I would come, but I moved a couple years ago. Oh well. and I thought there weren't any nerfers in Utah!

That's too bad, but that is the current feel of it so far. I've only met one other Utahn on Nerfhaven so far, but we're slowly building up a group out here. I keep posting the wars for visitors, and any Utah members I haven't met yet.

I'll make sure There's an active Nerfing community in Utah, even if I have to build it myself.

Firstly, if you want to collect some money charge a nominal fee, like $5 per war or maybe like $20 monthly membership. To get more people invite friends to join. Tell them to tell their friends to join too.

In a thread from last month, Shmmee commented about a Wyoming nerf group that registered as a non-profit.

 

You may wish to look into this.

 

My thoughts on charging your friends money... do that and you'll soon have fewer friends nerfing. However, if you present it as a "dart rental fee" and forking over a few small bills suddenly becomes more palatable - but not untill you have a dozen regulars and you start going through darts like mad. Don't do a "monthly fee". You'll be chasing your active and inactive players down for to pay their dues and that becomes tiresome on both sides. Having a basic dart rental fee will bring a little cash from those who are actively taxing your resources, and if they bring their own darts and blasters, they aren't taxing your resources (unless you had to pay for a venue). 

 

Once you establish your group, look into registering as a non profit or a not-for-profit. I'm not exactly sure what the difference is but registering as either of these two and suddenly any donations from local businesses become a tax write off for them. As Lasagna mentioned, the Wyoming group adjacent to me has absolutely exploded in membership after registering. You'll also see more support from your local parks department since non-profits can get cheap insurance, and the parks departments might not let you book a park for free unless you're insured. Being a non-profit legitimizes your group in a serious way. Granted, it will take a ton of time and energy to get the group going - and keep it going, but by the time your group starts getting big you'll know who your reliable regulars are and you can start sharing some of the duties with them.

 

As fun as NIC levels of blasters (like the crazy homemades found on our beloved nerfhaven) are, it's also limiting. You'll get more participation from the average nerfer if you have a more conservative range cap and ammo limitations (i.e. 120 fps & stock/ 3rd party full length darts only) so off the shelf and lightly modified blasters are more viable. Of course you can always have an "advanced war" with a higher cap when you want to break out the big guns and slugs.

 

Facebook is an incredible tool. It's free and every one uses it. Get yourself a group page, and then start getting your name out. Invite everyone. Ask everyone to invite everyone. Always schedule your wars several weeks in advance!!! If your community has any -con's (comic con, gaming con, kids con...) and you have a big enough armory (front loaders only - don't hand a mag fed blaster to an untrained noob. They'll only jam it up.) to arm everyone who might be playing, volunteer to run a free dart zone for the duration of the event (hang a banner with your groups fb page on it.) & get the -con group to pay for darts and safety glasses (go with cheap 3rd party darts and harbor freight glasses...) and have your next nerf war scheduled so you can invite the participants to your next event.

This war rocked! We had 12 attendees (about the max my house could of handled) and 3 active modders.

We played team battles, dork vest, and king of the hill.

My most memorable experiences: JT and Tyler holding the hill for 10 points (winning the game) using an Ultimator, and a Switchshot (We're all still baffled about that because the Ultimator has a ROF of like one shell a min. But Tyler is dead accurate with the switchshot.)

Seeing eyes light up in shock as an Ultimator shell screams past their heads and thuds against the wall behind them.

And accidentally shooting one of the little neighborhood kids in the forehead while she was complaining about someone else shooting her in the head. I feel bad about that, but it was hilarious irony. (Head shots aren't counted in my wars, and are discouraged)

Spending the next few weeks playing "oh look, I found a Nerf dart".

Geeking out with other modders!

Good times. Thanks all. Looking forward to the next war some time in February.

West Valley, UT nerf war

Hey, letting everyone know that the next war I’ll be hosting is set for Jan 8, 2011 3 p.m

The basics:
Jan 8 (Date changed from Jan 1. one of our key nerfers couldn't make it on the first), 3:00 pm
Modders party either before or after (give feedback please)

Held at my house in West Valley, Ut. (Couch warfare style!) (pm / e-mail me for the address and waivers if you haven’t warred with us before.)

Eye protection is required at any age.

Please, no over powered blasters (singled titans, bbbb’s, basically anything that can clear 100’ flat. It’s an indoor war, and big range shots aren’t going to come up.

No over-weighted / exposed metal weights on steffans. (I tip mine with a #8 washer, and a ½” pom pom for padding)

I reserve the right to spot ban for safety.

No swearin’. There are kids present.

