Firearms Expert Reacts to Call of Duty Zombies’ Guns

Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the guns from Call of Duty’s various Zombies modes, including the iconic Ray Gun, the Shrink Ray, the Kraken Cannon, and the Cthulhu-inspired Apothicon Servant.
00:00 - Opening
00:48 - Blundergat
02:29 - D.I.E. Shockwave
03:40 - Kraken
05:02 - Apothicon Servant
06:27 - Monkey Bomb
07:34 - RAI K84 (Ray Kay)
08:35 - The Ray Gun
09:59 - The Ray Gun Mk.2
10:53 - The Shrink Ray
12:14 - Thundergun
12:58 - Wunderwaffe DG-2
14:17 - Wave Guns
In the latest video in the Firearm Expert Reacts series, Jonathan Ferguson--a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries--breaks down the guns from Call of Duty’s various zombie modes and compares them to their real-life counterparts.
Firearms Expert Reacts playlist - • Firearms Expert Reacts...
If you're interested in seeing more of Jonathan's work, you can check out more from the Royal Armouries right here. - / royalarmouries
If you would like to support the Royal Armouries, you can make a charitable donation to the museum here. - royalarmouries.org/support-us...
And if you would like to become a member of the Royal Armouries, you can get a membership here. - royalarmouries.org/support-us...
You can either purchase Jonathan's book here. - www.headstamppublishing.com/b...
Or at the Royal Armouries shop here. - shop.royalarmouries.org/colle...
You can subscribe to the Armax Journal that Jonathan Associate Edited here: www.armaxjournal.org/

[@kapkant6197]

One of the most realistic things in Zombies is the idea that when the Soviets got the ability to make their own Wonder Weapon, they immediately made it an AK platform gun.

[@Brian-tn4cd]

If we go by the games the Thundergun and Gersh Wormhole grenades were the first soviet WW, but since CW is a literal reboot i guess it can also count as "first"

[@grouchyberry7279]

Extremely realistic

[@TheEquestrianGallade]

@@Brian-tn4cd Wasn't the Thundergun a Group 935 invention?

[@kuneehoo]

@@TheEquestrianGalladenope, the TGun is soviet, as if you have maximum fov or look closely enough you can see "cccp" on the side of it, and it is not a group 935 weapon since it was made by the Ascension group under dr gersh's direction

[@Barack_Hussein_Obama-44thPrez]

​@@kuneehoo isn't the first place the Tgun found in Germany? And group 935 is a multi country thing, is it not? It also could be stolen weapon design. Idk just throwing possible things out there

[@mohammadabdallah8571]

This series is single handily putting gamespot over IGN

[@marcum209]

Facts

[@scarletcrusader5431]

Gamespot was already a huge game info/reviewer back in the early 2000's. They're just making a comeback.

[@lathanchurch8352]

Ign puts themselves down, gamespot is leagues ahead

[@curlystoogemire]

Going above ign is bare minimum for gaming journalism let’s be real

[@samholdsworth420]

Ign has been dead for ages lol

[@MuhammadZhafran]

Never thought my mind that i would see Jonathan Ferguson the keeper of firearms and artillery at the royal armouries museum react to wonder weapons from COD Zombies

[@domohyes]

Never thought my mind that i would see Jonathan Ferguson the keeper of firearms and artillery at the royal armouries museum react to wonder weapons from COD Zombies

[@EdibleClown]

Assessing the F.E.A.R. weapons would hurt Jonathan's soul less than these

[@afd19850]

Agreed? FEAR and Killzone for me

[@BrowncoatGofAZ]

@@afd19850resistance too

[@darthcerebus]

And even then, there's just enough similarities/realism to be like "Yeah, I can see how that'd work/see the inspiration/source"

[@esaiharamasukoi5810]

Metal Gear Solid 3 for m3.

[@ThePandoraGuy]

@@afd19850 Oh yes, let him bask in the glory of the Bullpup Z-M LR-300 aka the M82. Specifically the Killzone 2 version.

