Yeah and a 4 hour drive to SCUN wars. It is worth it! You went to this years Geddon' ?

No, not this years. I attended a few years ago. Though Glory1610 and I are currently kicking around ideas of going to next years 'Geddon.

I'm confirming as well. Be great to see a new nerfer or two! Wow, 6 hr drive for a nerf war? We feel special. I can relate though, I've driven 10 to make it from SLC to Armageddon. A good, well attended war is worth it - though 'geddon had 40, and we are pumped when we get 8.

Welcome back. It's great to see people coming back to the hobby. There really hasn't been too much to replace quadshot'esque classics primary wise.

Many of the recent releases have had smaller plunger tubes, gears that strip and other devices that kill the quest for more power. The smart AR system (Ruff Cut, Triad, Zombie cross bow) has been one of the newer devices. Multiple barrels are linked via an air path and the AR's are used as valves. If held back by a dart - it fires, if the barrel is empty, the AR shuts that barrel off and air moves to the next barrel. Cool technology, but send more than a stock amount of air to the system and multiple darts poop out instead. Nerf has also tried to feed us a massive steaming pile of plastic called the centurion. We all had such high hopes for that thing, but the dart shredding breech and massive venting slits in the plunger tube have killed any potential there.

Buzzbee had an awesome little pistol out for a while called the panther. It was about $7 and had the power of a 2k. They quickly realized their mistake and switched to tanks half that size, then built a whole line around the smaller tank. Many nerfers hoarded the full-tank pistol, you should be able to pick one of them up without too much trouble.

With the recent regression of stock blaster potential homemades have really started to dominate the field. It's not an area I've gotten into, but I can definitely see the NIC leaning towards them for salvation.

I love my rip saw so much that i'll even run it in non awfuls rounds. 

 

The best lemon i'd ever seen used was an overhauled NF. The trigger catch broke so he had to fire it by slapping it on the side of the blaster. It definitely broke the awfuls range cap but it was such a hilarious handicap we let him run it anyway.

Oh, wow. That is very interesting. I just e-mailed them asking about their pricing.
I've played "foam distributor" before and enjoyed it. With some of the recent inquiries for foam, I'm thinking it might be time for another order sooner than I thought. With the next batch I order I hope to not only sell foam - but also sell completed gumdrop 3.0 darts. Glory1610 has recently made a pretty big breakthrough and we're nearing the end of the development phase. Before I will place the next order though, I need finish my write up for the "auto blanker", as well as build another automated machine to drill holes quickly (I've got it conceptualized but not built). I also need to see if I can cut square straight off of the roll. Pre-stretching sucked, especially when I decided to run it through the dryer anyway.

Thanks for the heads up! If you're only looking for smaller quantities, maybe you and I can work out a group buy? One thing that makes me hesitate is the risk of getting stuck with a ton of foam without any buyers. I thought I might of dried up the Beige market with my last order.

I've found 2 100' bags of pre-cut 1.38", straightened beige Hot rod XL blanks from orders that had fallen through if you're interested. I'm selling them on a first post - first serve basis. I'm also waiting on payment for a third larger order of 2" cut blanks. Once they're all sold, I should be ready to buy another 2500' order of foam.

Pre-cut hot rod blanks

You could anchor a bit of surgical tubing from the bolt sled to the shell so it automatically closes itself when the priming bar is released in the open position(much like a real semi-automatic rifle).

As stupid and senseless as it may be, I've got to throw my vote to the rip saw. It's inaccurate, it's loud, it needs to constantly be rev'd to maintain range... but it's also nerf's first true semi auto and it feels oddly comfortable in this strange new world of screaming lipo'd flywheel blasters. I just can't help but giggle as i run around with one, and the elation after the rare occasion I land a tag is tough to beat.

The L.A. region has one of the more significant Nerfing Communities in the country. S.C.U.N. has some extremely well attended wars - including "Armageddon" - the second biggest annual war in the nation. You're very fortunate to live there. I'm in utah and have on multiple years driven 20 hours (round trip) just to war with the fine folks of S.C.U.N.

