Play with long barreled designs,  this one has been shooting wild at the last few wars, Ever since I went twin Longshot springs (OMW 8 Kg and Xplorer 18 Kg)  but I finally got her dialed in and the darts stable.  I just threw an orange plastic tip on it last week.   The right darts and 3.6 Joules or so can do wonders, but don't use this to dick around with your friends, you'll welt them pretty bad, but NIC wars, ok.  This was a response to a kid claiming a unmodded stryfe with a scope was $n!per, I had to break it to him....


https://youtu.be/rNIP7KO_NeY

 

 

 

I would have no idea how to begin to accomplish this, as the extent of my modding experience

are shown in my photos above.   Could I purchase this model from a modder somewhere?  

 

Could I have actual rifle iron sights instead of a scope?

What sort of projectiles does it fire? Is it charged by a charging handle or does it use a cord like a crossbow?

 

I wanted to post an update to my Nerf Blaster search.
 
The past time I posted was several months ago. I tried the Sentinel. I must have gotten a lemon, because despite it's strong power, it was horribly inaccurate. I was impressed with the accuracy of the Nerf Zeuss, but it wasn't consistent enough. Shots would fire in a somewhat disperse pattern around the target, but still not TOO bad. I hypothesized that this lack of shot consistency was due to holding down the rev button which produced shots are varying velocities depending on where it was in its rev cycle. My Jolt Ex-1 still held the record for the most accurate blaster I own.
 
I only today unboxed my Nerf Apollo, and after trying, I was extremely impressed with it's accuracy. It seems noticeably more accurate than the Zuess.  The shots are more consistent, and appear to group closer together at ranges less than 20 feet. This is my initial impression as I still have more shooting to do with it, especially at greater distances.  I attribute this improved consistency due to the fact that each shot seems to fire with equal power. The fact that each shot is manually charged, it allows for greater consistency shot to shot than the battery powered Zeuss.  If this accuracy continues, and I can get even more precise shots with the addition of sights, the Apollo may very well dethrone my Jolt Ex-1 as most accurate blaster I own!  

 

 

Maybe there's just such a low amount of power, but my jolts I've never tinkered too much with. I mean, they work when I need them too, which is a conceal carry for dicking around at a friends place to start a small war. 

 
Hmm. I feel like the Jolt Ex-1 has good power. It hurts when my gf shoots me with it. So I bought another one to return fire!
 
But seriously, I'll aim for 2 inch squared, targets at 20 feet or more or less, and almost always get hits provided I take my time and remain consistent. Try this next time. The stock sights, while rudimentary, work well for it's purpose. If I were to mod it, I would add slightly taller rear sights for the ranges I want to shoot (I often have to aim/hold high to get hits, but I do so consistently from shot to shot). I'm a formally trained and proficient rifle marksman, so that plays a part.
 
I am actually thinking about an ambitious project where I turn the basic orange Jolt Ex-1 into a full size rifle with a stock and rifle 
sights and everything, just to see out precise I can aim with it!  There are better modding options with my Zeuss and Apollo, thus far, but I think the Jolt has potential. 

Lol, does that say Mega BDSM?  Sorry... I didn't mean to get side tracked. 

 

So does that function like a cross bow? Does it fire foam darts, or real darts?

Crikey, mate!
Your cardboard 'n' duct tape prototype looks killer! For a rear sight, I'd recommend you upset a centimetre or a quarter-inch (I know they aren't equal, just close enough ) of McDonald's soft-drink straw. (Larger bore than most soda straws, and you can get a decently large drink for $1 USD.
To elevate it to line up, use popsicle stocks and duct tape. That way, you get some cool treats to enjoy while modding!

 

 

Thanks, lol.  

I have absolutely zero experience doing this. I bought my first nerf rifle a few months ago, and this was the first and thus far, only ad hoc mod I've

done using materials I found in my house and my personal knowledge of rifles. I'm sort of reinventing the wheel as I have yet to learn any real modding 

skills.

A photo showing the front sight.

 

While this is clearly a rough prototype, it allows me to determine proper length or pull and sight picture. This feels comfortable for me to shoulder and sight in, so a future version would be a completed model with solid plastic parts, but using these dimenstions.
 

Okay, I've been away from this thread due to school/ final exams etc. but I'm done now. I'm gonna try to post photos of my project via my iphone.
 