[@AVGNROCKS1996]

Imagine explaining the entirety of the Zombies lore to poor Johnathan, would make the Vanguard episode look like a trip to Disney Land.

[@Professor-fc7vc]

Hey Jonathan! The "DG" in the Wunderwaffe DG-2 stands for "Die Glocke" (The Bell), which as far as I know was some purported top secret German wonder weapon that was being developed during World War 2. It's heavily implied to exist in the COD Zombies universe as the teleporters on various maps, hence why the Wunderwaffe is called the DG-2, as the second successful project in the program. In the map that came out before the Wunderwaffe's first appearance you could find a piece of paper on the ground that reads "Die Glocke"

[@zulubunsen9067]

Huhh, my guess would have been Donner Gewähr, ie. "Thunder Weapon", but I don't know anything about COD Zombies lore.

[@YeOldeAccount27]

Also, in Der Riese, there's a structure outside the map that resembles an irl structure known as "The Henge", the supposed testing site of Die Glocke. For those familiar with the zombies map, its the structure you shoot at to play "Hide and Seek"

[@primalryquaza]

Also, the 2 in GD means the second model. We learn in Tag Der Toten that that maps wunderwaffe is the 1st of its kind. 1 of the reasons it's weaker, both in game and lore.

[@ImStabathon]

If anyone wanted to know some lore as to how the Ray Gun came around to Zombies: *"I previously had a conversation with an art director and was spitballing ideas about bringing different elements into the World at War narrative, one of the ideas I had was about those retro futurism toys in cereal boxes back in the day"*-Treyarch Senior Lead Artist Maxwell Porter

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Cool!

[@mincoin]

Maxwell porter? As in porters x2 ray gun?

[@Barack_Hussein_Obama-44thPrez]

@@mincoin yeah, Porter invented zombies I believe, being the first designer of the Ray Gun

[@grouchyberry7279]

I was just waiting for bro to pull out each gun "Now we actually have a (insert wonder weapon) here in the armory"

[@niko-j-a4838]

*pulls out an Apoticon Servant*

[@otbc1999]

Jonathan is a metalhead, he'd like the song 115

[@BSRaven]

He'd probably like the vast majority of Kevin Sherwood's work for Zombies to be honest.

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Interesting, thanks! All of the soundtracks passed me by.

[@otbc1999]

@@jonathanferguson1211 no worries mate, thank you so for responding. You'll like the music

[@MatthewLoh-ru1mw]

​@@jonathanferguson1211hi, Jonathan, if possible, can you please maybe react to the guns from the Far cry and Medal of honor series?

[@weirdeurasianboy8091]

4:16 If such a band were to ever exist, they better pay Jonathan royalties from their earnings Cannonball Carousel does have a nice ring to it

[@The_Republic_of_Ireland]

I have to agree with Jonathan here, Cannonball Carousel WOULD be a epic band name

[@silencespectrereaper]

The Wave Gun is basically a microwave weapon which cooks zombies from the inside out. As for the DG in Wunderwaffe, it apparently, stands for "Die Glocke". It is difficult to judge weapons that don't exist in real life, since there is nothing to compare them to. Especially if you are an expert in projectile weapons and you have to judge energy based weaponry, which are still just experimental in real life.

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Indeed. I fall back on gaming experience and appreciation for the design aspects as best I can.

[@silencespectrereaper]

@@jonathanferguson1211 And you do it very well, despite not really having much to compare them to. Maybe one day we will have handheld energy weapons as we see them here, but that day is far away.

[@MatthewLoh-ru1mw]

​@@jonathanferguson1211hi, Mr. Ferguson, if I may humbly request, can you PLEASE react to the guns from Far cry 3 to far cry 5?

[@Torbjorn_Main]

7:48 - RAI-K84 is literally the energy modified of AKM

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Kind of. As I say - there's not much AK left.

[@Barack_Hussein_Obama-44thPrez]

@@jonathanferguson1211 Soviets would've 100% made an AK platform gun like that if such tech existed.

