I dressed up as a stormtrooper for a 10 year old's birthday party. Naturally I brought my (black + white, ARs totally removed) longshot as a prop, with a 12-dart magazine. When I put it down, a 7 year old apparently thought they knew how clip system blasters worked, so he kept racking the prime back and forth, wondering why it didn't shoot. I finally got a hold of it at pulled out the magazine, only to realise that 6 darts had somehow been fed into the breech. The gun was kinda incapable of movement at that point, but I happened to pull the trigger, and out popped a dart. I primaed and fired again, and out popped another dart, and another. And another.

After you remove the air restrictors, I'd advise you make the upper barrel a little tighter - probably by re-barrelling it. Normally when you remove the ARs you get a big upper shot and pathetic lower.

 

Alternatively, you could use a Roughcut to get an 8-shot blast.

It might also be a good idea to take a few pictures of the box and upload them. Apparently there aren't any yet.

Would making a pressure vessel out of slightly thicker polyester tubing be a suitable alternative to PVC then? Or would you lose the rip vs fracture advantage the thicker the material you use?

 

Soda bottles typically hold 60 PSI with no dramas (every brand and size I've tried can do this). Once you reach 100 PSI you're still safe, but in the zone where somebody stomping on it hard could set it off if you're unlucky. If you look at this article http://www.aircomman...nforcingBottles you'll find that soda bottles can reach 200 PSI safely - although you really don't want to be bumping it at that point. A 1.25 L bottle at 60 PSI is enough for about 3 full power shots, so it comes down to how much oomph you want out of it.

 

PVC really isn't a good pressure vessel - mainly because it has such a low ultimate tensile strength. That tensile strength is basically the ratio used to determine how much pressure a vessel can hold with a given radius. Polyester can have a higher tensile strength, but not by much.

PVC is expensive? I personally have 10 metres or so just lying around that I could use.

 

As for your actual mod, I like the idea, but over time it's going to get weaker considering the materials used. Maybe (white) pen shafts and epoxy would yield a more permanent version?

A maverick spring is already impressively powerful in terms of its spring constant. The only thing you can do to improve it further is to do the "Penny Mod", wherein you put pennies (or your country's lowest denomination coin) behind the spring so that it reaches full compression. Youtube will tell you how.

 

Keep in mind that no matter how well you mod a Maverick,, it'll never be as good as a 5 minute modded strongarm.

Air blasters don't really depend on pressure to fire further - they normally use high volumes and longer barrels for that purpose. If your tank can go above 60 PSI, then you might want to consider adding a regulator to it to get ~ 10 PSI shots. What's happening with your darts is that there is a pressure difference between the front of the dart and the back which, because of the hollow center, is exerting more of a forward force on the tip of the dart than the foam walls.

 

In essence, this extra force is enough when using high pressure air (20+ PSI) to push the head of the dart off before it leaves the barrel. In the case of Zombie strike darts, the inertia of the foam combined with th very short glue section on the tip of the dart make the tips very easy to fly off.

 

If you're unwilling to go the oute of buying more darts or fancier barrel materials, you could try dabbing a bit of hot glue down the hole in the dart until it covers the top of the glued on part of the dart. That way the air pressure isn't pressing on the dart tip, but instead on the glue which is firmly anchored to the foam.

I'm looking to put LED lighting in two clear Vulcans as part of my overhaul. Given the size of the blaster and the number of LEDs involved I'm thinking of using several parallel circuits to help alleviate voltage drop. I've got two questions about this:

 

1. Is it actually worth usng parallel circuits, or is the voltage drop between LEDs so small as to make it trivial? I'm expecting to use around 25 LEDs all up with its own power source.

 

2. If I do use, say, 5 parallel circuits of 5 LEDs conected in series to each other - with each one being a 5mm red LED - what's the recommended input voltage (I'll be using lithium ion batteries)

 

Thanks in advance.

It looks like NERF is making a compromise between rifling, aerodynamics and safety that leaves all three categories wanting.

 

Hasbro's safety process (look it up) for stored energy projectiles such as nerf darts has a cut-off power that is entirely dependent on the dart's area of impact. The larger the area, the higher the velocity allowed. That is why the flat tip extends all the way to the edge of the foam.