Here are some pics of what I've got.
 

 

Some of the pics are side ways. :-/
 

I can also try to post some pics of my project if anyone's curious.

Okay. I've been doing some tinkering of my own with my Zeus, and I figured I'd share my experience. 
 

I apologize in advance for the length of this post.

 

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I found the Zeus stock far too short. I felt like it was cramped way too close to

my body. So I measured the blaster's "Length of Pull." The length of pull, from the trigger end of the pistol grip to the end of the

stock is roughly 12 inches.  I normally like a 14-15" length of pull, so this was going to need to be extended. I traced a rough outline of the butt pad which rests against my shoulder, and traced it onto several strips of corrugated cardboard, which I layered on top of each other, until I had about 2 1/2" of extra length. I cut all the shapes out, and wound them all together tightly with some masking tape, and used some electrical tape to attach it to the end of the stock.  It brought my LOP to a comfortable 14-ish inches.  It's a rough design, but this is really just me tinkering with a prototype of a mod.  The main purpose for all this is to see how the completed project will look and feel when everything is done. 

Anyhow, now that the LOP issue addressed, the next issue was the sights.  I decided I would experiment with accurate aperture sights (peep sights) design, similar to that of many real rifles.  Since this was just tinkering, I decided to cut the rear peep sight out of thick laminated paper. I found a bicycle helmet pamphlet in my living room that had a rather stiff cover. This seemed like a decent candidate. The outer ring of the peep sight isn't really the important part, the inner hole is. So I took a rough measurement of a rifle peep sight, and approximated the inner hole to be about the diameter of a tooth pick.  I took a tooth pick and punctured the page and rotated the pick inside as to make a nice round inner hole as free as possible of imperfections and such.  I then darkened it with a black sharpie. I traced a one inch square around the hole and cut it out.

I then needed to determine my eye relief before attaching the sight. It would be nice if I could attach it over the factory rear sight, but since I added my own stock extension, I figured I would have to measure out my own.  So I did the simple thing, and found my natural eye placement when comfortably sighting the rifle. I marked off my approximate eye location with a piece of masking tape, and used that to find a decent location for the rear sight. I eventually found a sweet spot just a few inches forward of my eye placement line.  So then the question, how to affix this square cutout of paper onto the top of this rifle as so I can peer through it to observe the front sight (which I made later).   So I took the extra pieces of corrugated cardboard to build a base on top of the rifle. I added small strips, layer by layer until it was of reasonable height with my eye line. Once so, I simply attached the rear paper sight to the cardboard base, and found myself with a decent rear sight.  

Now for the front sight. I took the same tooth pick I used to punch the rear sight hole, snipped it down to a length of less than half an inch, filed the top smooth so it was squared off, and painted the entire thing black using the same sharpie.  I conveniently secured the front sight to the factory orange front sight. I found that I needed to have the tip of my home made front sight post less than half way up vertically between the notch of the factory front sight, so the factory orange prongs were higher than the post I made, which I centered horizontally between the two orange posts.  

 

Now, when I sighted in my upgraded prototype rifle, I could shoulder it comfortably, and sight it in comfortably, and enjoyed a sight picture similar to that real rifle sights.  

 

Last thing to do, how will it perform?  I set up a basic target of small pill bottles standing within an overturned mesh laundry hamper to catch the stray rounds (the rounds kept bouncing out and across the room). I set up an improvised front rest for the rifle about 15 feet away, and did some slow fire shooting. I made sure I had the "rev" button held in for maximum power on each shot, and fired shot per shot.  I found that some shots hit the target dead-on, others not no close.  I might get a direct hit approximately once every 6 shots, the other shots may land within a 2-3 inches away, and some over 4-6 inches away.  Why the discrepancy? Am I maintaining a consistent sight picture? Yes. Hmm...  After doing this for some time, I didn't think it was my sights. They gave me the consistent crisp picture I was hoping for.  So I figured it might be variances in my ammunition. So I set up three small cups in order to separate my ammunition. One cup for accurate shooters, one for inaccurate ones, and one for undecided ones.  So I then took shots, and as carefully as I could track, placed balls which hit my target into the accurate cup, the ones that clearly missed into the inaccurate one, and the ones that were close into the undecided one.  After doing this for a while, it seemed that balls which were designated as accurate would later go into the inaccurate cup, and vice versa. Individual balls themselves would not always be consistent in trajectory.   Then I came to realize something. The length of time I hold down the rev button, even when held down for the same amount of time for each shot, seemed to generate varying degrees of power for each shot, which might explain the lack of precise consistency shot to shot.  The power of the motor revving, shot to shot is a variable which could affect the consistency.  I'm not sure how to proceed here. I'm not very mechanically inclined.  I'm going to take the time to do some more comprehensive tests later with more shots fired, but I don't have the time today.  Also, the Apollo may provide more consistent results being that it isn't constantly running a motor, so to speak.

