shotguns are cumbersome and loud. A 12.ga shotgun takes up a fair amount of space and is slow to reload compared to a magazine loaded weapon.

USAS-12’s, Saiga 12k’s etc are almost an exception, but they still are cumbersome and take up a lot of space.

in my opinion is that a suppressed .22 lr (loaded with subsonic munitions) with some large magazines mite actually be the best zombie gun

It’s enough to penetrate the skull and damage brain matter, takes up little space to have 1,000 rds Subsonic/suppressed makes for minimal sound translating to alerting less Z’s.

yes it’s not a powerful round with amazing range/penetration power- but I’ll assume that most encounters are close(ish) range 2-150~300’ - so still effective

9mm/.45 PDW style platforms would be my next pick for a primary.(similar subsonic loadout)

Couple that with a sidearm chambered in the same caliber to save space/ make reloading easy

Invest in a few high capacity .22/9mm/.45 mags for your load put guns.

I feel like people feel the need to see powerful military or medium/large game rifles/shotguns, when in the end poking through one end of a skull, mixing up some brain is all that’s needed

Lastly a melee weapon, something I’ve thought about for years. A few I’ve considered

Axe handle (strong wood banded at the top with metal)

Riot baton

Wood bat or club with metal banding or something weighting the end slightly

2.5-5lb long sledge

Wooden sword

My thinking for the melee is it has to be sturdy enough to withstand several blows, and be able to damage the brain internally with blunt force Penetration of the brain isn’t completely needed if the relevant remaining parts of the brain are disrupted - bonus points if the weapon is nimble enough to redirect, trip/trap/break limbs of the zeds

Just felt like posting this