15 replies to this topic

[imaseoulman]

A lot of people have talked about "Shotgun" loading their barrels or making a "NERF Shotgun." Well, here's my spin on it, utilizing "NERFshot Shells" which I don't think have been done before. If they have...well, it's still fun. One day I was at work thinking about one of the ridiculous concept threads I recently saw about a grenade launcher, from that, this idea was born. I actually did a tank expansion on a Titan to get the power for this...My name is Jeff Davis, and I'm an Air-Output-Aholic. Anyway, here's the write-up (I had to write this twice..last time, just after I finished previewing and editing it, internet explorer crashed on me!):

Materials Needed for Double Shotgun:
2 x 2" PVC Tee Couplers
6" of 2" PVC
18" of 1.5" PVC
1.25" PVC Ball Valve (2" ball valve works, and is easier, but costs a lot more)
Epoxy
PVC Primer & Cement
Dremel (or other cutting/sanding tool)
Oh yeah, and two titans

Materials Needed for NERFshot Shells:
3/8" Backer Rod
BB's
Hot Glue
Pipe Insulator (3/4" Copper, 1/2" Iron)
Craft Foam Sheet

Making the Double Shotgun
1) Open up your Titan(s) and sand out everything that is in the air tank area
2) Cut a circular hole on one side (you'll do this twice, once for each guns, on opposite sides of yout Titans) with its center located just rear of the air-tank's midpoint. The hole should be big enough for the "Tee end" of the tee coupler (the odd end) to fit through so it can stick out the side of your Titan.
3) Cut down the two straight ends (not the odd end facing out perpendicularly) so that the length from one end to the other is just shorter than the length of the air-tank.
4) Sand out the inside of the PVC coupler so that the Titan air-tank can fit inside it and push the coupler over the Titan's air tank.
5) Push the odd end of the Tee coupler through the hole you cut in the side of the Titan.
6) Create an Epoxy Seal around the inside of the coupler and the wall of the air tank.
7) Drill/Cut a hole in the air-tank wall at least a 1/2" diameter (I just went all the way to the edges, without ruining the epoxy seal).
8) Set your two Titans with the two Tee ends facing in toward each other (you have to do all the above steps twice, once for each gun, just on opposite sides of the Titan) and sand the outside of your ball valve (if you're using the 1.24" valve) slightly (mostly just removing the raised lettering) and push your 2" PVC over the ends.
9) Determine how far apart you want your Titans to be (about shoulder width) and cut down your 2" PVC to the appropriate length. Insert the 2" PVC into the 2" Tee couplers and make sure everything fits the way you want it to.
10) Use PVC Primer (the usually purple ugly stuff-thin as water) and PVC Cement (the clear syrupy stinky stuff) to adhere all the PVC together (inside coupler and over Ball Valve). The 2" PVC over the ball valve seals perfectly (perhaps a little tighter than PVC in a coupler) and is going to last alot longer than the stock parts of the Titan.
11) Cut the Titan's stock barrel down to about 1.5" (the length of the screw threads) and place a 9" barrel of 1.5" PVC over it. (To create a better seal but not have it permanently attached, spray the Titan barrel stub with Silicon and then apply hot glue to the base end of your PVC barrel. Push the PVC over the barrel stub and turn rapidly. The hot glue won't stick to the barrel stub but will shape itself into a good seal).
12) Re-assemble your Titan and you're good to go.





Making your NERFshot Shells
1) Make 3/8" nano stefans weighted with copper BB's and hot glue.
2) Cut a 1.5" segment of your pipe insulator (or for a double capacity shell, make it three inches).
3) Dremel/sand out the inside of the pipe insulator until the walls are about 3/16". (Depending on your brand of pipe insulator, you may need to cut a small strip out of your pipe insulator so that it can fit inside the 1.5" PVC).
4) Cut a circle of craft foam with a diameter just less than the ID of the 1.5" PVC.
5) Hot glue the craft foam disc to the segment of pipe insulator (if you're having difficulty with that part, do it before Step #3, but then Step #3 is a bit more difficult)
6) "Fringe" your shell into six equal part by cutting from the top to the base (just above the hot glue) of the pip insulator.
7) Load eight nano stefans into your NERFshot Shell and have fun! (If you're using a double capacity NERFshot Shell, load in sixteen darts, one on top of the other).