To support The2ndBluesBro, you do want to push the sentinel lever all the way forward. The whole accuracy thing, I think is BS, especially using stock elites which is what I'm assuming. The sentinel has been praised to be "the savior of superstock" as it is cheap and high power. I have a removed air restrictor and feed mine USCs, (with a pump on it, along with a rail mount with a rail to be attatched) and I feed it USCs, fires fine and around/more than my 5kg ret, with no barrel on. You probably have a lemon as my sentinel never jams now (Seriously, I can't get it to double feed without the air restrictor) and the lock should prevent you from closing the lever too early. Like Kilomona said, different darts are great, and way better, I run by USCs, I linked a dart guide and I'll link it again so you can try different types, but I have no idea how you get such a tight grouping consistently that you're hitting tiny targets like a bottle. These blasters are aimed at firing on human sized targets.

The thing about the jolt, again nobody really will expand on it as it's the liberator of nerf pistols (Cheap, works and hard to fail) but really can't be chaned. It has been expanded to newer pistols like snapfire or whatever, the smaller one shot pull backs as it has a plunger and is more direct, so there's more power. Technically, the jolt has been expanded since it's a plunger mech, to practically all springer variant nerf. I still don't see why you're plinking at home, and getting a small indoor airsoft range would be a lot easier IMO. 

 

I took your advice and took the plunge on the USC darts. They should be in my mailbox in a few days. 

As for the indoor airsoft range. I have given that some consideration, and I might even go that route if the 

the foam dart/nerf project doesn't pan out.  However, I already have a decently sized backyard .22 range. But I want the ability to be able to casually pick off PEZ dispensers from across the living room with the foam darts or balls or what have you when I only have a few minutes of spare time, or be able to do target practice on a college campus, etc.   Nerf type blasters offer the type

of quick convenience I like, and allow me to be able to practice anywhere without having to worry about violating rules

or policies. A person could keep a nerf blaster at their job or dormitory without the risk of raising any concerns by others. 

As for my Jolt EX-1 (orange version). Not only do I get tight groups with it. I recently bought an identical one, just to see if I got lucky with my first one. The second Jolt holds pretty much the same tight groups, perhaps with only a very slight edge towards my first one. I'm using orange whistler darts with the black tips, which seem very accurate from my point of view.  

 

Go ahead and get yourself one. Set up a few small targets. PEZ dispensers, prescription medicine bottles, even chapsticks will do.  Measure out a distance of only 6 feet away. Use the sights, keep both eyes open. Once you get the hang of the dart's (very consistent) trajectory, go ahead and move back to 10-15 feet or more. Maintain consistent hold-over for trajectory curve.  Provided you are consistent in your technique, you ought to be able to hit your target the majority of the time.   I will extend the range to 25-30 feet with slightly larger targets such as plastic red solo cups or coffee mug sized targets and score hits pretty consistently, provided I maintain a consistent hold-over.

All I'm saying is that if I can achieve this kind of accuracy from a $4 toy hand-sized pistol which can fit in my pocket. Better, more expensive models ought to be able to produce at least equivocal if not significantly better results.

Okay. Well since I started this thread, it only seems appropriate that I update it. 

 

My Sentinel and Zeus came in the mail a few days ago.  A few comments about them.

 

First the Sentinel.  I'm going to admit, I'm slightly disappointed with this blaster.

 

When I opened the box, the design seemed cheap and flimsy. Not a huge deal, as I anticipated this. That can be dealt with if one were motivated to do so. 

 

When I fired it, it became clear that comments about its power and rage were not baseless. It certainly has

that going for it.

