So I finally got around to customizing the PumpSnap I commissioned from Phoenix66.

Totally freehand (and the flaws are less noticeable when you aren't zoomed-in with a camera!) I am fairly pleased with it.

Finished a BBB for my nephew, so he will have a solid backup primary for Cataclysm.

The plunger section is untouched - all mods are located in the pump-handle section of the blaster. It has a CPVC endcap (with a hole drilled in the back) attached to the front where the old barrel used to be. This allows the use of any type of barrel setup we want - single, speed loader, RSCB, etc. I also jammed a stub of CPVC into the rear of the old barrel, allowing the BBB to still fire the arrows it came with. Currently it is sporting an RSCB with a 9-inch clip.

Attached to the left side is the Nerf blaster portion of a Switch Shot WII controller. This one also features a CPVC endcap where the barrel used to be. This is added internally for almost zero dead space. The catch has a piece of plastic rod attached to it, with a "thumb plate" of epoxy putty at the bottom. It can be fired by reaching your thumb up from the pump-handle, pressing the catch up.



One issue I ran into when using an RSCB was the fact that the orange plunger cap is free-turning, which left the RSCB to drop down onto your hand while in use. To solve this, I grabbed a piece of PVC from an old laundry sorter which had a head similar to the end of PVC conduit (flared to the point where it fits PVC inside like a built-in coupler). I cut off the end and trimmed it to make a clip for the RSCB to hold it in place.



You can see the clip for the RSCB a bit better in this image.

Here is my modded Buzzbee Flintlock:



The write-up can be found right here.



Cost: $10.88 ($8.99 blaster, $1.54 springs, $0.25, $0.10 worth of Goop)

Time: Roughly 1.5 hours

Stock Ranges: 17'-22' (19' average)

Mods Done:
barrel replacement (CPVC endcap "coupler" for CPVC speed loaders)
spring addition
catch spring replacement

Modded Ranges:
Stock Darts: 25'-30' (27' average)
Slug Darts: 30'-35' (32' average)

Got my hands on a Panther. These things are absolute beasts, especially considering the $5 price tag. Less than an hour's work, and a day's drying (for the Goop and the epoxy putty) and it was ready to rock. The pump is untouched - i.e. stock OPRV - and is fully capable of firing the last shot from my RSCB and from my PumpSnap's hopper at decent ranges. I haven't measured, but the last shot is hitting at least 40' flat.

The most important mod I did, though, was the pump handle, which is just some CPVC (drilled out a bit to fit the pump shaft) and an elbow. Much easier to pump now.



Obviously, it is hitting even better ranges with a single barrel - clearing my entire back yard. (I really should measure it sometime for better range estimates.)



Aside from the basics of cutting off the original barrel and shaving down the shell to fit, I also filled some of the dead space in the coupler area with epoxy putty.

The clip is roughly 7-8' long from eye-balling it. I haven't actually measured the clip at all, but I can get roughly 60-70 darts in the clip.

Wow, that is already an impressive number of darts. Loops are deceptive, it doesn't look nearly that long in the pic. If you doubled that (120-140 darts), I think you could easily spend a whole round without reloading. I hereby declare that you are always on my team if you are wielding a blaster with this form of clip...

Sweet new rockets I found at TRU. It comes with a shitty push pull gun, but it works awesome on a 4B. 80' flat and very far angled.

You forgot to mention that the sweet whistle they emit in flight. I have four of those push-pull rocket launchers, had them for years. They used to be available at Wal-Mart too, though I haven't seen them there in a while. I've converted one of the push-pull parts to a dart shooter, and it gets fairly decent range for very little effort (either modding or pushing), and of course the range goes up the faster you push (though accuracy drops a bit).

That is both crazy and awesome at the same time Ryan. The check valve at the end is an awesome idea, and of course allows you to easily load a few darts at a time while you move, wiithout having to remove and end cap, turn a ball valve, or otherwise affect your ability to fire when you need to. How many darts (and at what length) are you getting to fit in the loops?

