This is the new standard in Hereti Corp. assault weaponry:
This is NOT a beginner mod, please do not try this unless you are extremely sure that you can do it. I completely screwed a longshot in the process of making this guide, so don't scream if your new toy gets broken while you attempt this mod.
Before I get into it, I want to give credit where credit is due.
Forsaken_Angel24 is the originator of the Angel Breech and all I have done is a tiny modification, it is still his and all credit goes to him.
Captain Slug's innovative and intelligent solution to the stupidity that is the cocking mechanism of the longshot is still without a doubt the best and cleanest shotgun design I've ever seen. What I do in this mod is take his design and add a little bit to it, I am again not claiming to have originated it.
This guide is also not original, everything in it has been done before, but I am looking to make a clean, clear, and easy to understand guide to modifying the longshot from start to finish. Beginning with the boxed longshot and ending with a completely painted and modified longshot that would be a credit to any war.
This guide will cover:
Disassembling the Longshot
Removing the Air Restrictor
Removing the useless bits of the gun
Creating and installing a slightly modified version of the Angel Breech by Forsaken_Angel24
Reinforcing the catch springs
Adding a second spring underneath the stock spring
Removing the need for the bolt sled while still retaining the guide slots to preserve gun stability
Creating and installing a slightly modified version of Captain Slug's V3 Shotgun Grip.
Painting the Longshot
I will not cover replacing the plunger head, but CaptainSlug has done that rather nicely already:
Here are the basics
1. Any rubber washers with an OD of 1-1/2 inches will work if you can keep it centered.
2. You sandwhich the rubber washers with one 1-1/4" OD steel washer infront of and one behind it
3. The finishing washer (or any #6-32 washer) is important because most steel washers that large will be for screw sizes much larger than the stock screw that the stock plunger head is held in place with.
4. This is a direct replacement for the stock plunger head.
5. If you get a rubber washer that has a large ID it won't stay centered unless you use a rigid washer or rubber grommet inserted into the center of the rubber washer.
I found the rubber washers by dumb luck at home depot. I bought them based on the part list Carbon posted for making one of his SNAP homemades. Since I haven't found a convenient source for the exact same washer I've come up with a part list that I know will work should any of you want to replace the stock plunger head.
part# 90131A308 - Large-Od Extra-Thick Reinforced Rubber Washer 3/8" Screw Size, 1-1/2" Od, 1/8" Thick = $3.57 per pack of 10
part# 90126A509 - Zinc-Plated Steel SAE Flat Washer #6 Size, 5/32" Id, 3/8" Od, .036" Min Thickness = $0.97 per 100
part# 91090A104 - Zinc-Plated Steel Large-Od Flat Washer 10 Screw Size, 7/32" Id, 1-1/4" Od, .042"-.052" Thk = $7.41 per 100
The #6 washer will need to go in the middle of the rubber washer and on the front of the head.
You do not have to buy these parts from mcaster, but they will give you the best price. Simply use this list to find dimensionally identical parts elsewhere.
A note on materials: Brass is listed in 12" pieces because that's how it is normally sold, you actually need much less of everything but the 9/16, which you actually need a full 12" piece of for the front barrel. If you have some brass laying around, see if you have enough for this before you go out and buy all new. Same goes for the Polycarbonate, you don't actually need as much, but the standard sizes are listed.
Materials Needed:
One Nerf Longshot. Front Gun is not needed or used.
One 12" piece of 19/32" Brass
Two 12" pieces of 9/16" Brass
One 12" piece of 17/32" Brass
One 12" piece of 1/2" Brass
One sheet of 1/4" Polycarbonate Plexi-Glass 24x12"
One sheet of 1/8" Polycarbonate Plexi-Glass 12x12"
Two 8-32 Threaded rods, at least 4" long
Fifteen 8-32 machine screws and nuts
Two springs from ball-point pens for the catch
One 24" Piece of 1/2" ID SCH40 PVC
Optional: AR-15 or NiteFinder spring to add to the stock spring
Tools Needed:
#1 Phillips Screwdriver
Dremel Tool with a cutting bit or something else to trim the shell with.
Power Drill or Hand Drill with 8/32" and 3/8" bits
Pipe Cutter (For tightening rings)
Zap-A-Gap, Fishin Glue or Gorilla Glue
And we begin with the box which boasts "The Longest Nerf Blaster!" as if that's actually a recommendation.
Once you open the box, this is what you'll see.
Remove the main LS Gun, and the two clips. You can set aside everything else, you won't need it.