 

The "rifling" should make the dart spin, but its covered by the safety head, so you get spin by Venturi Effect, but that's it - no aerofoil. Because they added the rifling, there is more surface area to cause friction, and therefore the aerodynamics are worse (to say nothing of a flat head).

 

However, the symmetric design and slight turning effect will increase accurac -, if only by a little - at the cost of range. I could see this being viable on high-powered blasters where the velocities give a bit more of a tug on the rifling, to give some decent spin. Otherwise, its 3rd party all the way.

What are you making it for?

 

Do you just ant the stage presence of firing larger things than everyone else? If so, it doesn't really matter how you make them, because performance isn't what's important.

 

Do you want the psychological edge of firing big things at ordinary ranges? If so, I'd recommend Drac's approach, because its fantastic for that.

 

 

Do you want the performance edge that innately comes with firing larger calibre ammunition, thereby enabling superior range? If so, you have a problem:

Ordinary nerf darts are fired with an equalisation of pressure from inside and outside them, preventing rupture over numerous repetitions. This is one of the reasons that Drac's rockets are more durable - the PETG sleeve bears the internal pressure, and not a pool noodle. However, Drac's rockets are still a flawed system, as they do not have a sealed pressure container. You could improve on this by adding a cap to the PETG wall, then adding an O-ring at the tip of the barrel to ensure a perfect seal from barrel to PETG. This would allow you to ramp up the pressure (for higher acceleration), and increase durability (by having a sealed pressure vessel).

 

As for the head, use something a bit heavier, like half a stress ball with a weight inside. A rocket (even one with perfect fins) relies on the weight distribution being near the nose, otherwise you get spiraling and pretty bad inaccuracy. If you get a decent weight at the front (probably 50 - 100 grams), and no fins, your rocket will still fly true.

 

Overall, rockets do what MEGA darts should have done - add mass, so that range can be improved.

Hello,

 

This is a discussion of a new type of hopper mechanism for use on homemade nerf guns.

 

When I first became interested in Nerf as a hobby I thought that the tiny breeches inherent in stock nerf guns were the culmination of reloadable design. After a bit of research I found out about brass breeches, which allowed for much longer barrels but still required a mechanism to "cycle" the breech from open to shut and back again. More digging uncovered the speedloader, shotgun attachements and other clever devices for powerful guns that didn't offer much in the way of rate of fire, but capitalised on power per shot, culminating in the RSCB. My cup of tea leant more towards massive dart spamming at medium range, so I was not satisfied.

 

Finally, I found out about the Wye hopper, capitalising upon both high rate of fire (all that is needed is a prime and a trigger pull, which is much quicker than even RSCBs) and power. Their ability and reliability was enhanced over time, leading to the modern, effective design. You've probably seen at least one b now, but here's a nice picture demonstrating exactly what they do:

 

Simply put, the blue part is the hopper, or clip/magazine where the darts are stored (you can see 5 in there if you look closely, the purple part is a simple PVC end cap, the red part is a PVC wye and the green part is the barrel. Air is forced into the wye piece through its open side, and the resulting suction on the dart at the top of the clip (whose tip is poking into the main part of the wye) sucks the dart first into the wye and then into the barrel. This leaves you with a fairly reliable mechanism that will fire 1 dart at a time, and is gravity fed.

 

The problems that occur with wyes (as near as I can tell) are the following:

 

1. They're super hard to obtain depending on one's location. In Australia (my home country) they're nearly impossible to find, requiring shipping from overseas to obtain them.

2. They can be very unreliable with even slight changes to dart dimensions. This means that using someone else's ammo in a war becomes very risky.

3. The air expended in sucking the dart into the barrel is air that could otherwise be used to shove the dart further downrange, leading to a slight efficiency problem.

 

Overall, the wye is superior, but with room for improvement.

 

While roaming the various Nerf fan sites one day I found an interesting take on the wye that seemed to solve all its problems:

 

 

This design - which I'll dub the Speed Hopper for want of a better word - dramatically increases fire rate over wyes, eliminates the air inefficiency and improves feed reliability.

