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Explosives can be regarded as valuable tools during a zombie outbreak due to their remarkable effectiveness. However, it is essential to acknowledge that handling explosives requires substantial knowledge and entails risks for both the user and the intended target, owing to their volatile nature. The manufacturing of explosives without adequate training and equipment is hazardous. Therefore, it is generally advised only to handle explosives if one possesses the necessary expertise. When deployed against an undead horde, explosive weapons hold the potential to disfigure and dismember zombies but not necessarily neutralize them.

To facilitate the creation of improvised explosives, conducting online research for recipes is beneficial. Ragnar Benson, renowned for his production of various notable works on homemade explosives, offers recommended reading materials that can aid in preparing for the arrival of the undead.

Please note that the usage of explosives, particularly in real-life situations, should always be carried out responsibly and within the confines of legal and safety regulations.

Grenades[]

MkII-Grenade

MkII grenade

M67-Grenade

M67 grenade

Hand grenades are throwable explosive devices primarily utilized by military forces and specialized police units. Many grenade types exist, including highly lethal fragmentation grenades, smoke grenades, and non-lethal flash grenades. In exceptional circumstances where local police and military forces have been overwhelmed, it may be conceivable for civilians to acquire hand grenades.

Grenades can be adapted for improvisational use, such as incorporating them into improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or landmines. Nevertheless, when it comes to effectively combating zombies, their usage, positioning, and quantity could be considerably less practical than other weapons.

Regarding fighting, grenades are more effective against humans than zombies. Techniques like diversionary tactics and inducing fear and disorientation through grenades don't work on zombies, who cannot feel fear or be distracted.

Fragmentation grenades[]

Fragmentation grenades produce a wide spray of metal fragments - if detonated a short but appreciable distance away, these have a reasonable chance of covering the head area. It is worth noting that fragmentation can be thrown out a much longer distance than expected and still retain killing power - it is wise to take cover after throwing a grenade and wait until detonation.

Concussion grenades[]

Concussion ("high-explosive") grenades use the overpressure shockwaves of an explosion to daze and kill the victim, with minimal fragmentation. These are most effective in enclosed areas, where the blast is more concentrated. Against zombies, the kill radius is much smaller than against human targets, but it can be useful in clearing buildings.

Gas grenades[]

Poison gas will generally have no effect on zombies, unless the toxin is specifically designed to be used on zombies.

C-4[]

C-4 or Composition C-4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive family known as Composition C. The British version of the explosive is known as PE-4 (Plastic Explosive). C-4 is composed of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizer to make it malleable, and usually a marker or odorizing taggant chemical.

C-4 is a highly stable plastic explosive material commonly used by military forces for demolition. It is very malleable, able to be molded like clay putty. It is insensitive to temperature extremes and shocks, able to resist being set on fire or even shot by rifles without detonating. Wiring C-4 to explode requires a skilled handler and specific equipment.

Pipe Bombs[]

Pipe

Pipe bomb

A type of homemade bomb, consisting of explosives packed tightly into a pipe. These typically consist of metal or PVC pipe and are filled with low explosives like gunpowder, which is easy to make with common materials. Sometimes, they are filled with shrapnel like nails and glass to increase effectiveness. Unless the maker is experienced at making explosives, the pipe bomb will most likely be only a pipe and a simple fuse, instead of complicated wiring and other accessories.

Landmines[]

Depending on the design, land mines are very useful for defending positions against conventional enemies. Mines are designed to wound, not kill, by blowing off a leg (or both legs). The most these hidden bombs are going to do is create a lot of crawling, dismembered zombies, which presents a hidden danger, especially in grassy fields where you are likely to step onto a zombie you wouldn't have seen otherwise. However, if a crawling zombie hit another mine, it may kill the zombie yet, using two mines to kill one zombie is impractical and so the AP mine is only effective against humans and living infected. There is also the danger of unmarked minefields, which pose far more of a danger to the living than the living dead. If against all reason you do decide to use land mines, visually mark them so other people don't step on them since zombies are going to wander onto an active minefield regardless of markings and warnings.

Landmine

An example of a landmine

There is another type of land mine, however. The one described above is an AP (Anti-Personnel) mine. AT (Anti-Tank) mines are far more effective. They are designed to permanently disable heavily armored vehicles, in the manner that AP mines permanently disable enemy soldiers. An AT mine can easily and completely obliterate a truck-type troop transport, however AT mines require a heavier force to set them off (around 200 pounds(90.7kg)) so they wouldn't be detonated by personnel. If AT mines are acquired, they will have to be modified so that a lighter force could set them off. But make sure to keep them well away from your base, even if you do not have any vehicles in danger of being exploded accidentally–—if a ghoul treads on one of these, all that would remain is a rain of gore, pulverized organs and bones, and infected brain matter. Great against bandits and great against zombies, the AT mine is an ideal anti-zombie mine.

