In post blackout times, weapons were hard to come by, and bullets were extremely rare. Without the technology or power to make weapons or bullets people were forced to use other types of weapons. Some of the weapons used are listed here.
First and foremost, we start with our esteemed commander's weapon of choice. It appears that General Monroe carries a 50 cal chrome plated Desert Eagle. A beautiful gun for a beautiful man!
One of the more popular rifles used by the Militia was the Enfield model 1862 cap-and-ball rifle. Although they worked fine, they took time to load which was a weakness for this particular rifle.
Some of the more elite groups were equipped with the M-16 rifle. The M16 has been the preferred rifle of the U.S. Military since 1962.
The M4 Carbine was used for the most part by guards. This is another weapon that is favored by the U.S. Military and has been in service since 1994. It fires a .223 caliber round, and depending on the model fires semi-automatic and three round bursts, or fully automatic.
Because of the shortage of ammuntion and firearms, many were forced to use swords. The Militia has one particular brass-knuckled sword with the Monroe Militia symbol engraved on the handle that the soldiers were equipped with. The swords with brass handles are trench swords or Knuckle Duster Guard Cutlasses, which are military issue for trench fighting.
Jason Neville has been known to use the longbow quite often, as well as other members of the resistance. They are usually made of wood and require great skill in order to hit the target. However, according to Lt. General Matheson who is skilled in archery, it is actually a recurve, not a longbow. It is actually a modern recurve that they tried to hide that with the leather wrapping above and below the notch areas.
The 50 caliber chrome plated Desert Eagle is Tom Neville's weapon of choice. It is a semi-automatic and is one of the best handguns around.
The rifle stolen from the Militia and given to the resistance was a .308 sniper rifle with scope. A very intense weapon, many would be willing to risk life for it.
Because manufactured cartridges have become scarce, the muzzle-loading longarms came back into play.
The crossbow appears to be used quite often. Charlie uses a compound crossbow and is very skilled at using it.
Knives are used frequently on the show, knives of all shapes and sizes. However the primary knife of choice seems to be the bowie knife.
Last but not least we have the coil gun that appeared at the end of season 1. In my opinion this is the most awesome gun around! Coil guns consist of one or more coils that are used as electomagnets that accelerate the projectile instead of gunpowder that is used in regular firearms. They are a very powerful weapon that appears to disintegrate or vaporize their target.