Walking Dead

[Ironwood]

 

[Samwise]

I might be underestimating what you can do in your garage with a set of power tools from Home Depot, but I feel like it'd be really hard to replicate factory-made ammunition well enough by hand for it to work smoothly in a modern weapon.  Don't those things have pretty fine tolerances?

I know quite a few people that handload in a home workshop sort of setting (most competitive shooters either load their own or buy from a specialist, the army has specialists that load their sniper rounds by hand).  If you've got the molds and the scales, it's easy.

I'll take your word for it then -- is it fast enough work that you could keep pace with all the handgun rounds we see the Walking Dead yahoos squeezing off?  And is it equally easy for all guns and bullet types?  I'm thinking here of the Heavy and his monstrously expensive custom-tooled cartridges.    

The propellant issue still makes it moot, of course.

[Merusk]

There's lots of vids for reloading on youtube.  Here's a 2min video of a guy using a "budget" (cheap) press to reload. The last 20-30s are him actually using the press in real time.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMniDogU7Z8

He stresses in the comments to take your time with these models because of problems if you rush. He's still cranking out about 20 rounds a minute, so they could keep up if they had supplies.   

[HaemishM]

I'm sure most of the survivors on Walking Dead would love to take 30 minutes watching a Youtube tutorial on handloading your own rounds. 

[Ruvaldt]

This is a show set in the southern US.  Gun culture here is extremely strong, and bullets are relatively easy to make in large quantities.  You wouldn't need a Youtube clip; you can find information on how to do that stuff at any gun show, bookstore, etc.

[angry.bob]

Plus, part of Daryl and Merle's archtype would have that knowledge. That way they could have all the ammo they's need for the full-on race war or whatever without the government knowing. I haven't shot a gun in almost 20 years and I still have my dads old press and molds somewhere. I have more lead than I can ever use laying around that I use to pirate GW figures. Also, they're in a prison, with a set of keys. There will be plenty of bullets to be had. The big advantage the crossbow has is it doesn't make any noise which is good for killing zombies and other stuff without attracting any attention.

[Ironwood]

I like the fully automatic silenced Carl this season.

[Merusk]

I'm sure most of the survivors on Walking Dead would love to take 30 minutes watching a Youtube tutorial on handloading your own rounds. 

   He asked how fast you could do it, Haem, not how they'd learn.   We're speculating they'd have access to smokeless powder and primer in the first place. If they had that they'd have resources around for teaching how to do it, too.

This is a show set in the southern US.  Gun culture here is extremely strong, and bullets are relatively easy to make in large quantities.  You wouldn't need a Youtube clip; you can find information on how to do that stuff at any gun show, bookstore, etc.

Exactly.  Plus you'd have plenty of time to learn how to hand load before that.  In another 18 min-long vid I found while looking for that one the guy had just done 1000 rounds of handloads and was now vidoing his next 1000.  My gun-nut coworker said he keeps 2-3000 on hand between 9mm and .32 just because it's cheaper to buy in bulk.  That's not counting the .22 rounds which are ridiculously plentiful.  Ammo would not be lacking if you were scavenging every place.

[Numtini]

I looked it up and there are apparently 9 billion bullets produced in the US every year. It'll be a while before they need to worry about reloading.

[Furiously]

How many stay in the us?

[Nazrat]

Well, I am an active shooter and hunter but not a survivalist.  I have more than enough rounds in my house to have killed all of the zombies for 3 seasons without touching the bricks of .22 ammo laying around. 

There is a lot of ammo in the world. 

[Nevermore]

Hmm..  So Glen Mazzara was fired on December 21st, the second show runner let go in 18 months.  Apparently the producers and Kirkman were unhappy with how Mazzara was running things, especially over the second half of this season.  The half we haven't seen yet.  Maybe Mazzara was the one who kept bringing in new black dudes just to kill them off. 

[Tale]

I miss the epic feel and wide open spaces of Darabont's first season, before Farmville (season 2). Surely with ratings this good, they could afford it.

[shiznitz]

It does make some kind of sense that after the zombies have been around for awhile the game would change to human vs human.  Makes sad sense to me.

[kaid]

Well given that they are the slow zombies once the initial panic and flight happen really they are more of a force of nature to be respected and watched out for. Humans are the wild card especially when in a stressed situation any interaction between groups of people is a huge risk. Even if they are "good people" under that kind of stress a "good person" could shiv their grandma if it ment protecting their group and helping them live to see tomorrow.

Also over time the walkers are becoming less and less fresh and so are more decayed/slower/more clumsy over time so less and less of a threat unless you get overrun or taken unawares and anybody who survives this long is a lot less likely to get taken unawares.

[Ruvaldt]

Have the zombies gotten any more rotten though?  I haven't noticed that in the show.  Sure, there are a few notable exceptions like the swollen zombie in the well, but in season 3 they look pretty much the same as season 1. 

It seems that it's easier to get away/fight mostly because the survivors aren't in the city anymore, they've been doing this a long time so they're pretty used to fighting them, and they tend to choose to fight them under better conditions/have better ground.