 

The basic idea is that darts are gravity fed one at a time into the PVC T-piece, then expelled through the 45 degree bend and out the barrel via air coming in through the second 45 degree PVC joint.

 

The basic operation is the same as the wye, with one shot being fired per spring release (if you're using a springer, that is), but has several benefits:

 

1. Because the darts are already located in a preliminary pert of the barrel, no air is required to force them into the barrel, leading to slightly better efficiency.

2. Because the darts aren't gently sucked around a bend, but instead are fully forced into the barrel, the Speed Hopper is able to cope with different dart lengths a lot better.

3. Air guns can give this thing some serious punch, as you'll see later.

4. The part are so readily available that almost any town in the world with a hardware store should be able to supply them.

 

The greatest benefit is that the pressure wave from the firing mechanism (be it a plunger or compressed air) does not impede darts sliding into the red PVC T, so larger volume plungers have the benefit of being able to fire two shots at once (by large, I mean bigger than a Maverick plunger). When using good darts, a huge hopper and a blowpipe setup (exactly what is shown above) I can get around 20 darts per second downrange, or 1200 darts per minute. Take that 700 dpm Vulcan!

 

Overall I am very satisfied with it, as my playstyle is pretty much about intimidation through walls of foam.

 

I'd encourage you to try it out with a 1meter/yard long hopper and Silicone Darts in the blowpipe setup and see how it goes.

 

Beauty blasters... Rhinofire, Deploy, Lonstrike, Centurion and Recon CS-6.

 

Beast Blasters... Anything with flywheels, Retaliator, HammerShot, Any given homemade, even a blowpipe.

 

Also, rather than having a slideshow (I don't think anyone's charismatic enough to make that interesting), instead have a competition with a Recon Mk II as the prize where the winner is the person who brings the gun that can shoot the farthest. Both educational and fun. I like the way you're headed though, with the gun psychology.

Aussieland doesn't stock any of the rival line. I should know as I live there. To acquire any of the rival line you need to order from the US through somewhere like Amazon, which is super expensive for such a large, heavy blaster.

 

Speaking of prices, do you think what your blasters are bought for is worth the effort you put into them, because I've looked at doing Ebay mods and haven't seen a very good market for them. What do you think?

I think this might retail for around $300, considering how much better it is.

Awesome! Now all I need is a $2000 3D printer and I'll be set to make nice cheap barrels... Seriously though, while 3D printing is "the future" etc, it'll never compete with solid, cheap, mass-manufactured materials. Even in Australia where I live (a place in which I've ranted about the lack of parts avaiave ability) I have still been able to find the materials I need (write up pending).

 

PETG is nice progress though.

Solder is the most common - and best - method for wiring jobs in general, but alternatives include shrink wrap (which can be cheaper) and (forgive me for the lack of name - it slipped my mind) those solder-less joint kits that you can attach and take apart at will. All have benefits and disadvantages, so its up to you what you really need.

 

I personally go with solder because it lasts forever when done right.

I recently aquired a Century Springs C884 from a smalll materials shop on the outskirts of Toowoomba. You can find its specifications online. Firsthand, the draw is significant (although not quite at [k26] level) and has decent power. If I read the online specifications right, the C884 has a far higher spring constant (the generic measure of spring work per unit of spring length) than anything else I've seen on the market. I'm sixteen and have no trouble fully compressing it.

 

Additionally, its dimensions are such that some Australian electrical conduit PVC fits parfectly on the inside, making the world's easiest plunger rod. Depending on the industry infrastructure of your area, it may be difficult to find the right spring. I've found that the smaller stores often have better selections of those kinds of things.

 

Note: Thre [k26]'s is somehing like $15 US. One Century C884 is $20 Au where I found it, but that's the price of Australian living.

Having just finished a chemistry course on batteries, I can say with certainty that mixing different voltages is bad, and mixing different types is even worse. Batteries work by moving ions in and out of solution, so a difference in voltages will move the different chemicals in and out of solution at vastly different rates. What you may be experiencing is that either the high voltage trustfires or the low voltage alkaline batteries are being completely depleted in a short time, breaking the circuit and causing that depletion.