Since you say it is very easy to blow the darts through, would it be possible/practical to add another loop or two? What I'm thinking here is that if you can get enough darts in there to last a whole round (at least with semi-conservatiive shooting) there would be less reloading time - which I know isn't exactly your favorite aspect of hoppes/HAMPs. It would probably start to require a bit of support for the feeder as more flexpvc would start to add additional weight, but it might be worth the extra bulk. Just a thought.

4. To contradict my previous statement, the kid on the extra ammo pack has the chains connected over his shoulder. HOWEVER there is a little dead space between the two chains, leading me to believe that the chains are not directly connected.

Actually, if you look closer it appears that the "dead space" you mention is actually the sling from the gun passing over the chain. However, I count less than 25 shells in the area of the chain shown on him, so it is possibel that it is only a single chain, with very little hanging over his back, just for show on the pic.

It would definately be nice if the chains would connect without needing to mod them, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Dont's bother. We probably won't see the Vulcan until Fall (which means mid-late summer). Confirmed by a friend at Hasbro.

Yeah...well.....I had sex with Hasbro's mother, and..and she said she had a vulcan in her bedroom!

Then she pointed at my crotch and I reallized that I had seriously misread the situation. Seriously, just wait for the fucking thing. The alternatives are not pleasant.

Umm....live long and prosper?

and shoots a new form of DtD without the velcro on it, possibly hailing back to the old megas that the DT3 used, just with a DtG Tip

Actually, I'm fairly certain that it fires Sonic Micros - you know, the ones that whistle when you fire them out of anything with sufficient power (i.e. isn't stock).

To quote Gizmodo's article:

N-STRIKE VULCAN EBF-25
(Ages 6 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $39.99/Available: Fall 2008)
The top-of-the-line blaster for mission supremacy, the NERF N-STRIKE VULCAN EBF-25 blaster is a 25-dart belt-fed fully automatic blaster that will intimidate any opponent. This impressive blaster comes complete with a fold-up tripod to steady your aim, 25 sonic micro darts that whistle through the air when launched and a 25-dart belt. The NERF N-STRIKE VULCAN EBF-25 blaster features the Tactical Rail System allowing players to customize their blaster for each mission - for example, players can use the green 'night vision' Tactical Light accessory (sold separately) for nighttime missions. Six "D" batteries are required but not included.

That "white dart with black tip" could just be a normal orange dart with a blue tip - under very bright lights/flash. Dart foam is rather shiny, and could easily reflect more light that the plastic - enough to wash out the orange color we would easily recognize, and provide a stark contrast that would make the blue tip look black. (Look how the Sonics look - almost a light grey.) There does seem to be quite a lot of light bouncing off that sign in the background, so this could conceivably be just an orange dart.

Also, they look a lot more orange than white on the packaging in the image.



(I'm a bit of an amateur videographer, my wife would say more of a video-nut, so lighting issues like this appears to be just pop out at me sometimes.)

Here's my question - what happens, both stock and modified - when the belt advances to one of the endcaps? Does the thing dry-fire, or is there something to prevent that?

Does it not fire when it hits the end of the chain when stock?

Does it skip firing when it hits the middle "end cap" in the chain when you use it with the modified chain?


Details, man. We need more details! It will never be enough!!!

Seriously, I already addressed this. It works just fine. It lines it up, shoots air into it, and moves on. It treats it the same as every other shell.

Well, you had addressed it by saying it worked fine. I wanted particulars as to what it actually did. This information you have now provided. Thanks.

(It matters to me as it might make a difference in what kind pf chain-joining mods are preferred. Yours is quick and easy, but it puts a blank shot after every 25 links - that would be like leaving one slot in your RF20 or Magstrike unloaded - i.e. that shot wouldn't do anything, but it would still be part of the firing process, slowing overall ROF - not much, but still.)

A lot of it depends on which takes up more space, one of these drums or six standard magazines.

It isn't quite that simple. Keep in mind that the six standard mags can be placed in different pockets/pouches/etc., while a single 35-round drum mag would be placed in a single location. Even if the six standard mags have more total volume, you could keep each of them in a seperate pocket in a pair of cargo pants without hampering your mobility too much, but I doubt you'd be able to fit the drum mag in any but the most ridiculously large pockets. Chances are, if you wanted to carry extra drums, you'd need a backpack or some kind of dedicated container - or attach a good belt clip to the drum. In either case, you'd probably notice it a bit more than the standard mags.