Either way, resources continue to dwindle and there's really no way to settle down and farm on a large scale so conflict between people is inevitable.

[kaid]

It is one reason something like the prison is ideal. If you can lock down and secure a good chunk plus the yard you have an area you can safely garden and good fortified areas to protect you from human predators. It is worth losing some people to secure it in the long run.

[TheWalrus]

Have the zombies gotten any more rotten though?  I haven't noticed that in the show.  Sure, there are a few notable exceptions like the swollen zombie in the well, but in season 3 they look pretty much the same as season 1. 

Don't forget gas mask zombie at the prison.

[luckton]

I don't think the zombies ever actual 'evolve' or change.  You think this is Resident Evil or something?   

[Tale]

I don't think the zombies ever actual 'evolve' or change.  You think this is Resident Evil or something?   

They are rotten and decayed but do not rot or decay. They must eat and digest but never defecate. Yet they starve but never die of it. They are made of nonsense.

[Setanta]

In terms of TV entertainment, I'm not sure I want to watch a zombie take a dump. Also, I'm pretty sure that the researcher and the Governor mention that Michone's zombies are starving but they don't die as fast as humans as a result of starvation (because zombies).

If we apply the urban myth of preservatives in food causing bodies to decay at a slower rate then it makes sense; being set in a western country and all 

Just finished watching the entire series over a few days via iTunes (because Australia) and have learned to suspend reality and just enjoy the storytelling. Mind you, Farmville nearly killed the season 2 for me but the first half of S3 picked it back up again.

[luckton]

Season 3 kicks back into high gear in 30 minutes 

[Surlyboi]

The Walking Glenn

[luckton]

Man has gone from a spry sprout to a "I don't give a fuck" bruiser in decent time.

[Surlyboi]

Oh, holy shit did this go bad quick.

[Selby]

With the exception of two instances, everyone was a literal bad guy.  I've never seen so much ammo shot without actually hitting anything.  My only real complaint though.

[luckton]

With the exception of two instances, everyone was a literal bad guy.  I've never seen so much ammo shot without actually hitting anything.  My only real complaint though.

It's a legit complaint.  If it's a heard of walkers, it's headshots for every Z, even with pistols far beyond their intended range/accuracy.  But other people, even with AR-15s?  Nope, we've devolved into LAPD accuracy.

Aside from that, nice to see Daryl finally give up on his bro and come back.  

[MahrinSkel]

It's different when they shoot back.  Not to mention that walkers just shamble straight ahead without any attempt to dodge or take cover.  That two people were killed with around two hundred fired isn't actually that bad, especially since they were mostly firing 'spray and pray'.  Suppressive fire at best.

--Dave

[Bunk]

Exactly. They made it quite clear that there were enough bullets flying that our normally superhuman marksmen were afraid to lean out of cover long enough to actually aim at anything.

Also, I feel bad for the next character we learn any back story for.

[HaemishM]

Also, I feel bad for the next character we learn any back story for.

Yeah.

Audience: I'm actually starting to like...

BLAM

Audience:  Fuck it.

[Rasix]

Any minor character that starts getting lines better tidy up their resume.  This goes for like every show where people actually die.

Pretty grim episode.  Par for the season.  No levity in the zombie apocalypse.

[luckton]

[Setanta]

I'm a bit worried that the series is rapidly falling off the rails. S1 was great, plenty of action and storyline. Farmville went on too long and mid S3 is all "Daryl meet brother, dumps group, reunites with group (who amazingly don't blink an eyelid at Merle - the whole reason for the split), Rick walks around,  hears/sees things, everyone talks, someone gets shot. Hershel mumbles something that no-one pays any attention to, Andrea can't read real motives for shit, Glenn goes from boring to romantic to fucked up to Rambo in 5 lines and then comes back from who the fuck knows to rescue Hershel. Meanwhile, Carol loses her daughter in S2, finds a bond with Daryl and then moves on to an inmate who looks like a pedophile and then shelters behind his corpse because we hadn't had this week's dose of "fuck it lets kill another character off because Walking Dead".

The only really worthwhile characters seem to be Michonne, Merle, Carl and Daryl with a tip of the hat to the Governor who at least is a badass even if he did keep his rotting daughter in a closet. Of those, only Daryl's character seems to really be explored in depth - they could have been doing so much more with Michonne and Carl's character while Rick is off in the bushes whacking off to the ghost of his supposedly dead wife who cheated on him and probably gave birth to his best mate's daughter.

I'm seriously hoping that they get the series moving with some of the depth of S1 because it's getting to the point where I'm wishing that the Governor would wipe the whiney-bitch protagonists out while skull fucking a zombie and laughing manically.

I really get the feeling the writers are stringing us along until they work out a decent story - and that makes me sad because at least the Sofia and Carl arcs and Daryl's development in S2 made up for life on the farm.

[Threash]

They missed the best one.

[Evildrider]

I hope Andrea gets turned into a zombie and the Gov. keeps her in his closet.