 

Another quirk of batteries is that they can "charge" themselves a tiny bit when the chemicals settle back into a fixed shape, leading to repeated occurrences of this unfortunate dilemma. Naturally, dummy batteries will fix the problem, although you may have to buy new trustfires, depending on which battery has been depleted (as damage due to complete depletion can be very harmful to the battery's life).

I've had the same problem with my Stryfe, albeit at 1 in 20 or so darts. I think the problem is that, since there is no air cushion around the dart, it hits the sides of the barrel and ricochets around, leading to the spin. The longer the barrel, the worse it gets.

 

I'm not sure about removing the skirt, but avoiding firing and running at the same time will decrease the chances of catastrophic twirlage. Additionally, faster darts spend less time in the barrel, so ramping up your batteries (if you haven't already done so) to Li-Ion will decrease this effect.

I've been to one of these nerf youth events. In my case, it was held in a multi-story church building, divided up into zones. Each zone could support two teams shooting at each other, and everyone got to choose their own teams. Each zone had a different theme - V.I.P. transfer, unthinking slaughter, storm the fort, to name a few. Essentially, the rules were simple enough that anyone - even the littler kids - could grasp the concept in 5 seconds and then go have fun. If you haven't done so already get a supply of large cardboard boxes organised, they'll be your best friend when you need to quickly set up cover. The benefits of having multiple zones to play in rather than a single large one was that in perhaps 150 square meters of floor space we could have 60 or so kids playing without feeling cramped.

If a blaster is heavily modded (upgraded batteries, improved spring power, etc), don't allow it. Both the modder and everyone else will have more fun with balanced game play. You can check every blaster for mods, or just make a rule about it and trust it will obeyed, it probably will be.

Supply all the darts yourself. Charge for them or give them out free it doesn't matter. Otherwise everyone who brought their own will end up taking yours from the ground or feeling cheated because they lost half their stash. Besides, if you supply them all, they'll all come back to you. I stuck around for the cleanup and out of around 1000 + elites, virtually none were trashed. Be generous, and everyone will want to come to the next war.

Other than that, its just common sense, legalities and safety.

Trial and error is easy here. Make a barrel significantly longer than reasonable, then cut of 3" segments until the range starts dropping. That's the barrel length you should use. Obviously this is inaccurate, but so is a Nerf dart.

The first nerf gun I ever bough was a Vulcan. I was eight, and not very strong. The belt feeding was the epitome of complexity, and add onto that the manual-automatic switch, awkward weight in smallish hands and overall too-muchness meant that I used it once, then never again.

Years later, I gave my cousin (ages six) a Stryfe, which he promptly stalled repeatedly because he couldn't figure out the rev trigger, nor could he prime a Roughcut in under two minutes. Yes its common sense, but its really quite uncommon.

3. I kinda fixed my Lngshot CS-6
So I made a post a while ago about how my CS-6 wasn't working, I kinda found a way to fix it, its annoying though. The first shot is fine, but when I cock it back for a second shot, its like I'm dryfiring, the bullet doesn't even budge. IDK! So everytime I pull the clip out and put it back in, it works. Not sell worthy yet.

If you've opened your Longshot and had fun with internals, it's possible some components have been misplaced. However, the fact that it actually fires suggests that there is no problem with the firing mechanism. As a dart inside the breach would stop air coming out pretty much entirely it's likely that no dart is inside the breech during firing. If so, mod your jam door so that it can remain open during firing (a harmless mod) and have a look at the loading process. The problem might reveal itself.

Additionally, I'm aware that on many clip system guns there is a mechanical lock in front of the breech that prevents the dart being pushed forward (and consequently into the useless faux barrel)as the breech attempts to slide over it. This lock may have been permanently activated by some previous mods of yours. If so, have a good look at the lock and see whether it's fixable. It could be that a part has merely been bumped out of alignment.


As for vehicles, keep in mind that the average cap on dart velocity is around 150 fps superstock. That's not very fast. Turreted vehicles work because as soon as you pull the trigger, the bullet hits its target. No need to aim, just point and spray. Nerf guns aren't like that. You need accuracy and a stable firing platform.

I could, maybe, see a UTV with a heavily modified Vulcan turret in the back working. Even then, you're range is practically going to be melee and accuracy's going to be more or less zero. A thousand dart chain would be about the minimum, too. Like Meaker VI said, they're just not practical. That said, if you can make something that works and is fun, kudos to you.

