Apply that same scenario and set of rules to a melee weapon and the chances of survival is reduced minutes for the average Joe... People are not going to pick up a melee weapon and turn into an Invincible Kill Bill Ninja...
I didn't say anything about swords. The problem with swords (of any style) is that most are made out of cheap materials nowadays, and would even break. When I say melee weapons, I mean stuff that can easily be used, like a baseball bat, an ax, a crowbar, piece of steel pipe or even a machete. Again, you're looking at things from the current world around you, not at a world in a post apocalyptic environment.
Melee weapons require very close contact and extreme physical exertion, I'd give the average person a few minutes in real hand to hand before they collapse from exhaustion or get poke themselves on a good day without years of training and discipline...
Yes, all that is true. But with a baseball bat to the head, or a machete chop to the skull, or even an ax to the neck gives you an upperhand. That's less weight you have to carry if you need to move (as you'd have to carry more weight for not just the gun, but for the ammo and spare parts for the gun). Plus, melee weapons are great for stealth attacks, as you don't have to worry about it making a loud "bang" and alerting people to where you are.
And in a zombie outbreak scenario, a melee weapon actually gives you MORE time. It gives you about a few more seconds. And in that kind of scenario, seconds can be the difference between staying alive or getting dead.
Two at most? Based on what? Unless you are spraying bullets, I can easily see a stockpile of 10s of thousands lasting well beyond my life... And if you are spraying bullets constantly to survive do you really believe you would have an advantage with a melee? How many hours a day do you think you could endure of hand to hand combat?
If you're spraying bullets, no, you're going to end up dead because you're not smart to think with your head and are firing from the hip without thinking twice about it. At least with melee weapons, you don't have to reload and you don't have to worry about it jamming at a crucial moment where the difference between living and dying is to kill your attacker.
And if the only melee weapon you have is a drum stick? Or your sword blade breaks? The extreme what ifs go both ways...
Again: I didn't say anything about swords. The problem with swords (of any style) is that most are made out of cheap materials nowadays, and would even break. When I say melee weapons, I mean stuff that can easily be used, like a baseball bat, an ax, a crowbar, piece of steel pipe or even a machete. Again, you're looking at things from the current world around you, not at a world in a post apocalyptic environment.
And if anyone picked up a drumstick to use as a melee weapon, they deserve to end up dead.
As opposed to learning how to scratch build effective and durable melee weapons? I don't believe you really have a grasp at just how many bullets, primers and how much gunpowder exist in the world... There are caves and warehouses packed full of bullets, they are not going to just disappear... And if your life depended on it, yes I can see people tooling up and manufacturing new bullets, it's not really that far fetched as the machinery and knowledge is existing...
Okay. Show me a picture of one of these so-called "caves full of bullets" that you're talking about. And tell me, are these "caves" easy to find? Doe every average joe know about them? Or is it just the government? If its just the government, and the government goes out quickly in any post apocalyptic scenario, then how are average joes suppose to know where to go to find these caves?
With the way you're presenting this, it appears you're expecting the video game scenario of what a post-apocalyptic environment, where you can run around, find weapons and a small stockpile of bullets and ammo, and first aid kits and a full cache of food. That is not how it would be. Everything we know would have limited supplies. Vehicles, unless you're a genius and know how to create a steam-powered vehicle (which not everyone does), would be almost useless because of the limited amount of gas everyone would have access to. Meat from the supermarket would be completely gone. Water would only be available if you found a river or when it rained, and even that could be dangerous.
Why is this a flaw? Do you honestly believe that it's that unlikely that you would encounter anyone that had gun that goes *bang*?
Again, you're looking at it from a world where we have supplies for making ammo and where ammo is available. NOT from a world where supplies are limited/gone and not available to everyone. History has proven if Melee weapons existed as far back as that, then they'll more than likely be around a long time after a post apocalyptic event occurs, it just depends on the environment around you.
What if all the supplies used to make melee weapons was gone as well? What ifs can go both ways...
Melee weapons have been around for much longer than powder-propelled weapons. Cavemen used rocks, clubs made from wood and even bones as weapons.
What if the gun wasn't empty, and the guy didn't have a sword, seems the empty handed swordsman would be screwed... Again extreme what ifs go both ways...
You can toss up what ifs all day that favor one side or another, it really doesn't get you far as it's easily reversed...
Again, you're looking at the scenario in the video game scenario of what the post apocalyptic environment would be. If it was the swords guy from Raiders vs. The Man from
The Road, and the Man used the only two bullets he's got left, how do you think he'd far in the next scenario of finding another man with a melee weapon? He and his son would be dead unless he switched to using a melee weapon.
Let's face it, if you had a steel pipe and an empty gun, do you really think you'd last long with the empty gun? No, you wouldn't. Be it the zombie apocalypse, the gasless wasteland or even the world portrayed in
The Road, you'd last longer with the steel pipe. It's silent, never has to reload and its good enough to subdue a person. Yes, you end up giving up the comfort of doing a "long distance kill", but think of it like this, the military trains people to use VARIOUS weapons and combat skills, including those that require hand to hand combat. You're pretty much asking the question
"Who needs a knife in a nuke fight?" I'm saying not everyone has access to a nuke, and a knife may be the only thing they do have (and if they do have it, then they should use it the best they can).
In a post-apocalyptic scenario there are only two primarily items that are simple and basically can keep you alive: a melee weapon and your head.
If you think guns are going to be around for decades after such an apocalyptic event, by all means, go ahead and grab your gun and good luck. But when the bullets run out, think about how good a melee weapon would be at that moment. I'm agreeing to disagree with you and I'm done with it.
As I said previous if you don't believe they exist you obviously do not follow the gun market as surplus ammo and weapons are forever flowing, millions upon millions of rounds and 100s of thousands of guns... The military has tons of stockpiles, as do many 'extremist' heck I'm only a causal shooter and I can say without doubt that I have a few 1000s rounds myself... Heck the local Wal-Mart easily has a thousands of rounds, their distribution centers has to have 100s of thousands of rounds...