[@Lendon142]

The Ray Gun is a DU Gamma Blaster essentially, that's what the "Battery" Packs are that your dumping in the Gamma Blaster, Depleted Uranium.

[@Presofcamelot64]

They should definitely do a part 2. There's so many more weapons they can show lol. Like the Ragnoroks, the staffs, sliquifier, that gun on Zetsibo that I can't pronounce. And I REALLY want to see Jonathan's reaction to the Pack-A-Punch Machine

[@octopusjacket3472]

I love how Jonathan is actually charismatic enough to have a lot more to say to this type of designs than just "yeahs, it is definitely a gun from this game"

[@peternicol3439]

Jonathon Ferguson, Keeper of Jackets and T-Shirts, whose office holds a collection of hundreds of Emotional Support Weapons from throughout History!

[@michaelanderson6394]

Still hoping for a Valkyria Chronicles video one of these days. I have my fingers crossed.

[@outis-aka-nobody1064]

I can't believe I never thought of this. Very obvious choice, would be vary cool!

[@gunnargunnarsson5963]

I also like to see Jonathan react to the guns of Binary Domain, which is a cyberpunk game taking place in 2080 in Japan, and the weapons that the main character squad, the Rust crew, are equipped with are basically futurized version of modern guns. And the robots that you fight also have their own standard issue guns, there's also the underground Resistance, who built their own guns. The game was developed by the same people behind the Yakuza games. I would also like to see Jonathan take a look at the guns of Vanquish, a 3rd Person Shooter from Platinum Games, the weapons ranged from futuristic assault rifles, shotguns, LMGs and pistols to energy weapons that actually use the main character's suit energy to fire, too bad Vanquish didn't sell well enough to warrant a sequel, which is a huge shame since the ending is quite abrupt.

[@tonypeppermint5329]

Ooo

[@chrisjohnson1146]

Oh Great Jonathan Ferguson... please take a look at the weapons of the Valkyria Chronicles games.

[@aeric_]

Seriously never expected him to be holding the Baby Gun- I mean the 31-79 JGb215

[@fuzzyotterpaws4395]

I've never even played a COD game but I love Jonathan Ferguson!

[@ProbedUranus]

5:17 Hearing this made me realize: it's a shame we never got Johnathan reacting to the Black Mesa Hivehand's initial equip animation during the Half-Life episode.

[@ronaldmcgasm9906]

The precursor to future cursed cod guns

[@I_Stole_A_BTR-80]

As far as I know the OG Ray Gun was powered by two chunks of COD Zombies universe element 115 (I believe once called Divinium, but now Aetherium), the element that made zombies. I'm guessing that it functions kind of like radioactive material, and at the end of the 'magazine' you're left with these barely 'radioactive' material pieces, but that have to be shot through (kind of like in a reactor) to release all the energy as a harming ray.

[@jja2000]

Very good point about the Apothicom Servant being very "cthulu'esque". During that time the storyline was very much based on that type of Lovecraftian mythology.

[@HIT14MAN2]

Jonathan should look at the guns of SAO Fatal Bullet and COD Advanced Warfare

[@Trollkiller]

Loved the armored core episode. Would love another where it's focused on how the different companies are inspired by different things and how that reflects design choice both in the mechs as well as the weapons. Could even do the older ones cause ac for answer also has tons of interesting designs with a bunch of different inspirations.

[@ZGryphon]

My favorite "alien thing you wield as a gun" weapon is the one in _Half-Life: Opposing Force_ that I can't remember the name of, because every now and then the player character pets it on the head, and it seems happy. (And also because the reloading animation is funny.)

[@neilcam]

"Are we the baddies" is without a doubt one of the greatest comedy skits of all time!

[@xXxKAMIKAZExXx]

Now this is a video I've always wanted to see!

[@JohnnyJohnnyJohnnyJohnnyJohnny]

This has been the video I have been waiting for!

[@A_HDMI]

"I don't think cthulu esque monsters appreciate having a hand up back at them but uh idk maybe they do." ☠️

[@LouCooper]

Yessss! Thank you so much Dave and Johnathan!