I moved on the the elite version of the raider (I can't think of it's name right now)

You're thinking of the rampage.
[Edit, hadn't seen the more recent topic by Echoblammo.]

If you're worried about the shell ejection looking realistic, sticky tape a bag over the ejection port as a shell collector. It serves the double purpose of never having to look for your shells and preventing that realism from being ridiculous. Even max force guns had "shells" in the form of fixed clips; its inevitable with such soft ammo. Additionally, the cardboard outer covering isn't critical in most areas; it's just for decoration.

...but if you'd like to that's very helpful and highly welcomed.

I've done some testing in the past few days. My darts tend to curve straight to the right. I've also found that ordinary firing and aiming techniques work best for me, but that's only from 5 meters away.

...it worked out very well, even for a large war. Although instead of a time limit, you just yell at the person you hit, keep both your blasters in the air, and take a flag. Then clear back in, and the person who got hit can't go back after you for ten seconds (firing darts or following you).

Great! Since I haven't had much experience with larger wars this feedback is important to my future wars. Since we played Clips indoors there would be at least 3 people sitting in ambush positions, so the purpose of counting back in out loud is to prevent them from accidentally shooting you and revealing their position unintentionally.

In reply to other comments:

The downside of a soldier class is this; they will always lose a firefight with a heavy, run out of darts before a scout and have less backup than a medic (as people don't constantly run up to them for respawns that the medic enjoys). While a soldier class is definitely fun and balanced I have a feeling that its just too bread and butter for most people. After all, the idea of Classy Wars is to have a class, and the soldier negates that. Of course it offers greater variability in the team setup, so presenting it as an option can't hurt at all.

Naturally team limitations can be enforced, but I think its more of an issue with teams of 5 or less, where 3 heavies really make an impact. After all, 10+ player teams are going to balance themselves between dart collection, hit points and tactical respawns. So yes limitations are necessary, but its likely that after a few rounds the teams will balance themselves.

Thanks once again for all the feedback. I'm thinking of hosting a school based war with 20-40 people, so every comment counts.

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not….

I think that the twisted URM wins the "most original" award ([edit] mainly because its the nerf equivalent of colouring outside the lines), but a rear loading Strongarm is certainly up there. I'm just wondering though; on a blaster with a pop out drum, designed for ease of loading, what circumstances prompted you to make an additional loading option? I know the mod doubles as a performance increase, but the inspiration for the rear loading eludes me for this blaster. As has been said before, the write up was very easy to understand.

As a side note I have found that pliers and ordinary sandpaper can do just as good a job, if not as fast.

Just my $0.02 : I don't particularly get why the masterkey one is a problem, considering most people know a masterkey is an undermounted shotgun of some type. Also the names help add flair to each project.

Not a chance. I've browsed around anonymously for years, and been a member here for a while now, and I didn't have any idea what a masterkey was until you post. The thing about Nerfers is they're a wide group, and any kind of shorthand messes with someone, or a demographic of someones. The name, as has been stated, should be so blatantly obvious that anyone knows what it is at first glance. The ESLT and HAMP push it, but they're both extremely common compared to"masterkey, which I doubt is in the mod directory.

Yes names add flair, but they shouldn't do so at the cost of clarity.

I usually keep shooting until I see something bounce or it's an obvious hit

If you often find yourself in the unfortunate position of continually scoring hits, yet never getting recognition, there is a solution. Find the hardest, barely legal slugs and keep a clip of them spare in every round (a high powered weapon also helps). Then, whenever someone is ruining it for everyone else, switch to that clip and aim for the neck (or head, if you're that cruel). They then have a choice; either take 10 or so withering, bruising shots or just walk back to spawn. You'll probably find that after the first few instances they'll realize that their cheating isn't working out and either leave or start playing fair (or just avoid you from then on, which works out just as well from your perspective).

In the few (twice) times I've played paintball, there was always that one guy that never acknowledged hits. He bought 500 or so balls, and I had 100. Obviously the above tactic couldn't work, but a similar strategy did. I snuck up behind him (in the second to last round) and hit the unprotected back of his head from 5 meters away until he gave up. Different game, same effect.

