.

Like CAS?

 

[breakingcontact]

I think a lot of it is men (mostly) trying to express their masculinity. Formerly, a larger percentage served in the military where they were trained to carry out necessary violence and/or lived in rural areas where they were connected to nature.

So previously, you kind of had two pipelines into the gun world, military men and hunters. Now you have another pipeline in preppers, another in the "I want live action Call of Duty without shoot back targets", another in the "shooting is just plain fun crowd".

I'm 100% not into zombies, video games are fun but I don't have time or patience for them and I don't like to just blast away at the range for fun. However, these groups are adding to our numbers. Let's just hope they mature as gun owners and grow with the gun culture.

 

[SkinnyGrey]

I think zombies just serve as allegory for a global cataclysmic event, i.e a pandemic, economic collapse, environmental disaster, etc. For good reason people feel insecure about the state this planet is in, and zombies help them identify with their anxiety concerning global calamity. Firearms, which so often represent self-empowerment and self-preservation, must be very comforting for a population who share in such angst. My guess is that one or two hundred years ago, hunters cherished their guns just as much as people do now, and for very much the same reason. Whether it be a means of getting one's family their next meal or protection from an unsure and hostile world, guns represent self-preservation. I think, ultimately, that's why we love them so much.

 

[GLOOB]

1. Even predators like coyotes have a place in the ecosystem, and they have their defenders. When you're hosting a shooting event, you don't want to alienate anybody. Nobody cares when you shoot zombies.

2."True riflemen" like you have described wouldn't waste their meticulously loaded-by-the-kernel ammo at a recreational event. Nor their time, which is apparently better spent feeding their family and hunting $85.00 coyotes. That's not a knock. It's just reality. Wasting a hundred dollars worth of ammo shooting holes in paper and steel for pure leisure doesn't jive with your image of a true rifleman, at all.

Perhaps there are lots of "true riflemen" out there. But even if the "zombie killer" recreational types are lesser in numbers, I bet you anything they spend a heck of a lot more on ammo, gun clubs, classes/events, etc. By your own definition, true riflemen don't waste money on firearms. They make money with their firearms! So you can cater to them, but they're not gonna come to your event. They'll be doing something more productive.