If memory serves - they even have their own forum... or at least did at one point in time. I'm not sure if that's where they still hang out, but you will see some SoCal nerfers here from time to time. Baghead, or Apollo will probably fill you in a little more if you message them.

Throw a bed sheet over a couple chairs and clamp the sheet in place. You should be able to get several 6' long barriers that way. I always prefered to tip over folding tables though.

CPVC is a very finickey material. It's regulated by the O.D. thickness and just has a minimum wall thickness affecting the I.D. The result is that you'll see a pretty wide range of thicknesses (most will be way too tight) even among cpvc sticks of the same brand and batch. Your best bet is to take a dart and test the tubes. My best luck has been with the brand "flow guard gold". Every stick I've tried putting a dart into has been a perfect fit. I cleared the shelves of it after finding it. You'll probably need to travel to or call several different hardware stores before finding anything that will give you a good fit.

 

Also, I'd suggest using your hot glue gun to melt a little more of a depression into your foam for your washer to fit into. A well made slug won't have any visible metal. You should also expect your first thousand slugs to be awful, so don't get discouraged. They have a bit of a learning curve to them.

You do need to be a bit cautious though. It won't impact the simpler blasters but it can impact the clip fed springers. Puttiing padding on the plunger decreases the length the tube can travel in the tube. Reduce that travel too much and your plunger's catch wont be able to progress past the catch plate and it will be come painfully obvious that something is wrong when your blaster stops catching. I'd start by removing the main spring and sliding the bolt sled assembly back (as if to prime) and see how far beyond the catch plate the catch travels. That distance of excess is your maximum padding thickness that can be appled to your plunger face.

Cartaya, thanks for this post. It's brought back a flood of happy memories. My go to blaster back in my early days was a sharp shooter 1 - not that there was much in the way of options back the day. My brother and I were close friends with another set of neighbors who had 3 boys close to our ages. Nerf wars were a constant staple of our summers. The oldest of the 3 brothers was absolutely lethal with his BnA. I could lead out a target and pick us off while we were at a full sprint - every time.

 

My first mod was an overhaul of my sharpshooter 1. I remember wrapping a bit of e-tape around the side vents in the barrel peg and *shudder* stretching the spring. It added about 10' of range but that's a pretty big boost for a blaster that would be lucky to hit 30' angled. Another amazing moment came when I realized I could stuff darts into the barrel pegs of my arrow storm and double the range - that simple little hack was probably the most effective modification i can remember - at least, up until barrel replacements came into fashion. I think Crayola markers were a goto source for after market barrels. They had a natural tightening ring towards the back of the marker.  

 

I actually ran a razorbeast for a round at the last war I attended. I stuffed cpvc inserts into the chain links so i could fire 1/2" darts. The range was impressive - even by today's standards but the accuracy was horrific. The highlight of my night was landing a kill with it. I'll occasionally run a rip saw just so the old school manually rev'd flywheel tech can scream back at the lipo'd blasters. Its hilarious to see how many modern day nerfers struggle at dodging a very slow moving projectile like a ballistic ball or vintage arrow. Leading out a target is another forgotten skill necessary to be effective with slow moving ammo.

 

 

 

 Like Snoop said, plastics can vary greatly - especially CPVC. To dial that down into something useful, You should look for "flow guard gold" brand CPVC. I had to fish through the entire stock at several hardware stores in my area - and I can't guarantee it's even available where you live but I've never seen a stick of that brand that didn't provide a beautiful springer fit for beige hot rod foam. If you ever do come across it, I suggest you stock up and get enough barrel material to last you a lifetime. 

Hobby and model stores are a good bet. Especially places that specialize in model trains. A phone call will save you some driving. Good luck.

FNG: F***'n new guy...
It's a probationary rank. Theirs a set of unreleased secret criteria to be met before an FNG is promoted to a member rank. I don't know it, but it I'm guessing it probably centers around post count and post quality. Probably includes some other stuff as well though. It precludes you from accessing the trading section, and also limits the number of posts you can make each day.

