Alternate weapons choice to my first post:

1) Bow ( Unchanged ). Having a bow scabbard for the short asian styled bow means having a way to carry it strung if anticipating " trouble ". One would still have to unstring the bow often or daily to avoid it taking a set and losing power..

http://www.horsebows.com/funstuff.htm

2) Close quarter weapon being a shorter sword than a longsword and this could be a messer, falchion, an arming sword or a complex hilted type like a dussack

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...an+Dussack

Or the Sung Dao I just bought. :lol:

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...y+Song+Dao

3) Instead of my A&A English bill I might go for my custom Michael Pikula Winged spear for the pole arm.


Diverging from strictly on topic below: ( Sorry Rim, can't help myself .... :D :cool: )

One cheat would in theory be a sling since this takes up zero weight and space and can use any found rock as a missile saving the precious arrows for more important targets, or if one has run out of arrows: This is a " Theoretical Choice " because it would only be a " real choice " if I acquired actual skill in the use of the sling .... but hey, why not bring it along as one could eventually learn how to use a sling with accuracy if one survives long enough. ;) :lol:

Also, the bow might be unstrung most of the time to preserve it's draw strength, but the sling could be put into action faster than stringing the bow if caught by surprise ?

Note: Other tools /weapons, including knife , dagger or small axe would be part of my kit, but not mentioned or counted for the purpose of this Topic, just assume that with backpack clothing etc .... one would have to carry other stuff and maybe another good reason to not load up on more than 3 primary weapons.

Being in a group and/or having pack animals, cart, etc ..... means that one doesn't have to limit oneself to what one can carry and still be mobile .... in a more settled scenario one could have alternate weapons to chose from an armoury.

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Pic of Michael Pikula holding the spear.

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Sorry Ben for missing your post. That is bad and I should feel bad, especially after all the fuss I made about me keeping count of things. I apologize.

No problem Jean. You are a good sport and that is a beautiful spear!

Thanks Tom for your reply.

To the rest, I thoroughly enjoy your input. Lots of sensible statements about keeping thing small, light, quiet, simple and self-reliant.

Good stuff thank you guys!

@Tom.

In all honesty, I was more thinking of the Potassium Nitrate as the potentially limiting factor. As a geologist and chemist in a once geologically active area, I know several places to get sulfur already. Of course that's me and I know how I'd make my living in the post-Apocalypse. KNO3 is not too hard to make but most of the non-industrial methods would be hard to support in a EOTWAWKI scenario from what I've seen.

But even with the recipes, I'd probably stick with bows. Noise and now more smoke still seems much if your hiding from ravaging hordes. Materials would still seem a sticking point, at least compared to bows and arrows where I could find replacements walking down most suburbs' streets. And I have no problems touching targets at 25+ yards.

Add to that, I honestly barely know much about pre-modern firearms besides "point away from face and fire." So all the benefits of them are wasted on me because I don't know anything about them.

I'm under no illusions that I'll survive a single day, should it all go to pot.

But I've always said, if the bomb falls, I hope its while I'm at a reenactment event, in full plate armour.


Not because I think it'll help me survive, but solely because in 1000 years time when they excavate the area and find my body, its going to REALLY mess up future archaeology textbooks... :D

@ Tom

But you have to maintain piles of piss and crap to produce the Potassium Nitrate. And then comes all the refining. Its relatively infrastructure heavy and our proposed scenario has us wandering a post-apocalyptic world.

As for bow woods, I live in a distinctly not bow wood friendly area. But, even a green branch tied into a D quickly makes a 30 lb. bow. It's nothing to write home about, but its functional. Find a few straight thin branches, spend a bit of time with with a knife and a bit of fire, and I am armed with a ranged weapon that could take down a person. Its not ideal, but I'd like to see you do that with your gun.

As for range, while most of my target shooting is 20-40 yards (best I can get for hunting), I do know my longbow's range is 180 yards or so with my 65 lb. And well over 300 yards for war weights is well documented. Give me a bit of time and motivation with a heavier weight, I'd be regularly hitting targets at the range your asking at.

The bow is the easy part. Unless you have convenient suitable bamboo or reeds or similar, arrows are harder. I've never made a from-scratch bowstring, since I put it in the too-hard basket when making bow and arrows from scratch.

Can be done, and there are plenty of traditional solutions, but DIY-from-scratch bowstrings shouldn't be considered trivial.

Interesting thread, but it's not as easy as it seems.
However, I may have a few choices such as:
01) An English bullet crossbow
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02) A WWI vintage Indian cavalry sword
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03) A Viking spear
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I guess you could pack a lot more bullets than bolts when travelling...

I already posted my weapon suggestions but there is something else I would say.

If some sort of global disaster happens right now not all will descend into chaos. Let's say 9 out of 10 people drop dead right now. I believe that instead of going full on 'Lord of the Flies" humans form a basic functioning society in weeks if not days.

My main weapon in an apocalyptic situation, if anything, would be people. Most situations and hazards I'd encounter while "wandering" would be basically non-combat situations and having three friends to help dig a hole or build a shelter or light a fire or scare off some wild animals is going to be more useful than three weapons that are just going to impede me with their weight and bulk. Besides, if I have more than one weapon, distributing it among a small, tight-knit group would be far more efficient than hogging them all for myself -- the group would be able to bring multiple weapons to bear at any one time, while I don't think I'd ever be able to use more than two at once. Group size is also an effective deterrent to potential confrontations -- a fight averted is a fight won thrice over.

Not to mention that perpetual wandering is probably a good recipe for dying, as Tom has mentioned. It wouldn't allow me to learn the patterns of resource growth and depletion in the areas I pass through, and I'll keep encountering new forms of vegetation and wildlife that I don't know how to use while the ones that I do know how to use become few and far between. Even nomadic groups of humans generally follow an established annual (or multi-year) round between known and established resource sites, so finding a good territory that has sufficiently abundant and diverse resources but isn't too difficult to defend (and isn't too difficult to escape from) would be one of my first priorities. Better if the soil, water, and light conditions allow some degree of useful farming (and if so many people are just dead then I'd bloody well HAVE ALL THAT LAND FOR MYSELF (or, well, my group). Yay.)

(Mind that I know some basic stone toolmaking techniques, so I can probably easily violate many of your rules just by finding suitable stones, working them for a few hours, and then mounting them on sticks to make a bunch of spears for a whole army of my own.)

In modern times there are companies that still manufacture bullet crossbows.
I must be watching too many Crossbow episodes starring Will Lyman and that is why I posted that bullet crossbow picture (Jokes).