I realize that this is extreme, and definitely bends rules. Still, for the price of keeping your failure slugs that are lopsided and/or have nasty bits, you can all but eliminate the problem. Or course, the simple solution is to get their name(s) and keep a list of all the people never to nerf with again.

once i find myself some magic pvc i will make it more air tight, but i still have yet to come upon it.

Since you're in the US, brass tubing is an option for you. In Australia I've yet to find any at a reasonable price, but I understand McMaster Carr online has some great deals. A little bit of 'Haven searching will find you the correct sizes for a perfect seal. "Magic PVC" might just be the "clear" type, but you'd have to check with a vernier or other fine measuring tool to make sure the I.D. and O.D. are right. Clear PVC has significantly different dimensions to regular or CPVC.

From the pictures, you may have noticed that the primer of the gun was removed. As this is a bolt action modification, my goal is to make the gun prime with a bolt, just like a loser rifle. The problem is, i don't know what materials to use as the bolt and how to keep it stable and such.

A suggestion; drill a 3.5 mm hole (use google to translate to metric, and round numbers for ease) through both sides of the pump slide as far forward as you can, making sure that the holes are in line with the slit in the shell.. Then thread a 4 mm galvanized threaded rod through the hole. The friction should be sufficient to hold it in place, but epoxy is great for assurance. Then thread 3 (4mm) nuts along the rod on each side as far as you can. They should be tight. Cut off the rod 1mm after the last nut on each side, then epoxy the nuts in place using that gap. Take the bolts from a Longshot, Longstrike or Vulcan and epoxy putty then in place over the nuts and bolt. You now have a secure bolt action gun.

Keep in mind that any attachment you add cannot increase accuracy or performance, and any perception to that effect is wishful thinking. Bolt action is awful, and will never be as good as pump action on any blaster. As has been said, use Coop772's method and you'll have a tacticool weapon that actually works in a war. Kudos for the creative thought though.

Alternatively you could just hot glue some Longshot, Longstrike or Vulcan bolts to the side of the slide. That would be just as good, but probably not permanent.

This could work very well at small attendance war but anything over say 12 would start to get rough

Absolutely. Everything you say is correct, but slightly redundant in Australia. Toowoomba has a population of 116 000, give or take. That essentially means that my group is (for now) limited to 11. Being a moderator, I'll assume you have in depth knowledge of large scale wars and how the people there operate. My particular group is open to this sort of stuff, and the rules were explained in 2 minutes. I can understand that larger wars will have problems, but large wars simply don't exist in Australia; even SBNC has very few members.

Clips is intended to be an indoors game mode, so long range isn't really much of an issue, but the ROF certainly is (And outdoor Clips would definitely be a slaughter). Being knocked out is awful, but balanced by the time limit cap. I found that 20 seconds was enough to hand over pegs, do 10 seconds of scouting and then find a safe spot in the last 5. More players will counter this or course. CTF, 3:15 and Carpe will always be the staples of war, simply because everyone already knows them. My objective here is to get awareness out about other, fun game modes, not to replace the Classics.

So can someone kill this question for me please?

I've handled a grey trigger version in the past week. They're nothing to get excited about, sadly. My chrono is limited to examining the size of the bruise if you know what I mean, but they're clearly underpowered. I can attest to the fact that a grey trigger version is weaker than a stock Retaliator, slower firing that a revolver and overall not worth it for $40 (looks excluded). Meishel has the right idea with replacement cord. If you can find surgical tubing, its high power and snap back speed is amazing, as Mythbusters found. Otherwise, shock cord or military bungee cord is your best bet. Of course, you could also fashion some actual bow arms for this thing and stop playing with elastics.

The humility you show here will set you up well on this site, as does the manner of your post and correct spelling (a rarity, most definitely). Well done. Additionally, for those who don't like looking to the left, I'm residing in Australia.

We all know capture the flag, carpe, deathmatch and all those original, entertaining game modes. Many of us know other, fancier games that are often more interesting, but take heaps of time to explain. I recall one game (not Nerf, but similar mechanics and could be easily adaptable) that took over 30 minutes to explain. It was a blast,but in the time taken to explain rule everyone (of the 60 people there) could have played 2-3 games of CTF. Come on.