Try not to post in topics that are over a month old unless you have something significant to add to the topic - and even then do so sparingly and because the world really needs to know. The last post in this was over a year ago (and was also a necro like yours). You can easily PM the original poster for this kind of question. (SPU-Nerf is still active on these forums.)

As I see this is your first post, please take a look at the Code of Conduct - you'll find a link in the upper left-hand corner of your screen. The mods here are not very tolerant of people who don't follow it. Read it, live by it, and you'll enjoy your stay here (plus you won't get banned.)

As for your question, you can buy real gun straps at any sporting goods store, and most department stores with a decent sporting goods section. You can make your own from various materials (including belts, leather straps, backpack straps, fabric, etc.)

My current personal arsenal includes:

NERF

- 4 Mavericks (ar's removed)
- 2 Nite Finders (awaiting mod)
- 2 Airtech 2000's (awaiting mod)
- 2 Secret Stikes (awaiting mod/integration)
- 2 Recons (stock)
- 1 Longshot (stock)
- 1 Firefly (WIP)
- 1 NB-1 Missile Blaster (nostalgic E-Bay purchase, because my brother and I had a pair when we were just wee little guys)

BUZZ BEE

- 2 Double Shots (both broken, working on repairs)

TOTAL X-STREAM AIR

- 4 Air Rockets (THESE THINGS) *



My church's youth group has its own arsenal (paid for by the YG's funds), which is suplemented by my guns when we play. Currently, all of these guns are stock.

NERF

- 20 (yes, 20!) SuperMaxx 250's **
- 2 Mavericks
- 1 Nite Finder
- 2 MagStrikes
- 1 Rapid Fire 20

LANARD

- 1 First Shot

BUZZ BEE

- 1 Mech Tommy 20



* We use these mostly in scenario play as rocket launchers. In our rules, ricochet darts do not count as hits, it has to be a direct hit. These rockets, on the other hand, are deadly until the stop moving. They also are the only weapon capable of damaging targets in an "Objective Assault" game type we play, where the targets are boxes with holes cut in them, with the holes then covered with tissue paper - only a rocket which breaks the tissue paper counts as a hit on the target. Quite fun, but not very accurate weapons. They are, however, the longest-ranged weapons we use. (This is because a hit from these things even at point-blank range doesn't hurt unless it hits you in the eye!) I made a pair holsters for these which hold one launcher and two missles each - this makes them a bit easier to carry around, and therefore more likely to be used when we're in the mood.

** These were the first Nerf guns the youth group purchased, many years ago. Prior to these, we used single-shot dart guns of the type that have plastic-shafted, suction-cup darts where the act of pushing the dart in cocked the gun. Most of the SM250's are still operational, despite years of play. Half a dozen don't want to cock anymore, so when I have the time I have volunteered to open them up and see if I can fix them.

It better be video games talking through your fingers, I hate it when people try and make nerf guns look like guns from halo.

And I just love it when one person tells another person what they should and shouldn't do with their plastic toys...

My parents claim to have video footage of myself in my captain power vest with my captain power standard issue firearm, expounding upon the principles of the captain power doctrine. Their threats are empty. They're just jealous. Everybody is. I was fucking adorable.

VACC

LOL - I had a fair-sized collection of the action figures and ships - not to mention the majority of the episodes on VHS tape. I used to spend hours in front of the TV with my Powerjet or Phantom Striker (sometimes alone, sometimes with one of my brothers or cousins) blasting away at the targets on the Biomechs, Biodreads, etc. Now, as a grown-up, I get to relive some of that as I've re-collected a lot of things using EBay, and gotten my hands on a semi-authorized DVD collection of the complete series. (If anyone wants info on this, shoot me a PM.) Unfortunately, the light-gun aspects of the toys don't work with my LCD TV, so I'd have to hook my DVD player up to my little 13" CRT if I wanted to re-live the battles of my youth.

In closing, let me just say...


...POWER ON!