Operating the Gun
1) Pump up your Titans (or, do as I did and attach it to your favorite external air tank).
2) For one super-power-shot (w/ 3x the air output of a normal Titan) leave the valve open and pull the trigger on your barrel of choice to launch your Doom Foam!
3) For two still-very-powerful--but-not-ridiculously-so shots, close the ball valve and fire off one barrel and then the other.
A Short Video (8 Seconds) (If you look closely you can see the NERFshot Shells falling to the ground next to me).

To carry around extra rounds I simply place them in a short length of 1.5" PVC with a ring of hot glue on the inside so the shell doesn't fall through.


Ranges are around 65', occasionally reaching over 70'. It's not extremely efficient, but it is a lot of fun to nail a group with this. The spread at 60' is about 10' (with up to 32 darts, that's not overly scattered). I've never missed with this gun, but I don't use it that much.

Questions? Comments. Rebukes!

Edited by imaseoulman, 13 March 2008 - 08:52 AM.

[jwasko]

Nice. What's the range of the "super-power-shot?"

[Captain]

Well, it looks good, but you might be able to squeeze out more range if you used individual barrels for each stephan.
Still, this is really sweet.

[themilkman]

O_O!!! That is one sweet piece of PVC engineering. One look at that baby and all I could think about was "shoulder mounted flak cannons"... but that's just me.

[bobafan]

Kinda big and slow for use, but I envy your seal-making abilities.

(I had to write this twice..last time, just after I finished previewing and editing it, internet explorer crashed on me!)

I make all of my write-ups in MS word and then copy it into the thread for just that reason.

[imaseoulman]

Nice. What's the range of the "super-power-shot?"

Without wind, and a slightly angled shot, I can squeeze eighty feet out of it. Normally I would say I do not believe in angled shots. If your gun can't reach the range in which you can hit a target accurately, it needs more power. But, because this gun has such a large spread, angling isn't that bad of an idea.

Well, it looks good, but you might be able to squeeze out more range if you used individual barrels for each stephan.
Still, this is really sweet.

Yeah, I've been experimenting with this. It will dramatically improve efficiency, but would decrease the fun factor of foam shells flying out of the barrels. Also, to make multiple shells could get pricey. I made one w/ 3/8" brass, and the results were great, but I'm looking for another barrel material (like 3/8" PETG or something) that would be more cost effective.

Kinda big and slow for use, but I envy your seal-making abilities.

(I had to write this twice..last time, just after I finished previewing and editing it, internet explorer crashed on me!)

I make all of my write-ups in MS word and then copy it into the thread for just that reason.

The ROF is not too bad when it's connected to an external air tank. I'm working on a batter loading system to decrease the reload time...but that's a project for another day (I have two more unique projects to finish and post a write-up for and a couple to start and finish before I get to that).

As far as writing in MS word, that's exactly what I did the second time. I was so mad when it crashed. I had just highlighted and copied the whole thing (which I always do periodically) but, somehow when internet explorer crashed it erased my clipboard <fist waiving>.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention! This thing is also crazy fun with regular Titan Missiles. The range is over 100' (although it's not very accurate and sails kinda slowly) and it knocks the wind outta ya at close range. My friends and I have been experimenting with special ammunition rules (arrows, balls, and missiles) like larger ammo types are "armor-piercing" rounds and can't be blocked by Manta Rays or that they count as two hits etc. It's kinda fun. It kinda eliminates a lot of "range" battles because getting closer and landing a large munitions hit does more damage than a well placed long range shot.