 

The main issue is the accuracy/consistency of the shots. I set up small lotion tubes on the fireplace mantle, and took some well controlled shots from a distance of 15 feet away.  After firing the entire magazine, none of the shots hit, even when I shifted my point of aim to adjust for apparent trajectory, the darts still wouldn't travel in a consistent enough path to land any hits.  For comparison, I picked up my Jolt, and fired from the same position. I hit my targets 17 out of 20 shots. 

 

The last issue is that my Sentinel is very jam prone. Not only is the blaster touchy, as it can be difficult to work the action, but I've had several jams where darts got mangled inside the blaster. Perhaps this is just a poor model I received, or the design is just lackluster.

 

My Jolt outperformed the Sentinel in terms of accuracy. Perhaps someone should build a platform around the Jolt instead.   It does go to illustrate the fact that, much like in real deal firearms, power and velocity are not necessarily synonymous with accuracy.  In fact, in many real rifles, the more accurate target shooters fire lower velocity ammunition rather than higher.

 

Now for the Zeus.  The box it arrived in appeared to suggest quality. Upon inspecting the blaster, it had a very nice, sturdy feel. Loading and shooting was a relatively simple affair.  The stock needs to be extended by 2 1/2 - 3 inches for me to be able to more comfortably shoulder it.  The sights certainly sit too low.  This is perfectly understandable given the target audience tends to be 12-15 years old.   Firing it across my living room, in short order, I managed to hit small medicine bottles from 30-35 feet away.  This blaster has some real potential.       I dislike the "revving" noise of the motor. It simply needs a stock extension

and better sights, and it would be a great blaster for my initial desires.  Some modding by a skilled modder or myself would yield a some happy results. This one is definitely a keeper.    The Apollo is next, due in part to the less noisy operation. 

If you get what you're looking for, great. If you don't, but have fun trying, great. I'm just trying to make sure you don't have unrealistic expectations. Good luck with your project.

 

I hear ya. I understand that my goals may be a bit ambitious for nerf guns, but being able to play around with the 

nerf guns, figuring out how to optimize them for accuracy's sake, is a load of fun. And is arguably a better and healthier way to relieve stress than watching T.V. or other sedentary ways to pass time. All weapons in history have evolved through generations of redesign and fine tuning, even the simple sling shot and spear.  I see no reason not to apply this way of thinking to nerf guns.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but you're trying to apply real steel practices and ballistics to Nerf and related blasters in such a way that isn't practical or worthwhile (unless like you like doing things for the sake of doing things, which is cool). The tolerances, workmanship, materials, and other factors are so poor with Nerf blasters that trying to maximize accuracy doesn't make any sense. Yes, the Nerf Rival line represents a new generation in accuracy and precision, but the yellow foam projectiles and Nerf blasters that use them can't take advantage of refined sights or ergonomics (at least with respect to vastly improving accuracy).

 

(Written by me below, sorry screwed up the quote function)

 

What you say may be true. I do infact, have very little experience with nerf type blasters. So perhaps my expectations don't fully meet up with the reality of what these guns are capable of. I have a Sentinel and the Zeus ordered, and they should be here soon.  Then, I will be able to see first hand what these toys are really all about. 

This isn't to say that I think my aims and ideals for these blasters are impossible. I sure hope a dedicated person or people can create or modify some surprisingly accurate blasters capable of the performance and practices I'm looking for. It would be an impressive accomplishment, but I still think, or at least hope that it's doable.

I like the idea of this mod. A longer stock seems necessary for it to be comfortably shouldered, and for a better 

cheek weld. The pump fore end seems designed primarily to speed cycling the rounds in the action.

 

I have two concerns.

The first one is simple; the sound of the pump action makes me cringe, but Coop already covered that.

 

The larger concern is the fact that the pump device raises the surface of the top of the receiver by two inches or more,

from what I can see.  This will likely cause some sighting issues for those who wish to add custom sights to the top

of the receiver.  While not a deal breaker, in terms of sighting along the trajectory, it would also force the shooter to raise their 

eye level slightly, which could be adapted with a modified cheek piece, but still.

 

I would have hoped they would cut off the top charging handle, and instead created an attachment

which would wrap/bend it onto the side of the gun, thus, allowing for a side charging handle rather than a top one.

This would allow the emplacement of "iron sights" to the top of the receiver without raising the sight, "height over bore."