It isn't important or anything, but if possible I would like to have this:



as my avatar. It's just a way to be uniquely identified (so everyone can ridicule me with reckless abandon without checking to make sure they aren't slamming on the wrong guy), and to show my age and love of obscure, 80's sci-fi children's television.

If I don't get it, I won't cry. I'll just keep being a purple haze and go on about my business. But c'mon now VACC, you realised your dream of being close to Ice - can't I have a bit of fun too?

OT & OOC - Anyone recognize the guy?

Well, my respect for one Mr. VACC just went up another notch. (Even if you don't like CP - the fact that you recognize him is good enough for me. Most people I talk to respond with things like "You mean Captain Planet?")

Yes, that is why this is necessary. Talio made a post asking for volunteers to take it over as FA is too busy, and BS was chosen.

I wonder how long it will be before people start trying to do cosmetic mods to make some of the "new" guns in this game a reality? Personally, I think this one could be done without too a ridiculous amount of trouble:




Seriously though, it looks like it could be fun, and it also looks like they could use it as a platform for trying out new gun ideas in a virtual space (for the reaction to the "wow" factor without the expense of actually creating the gun in real life). If course, it wouldn't be quite the same, but it might help them avoid any major duds in the future, who knows?

I'm wondering if this thing would have enough kick to shotgun load a few nano-stefans (2-3 per barrel). That would increase the foam load, though it would probably decrease the overal blast radius. Still, a 3'-4' radius with 12-18 shots would probably be a slight bit more effective than 6' x 6-shots. One thing to try would be to put the weights in off-center, so the darts would (intentionally) fishtail a bit, causing a more erratic flight path and, theoretically at least, a more effective spread.

I know if I get my hands on one or two of these, that's what I'll be trying.

Vimes - your efforts are greatly appreciated! Well done getting one of these broken down and taking pics for us.

A few questions though:


1) Your last pic is fairly blurry. Do there seem to be AR's in there to remove?

2) Do you think that one would be able to add extended barrels without interfering too much with the pump operation or the grenade's flight? (I'm not thinking anything huge - just enough to squeeze a few extra nano-stefans into the mix. If there are AR's, and if barrel replacement helps any, we might see some use out of these things if we can get enough foam scattering the area - like I mentioned above, off-center weights might help here with additional scatter effect.)

I will grant that my experience (playing mostly indoors in a decent-sized church) is probably different from what most of you outdoor nerfers are used to. However, I can't see how it would be impossible to reload a magazine or two during a game if you are sticking together with friends for support. Does everyone who uses a Longshot in wars own enough mags to keep them set for an entire game? I know that before I bought my Recons, I only had the two, and I was able to keep them loaded when I needed to, just by having teammates cover me for a moment. It really doesn't take that long to load them, and with someone watching your back (and a good sidearm within reach if things get hairy), I don't see why this would be such a terrible thing for someone who can't afford / doesn't have access to / doesn't want to carry half a dozen mags for their Longshot.

But then, I've not played in anything large outside. My only big game experience (approx 30 players in our biggest games) is indoors, so maybe all that cover plays a part in skewing my viewpoint?

Why does everyone insist on making the Recon and Longshot shoot taggers? They jam in the magazine, the head interferes with the dart receiver and dart tooth.

I only see one of these issues being addressed, and that's done by cutting off the dart receiver. They'll still jam in the magazine and rub early against the dart tooth when pushed forward.

It's much easier to mod the taggers themselves than to fuck around with the gun's mechanisms, so for all I suggest making custom dart taggers until you're ready to do a breech.

Well, consider this scenario: You are playing an intense game with a lot of participants, and you've just fired your last streamline/CDTS/long stefan (i.e. stuff that fits/works in a stock LS). All of your ammo is now 40-50 feet away from you at best. What do you do?

If you've done a mod like this, you can pick up anything they have been firing back at you (stock taggers, micros, screamers, etc) that will fit in your clip, and keep on shooting.

If not, then all you can do is run, and hope they don't get you!

They can't be already posted modifications, right?

No previously posted modifications will be allowed to be used nor will any modifications used in another contest.

Correct


-EDIT - Beaten to the punch.