Edited by imaseoulman, 12 March 2008 - 07:32 PM.

[Salmon]

Wow! Pretty cool! I have to ask though, can you use regular micro 1/2" stefans with the NERFshot shells? Or possibly convert the barrels or shells to be 1/2" compatible? If I ever get some more Titans I would like to do this, but my stefan making skills *suck* and the ones I do have are only 1/2". I know that, if you could, you could probably only shove 2 or 3 darts in and it wouldn't have an effective spread, at least with the current shells, but is it possible to make it work by changing the shells somehow?

[imaseoulman]

Wow! Pretty cool! I have to ask though, can you use regular micro 1/2" stefans with the NERFshot shells? Or possibly convert the barrels or shells to be 1/2" compatible? If I ever get some more Titans I would like to do this, but my stefan making skills *suck* and the ones I do have are only 1/2". I know that, if you could, you could probably only shove 2 or 3 darts in and it wouldn't have an effective spread, at least with the current shells, but is it possible to make it work by changing the shells somehow?

You could do that, but there wouldn't be much point. You may as well just double/triple load your barrel. You'd be better off doing something similar to the Scatter Titan (to lazy to post link).

[lionhead333]

Here it is, I believe.

[nerf ownage]

Here it is, I believe.

no thats a scatter cannon this is different

Edited by nerf ownage, 13 March 2008 - 12:02 PM.

[imaseoulman]

You could do that, but there wouldn't be much point. You may as well just double/triple load your barrel. You'd be better off doing something similar to the Scatter Titan (to lazy to post link).

Here it is, I believe.

no thats a scatter cannon this is different

That's exactly what I was referring to. It is more air efficient than my design- In his design the surface area that air is acting on is limited to the dart diameter; In my design air is wasted because it's pushing a shell that has a greater surface area than all the darts combined.

In his design, the red space is sealed off so all the air is directed into the barrels (maximizing efficiency). In my design, air is needed to propel a larger surface area (and therefore larger requiring greater air volume), including all of the red space.

Edited by imaseoulman, 13 March 2008 - 01:09 PM.

[BendyStraw]

Despite the fact that the Absolver has more air efficiency, your shotgunned titan(s) is valuable because yours can probably get a better spread than mine. With my use of barrels, I had to specially make a shell that had the barrels spiral outward, because straight barrels don't do much that a singled titan normally wouldn't be able to do, which is tag someone from 100 feet.
The whole point of doing a scatter cannon, in my opinion, is to maximize spread over a short range, and your mod is quite adept at that. Not to mention that your rate of fire is twice mine. I especially like the use of the ball valve to separate the two conjoined tanks for two separated blasts. That almost completely fixes the problem of someone rushing you after the first blast is fired. Great job.

As for the naming of these titan... devices. I am using the terms "shotgun" and "scattergun" interchangeably, mostly because a Titan is more of a small potato cannon than anything else.

Can anyone who has done this sort of thing with a Titan compare ranges to a Big Blast modded in the same fashion? I'm a little curious as to how well the modded titans we've done compare to the same mods on a Buzz Bee take on the Ridiculously Oversized Missile thing. Especially because there are 2 packs of Big Blasts available, and it would be totally awesome to do an integration to stick them both together in exactly the same way that you did the Titans. The decreased cost of the Big Blasts will help keep the mod from costing like 40 bucks.

Edited by BendyStraw, 13 March 2008 - 02:12 PM.

[TAiLsChaser]

I feel the use of snubs in all senses (Bendy's, Seoul's and mine + etc.) would make them more efficient per shot. A normal dart is approx. 3 snubs. I can load 10 snubs in my one dart barrel and can get a decent spread over about 50 to 80 ft (depending on pumps used). I can only imagine about 20 snubs in both Seoul's and Bendy's mods.