I've been checking out reviews. I'm impressed with the sentinel thus far. I ordered one, so it should be here in a

few days. It will likely require some modding, including a new stock and some appropriate sights. 

 

I'm a nerf gun newbie, so I'm really only guessing at what these guns are capable of. I'm very

interested in discovering for myself.

 

The Zeus also looks interesting to me. It seems like it would require a bit less modding. The

stock appears to be a good length, so I don't anticipate needing to fix that. The sights might

need to be replaced. There seems to be two sets of notch sights, one for the front, the other on the

rear. I would ideally like a front post, and rear peep or at least graduated notch, but I'll hold judgement until I can get my hands on one.

Snoop. I don't expect to get anything close to MOA accuracy using foam darts, lol, but I do appreciate the consideration. 

My typical shooting distances within my home are roughly 30-50 feet tops.  Being able to hit chapstick tubes set up on a table from 20-25 feet away is a decent goal

I would think.  My Jolt has already given me some impressive accuracy. Last night, I lined up a series of chap stick tubes on the kitchen counter, and sequentially knocked each of them off from 10 feet away without missing a shot, which isn't bad for a toy I spent about as much on as I would on a fast food meal.

 

I checked out the reviews of the Buzz Bee Sentinel, and I am very impressed. I ordered one from Amazon last night, as well as extra dart packs.  I'll also look

into the USC darts you mentioned.  Perhaps the USC ones will be compatible with, and improve upon my Jolt and Sentinel?

The reason I don't want to use pellet rifles or airsoft, is 1) They could damage my interior without a well set up backstop.  2) The ammunition is small, and I don't want to have stray pellets/bbs hidden about the living room.   3) Airsoft/pellet rifles require a decent amount of cleaning/maintenance, and are more expensive in general. 

I like the foam idea due to their relative ease of maintenance and cleaning up darts afterwards.

I checked out the Nerf Rival Zeus and Apollo series and they seem pretty amazing. The Zeus seems pretty much what I'm looking for, except for the motor, which is a big turn off for me. The Apollo seems almost perfect, aside from the fact that the charging handle is situated on top of the gun. It would be tricky to build proper sights onto the gun. 

 

I look forward to getting my sentinel in the mail. The stock is going to be short, but I can always build a more robust stock over the manufacturer's one.

One that matches my length of pull of about 14 inches. I can also attach sights to the top, if the accuracy warrants them. 

I'm still very interested in better designs and home builds, which would be amazing. 

Hi everyone, I'm new here.

I have a question, and I havn't been able to find an answer

on the web, or by searching this forum.

 

I'm looking for a nerf gun that is the most accurate and consistent shot

out there.  I understand nerf toys are basically children's toys, but I also

feel there is some potential for accuracy, either commercially available nerf guns,

or modded or home made foam dart guns.

 

I am essentially looking for a foam dart rifle which handles and aims 

realistically, and can be used for in-home target practice/plinking. 

 

I ordered a Nerf Jolt EX-1 pistol from amazon, and am impressed with

its accuracy. I've managed to hit a small medicine bottle 16 out of 20 shots

at a distance of 15 feet using the supplied whistler darts.  Theoretically, if I added rifle

furniture; a stock which could be shouldered, more robust and properly calibrated sights, and a fore-grip which would be held, it would make for a decent inside-the house plinker.

 

I will happily craft the essential parts onto the Jolt Ex-1 if needed. I can add a plastic

rifle stock, a fore-grip and sights, if that's what I need to do. But I'm hoping for a better

base option.  My jolt is accurate, but not as accurate as I would like.

The Jolt Ex-1 is just an inexpensive nerf toy. I imagine what a higher quality, well constructed

foam dart is capable of, even amongst the nerf line.  It doesn't need to be multi-shot,

loading the dart on each shot is fine for me, as long as it meets the 

accuracy criteria.

 

Ideally, if any of you can recommend a nerf blaster which is even better in this 

regard, that would be a good first step.

I have no idea how to mod nerf guns, and I'd prefer not have to do so, as

my motivations are not as much the hobby of modding the gun, rather than

the end user product.

I've seen youtube videos and sites with completely home made

foam dart guns, and that seems like the best possible route to take.

I'm not super capable of constructing something like this, unless I could

dedicate a lot of time to the project, I would rather just buy one from

someone who could make a quality piece.

Any advice?

Thanks