I think everyone needs to stop worrying so much about what their score will be, and start worrying about how cool their new blaster will be. I think, in the grand scheme of things, you're going to have to compromise on some or all of the criteria if you want to make something that you personally will enjoy using. Don't try to maximise your score in each area, just make the best blaster you're capable of and let it win on its own. I don't even think it will be possible to max out in each score category. How high do you think you can get your Functionality score if you retain both a stock look and low mod difficulty?

Personally, if I get the money together in time, my blaster should do well in the Functionality category, but it will probably lose a few points in the Cleanliness category due to some external integration. Mod Difficulty will be decent, but not great, and I'm hoping people see it as rather Creative. Writeup Quality is, of course, solely up to the writer - so I only have myself to blame if my score there is low.

Off topic, I wonder how many of the youngin's recognize the quote in the subtitle for this thread. It makes me smile every time I read it.

I have always liked Ice's PJs

Wow, the fanboys really home in on small details, don't they?

Ok, if I'm reading all this correctly, you've removed the AR's and added a spring addition in the stock, and you're hitting 55 feet consistently. I'm assuming that's with the same 3" single bb stefans, right? That's a beastly range for something with such a high ROF and ammo capacity. This might just be the Doomsayer of indoor/close-quarters combat. At 55 feet, it easily matches the range of anything else in my indoor arsenal. I might just have a new indoor primary in a few months...


Did you reinforce the cocking bar? I didn't see mention of whether you did or not, only that you might...

Ok, if I'm reading all this correctly, you've removed the AR's and added a spring addition in the stock, and you're hitting 55 feet consistently. I'm assuming that's with the same 3" single bb stefans, right? That's a beastly range for something with such a high ROF and ammo capacity. This might just be the Doomsayer of indoor/close-quarters combat. At 55 feet, it easily matches the range of anything else in my indoor arsenal. I might just have a new indoor primary in a few months...


Did you reinforce the cocking bar? I didn't see mention of whether you did or not, only that you might...

I did reinforce it slightly with putty. And no, that range is with streamlines.

55 feet with streamlines?! That's fantastic! Well then, I am sold. I will be grabbing at least one of these just as soon as I'm able.

While I've got your attention, perhaps you could answer another question, if you are able. Do you think it would be possible (whether with little work or a lot of work, whether modding the mag or the blaster) to reverse the drum mag's loading direction? (i.e. so that the drum faces downward instead of upward?

I ask because I have tentative plans to get ahold of a pair of these drum mags and a pair of recons, then mod the whole mess into a functional and aesthetically pleasing replica of a Storm Bolter from Warhammer 40,000 - simply because it would look ridiculously awesome.

(it might also make a halfway decent indoor weapon, what with the dual-firing, 35 round clip and all)

THIS MOD IS COMPLETELY USELESS!!! YOU WASTED A PERFECTLY GOOD RECON IN A MODIFICATION THAT ADDS NOTHING TO THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE ORIGINAL GUN!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

You madea at least three mistakes in your post:

1) You posted in a thread that has been dormant for months without adding anything significant. The mods frown on that, and it is likely to get you on their bad side. You don't want to see that side - it isn't pretty.

2) You didn't think about what you were saying. You said that this adds nothing to the functionality of the original gun, but it does. Many people find that the top-slide cocking action of the Recon and similar blasters (such as the Maverick and the scout) is uncomfortable or otherwise undesirable, and they find that adding a shotgun-style pump action to the blaster is an improvement. (Nerf seems to have realized this - just look at the new Hyperfire blaster).

3) You didn't bother to read the mod itself before posting. You accuse the original poster of having "wasted a perfectly good recon". As the quote below shows, he did no such thing.

Today we're going to make a pretty looking and removable pump-action attachment for the Recon. Others have made the Recon pump-action before, but I've never liked the looks of them, and I had a broken Recon to mess with anyway. This is an advanced mod: read these instructions, but only do the mod if you understand what is going on. A lot of this was done on intuition, and I got a lot of things to fit by sheer luck.

You've been around long enough to know not to Necro - haven't you? Or maybe not.

Don't post in topics over a month old unless you have something useful to say. PM the OP if you have a question.