Your stock longshot will come equipped with a collapsible stock that will collapse on you while you're cocking and probably crush a finger or two, and a bipod that has absolutely no purpose other than to get in the way of a decent grip on the front when it's folded up. Oh, it also blocks a screw hole when it's fully extended and fully closed, so you have to keep it part way open to get the gun apart.
First of all, remove the screws in the grey collapsible stock and put them somewhere safe. Keep an eye on them, they're a different type than the ones used in the main LS shell. Set the stock aside, we won't be needing it until the very last part of the mod.
Now, remove all the screws in the main longshot to open the gun.
There are about 22 screws total, if the shell does not come apart easily, you missed one, do not try and force the shell apart, there are no tabs holding it together. Look around till you find the screw you missed.
Two things to note in this process:
1: There are two extra long screws, they go in the two holes that are above and below the very front of the barrel, they don't fit anywhere else.
2: There are a bunch of screws blocked by the bipod legs, every one but the one in the very front can be accessed by opening the bipod leg. To get your screwdriver in to the last one, open the leg about half way and then unscrew the screw.
Here is your opened longshot, there's a lot of crap in this thing, most of it will be gone by the time this mod is done. But the first order of business is to get rid of that stupid Bipod.
Remove 3 screws from each side of the bipod and remove the leg and the retaining bracket. Discard the entire bipod assembly, use it for scrap plastic and spare screws.
The is the stock loading mechanism for the longshot. In the front you have the dart tooth that pushes the dart back onto the peg attached to the air restrictor and provides a wonderfully huge area for air to escape the barrel.
Then you have the cover for the bolt action, which is useless and can be discarded.
The bolt Sled is attached to the barrel and we'll address that in a bit, then hanging over the barrel is the clip lock that makes it so you can't load the clip while the gun is in closed position. This is idiotic, being as you can't load the gun without automatically priming it, and what good is that? You just get a worthless spring or a wasted dart.
Here you have the trigger mechanism, the clip retainer and the trigger lock that prevents the gun being fired when the breech is open.
This is all going away except the trigger itself.
Finally in the rear you have the trigger catch, the priming indication knob, and the plunger assembly.
You can see here that the trigger catch pops easily out of its slot, you need to be careful when you're putting the gun back together so that the catch stays in place.
Now, back at the front of the gun.
Remove the two silver screws that hold the barrel assembly in place and set them aside with the rest of the screws, then gently pull the front piece straight up to remove it and the barrel behind it. Place these somewhere safe.
Remove the yellow piece and throw it away. Or keep it if you like how it looks, I don't.
Remove the two silver screws and take out the bolt tooth, discard the tooth and save the screws and spring for future use, they're not used in this mod.
Remove the front orange piece from where it slides on to the bolt sled and place it with the other barrel pieces.
Remove the plunger assembly, bolt sled, and clip lock, unscrewing any screws in the way, discard the screws. You can also cut the bolt lock off or wait until you remove the barrel from the bolt sled to slide it off.
At this point you should also remove the trigger lock by sliding it off the front of the trigger, you shouldn't need to unscrew the trigger, but you can if you need. Save the springs for future projects, they're like nerfy gold.
A view down the barrel, you can see the peg and air restrictor that you're going to have to drill out.
To remove the barrel from the bolt sled, take a small screwdriver or similar item and shove the silver pin out of the sled, use a pliers to pull it the rest of the way out, then gently push down on the barrel to remove it from the sled. At this point the clip lock can be removed.
To access the AR, remove the two screws at the back of the plunger assembly and slide the entire thing out.
Your removed plunger assembly can be reinforced by adding an O-Ring, and the spring can be removed, replaced, or added to by unscrewing the plunger head.
To remove the Air Restrictor, slide the barrel back into the plunger assembly as far as it will go, and take the dremel's cutting bit to the black plastic on the rear. I don't have a picture of this, but the dremel's bit should be long enough to wipe out the AR and the Pin mechanism. If the pin is still there, get the 3/8" drill bit out and ream the heck out of it.
And after you've drilled and dremeled and reamed the crap out of that barrel, here's what you get. A spring, an air restrictor and a pin. Make sure you get all of these out.
Your barrel should now be clean from nose to tail, the little roughness in there doesn't matter, there aren't going to be any darts in there after all.
You can see where the trigger lock is, and how it can just pull off the front of the trigger, at this point you also want to remove the black bracket for the priming indicator, the indicator barrel and the pin that the barrel was on. Discard all these, they have no use.