I guess you can either view it as a control measure to avoid the flood of ignorance that comes with a large batch of verified accounts.


You're off to a good start though. You seem to grasp the purposes of the shift key, grammar and punctuation.

Welcome to NH.

I think your biggest challenge will be maintaining alignment and depth when you reattach them. I'd suggest cleaning up the break with sand paper and then mating and screwing them back onto the mating half of the shell. You can then stick a glob of epoxy putty onto the broken nub of the post and mate the shells back together while it cures. Screwing the broken post on to the receiving post will help keep it aligned while it cures as well as making sure it cures at the correct height.

Probably fill with epoxy putty and drill like Vaan said. 

That's a good thought. If you grease the mating non broken screw port, it'll press into the uncured e putty when you put the two shell halves together. You might also be able to drive a greased screw into the uncured putty as well and avoid drilling the screw hole later. You might want to test that on a crappy blaster first though.

Thanks, it feels good to have my hook back. I haven't been able to use it since the days of Nrev.

Your mod inspires mixed feelings in me. On the one hand, it captures the essence of fugly. on the other... Well your bladder is now completely unprotected - from over pumping, from external puncture, from UV degradation... There's a lot of compressed air in there and when they fail - they fail loudly and explosively. Your cap becomes a projectile, and neighbors call the local authorities to report shots fired. I've never heard one fail but Doom (our resident genius) has and he says it's as loud as a shotgun discharge. I don't think it's worth the risk of hearing damage and other personal injury.

Please shell up your bladder.

I've been into almost every nerf blaster I've owned and with more than 20 years of nerf modding experience - the slingfire claims the title as the only blaster I've been unable to get put back together. I don't know what kind of witchcraft Hasbro puts into these things on the assembly line but once opened they refuse to be re-closed and function properly. Good luck. I gave mine to the 3 year old in a ceremony of disgraceful banishment.

Recapping:

Wow that was an awesome war! Throwing the dates and times up on nerfhaven really helped. We had 4 new serious modders join us!

Pros-

13 attended. While it wasn't the most attended war we've had, it was certainly of the highest caliber of individuals. It was exactly the direction I've wanted the SLC nerf scene to go. I usually have to bring my entire arsenal as loaners, but this time every one had their own blasters -they were modded too! I still loaned out a couple, but they were to people who were informed enough to recognize a classic blaster when they saw one. The only ones relying on my blasters - was me! Very sweet. Still buzzing about that!

New modders! I'll keep announcing them here, and across the nic looking for more lost souls in SLC.

Perfect weather.

The parking lot being repaved ensured no baseball games were scheduled, and we were able to use the field - following a massive hosting error on my part.

New permutation to the dork vest game. It's now a single round, fast paced, team switching game that is ends in an Effeminate one vs everyone bout of glory.

Getting a semi-standard established for steffans.

Cons-

The nicely wooded section of the park I had scouted via google maps was in fact a heavily flooded natural preserve with several inches of standing water and 1' high reeds. Luckily we were able to re-locate else where in the park, and everyone was able to find us.

Staying up till 3 am, working on a mod that I wasn't able to use for the war, then getting up with the kids 4 hours later.


*because so very many of those who attended are waiting for validations - I'm setting up a "doodle poll" to pick the date for Junes' war. If you are close enough to attend (and only if you are able/willing to attend!) click the link, and check off any dates you are able to attend. Then e-mail me letting me know you're interested so I can put you on my e-mailing list! I promise the e-mail address on my profile is my own, and I'm not too much of a weirdo. Please, please please participate and vote. It makes me feel happy to know I'm not the only one working on these things. You do not need to have an account with doodle.com, but even if you did, IT'S FREE! so you really have no excuse not too participate!

doodle poll

We should probably form ourselves into a "clan". E-mail me with any thoughts for a clan name. Kinda looking for something not intense or threatening, maybe something slightly humorous. We should also pick a regular park to meet at. Many of our modders are now from the east side of the valley, so we might as well pick a park over there somewhere. I'd like one that's not normally dedicated to an organized sport (ie soccer field...). We got lucky with the base ball field being un-used, but that definitely wouldn't be the norm. Trees and cover is a plus, it would also help if it was an obscure park that doesn't see much regular use, or isn't visible from an entire neighborhood. We tend to get swarmed with 8 year olds' when we play at a highly visible park. Not a good thing when steffans are in use.