Claymores[]

Claymore Landmine

Claymore mine

M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mines were originally created in response to the mass-wave attacks made by Chinese troops during the Korean War. Claymore mines incorporate a 1.5-pound charge of C-4 backing a matrix holding 700 steel pellets 1/8 of an inch in diameter. Upon detonation, these pellets are propelled outward in a roughly 60° arc to the front of the device, with a maximum effective range of about 110 yards. Safe and proper placement of an M18A1 requires moderate training in the handling of explosives and detonators and the careful sighting of the device itself; it must be aimed when emplaced and includes a simple peep sight.

As with any explosive device, the area immediately around a Claymore mine presents a hazard to friendly forces. Despite it being a directional explosive, the blast generated can be hazardous in and of itself to personnel behind and to the sides of the device and can create secondary missile hazards, meaning that debris on the ground can be kicked about at a high enough velocity to be dangerous. Anyone deploying a Claymore should be behind cover relative to the device, and at least 20 yards away.

The projectiles - and the detonation of the C-4 explosive used to propel them - are quite capable of injuring or killing large numbers of human attackers inside of its effective radius; against zombies, it could be expected that even if they were not immediately killed, that significant numbers would be rendered immobile and easier to destroy.

IED[]

Disarmed IED

A disarmed IED.

An IED (Improvised Explosive Device) is simple, but not easy to construct. The basic outline is a cell-phone taped to a bomb, usually inside a small container like an ice cream box or children's lunch box. It works by constructing the bomb and detonator. the detonator is close to the cell-phone. and the wire that makes a noise when you call the cell-phone gets attached to the detonator. Once then you leave it in a position and call the cell-phone attached to the IED with another phone. The bomb then goes off. However, some difficulties arise, such as how to attract zombies to the bomb and what if the bomb doesn't detonate and when you send a man to inspect it, then it goes off. If telecommunications are lost, your bomb will have no use. The process of making an IED is hard and will require testing.

Grenade launcher[]

Images (40)

M79 grenade launcher

A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires grenades with more range, accuracy, and velocity. They can come as a single weapon or an attachment on a rifle. These should only be used by military personnel, unless your situation requires you to use it. The 40mm fragmentation round is used by most militaries. A grenade launcher can be found in overrun military bases. The main problem is a lack of ammunition, so use any rounds wisely.

Images (39)

40mm grenades

A shoulder-fired grenade launcher is an individual weapon, a notable one being the M79 grenade launcher. But there are other grenade launchers with more firepower. Such as the (comparatively rare) pump-action China Lake, and the (not quite so rare) semi-automatic MGL 140 (otherwise known as the six-attack). They are very useful against the undead.

An attachment grenade launcher is mounted under a rifle, this makes it ready for use and it also has its own trigger. Notable ones are the American M203 grenade launcher and the Russian GP-25.

The automatic grenade launcher is essentially a machine gun that shoots grenades. These are rare and if found, should be used for large crowds of zombies. These are usually mounted on a tripod and look like a machine gun. One type is the Mark 19 automatic grenade launcher.

Rocket-Propelled Grenades[]

A rocket-propelled grenade (or RPG) is a shoulder-fired, anti-armor weapon system that fires rocket-assisted projectiles equipped with an explosive warhead. They were originally designed for use against tanks during and after World War II. In the modern era, they are effective only against lightly armored vehicles such as APCs - most are not effective against modern tanks except with a specialised round, good shot placement, and significant luck. Rocket-propelled grenades are used by militaries, paramilitary forces, and insurgents around the world.

The most famous and prolific of them is the RPG-7 - the term "rocket-propelled grenade" is actually a backronym from the Russian acronym for "handheld anti-tank grenade launcher". However, it is now considered an old design - modern "light anti-armor weapons" include the Swedish AT4 and the Russian RPG-29.

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RPG-7

In a zombie apocalypse, they may prove ineffective against the undead for many reasons, including:

  • the weight of the launcher and its ammunition
  • the loud detonation of the round
  • the difficulty of acquiring ammo
  • the small kill radius - typical HEAT rounds are not effective against human infantry, let alone the undead

However, they can be very useful against raider vehicles and heavy/armored zombie variants. Against massed hordes of zombies, dedicated fragmentation rounds can also be somewhat effective.

Dynamite[]

Industrialist, engineer, and inventor Alfred Nobel built bridges and buildings in Stockholm. His construction work inspired him to research new methods of blasting rock. Today dynamite is mainly used in the mining, quarrying, construction, and demolition industries. Dynamite is still the product of choice for trenching applications, and as a cost-effective alternative to cast boosters. Dynamite is occasionally used as an initiator or booster for AN and ANFO explosive charges.

Dynamite could be used for a rudimentary hand-thrown grenade, though its fuze igniting system means using a lighter or match to light the fuse would be troublesome in windy or wet weather. It is also important to note that TNT and dynamite are very different explosives.

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