Guns two. Cause I'm impaitent.

A few things I neglected in the last post.

Sidearms/Handguns. These are much more difficult to use effectively than longarms/rifles. They tend to lack less power, have a shorter range, and are far less accurate -I believe most handguns are only reliable to around fifty meters. Not to mention a wilder tendency in the actual discharge. Handguns require a lot more practice to master than do rifles and the like. In addition the ammunition can be more difficult to acquire, especially in a post apocalyptic setting. Rifles and shotguns, they're widely used for hunting. Handguns are made for 'self-defense' purposes. So, less ammunition is available at stores like Walmart, at least compared to the widely available 12-gauge shotgun shells.

Well, why bother then?

They have their purposes. They have a high rate of fire. They're easier to reload. They're easier to conceal. And they're better at close quarters. They're similar to bladed weapons in this respect. Sometimes you'll want an axe, others a sword or a spear. And still others a dagger will come in most handy.

They're easy to use with one hand. Ever see a car chase where the driver pulls out a rifle, sticks it out the window, and fires it. Then repeats the process? No. Or one of those gunfights that involves jumping through the air and unloading two weapons at once? That sort of pace is difficult to keep up when you're sporting twin shotguns.

And when was the last time you were stalking the halls of an abandoned high school searching for that gang of thugs that has been stalking you, and you thought “Damn I'm glad I brought the mini-gun along.”

Hell, even committing suicide to prevent capture/reanimation as a zombie, is a lot easier with a .45 than a M-16.

For most of these, a sub-machinegun is a fair option too. Though they're far less concealable, heavier and tend to spend ammunition like a Hotel Heiress in Beverlyhills with Daddy's Credit Card. Hey, whatever works. And it's not like one will always have a choice over what weapons they can find.

Improvise. Practice. Look downright badass.

Guns guns everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

Using a firearm is repetitively simple. Like using any weapon or tool. Assuming the gun is primed and ready, you just pull the trigger. The hammer hits the primer causing a violent chemical reaction that leads to a controlled explosion. An instant later a projectile (or many in the case of buckshot and the like) emerges from the barrel traveling hundreds of feet per second. The projectile(s) travel until their energy is spent.

Depending on the charge and shape/mass of the projectile and the amount of powder involved, they can even penetrate substantial quantities of matter before coming to a rest.

Fun stuff huh?

I grew up in Alaska. You would think that I would have learned all about firearms(guns) with my mother's milk. And after a fashion you'd be correct. Given time, I think I might be able to figure out how to figure out most weapons, but I still don't know much in the realm of cleaning and maintenance. These are important factors. If you don't take care of your tools properly they tend to fail. And as a complex machine, the parts in most firearms tend to wear with time. A broken gun is only really useful as a club.

On the whole shooting is easy. A. Point weapon. B. Squeeze trigger. Repeat as necessary until you either run out of ammunition,or targets. Or are yourself killed/neutralized. Modern industry has made it so. Or rather, shooting is easy to learn and more challenging to master. Assuming that you actually want to hit what you're aiming at. That takes lots of practice. And a decent understanding of physics.

The first concern is a common one. Gravity. Eventually the speed of the projectile is going to be overcome by wind resistance and the pull of gravity and the bullet will be fall back to earth. How fast this happens, depends on the weapon. The M-16 tends to have better range and accuracy than the rival AK-47. I don't recall if this holds for the updated AK-74 or not.

Then there's the wind, it has a tendency to alter the path of the projectile.

All you really need to do is line up the sights, and adjust for wind and gravity.

This of course is all fine and good, when you're shooting at a paper target. Not so much so when the target is shooting back. So, get some practice.

Really, why bother talk about this one? Guns will probably come in handy no matter how civilization falls. More so with some than others. At least in the short term before the stockpile of ammunition is blown through. If you learn to shoot straight, you'll use less ammo, and your stash will last that much longer. Then you'll need to fall back on clubs and pointed sticks and what-not. Assuming you survive that long.

One shot, one kill.

John Carpenter, you so crazy.

The Mouth of Madness. 1994. Color. No nudity – jerks.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113409/

Well, first off, this is an Apocalyptic flick rather than Post Apocalyptic. It portrays the events leading up to the end of the world. Good enough. Besides, I love me some John Carpenter and am always willing to give one of his movies a viewing. You ever seen Big Trouble in Little China? Yes? Then you know why.

Our movie tonight revolves around a hot-shot insurance claims adjuster. Sexy no? His job, his whole life, is that of a skeptic who catches con-artists in the act of defrauding the insurance companies. Burned down your wife to collect the policy? Not so fast. Not while our man is on the job bitch. He will somehow manage to get your dog to rat you out and send your ass to prison. Yeah, that is one super badass that we have here. An insurance adjuster. Our last line of defense end of the world.

Fuck. We're doomed.

The plot centers around a New England horror writer, who seems to be a combination of the might of Steven King and H.P. Lovecraft. He writes novels about a small New England town and the terrifying monsters that lie beneath and the insanity that they bring with them. Fun stuff. Enough so that he brings in billions and billions of dollars, and when he disappears before his last book is completed, his publisher Moses(Chuck Heston himself) wants him found.

So who do they call? The A-Team? McGyver? Rambo? Do I need to ask this question? Do I need to answer it? No.

He's saddled with a hot chick, the missing writer's editor, and sent off to figure out where a man whom none of them had ever seen before due to the fact that he's a creepy recluse who only contact with the publisher is through his literary agent. Conveniently enough, the literary agent tries to plant an axe in our hero and is gunned down by the cops. I wonder if this is a satirical stab at literary agents. The heartless bastards.

This all leaves our hero on his own to solve the puzzle. And so he does, sending him to New Hampshire of all places, to try and find a town that doesn't exist on any maps. Mmmmmm, just a hint of Twilight Zone. Zesty.

I shall cut it short. They find the town that doesn't exist. The town's fucked up. There are deep spiritual, philosophical, and metaphysical questions asked on the meaning of life, the universe and everything. As well as the nature of reality and the power of individuals and groups to alter that reality by thought and belief.

And then John Carpenter rapes your brain.

Watch it. I endorse this one heartily. But on with the review, and what we learned from the movie.

Alright, first, remember how I said that reading was the ultimate skill to be had in the post apocalyptic world? Well fuck all that. Reading brought around the end of the world. Who saw that coming? Building cybernetic warriors, this I can believe. Or playing God and creating a supervirus, totally plausible. But end of the world through horror novel? Dick move. What are we going to read when the wold does come to an end? Poetry and technical handbooks? Shit. Worst Apocalypse Ever.

No, wait. I reserve the spot of Worst Apocalypse Ever for the Internet Porn Apocalypse. Where net-porn will bring about the end of the world. Creepy Horror Novel Apocalypse is just a close second.