16 replies to this topic

[Thom]

To make a long story short, a friend of mine heard about the UBCon war in April, and now his fraternity (ΦΗΣ) wants to come. They want me to help them mod twenty NFs over spring break. Twenty NFs is a lot for one person to supervise, but much of the actual work (such as opening up guns) can be done by complete newbies, and much of the rest (removing ARs, assembling barrels) can be easily demonstrated.

I'm using precisionnerfer's write-up as a loose starting point. In total, I plan to:

• Replace the springs with #49s.
• Reinforce the plunger heads.
• Replace the plunger head screws.
• Remove the ARs.
• Add nested brass barrels.

The guns will have to fire stock taggers, although I may additionally permit CS-style felt-tipped stefans at the war. I'm estimating that they should fire taggers at least 60 feet with the improvements described.

I'm looking for any input, advice, or suggestions. I've never done anything of this sort, and I could use some pointers if anyone else has.

EDIT: ΦΗΣ, not ΦΕΣ.

Edited by Thom, 23 February 2008 - 04:55 AM.

[Retiate]

If you have enough time, I highly recommend you look into getting some PETG from OMC. The fit is looser than 17/32", so it won't work with stock darts as well, but with Stefans, the fit is great. Also, with 20 NFs to mod, brass barrels are going to cost you around $35 (using ~5" lengths of 17/32" brass). The PETG will cost like $10 (using ~5" lengths of PETG). I think my biggest worry would be cost.
If you are going to use stock darts, you can have some 1/2" PVC extend past the brass barrel for better pressure build up on stock darts. As far as I know, this shouldn't change ranges on Stefans, though it will make reloading more of a pain.

[OfAllTheNerf]

If you really want to use stock darts, then I would suggest getting OMC thick walled PETG (it has a slightly tighter fit but is the same OD), and it's much cheaper than brass.

Other than that, I think that following PN's write-up should prove simple and efficient.

Good luck.

[vaan]

Use sch.80 pvc. It fits stock darts very well, and its pretty cheap, and its simple to glue on, without having to telescope brass and such.

[Paloose]

Sch. 80 works well, but it's still not tight enough for stock taggers. Just pound a 2 inch segment of 17/32" brass into the back of the sch. 80 and that should tighten the barrel enough for your purposes.

That way you have the tight brass, sheathed with pvc so you don't have to worry about denting your barrel.

Edited by Paloose, 23 February 2008 - 10:52 AM.

[xNFx 37]

You could ship them out to people willing to mod them *raises hand*

I'd charge maybe couple dollars fee. You'd have to supply the materials.

Just throwing out ideas. However, I live in thee same state as you, but way too far away to be practical.

[z80]

Dont use brass, use CPVC, its cheaper, easier to cut, and just as good a fit. Also, you may want to add another Oring or electrical tape to help the seal.

[Paloose]

Alot of the time cpvc is just too tight a fit on stock darts, it may be cheaper, easier to find, and easier to cut, but it may lead to a decrease in range.

[Peter]

My advice is to mod an NF in the same method as the people are going to be doing, then testing your product for all the things you want to be before instructing those other people. Make sure the final design works before you start mass producing them, you don't want 20 NF's that you can't use in your war.

[Quilan Fett]

Slightly off topic, I formed a group of guys to nerf with, but they neither own nor mod their guns. I am considering doing this with Rapid Fire Shotguns for a $40 donation apice.

And you thought the NF's would be hard.

Edited by Qui'lan Fett, 23 February 2008 - 12:37 PM.

[Thom]

Re barrel material:

I haven''t calculated precisely, but since these barrels are for taggers, not stefans, I'd only need maybe four inches of brass total per gun. That's 3 guns/foot, 21 guns/7 foot, and at ~$3.50 a foot, that's only about $25. (Plus tax, and shpping, I know.) I'm using exactly the same barrels I used for my first NF mods, and they worked wonderfully and got rave reviews from the recipients. Other stuff might work, but I'd rather go with what I know.

You could ship them out to people willing to mod them *raises hand*

That would defeat the teaching purpose.

My advice is to mod an NF in the same method as the people are going to be doing, then testing your product for all the things you want to be before instructing those other people. Make sure the final design works before you start mass producing them, you don't want 20 NF's that you can't use in your war.

Good point, and I intend to do that.

Slightly off topic, I formed a group of guys to nerf with, but they neither own nor mod their guns. I am considering doing this with Rapid Fire Shotguns for a $40 donation apiece.

That's impressive, alright.

[sam]

Stick with simple stuff. Here is what you should buy:
-5' of 17/32" brass, that gives you enough for 3" for each NF. Thats all you need if you are using stock darts.
-#49 springs, gives you a ton of power, and you don't need to cut the spring at all. You should need to do any reinforcing, assuming your not stupid with them,
-Tornillo Maderd wood screw # 6 X ¾ & Crown Bolt Stainless Steel # 6 cut washer, that said, you said a bunch of frat boys were using them, so I would reinforce them. This is what PN used in his mod.
-additional o-rings (I think #20, but don't quote me on that), you could use e-tape, but these are easier and work better
-follow this mod, only use your 17/32" brass, and make sure to fill in the dead space around the barrel with hot glue.

That should give you some bitching NFs, and be easy.

[Thom]

That mod looks neat. I wouldn't have thought of putting the barrel in there.

What would be the performance difference for 17/32 versus 17/32 9/16 nested? 17/32 seems quite tight on stock taggers to me. Is there any other material that I could nest the 17/32 in?

[sam]

Nope, 9/16" is too lose for stock darts, and since stock darts have the velcro head thing, the is no gain for having a longer than 3" barrel. If you were using stefans, then maybe a nested barrel would help, but not with stock darts. You could nest the 17/32" in 1/2" sch. 80 or sch. 40 PVC.

[Thom]

Thanks. I might look at some PVC then, to protect the brass.

[bobafan]

I modded six NFs for the guys in my scout troop in a day, so if you get several people to help, this should be pretty fun.
Just don't let people play with them before epoxy dries.

[Thom]

I wonder if a CS-style plunger head made of two 3/4" steel washers sandwiching a 1" neoprene washer would work. It would certainly be simpler than modding the existing plunger heads.