What separates the mods is the shell. The shell allows for quicker reload but it requires preparation before combat. I can easily fill a small tube of pvc, plastic or pipe with snubs for rapid reload of all 10. I can carry several tubes depending on what pants I wear or if I put them in straps. Seoul's mod is a little intimidating due to its size but at the same time, cumbersome. You have to wield it around and pump both (and if you pump it with your feet, you can easily do both quickly). But I guess that divides the mods again. Two ready-to-go shots vs. one. I do like the shells but I can see range loss.

This is my idea for this gun. Continue using your shells in one barrel and use mongo stefans or what have you in the other. With a setup like that, I wouldn't want to approach you at close-range but at a distance which gives you the ability to dodge more easily. But by using the mongo, you can use the power of the titan(s), to get greater distances than the shotgun part.

EDIT: I see you are using something to the extent of snubs (nanos). I missed that the first time.

Edited by TAiLsChaser, 13 March 2008 - 02:56 PM.

[BendyStraw]

Unfortunately, I can't use snubs, mostly because I cannot use stefans. On the other hand, if I were to use stefans, snubs (I'm guessing each would be 2 cm cylinders) would definitely make the device function very similar to a true shotgun.

To tell you the truth, I did not design the Absolver for range. The spread works out in such a way that it is largely ineffective at distances greater than fifty feet, because it is impossible to predict where the darts will end up. This is true for ALL shotguns, both nerf, and real world. The effectiveness of scatter-based nerf guns will be severely diminished in spread if you make all the darts fly perfectly straight, and the range diminishes if you wish the spread to be higher. Its a tradeoff that I believe has no real solution outside of an integration of some sort.

Thanks for that suggestion, because an integration of two different kinds of shots from something like this would be so cool. I love your idea of turning one of them into a mongo titan, allowing you peg targets with a mongo stefan at long range, and blasting them with the shotty at close range. That sounds like a great idea, and I think that will be the source of my first integration, if I ever get around to it. A singled titan deal, and an option for stopping a rush in its tracks.

Edited by BendyStraw, 13 March 2008 - 04:35 PM.

[TAiLsChaser]

To tell you the truth, I did not design the Absolver for range. The spread works out in such a way that it is largely ineffective at distances greater than fifty feet, because it is impossible to predict where the darts will end up. This is true for ALL shotguns, both nerf, and real world. The effectiveness of scatter-based nerf guns will be severely diminished in spread if you make all the darts fly perfectly straight, and the range diminishes if you wish the spread to be higher. Its a tradeoff that I believe has no real solution outside of an integration of some sort.

I'm aware of that. I'm not using snubs for long-range spread accuracy (if that's even possible). With snubs, You don't have to make them "perfect" like you would with stefans. In fact, my crappier you make them, the better your spread will be. If I fire two good snubs, yeah they will travel relatively straight but two crap ones... well that's a different story. That's why I'm saying about 20 of those in your gun will be amazing. I'd like to have an end-barrel attachment so I can fire scattered a little differently but it's not necessary.

Ever since I cut out the AR on the titan, I've wanted to put mongos in there. 3DBBQ's magnums seem like a legit idea for mongos. Since some can punch holes in things, I think the magnums will hurt less.

Why can you use stefans? I'd assume your PVC doesn't have posts in it.

[imaseoulman]

He can't use stefans because his group only allows stock darts. His absolver mod is about as good as you can get from stock darts.
I don't remember who, but somebody asked about the air output of LBB or BBBB's. The Blast Bazooka does not have as much force as the Titan, the tank is slightly smaller, and I'm not sure if the valve opening is as large as the Titan's. After a while, increasing air output doesn't make much difference without increasing the diameter of the valve opening.
I don't think I'll ever do one "singled" barrel and one "NERFshot" barrel because I use different integrations for that purpose. This was more about fun than war efficiency. It definitely does have it's application, but for the fast paced NERF style I normally engage in, it wouldn't be too effective without significant team support.