[@user-pi4cr1fh9j]

The one episode I’ve been waiting for the most.

[@SuperJoker115]

Happy ya'll covered zombies and excited for more cod vids soon that are in the works... BUT!!! Where do I find that zombie shirt though?

[@jakekoehler1]

Missed out on an opportunity for the Sliquifier DAVE 😨

[@Theover4000]

I love how right as I hit my CoD zombies kick again; Jonathan Ferguson is here for me. Lets gooo!

[@Anti-ml9rw]

I’ve been looking forward to this.

[@Rogue_Speed]

Love this series. This guy is becoming a gaming celebrity by just inspecting and reviewing weapons. The history in some of them are interesting too

[@LuvzToLol21]

11:23 original concept art of the Shangri-La map shows that the Shrink Ray was meant to be like a universal magic energy weapon platform. There were several different magic idols with different effects which you could obtain and place into the receiver, and the gun itself was just a means to power up the idol and focus its' energy.

[@parsakoolaji2222]

YES! FINALLY! I CAN SEE THE EPISODE I'VE ALWAYS WANTED!

[@AE1OU]

Please Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK, please deconstruct & analyze the weapons of *METAL GEAR SOLID 3* before the remake comes out. So many weapons in MGS3 to react and comment on like;- - The Patriot's infinite ammo and drum magazine resembling an (∞) symbol as well as the tumbling bullets. - The EZ tranq gun based off a Liberator pistol. - Snake's customized officer M1911A1 and him whittling the pistol grip to use a knife for CQC. - Ocelot's dual Single Action Army and his revolver juggling skills. - The End's custom paratrooper Mosin Nagant with tranquilizer rounds. - The Davey Crockett recoil-less nuclear launcher. - Eva's chinese Type 17 mauser clone with her "bandit shooting" technique. - Volgin using his electricity to ignite and fire off 7.62mm bullets from his hands. - The Boss's quick ability to disarm and disassemble Snake's pistols. These are a few examples and there are so many more other interesting trivias and weapons in MGS3 so please Dave and Jonathan, please consider making a video for MGS3.

[@dun0790]

Massively agree that game is mad in how far ahead it was in gun details

[@CuteKiller313]

MGS3 has so many fun little gun details, like Ocelot jamming his makarov from doing a tactical reload wrong because he's more used to revolvers

[@afd19850]

They will do 3 when the remake comes out

[@thestaminabs]

Now this... this is what i've been waiting for!

[@Dextoe]

One thing i wish they showed with The RAI-K84 ( Energy AK / Raygun AK-47) There is an alternative firing mode "Purple Pew Pew" You switch firing modes by Pressing B on pc, and one of the D-pad buttons on console. The First firing mode is a Red Beam with explosive damage Fires at a slightly slower rate than an AK in CW, The second firing mode is the one he called the "Purple Pew Pew" The reason I mention this, very important IMO. When you shoot the "Purple Pew Pew" down somewhere, it does AOE Inside that Purple storm you see. When You switch firing modes and shoot the "Purple Pew Pew" Center of the storm with the Red Beam It will GROW and then EXPLODE Dealing massive damage. The mode we saw was a granade launcher essentially {Purple Pew Pew) and the Red Beam is the remote to activate the explosive. The Default firing mode when you make the gun in game is Red Beam

[@Saiahemenajahduaksjsaman]

I’ve been waiting for this

[@Gagarin_001]

5:44 I like how he's still traumatized from that april fools video

[@brayachdragonbane7529]

wow, i actually caught this one new... his reaction to the ray k was great

[@longlost00]

would love some more VR gun evaluations, dear Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of firearms and artillery at the royal armouries museum

[@braddawson2524]

The episode I didn't know I needed

[@AmishGhosty]

love this series

[@LastGenRichtofenn]

Incredible. Glad to see one for zombies

[@yackerist]

The wave gun is called that because it's supposed to be shooting some kind of microwave energy at the zombies. it cooks them from inside and then they explode and you get the _ding_ similar to old microwaves or toaster ovens.

