Super Realistic Zombie Apocalypse Training

Frank Jardim of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, is one of the most diehard zombie fans you’ll meet. He recalls watching the original zombie films by George A. Romero as a child and falling in love with the genre. Being a g un enthusiast, he got to thinking how he could blend his two passions, zombies and shooting. What he came up with is likely the most realistic zombie apocalypse training courses in the nation. He's now trying to take it mainstream.

In 2011, he started fabricating life-size zombies in his living room using the films as inspiration. He sculpted grotesque faces out of papier-mâché, collected real human hair from barbershops for the heads and dressed the figures in worn-out, shabby clothes to give them a macabre feel. Most importantly, he devised an ingenious and robust mechanism in the head that allowed the zombies to fall with a headshot to the brain area.

Soon after, he created Zombie Shooters United. “It’s a new paradigm in three gun action shooting sports.” says Jardim. “The theme is zombie-apacolypse. What’s special about it is that the targetry is life-size, realistic-looking, reactive zombie targets that will only drop with a brain-shot.”

Since 2012, Zombie Shooters United have been organizing shoots all over the country. They have developed a loyal gang of die-hard shooters who attend every shoot. Many of them describe the scenarios as the best, most realistic training you can get.

The shoots are three gun format: rifle, pistol, shotgun. Often you’re shooting out of a moving vehicle or moving across terrain on foot towards the targets. You’re judged on time and kills. “The rules are simple so it’s not intimidating for new shooters.” says Jardim. “It brings a lot of people into the shooting sports that were fans of the genre but not necessarily big into shooting.”

Upcoming shoots have been delayed as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. However they should resume later this summer and fall at the Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point, Kentucky.