The objective of this article is to propose some new game modes that create interesting mechanics while keeping explanation time low. Some of these have been extensively play tested, and others have yet to be. I'll mark them as they come. Enjoy.


1: Clips.

This has nothing to do with ammunition, but rather clothes pegs - cheap and accessible. At the start of each game every player (irrelevant of player numbers) is given 4 pegs, which are clipped onto any visible section of clothing. Whenever a player is hit they have 20 seconds of "respawn (no attacking, cannot be hit) in which to give one peg to the player that shot them ( who is invulnerable while actually attaching the token) and find a safe place to get back into it. Once a player reaches 0 pegs they're out of the game. After 15 minutes the winner is either the last player standing or whomever has the most pegs.

My experience with this mode is fantastic. We played in a very large house (5 bedrooms, 2 stories, 2 staircases) and played for about 30 minutes. Because of the very large indoor area and the relatively few players (5 or so) ambushes were a viable tactic. Because of my Stryfe primary, I lost drastically. Obviously, outdoor play would be very different. This game mode is a free for all with the benefit of both time pressure and quantifiable victory conditions. Unlike 3:15 deathmatch and all its variants Clips allows redemption of lagging players, producing a more forgiving, yet fast paced game. The highlight was a 5 player standoff between several rooms, where every plyer was conscious of the clock ticking down, yet nobody was willing to concede their strategic positions.

2: Trouble in Terrorist Town.

Airsoft fans may have heard of it. Its based of of a dice game where secrecy and betrayal combine with firepower. Google it for some well made videos (not by me, of course) with airsoft guns. At the beginning of each game (which normally lasts less than 5 minutes with 11 people) every player is dealt a card (see Appendix A for card distribution ratios) and depending on the card will be either a Detective, Innocent or Terrorist. Terrorists are face cards, detectives are aces, innocents are anything else. The objective of the detective(s) and innocents is to kill all terrorists, and conversely the objective of the terrorists is to kill all detectives and innocents. The game does not happen until one of those two conditions are met.

The catch is, all cards are dealt in secret, so there is no way for a Detective/Innocent to prove he/she really is a detective and not a Terrorist. However, before the start of each game, everyone closes their eyes, and the terrorists look up, so they know whose on their side. By playing in a small area (we used the above house with 11 people) everyone must continually watch their backs. Because the terrorists know who each other are, they can work together against a divided foe. The detective can ask the dead (who, once shot, lie on the ground unmoving, obviously) who shot them. The game boils down to a race as the terrorists slowly wipe out the innocents and detectives and the detectives work to expose the killers.

My experience of the game is that, if everyone avoids cheating during setup, this game is well balanced and very run. it is best played indoors where players can hide killings. If one has access to a large house then I would highly recommend this game mode.

My best experience was when we had (for some inexplicable reason) 2 terrorists against 9 others. Myself and another were the Terrorists, and we worked so effectively that by one minute into the match we had cleaned up almost all the innocents and Detectives. We had been split up, searching for the final Detective when suddenly, a figure lunges past a wall, firing at me as he went. I fired all I had at him, striking him several times as he hit me. Only after we both stood up did we realize; we were both Terrorists, and we'd just shot each other...

Appendix A; For an easy game for the innocents, have 1 Detective and 2 Innocents for every 2 Terrorists. This means that the Terrorists are outnumbered,but have the element of surprise on their side. For an easy game for the Terrorists,have 1 Detective and 1 Innocent for every 2 Terrorists. This means that the Terrorists have strength in numbers, but also that the detectives have less suspects to eliminate before exposing the terrorists.

3: Classy War.

Admit it. At some point you've thought that it would be amazing to be able to select classes to play as, like the heavy, or spy etc. Of course, the problems inherent in such a game make it almost impossible. I believe I've worked out a simple and fun 3:15 team deathmatch version. Every player has the standard 3 lives, and must return to a spawn point to get back into a game The winning team is the last one alive, or the team with the most members alive after 15 minutes.

There are 3 classes: Heavy, Scout and Medic.