[@Antek104]

Thank You Jonathan and everyone involved in this series so much for my (and others i think) enjoyment

[@thehastygamer8456]

i do love the fact you just chuck a d-cell battery into the ray gun and it works

[@Darksoul9669]

I am locking in on one day Jon covering the guns of Nikke in the wildest vid we’ve seen

[@armezea2598]

Can we just talk about on the blundergat, how when the plate loads in the shells, the barrels that he loads them into are perfectly in line with on both sides but you can clearly see the blundergat barrels being misaligned on the gun itself almost like a pyramid design. So idk how that gun would work as it does lol

[@JohnDoe-vm5rb]

the blundergat makes me want a double barrelled shotgun, but with tubes that can feed it on either sides for a 'quad barrel' look. Such a thing exists btw, they used to be there for single barrelled break shotguns.

[@Simplyeffinastounding]

Thank you for all the amazing videos! We would love to see Jonathan break down the firearms of the Call Of Juarez games. We are currently playing Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger and its a great game :)

[@Miikasae]

the zap guns that turn into the wave gun was one of my favorites guns in zombies. you basically get dual weild ray guns that transform into a microwave-emitting thundergun!

[@C0RRUPT3DITOR]

The microphone quality has increased substantially! Awesome!

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Nothing has changed in the setup...

[@C0RRUPT3DITOR]

@@jonathanferguson1211 Has it not? It sounds way clearer to me. Ah well 😅

[@Klovaneer]

I remember one of the Deathloop guns did the same thing as wave guns - 2 pistols stuck into each other to create an SMG.

[@Whoa_Oasis]

The fact he gets how the Rai K works instantly is great

[@dakotad3970]

This series should be a regular staple on John’s own channel, I hate looking through the videos to try and find him react to stuff

[@HouseLyrander]

Looking forward to your episode on E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy

[@BadgerAtHomeKid]

"A FOUNTAIN OF PAIN!" Yes, this is, in fact, how Johnathan is feeling seeing these 'guns'.

[@optimusprime4090]

Jonathan can have his own channel analysing all guns in all games...

[@Pine2142]

Please get Jonathon to check out the guns of Blue Archive! There's an awesome variety of many weapons from all across the world and they are surprisingly well modelled and animated despite the game's appearance. There's also some really funny exaggerated ones for a good laugh like Michiru's pump action shot with cello taped on master key

[@swagsoulja4560]

I think it’d be fun to see Johnathan cover black ops 4 or infinite warfare since most of those guns are fake but take inspiration from different guns

[@JohnGleadhill-g4m]

Can we please have Jonathan's reaction to Valkyria Chronicles. Especially 1 and 4.

[@KayzIdeas]

I wonder how he would've reacted to the Thrustodyne Aeronautics Model 23 (Jet Gun), Sliquifier, and Paralyzer.

[@under-chonker]

I would like to see Jonathan reacting to the guns of Warframe. The guns could be split into their factions, like Corpus, Grineer, Tenno and Infested and maybe even Incarnon weapons

[@ComissarYarrick]

Damm, this vidoes sends me back to the times when Rageing Amish did his CoD zombies weapon guides.

[@axelyoung1551]

Here is a fun fact about the 31-79 JGb215, more commonly known as the Shrink Ray. It was originally supposed to have several different elemental version with different coloured dragon artifact looking thing.

[@Gwydion_Wolf]

If Johnathan manages to see this comment: You actually are not wrong about the Bat-bombs... it was a "Thought Project" from Lytle S. Adams. It actually progressed to the "air-drop test" phase. They had planned/thought to drop canisters of Mexican free-tailed bats carrying lightweight incendiary canister bombs strapped to them into Japan areas. May 2 1942.

[@GKID7891]

The Thundergun is supposedly a Russian wonder weapon, made by the Ascension Group in the zombies lore

[@MG9K]

Do you think you could take a look at the weapons of MGS4?