I like to think that the cocking slide, shown in three of the four images in the first post, which draws the string and plunger rod back to the catching point, would be what qualifies this as pump-action.

Oh, and in case the pictures weren't enough, reading the words helps too:

The pump grip merely pushes back the nylon bow string, until the catches, obviously. I'll probably add a return spring for the pump later.

And yes, he typically runs this with a hopper. In fact, he has probably never actually Nerf'd with it with any setup other than a hopper.

Ryan let me take this thing out for a test drive Saturday at Foam in the Fort. Let me just say that it was truly the most fun I have had with a foam-flinging blaster in a long time. This thing is awesomeness in its purest form. The draw is extremely smooth, the handle quite comfortable, and the firing action both strong and accurate.

Oh - and it's a freakin' crossbow. A REAL freakin' crossbow. 'Nuff said.

LARP isn't a Nerf term. It stands for Live Action Role-Play

It is basically where people take a game like Dungeons & Dragons and play it in a style where they are the characters, rather than just saying what their characters do. They generally wear costumes and carry (usually) safe versions of weapons, similar to the stuff in this thread, and have rules for how combat works. Some people look down on so-called LARPers as the height of geek-hood. I just think they have their own way of having fun. (Even if I don't always quite understand why...)

Funny thing is, even though a lot of people on this forum look down on LARPers, many of those same people think that Humans vs Zombies is a very cool game type. When you really think about it, HvZ is basically a very rules-light LARP.

One problem I've always had, aesthetically speaking, with people integrating a 2K/3K/etc into their NF's is that the pump is always put it some weird looking spot (such as sticking out of the handle). While I'm sure it works for them on a practical level, it has always bothered me on a purely cosmetic level.

This, on the other hand, takes a power blaster (the 3K) and sticks it into a compact, comfortable and easy-to-aim shell, while retaining an aesthetically pleasing configuration that also remains practical and effective.

Excellent work!

Reading all of this makes me really wish I had been able to find the time to come. Sounds like you guys had a blast, and Cinci isn't much different then Chicago drive-time wise for me. Maybe I can get out to one of your wars at some point. (Hey Ryan & Kane, how's about swinging through Fort Wayne to pick me up? )

+ Biggest war I've been to yet, and possibly the biggest in the Midwest so far.

-Foam In the Fort II, was definitely bigger, but this was close. I know for a fact the Cincy group has had much larger non-NIC wars, so I'm not sure if that counts

Yep, we had just a few more attendees at FIF2. Doesn't diminish the awesomeness of the huge attendence for Ohio Rev though. (And we lured our attendees with free swag...rather than a swaggering Brit.)

+All of my blasters staying in one piece

Pics or it didn't happen. Or at least three sworn affidavits from fellow attendees.

Very interesting concept. You have eliminated the most annoying aspect of the Double Shot (the shell ejection) while retaining the coolness factor of the break-action breech and the efficiency of rear-loading barrels.

My suggestion, if you want to keep this thing functional for long, reinforce the catch mechanisms. (You could probably accomplish this with some strips of sheet metal or something similar.) I have had two separate Double Shots scrapped because the catches broke, rendering them useless. However, reinforced catch mechs might even allow you to put in stronger springs, and since the trigger mech is independent of the catches, you wouldn't have to do anything there. Fix this one glaring deficiency in the Double Shot, and your lovely little beast will serve you well for some time to come.

Jesus! Already planning a super-mag-clip?

One of the first things I thought of when I saw that drum mag in the original thread was taking two of them, and a pair of recons, and building a crazy Storm Bolter * mod, just for the heck of it. (It would also be mildly useful in the indoor wars that are my general form of nerfy goodness.) Of course, that depends on wether it would be possible to use this thing in a backwards facing direction. It could be done (with a bit of work) with the current CS6 clips, so it may be possible with this as wel, but I won't know for sure until I get my hands on one.


* A Storm Bolter is a weapon from the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame. It is basically a pair of high-calibre machine guns welded together in what is known as a "combi-weapon" style. The recon bears a decent resemblance to the Bolter weapons in Warhammer 40,000, and I've considered a cosmetic mod like this before, but a pair of drum mags would really sell the look for a lot of fans.