Hey, it's a last minute, but just thought I'd post the war we're planing on having this weekend.

Date: Sat, may 21
Time: 3 pm Start time is being changed from 3 pm to 1 pm!
Location: Big cottonwood park 4300 South 1300 East, Murray, Ut (this park is split in half by 4500 south. We'll be in the eastern wedge of the south eastern half. (parking lot only accessable off of murray holiday rd. (not 4500 south!)

The alternate location (in case we are asked to leave) will be the park directly south of there: Creekside park.

If we get rained out - [ still working on a contingency, sorry]

The rules:

I have a liablility waver i'd like signed by parents of minors, and participating adults. Kind of covering my butt type of thing. Pm me your e-mail address and i'de be happy to send it allong to you. Our code of conduct and game types rules will also be attached.

Eye protection is an absolute requirement.

No extra heavy darts- IE ball bearing weights.

Padding on the steffans would be appreciated - but not required. Since other steffan technologies are still in the works, I'll just keep it limited to that right now. We can standardize after some trial and error is done.

The Utah scene seems to have Nerfers (those thems that show up and borrow a blaster), and Modders (those thems that not only own their own blasters, but have taken the time to mod them themselves!). This war, because of the location change - should see fewer nerfers, but more modders! Should be a great time!

Thanks,

Shmmee

Hey, before you sell them off would you mind opening one and taking some internal pics?

With issues happening on both blasters I'd blame your darts. I suspect the tails of your darts are compressed so the AR (Air restrictor) is able to push them slightly out of the barrel and closing the AR. With that closed - all you get is the poof of the AR slowly arresting the travel of your plunger tube. When you slam fire you shoot before the spring can nudge the dart out of the barrel while your AR is still open resulting in better performance.

 

At the very least, it's easy to test my theory - Just buy new darts. No modding required.

I messed up on the dates chosen. Instead of sun the 30th, I intended to say sat the 29th. Sorry, my bad!

SLANG
Salt Lake Area Nerf Group
(Salt lake city, ut)

After getting some feed back about war dates for october, (as well as my own schedule filling out) I would like to officialize SLANG war dates for next month. I am hoping to have two wars - since last months war was a semi-fail, and since we're running out of nerfing weather. So...

October 15,

and

October 30 29th big oops (we'll probably be going till dark on this one.)

Both times starting at 3 pm. (the 30th is a special request from one of our new nerfers who has a cousin or something comming into town - they'll not be able to join us till 5 ish.)

Wheeler historic farm (murray ut)- South end of the south east lawn (primary location) - if the field is in use - stay there till i get there (if it's in use, I promise not to leave Wheeler till 3:15!), and we'll send a runner to the alternate to see if it's any better, then we'll move as a group so we stay together. Lets avoid the fail that Septembers war.

Murray park soccer field (very east parking lot - accessed only from vine st) Alternate location (wait at wheeler from 3:00 to 3:15 before moving to the alternate)

Remember:

Safety glasses

Water

Primary and pistol

Arrow shooter gun (It's a SLANG thing)


We'll also need to decide if we want to continue warring through the winter (indoors - possibly my house, or some other venue - Suggestions?) or if we want to break till spring. We'll go into November outdoors if the weather holds up for us.

Thanks,
Shmmee

SLANG (salt lake area nerf group) Sept war.

