So with The Walking Dead having sailed into history and devolved into what will, no doubt, be short-lives spinoff series, I need a new post-apocalypse show to immerse myself in. The Last Of Us is the latest installment in that.
The premise? Well, you can go look it up…I don’t really have the willpower to type out a synopsis that you can easily find elsewhere.
So, historically, television and movies have done a wildy disparate job of portraying the dystopian future. One thing that separates TLOU is that while shows like Jericho, The Walking Dead, The Last Ship, etc, all start with an apocalypse, TLOU is actually about whats happening 20 years after the apocalypse. As a result, we don’t see how the world became rubble and ruin, rather, we just start at that point.
So what does the future look like twenty years after the apocalypse? Apparently we get walled cities that are operated by heavy-handed military governments. People work for chits, everything is in short supply, the guards are goons, and there’s always that contingent of people who want to ‘change the system’. Its virtually a trope.
The characters, after only one season, are a bit one-dimensional but you can see that there’s an attempt being made to flesh them out a bit. You can’t really develop a character into a fully-developed person that the audience cares about in only one season. But there’s plenty of foreshadowing about where those character developments will land…tough, hardened kid who just wants the joy of being a child again, gruff survivor secretly needing to love someone and have connection, that sort of thing.
Gunplay? A bit. There’s an interesting scene where a stolen M4 is squirreled away because finding ammo for it is too difficult. Personally, I’d think that in a world full of armed government goons carrying AR’s youd find that .223 is probably the more common round. And, flying in the face of real-world experience, the main hero carries a….Taurus revolver. Hmm. I’m not sure a Taurus has the build quality to last through twenty years of hard use.
One thing I noticed that seems interesting is that outside of the large cities, survivors carry hunting-type rifles (bolt guns) rather than AR’s, whereas inside the walled quarantine zones the government and the rebel faction both use AR’s. Obviously this is because the rebel faction takes the guns from the government faction as they’re killed, but you’d think the M4 would be useful in the rest of the landscape, not just the cities.
My guess is that, 20 years into the apocalypse, ammunition for the M4’s is widely available to .gov forces and those forces are predominantly in the cities…so the M4 prevails there. Outside the cities, in the sparsely populated outside world, all the 5.56 was burned up long ago and people use whatever rifle happens to be chambered for whatever ammunition they find.
Makes me wonder if this is finally the scenario that justifies the Scout rifle concept.
I don’t know the US gun market all that well, but maybe it’s worth mentioning that in the story narrative the apocalypse started in 2003. It is safe to assume that civilian ownership of AR style firearms was lower in that period than now? That may in part justify the weapon choices of the characters.
Thanks from Italy,
Daniele
Comments “off”. Alrighty then.
Dude, it was getting a bit mean-spirited in there and rather than have to address individuals and get everyone stirred up it seemed easier to just close the posting.
Very interesting thought on the Scout rifle. Speaking of Scout rifles are you still hunting with the GSR? I am the guy that sent you one of Andy’s Biothane slings the last picture you posted (some time ago) it looked like it was still on the rifle. Just wondering.
Hunting with a 5.56 semi-auto seems a bit light in the calibure selection and a temptation to send too many rounds down range. Keeping the shot count down seems to be a good call to keep you location more or less secure.
Not trying to start an argument JMHO that and $5.00 will get you a cup of coffee at one of those fancy coffee shops.
I have watched the first season and it does seem like it’s off to a good start we will see how the future shows turn out.
The difference between the cities and the open country sure suggests the latter is the place to be it does seem to follow the common thought these days. Get out ASAP sounds like a plan. Lol
Best regards,
Roadie
Yup, still have the sling…thank you. Haven’t hunted in the last year because grown-up stuff has interfered. I swapped out the Harris bipod for a Magpul one, but I may just drop the bipod altogether since if I need a stable rest I’d probably just throw it over my pack. Still trying to find the exact niche this thing is perfect for, but TLOU definitely makes a strong case for it…the ranges that were being shot were short, less than a hundred yards…firepower was an issue so the detachable mags would be nice…and the scout-style scope would probably aid in the speedier shooting that seems to take place.
Zero- I have to say being a whitetail hunter here in WI one might say the .223 round is a bit light to reliably put larger animals on the table. I once shot a full run 8pt buck with my scout rifle (.308 150 grain Hornady SP) and he ran another 150 yds before conking out. So my guess is a .222 at even 68-75 grains could be problematic. Not to say in a pinch if that’s all you had hey of course you make do. I was Dustin the 150 bullet and now use nothing but 180’s for deer and bear.
I have 2 scout set ups and my Savage .308 is the one I prefer. Detachable box mags ( 5 and 10 rd) and back up aperture sights and short barrel make a very handy set up. I’m not saying it’s a replacement for AR semi autos for defense ( I have those) but it’s a great all around ( as Jeff Cooper would say ) general purpose rifle. But of course YMMV as you often say.
Well, if traveling cross country on a mission, a person would be likely to avoid shooting so as to conserve ammunition (because it is heavy). So a scout rifle for me would make a lot of sense. Joel’s varmint barrel Rem. 700 would NOT be my choice. A Remington 600 carbine on the other hand …
I built my own Scout style rifle on a Remington 700SA with a Krieger .308 18″ pencil barrel. My stock allows the use of detachable 5, 10 and 20 round magazines. Lightweight and extremely accurate even with iron sights and scope.
Nice set up. Can’t go wrong with a Krieger custom barrel.
I’d think that caliber makes a difference.
There is a reason that few people hunt with anything as small as .223/5.56, and also several reasons that few people hunt with semi auto rifles.
Though I suspect the writers did it as an intentional contrast and didn’t think it through that far.
If our post constitutional Republic ever returns, I hope to see every James Wesley-Rawles novel made into a TV mini-series.
The scout rifle is cool for sure, I have been to several “General Purpose Rifle” classes and was surprised at how hard you can run a bolt or lever gun. I use a Ruger Gunsite Scout in 308 with a fixed 2.75x intermediate eye relief optic and a Ching Sling style sling but in nylon because leather was driving me nuts.
The plastic Ruger mags hate being loaded to 10 so I run 9 in them, the metal mags can run 10 rounds but you can’t top load them when locked in the gun (think SKS) like you can the plastic ones. Something most untrained people wouldn’t care about but a good feature on a control feed gun which also most people also don’t understand until the snap an extractor drop loading rounds like they can on a push feed gun.
If I could only have “1 rifle” for everything from self defense to game it would be hard to be unhappy with this setup.
I agree. My Savage scout is excellent. So if semi auto rifles ever get banned that’s my choice for SHTF rifle. The only thing it’s short on is close range rapid multi target engagement. But then again one might be in trouble in that case no matter what you have. Best option is to boogie out ASAP.