[@JUDDASAURUS]

Watching this episode outside the Royal Armouries Museum as it's closed for a graduation day.😅

[@the_jones528]

YO I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE THIS.

[@Mr_T_Badger]

So speaking of weird guns that you stick your arm up the back of, you guys should look at the old Star Wars Republic Commando game from 2004. The weapon variety is sadly not as varied as some games, but it still has a couple of fun ones.

[@wilboehmer5620]

I thought the day would never come!

[@MyNameIsJaxon]

Crazy how none of the “produced content” on this channel can break 90k views, but our boy Jon doesn’t dip under 130k 😂

[@funkyrussian1]

We need a part 2 now. And I hope we see the scavenger

[@maximtkachow]

"Gun-in-the-gun" concept with two pistols becoming a submachinegun was in the "Deathloop" by Arkane. There was Jonathan's reaction to that game and that weapon some time ago.

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Yes - I remembered A game that did that and Dave confirmed for me it was Deathloop (I'd forgotten). They must have edited that convo out.

[@maximtkachow]

@@jonathanferguson1211 I have to admit - the version of Call of Duty Zombies' "gun-in-the-gun" concept looks a bit more whole, like those two pistols were meant to become some weird kind of carbine, one shoved into the other, while Deathloop's a bit... out of this world, maybe?

[@asilva5021]

I'm half expecting Jonathan to pull out the replica raygun for the bit

[@mikeymike1792]

Hold on, I'm off to learn bass so I can start Cannonball Carousel. Great name.

[@primusavenged]

y'all gotta do a cruelty squad episode. that game is a gold mine of rare/weird guns from the late 20th century

[@Astraeus..]

While I don't think they were ever actually produced (apart from prototypes and maybe a couple dozen for testing) Winchester did indeed give some serious consideration to a quad-barrel shotgun design in the form of the Liberator. Mark I and II were I think only 16-gauge, while the Mark III's were scaled up to 12-gauge. Simple break-action design, some kind of rotating mechanism to fire in sequence (because all 4 at once would be insane and highly impractical). I seem to recall Ian at Forgotten Weapons having a good video on them.

[@wilczur335]

Would love to see what Jonathan thinks of the pixelated guns of They Are Coming.

[@snakecharly7]

This guy needs a reference on a game like FALLOUT... Like a whole mision where you join a cult that workships guns and one of their saints is this awesome man... And by joining them he gives you a really strong weapon

[@mightymobthesecondchannel5017]

Yall should do a part2 to this video cod zombies has way too many wacky whimsical guns to fit into one video

[@OperativeD]

I actually have a lighter (for cigars in my case) that is modeled after the Ray Gun from the recent COD games. Not practical for constant use, but as a novelty item I love it.

[@18120polls]

The laughing from the Everquest Skeletons is giving me PTSD

[@RyuAzuku]

You guys have to do a Q&A with Jonathan Ferguson one of these days, or at least mention how the heck you guys got him to help be in these videos.

[@nerbulent]

i really do hope that you'll do the cruelty squad guns. there are so many niche firearms depicted in that game i think it would be really interesting.

[@ironcladguildhand9321]

I *really* want to see the guns of HBS Battletech and the Mechwarrior series on this channel, now you've done Armoured Core I'm LOVE to see more big stompy robots!

[@law5121]

Please can jonathan take a look at the guns from the division 1&2 particularly the exotics

[@aemaramathews272]

I hope we see Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries in the UK, look at the guns of the Assassin's Creed franchise at some point. It'd be fun to see him get to talk about an earlier era of firearms, and talk about cannons a bit as well.

[@NiceFoilHat]

0:48 I wonder how many people like me see a quad-barreled shotgun and instantly think of the Phantasm movie series? From the second movie when it was made to the fifth movie the weapon is featured. Also, Phantasm gave birth to, the Sentinels, floating spheres that served as inspiration for Turok's Cerebral Bore and Blood 2's Orb among others.

[@aeloswindrunner]

Missed opportunity to get the Dad's Army "they don't like it up 'em sir" with the ick tentacles eye gun