This saturday (17th)
3 pm - 6 pm

wheeler historic farm - south east lawn (primary location)

murray park soccer field (the east section that's accessed via vine street - not state street)(alternate location)

Google the maps. you'll find them easier

Bring:
Safety glasses
Water
primary, secondary, and an arrow shooter (cause it's how we roll for a round or two)
stuff to trade (optional)

All darts and modded blasters subject to my inspection and approval.
Steffans must be padded with either felt, pompoms something softish... (no hot glue domes), No sling shot weights.

Also - vortex blasters (the disc shooters) are now on the shelves. I picked up the Praxis and proton and will be bringing them for group evaluation and discussion.

Thanks,

Shmmee

Bump. War tomorrow.

Wish I could be there - it'd give me reason to try cooking up some gumdrop heads!

Yeah, some day we absolutely need to nerf together, though SLANG is still in it's growing phase so it may not exactly be worth your traveling here. It seems once every other year or so I get to make one grand pilgrimage to nerf in a foreign land. We're eyeballing Florida for next years family vacation to see the harry pottery amusement park (and possibly nerf with Rouge and crew). Oregon might also be a possible destination. My wife has family in Oregon so at least we have a reason to make it a family event.

Perhaps if I can come up with a spare second or two I can make some tetrahedral mobstacles for this weekend, and you can be there in spirit. Our normal nerfing grounds has absolutely no cover.

Edit: origional post updated with um... date.

What size of wye works the best? I am posting this because I thought that there would only be one size of why when there is many.

1/2" is pretty standard.

You might see some unexpected doors opening if you register as a non-profit. If local businesses donate anything to your group they'll be able to write off the expenses on their tax forms. Theirs a wyoming nerf group that has really taken off recently and since they've registered as a non-profit they've had several buisnesses donating everything from gift cards to by ammo to NIB blasters. They've also seen tremendous support from their counties parks department in the form of free venues to nerf in. You'll also be able to get group insurance on the cheap.

I've heard of people using boiling water to soften the glue. That warps and destroyed mine though.

Seeing this reminded me of a really old school technique for a grenade that frags mid-air. I couldn't find the post, and I cant remember who created it - or even which nerfy site it was featured on, but the basic concept involves the type of cost effective home brewery that you might like to explore. 

 

Materials: 

Darts, 

Hair elastic

1" wide Strip of fabric (I cant remeber what type of fabric they used. I think it might of been felt but the material might also be irrelevant)

 

Group the darts into a bundle about the size of a fist. Wrap the fabric strip around the front, stretch the hair tie over the tails.  The fabric strip acts as your fuse. The longer it takes to unwrap, the longer it will fly undetonated. You may need to unwrap a little of the fabric strip so it drags in the air and helps the strip to unwind as it flies.That'll shorten the fuse. Once it unwraps the heads are free and they'll spread apart rolling the elastic off of the tail - allowing the grenade to explode and the compressed to darts separate. If you place the elastic slightly further up the tail it takes a little shock to get it to release and it becomes an impact grenade that explodes once it impacts a wall or ceiling - useful for indoor wars with entrenched enemies. If you're outside in the open, mid air - high altitude explosions  produced pretty impressive spread. 

 

I can't remember the exact specifics of how well it works ( fabric strip length, dart spread, sensitivity, fuse timing...) but I remember being impressed. It was the only functional grenade nerf I'd ever read about, and it was stupid cheap and easy to make. Just be careful not to crush the tails of your darts so much that they no longer stay in a blaster. You'll need to tune the size of the dart bundle to the hair tie.

I don't know if it can handle that spring load but harvesting a spring from a standard clickable pen might be a good supplement or replacement even to the original catch spring.

Wow. I can't believe we really tried to plan a nerf war during SLC Comic-con. Sorry for the confusion all. So, Darts - we all shoot them, we all need them - we should all pitch in and make them right? These will be feeding our community bin as our current supply is starting to wear a little thin. Like Glory said - if you would like to join us shoot me a PM for my address, Bring a hot glue gun if you have on - we'll keep you busy if you don't.

We'll be cranking out slugs and developing gumdrops.