The Scout is the only class allowed to pick up ammo from the ground, and can then share it among his team mates. They pay for this by only being able to carry 2 weapons, and neither can have a maximum capacity above 6. They can carry as much ammunition as thy desire, however. Scouts wear a cap of their team colourto denote themselves on the battlefield.

The Heavy can withstand 2 hits before being sent back to spawn, greatly increasing his durability. They pay for this by only being able to walk at any time (This includes while walking back to spawn, and is defined as having one foot on the ground at all times). Heavies denote themselves on the battlefield by wearing a bandanna or their team colour.

The Medic acts as a mobile base for spawning, drastically reducing the time needed to do so. Any friendly player can simple touch them and be instantly revived. The medic pays for this by not being able to carry battery operated weapons. Medics denote themselves on the battlefield with an armband of their team colour.

Unfortunately, I have no experience with this game type, but if players already know 3:15, then these simple classes are an easy addition to the game. i would expect that teams of 5 or 4 are best, and between 2 and 4 teams, depending upon player numbers. I would recommend an outdoor playing field with high cover. Teams can vary roles to keep the gimmick entertaining. For example, a team of a Medic, 3 Heavies and a Scout moving together would be very hard to defeat.


That wraps it up for now. Obviously, these rules are different, and a "learning" game will definitely be required for Trouble in Terrorist Town, but the short games allow for this. A Classy war will obviously be better the more players one musters, while Clips maxes at around 10, or else risk players becoming extremely overpowered. If anyone could give feedback on Classy Wars, that would be much appreciated.

Not me!

What [above] has said is completely true, and the problems are compounded in Australia. That $15 pinpoint sight is going to be $30+ the gun itself will be $80+ at release. While I cannot comment on performance, I'm sure that safety laws and regulations haven't changed dramatically since the stryfe, so power is still going to be limited. All those fancy ad-ons do is make money for Hasbro. As a flagshp its perfect; extremely expensive, good looks and gives the impression of superior firepower.

It's look triggers a menacing grin on my face, it's power and distance keeps my eyes widened, and the whistling of the darts in the air sends chills.

The Cycloneshock is simply not designed for accuracy, as you indicate above. Its power, combined with the tiny "barrel" means that inaccuracy will always be a problem. The whistle is innately inaccurate, even with the improvement of two holes. Any tendencies you have observed will be due to systematic error (That is, some flaw in the design causes darts fired from that particular model to leave the barrel in a particular way more often than usual). One of the greatest mistakes made in nerf "science" is using tiny sample sizes. Try firing 10 different Cycloneshocks from 10 different stores 1000 times each (Impractical I know, but think of it as a thought experiment), then see if the same tendency is still present.

Sleightof hand is an answer, but will not work the same way for everyone, simply because the gun itself is different in every model. What you have done is get used to the quirks of your particular model, and reacted accordingly. I will be testing this method Today (possibly) to find out if the same flaw is present in my model. Bravo on finding a solution, but the suggestion that it will work for others is flawed.

I'm fluorescent yellow with envy here. You've made a practicval bullpup and clearly put a lot of though into placement of parts etc. Really, this is rather impressive. My main concern is that the square pump grip will chafe after a long skirmish,but that can be easily fixed with epoxy putty or silicone or whatever. I might have missed it, but is this thing slam-fire? Xellah somehow managed to do it, and that alone is a massive step up in homemade design. I would be very interested in a slam version of this particular bullpup, even if it isn't already slam capable. Once again, amazing build - and good writeup.

The voltage is obviously like half my voltage. Also, if I use stock motors, what type of Li-Po should I use (in terms of voltage)?

I've been running stock Stryfe motors at 8v with no problems, any higher and I can smell burning coming from the motors. One can get away with 12V in short bursts, but you'll wear out the motors eventually. I know that Coop772 has preferred running stock motors at 16V, then simply buying another $20 Stryfe when the motors burnt out. In summary, 8-8.5V is about the limit for keeping batteries alive, but you can go heaps higher if you're willing to burn the motors out slowly.

And here`s how the breech closes

From what I can see so far, this is a great setup. The only problem I can think of is if older darts get caught on the thick walled breech, causing jams. Otherwise, I'll have to try this myself. Well done.