Don’t be a jerk.

I do have loaner guns, but some work better than others, be nice to them.

I’d like to get a head count together so those who might travel can decide if it’s worth it, let me know if you can make it, and how many you might be bringing.

This day is close to my wife's' due date. Hopefully our first son doesn't try to attend the nerf war. So this war may get bumped.


Thanks everyone, and just to give you further heads up:

I’m hoping for February’s war to be huge. It’s looking to be in late February. My sister/co-organizer is coming back to UT after being away for a year and a half. She’s gotten 15 people together for a war with only a phone call and 2 hrs notice. (They’re usually casual nerfers though, not so much modders, but still good foam fodder anyway). Adding her socialite skills to our group should make for some great nerfing. That war will probably be held at her house (also my parents) located in South Jordan Ut (about 20 min south of me) it’s a longer rambler style house, and is better for Nerf wars. Everyone should be looking forward to that one.

Thanks, Shmmee

How old are your darts? Do you store your darts in your blaster? If the tails have gone mushy it'll be easier for the AR's to push them all out at once. Try the heavier spring with newer darts before you give up on it.

Does anyone know what kind of PSI the Battlemax bladder puts out? By banding an RF20 bladder with two layers of bike inner tube, I have only been able to get it up to about 50 PSI, and I need more.

It's probably toast. Vulcan's are notoriously prone to gear stripping.

how many pumps would it probably take if i kept the priming bar as the pump?

That will largly depend on your pumps diameter. Larger diameter - faster fill but harder pumps.

Crayola barrels were popular because they get a little tighter towards the back of the barrel. Before you get too crazy you may want to make sure your darts will pass through the entirety of the barrel. If needs be you might be able to drill that restriction out since pump powered blasters tend to perform better with looser fitting barrels.

 

... Sorry about the washed out photos. Those are gross looking.

 

My current WIP: overhauling a Triple strike. My nerfing group allows shields which encourages a broader range of ammo types (rockets break shields) so I've wanted an all in one blaster that can handle long range, short range and rockets, all available on demand on separate triggers. After much searching, I've settled on the tripple strike. The tanks are beastly, out performing both the big salvo and panther tanks I had in my parts bin.

 

Work done thus far: 

*Replaced the stock pump with a 16" bicycle frame pump. (Fills every thing in about 5-7 pumps)

*Scrapped the stock trigger manifold. 

scrapped a tank, integrated a SMDTG. Had to chop all 4 hoses and re coupler them to pass them through the shell, but I can stage 3 independent shots ergonomically. 

*Routed the 2 remaining TS tanks to blast buttons. (One behind the shaved down trigger (that will be the top primary tank), the other is zip tied on the right side, just above the trigger (that right tank will fire a rocket)

*Re-plumbed every thing. Soooo many quick connect fittings were used in the process. Each tank system has it's own check valve (the couplers with the pink ends) so they can vent/fire without firing the other systems as well. The single pump automatically routes air any empty tank systems. Surprisingly, the thing actually holds air!

 

Work remaining:

*Design a mag fed breech for the top tank. I could use a hopper, but my group favors full length darts. I'm hoping to design a breech that springs open after the tank fires (via a mechanical latch), and rig the pump to close the breech on the first pump stroke. That way, loading the next dart would be integrated with re pumping the tank instead of reloading as a separate action. 

*Stabilize the tanks. They have a little bit of wobble after gutting it. 

*design an enclosure to hide the rear plumbing. 

 

Once it's all done, theirs a small chance that I might actually feel motivated to paint the shell. I'm usually not much for aesthetics, but that chrome pump is dang gorgeous.

If you follow CaptainSlugs advice to harvest the valve stem off of a bike inner tube, remember to unscrew and remove the internal valve from the stem so it doesn't decrease your air flow and then warm the vinyl tubing up a little (to help it to stretch over the valve stem) and put a light coating of epoxy or plumbers goop on the valve stem before stuffing the vinyl tubing over for the final time. Add a double looped zip tie over the tubing or a worm gear pipe clamp (but I prefer to double loop a zip tie- less bulk)) and you should be good to go.

Ha! My first post; (I was hoping it was going to be about a homemade high capacity drum clip I've been working on, but it's not functional yet).

I've been hosting Nerf wars monthly since Dec, and flinging foam for almost 20 years (i still have the Arrow Storm I got for my 8th birthday), but this is the first one I'm going to be advertising with Nerf haven. I usually get about a dozen people to show, ages 7 to 30, so I'm sure you'll be able to find someone close to your age. It should be a good time.

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 April 17, 2010, 10:00 A.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.


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