Sounds great! I'm looking forward to another day of nerfing.

This war is canceled! Sorry it's only a weeks notice. PM/e-mail me if you wanted to come, to the west valley wars and i don't have your e-mail added to my nerfers contact list. The next monthly war will likely be held inside my house. (being cold and all...) I'm still open to a modders party for Friday the 22, I just haven't heard from anybody yet.

Greetings all,

Thanks for your attendance at Augusts nerf war. It was among the most well attended wars I've hosted. I was especially excited to see a few faces from NerfHaven! It really made all the planning worth while I was really starting to worry about a modding community in Utah. I can't wait for your validations to come through, so you can post replies, and i won't feel like I'm talking away unnoticed... and ignored... in an empty room..... (not a jab at the moderators, Seriously, thanks for all you do. It's just taken a bit of time to get actual modders attending instead of the normal set of locals who don't even own their their own gun.)

Anyway...

This months war is being set for:

Saturday, October 23, 2010
3:00 pm

If the weather is plesant it will be held at:

6680 W Bridle Farms Rd (3940 S) West Valley, Ut.
Google map it if you don't know where it is. It's the same park that Augusts war was held.

If weather is not plesant it will be held inside my house (address noted in the parent participation form. I don't want to post it online. If you would like to attend at either venue, e-mail me, and i'll be happy to reply with the waver (don't bother if your parents have already signed it.) It has also helpfull things like our local rules and games.).

So prep for both far shooting field running, and couch warfare.
Standard safety rules apply concerning eye protection.

I am also planning on putting together a modders party for friday Oct. 22 (the day before) probably around 6 or 7 pm. Time and date is completely negotiable as there will be fewer attending. If you can't attend the mod party, e-mail me and we'll try to come up with a time that works for everyone. This will be an event more strongly geared to the NerfHaven folk (those thems who actually own their own frekin' guns and are daring enough to open them.) Basically just a chance to show off what you have modded, and geek out /think tank about future projects. I know i've got a few ideas on the table to discuss.


Thanks, I hope to see just as many there this month!
I'd like to get a head count going. Who can make it to either events? (E-mail me a reply if you're still waiting on validation)

~Shmmee

Something has come up, this war has been canceled. Much apologies!

We'll just have to look forward to Novembers war. (Either nov 20, or 27)

This months post will be much the same as Aprils (though time has changed):

Location: my house -front and back yard in West Valley UT, (a suburb of Salt Lake City). The lot is about a quarter acre, and oddly round shaped with a house in the middle. During the winter the battles have been inside (split level, it's worked well--a decent backup in case of rain). E-mail me if your interested and I'll reply with the address.

When: Saturday May 15, 2010, 12:00 P.M. till ??:??

What to bring: Eye protection! It's required. Also a primary, a secondary weapon, and anyone else who would like to come play, (I do have quite a few loaners if they don't have any guns). A sack lunch might also be wise.

What not to bring: Bad attitudes, Cussin' and Swearin'. It might be a unique request, but kids will be present, and that's just not something I like at my house. Also, don't plan on using any guns that can exceed 100' flat, or anything else that might I may deem unsafe. You can bring them to show off your mad modding skills, but bring a backup too, just in case. I'm still toying with the 100' limit because I've never been shot with anything that could exceed 100'. All Stefan's must have some sort of padding on the tip (nothing harder than hot glue).

A gun hit counts as out, we haven't tried implementing barrel tapping, and there are some local games and variations we like to play. We'll get everyone briefed before a game starts.

If you are under 18 years of age, let me know and I'll attach a liability waver for your parents to sign. (per the request of my ever-so-patient wife). If your an adult, expect to sign one when you arrive. I've also prepaired a war primer discussing our local rules and games.


Now that I've established a small local group, I'm hoping to expand it to a group of regulars big enough to move to a park for the monthly wars.


I Hope to see some new faces here-
Thanks,
Shmmee

Thanks Nerfhaven! I've been contacted by at least one other nerfhaven member interested in attending.