This is the worst weapon you could use in a zombie apocalypse

Gene Page/AMC

Food, water, and medicine are crucial if you want to survive the harsh world of "The Walking Dead." But you'll also need something to defend yourself with, right? Tech Insider spoke with John Sanders, property master and weapons expert for AMC's "The Walking Dead," about the best and worst weapons for defending yourself against the armies of walkers.

Sanders already told us the best weapon to take into the apocalypse, so we asked him which weapon you should avoid when downing walkers.

This one seems like a no-brainer: machine guns.

"They're a waste of bullets," Sanders told us.

While the rapid-firing weapons work well when taking down groups of humans, they're all but useless against the undead.

"You have to hit a zombie in the head," he said, "and you would be much more accurate to go single shot and hit them one at a time in the head than you would be trying to spray and keep the gun perfectly level, too."

Gene Page/AMC

Machine guns fire bullets so rapidly they're difficult to aim. And because a brain-shattering shot to the head is the only way to put down a walker, a machine gun is simply not an effective weapon. The guns also are very wasteful of precious ammo.

"Bullets are gonna start to become really valuable," Sanders told us. "You certainly wouldn't just spray bullets at something if you're not hitting something. So, I expect we'll probably move more and more away from the machine guns."

As time passes and bullets become more and more precious, it just isn't economical to use a weapon that expends that much ammunition. Sanders says the show recognizes that as well.

"You know, you see in the movies where someone just [easily] shoots like 10 people with machine guns. That's not very realistic," he said. "We try to make that more realistic on the show."

Sanders told us the show's actors train for hours with live firearms. Over the years, they've worked with ammunition experts from the military, the police, and SWAT teams to train the actors.

So be strategic when choosing how best to handle walkers. If you waste ammo on such a costly, inaccurate weapon, you won't last long.

Gene Page/AMC

NOW WATCH: A neurosurgeon explains if this 'The Walking Dead' character would survive his gruesome injury