Also remove the trigger catch so that springs can be added.
The stock trigger catch, looks a little wussy, no?
We'll fix that.
Use the springs from the bolt tooth and the trigger lock to reinforce the stock catch. Clamp the trigger catch securely so it remains in an upright position. Put a small amount of Zap-A-Gap on the top edge and then place the springs in the glue. Allow to set while you're doing other things.
Now we're ready to ditch the stock barrel and start into the process of making the modified Angel Breech.
Cut off the stock barrel somewhere behind the black material, I ended up cutting it off right at the end of the plunger tube in the end, but you can leave some more material if you like.
Retain the front piece, you'll need the bit that attaches to the bolt sled.
Remove the back of the barrel assembly from the plunger tube.
This is where the breech differs from FA24's breech, his has you putting 9/16 through and then adding the 19/32 on top.
Take the black piece you dremeled the AR out of and use a dremel or drill to widen the opening enough to fit a piece of 19/32" brass through. Slide the 12" piece through until it's even with the back of the plastic, and then go to town with the hot glue, filling in all the space around the brass.
I got a little over enthusiastic with the glue and had to trim it back a little.
Take the barrel guide and cut it off directly over the hole where the bolt tooth went in.
To measure how long the 19/32" piece needs to be, place the plunger tube back in the shell and mark the 19/32" piece where the barrel stabilizer is cut off. The 19/32" needs to advance all the way to cover the half pipe of 9/16" plus about 1/2" of the 9/16" pipe to seal the breech before firing.
The full 9/16" needs to overlap the full 19/32" when the breech is closed, so measure and cut accordingly.
Take a piece of 9/16" Brass, and nest a piece of 17/32" brass inside it.
Cut both pieces off to a length of 1.5"
Nest the two pieces in the 19/32" that you glued in previously.
Nested brass, in order to size the 19/32" down enough to accept a 1/2" piece to serve as a dart plunger.
Take a piece of 1/2" brass and slide it into the existing setup until it's approximately 1/4" from the front of the 19/32" piece.
You want the 1/2" to be a little behind the front lip of the 19/32"
Mark the 1/2" pipe and cut it off, then nest the 1/2" into the existing setup, making sure it's flush at the back.
Drip some Zap-A-Gap around the edges of the brass to make sure all three piece stay in place, it doesn't matter if a little gets on the inside, it's not going to interfere with the firing process.
Now, the front of the breech.
To measure out the correct distance for the Half Pipe, insert the piece of 9/16" brass into the barrel guide, through the stock barrel, and into the front guide. Line up the end of the brass with the front of the gun and then measure about 3/8-1/2" out from the barrel guide. The half pipe should stop approximately 3/4" from the plunger tube.
The rear edge of the brass should be about 5/8-3/4" away from the front edge of the plunger tube. This will insure that your breech keeps together at all times.
You can see the mark where I measured out where to cut the half-pipe portion of the breech.
View from the top of the cut.
This is the most important cut you will be making on the breech, so be very careful.
Make sure that the half pipe is really a half pipe or the darts won't feed correctly into the barrels. Don't cut too much off, and don't make it any more than a half pipe or the darts won't advance into the breech at all.
Before you ask, yes, that half-pipe is too short, this is not the breech piece in the pictures above, it's the one I screwed up the cut on, I cut a bit too much so it didn't work out right, I'll use the brass for something else. Follow the previous pictures for half-pipe length, but follow this one for tightening rings.
Add some tightening rings to the front barrel by using a pipe cutter. Tighten it down a little and twist the pipe, this will create a small depression so the brass holds the dart tight. Do this 8-9 times leaving about 1/8" of space between each ring.
Wrap the half-piped 9/16" pipe in electrical tape until it fits snugly in the barrel guide, also wrap some tape around the front of the barrel so that the stock barrel fits over it and keeps it nice and stable.
Place the breech into the shell, including the bolt sled. Mark the brass at the rear of the sled when the sled and brass are both fully forward. This will be the glue point for the sled attachment piece.
Here you can see the barrel partially inserted, the tape should line up with the cut off piece of the barrel guide, with the bare brass sticking out for the 19/32" to slide over.
Here's a correctly cut and inserted 9/16" half pipe, it's tilted up a little to show the orientation of the half pipe with relationship to the barrel guide, there is also a small gap between the rear of the half-pipe and the plunger tube location.
You can cut off the back of the bolt sled, right where it starts to angle into a single shaft, it's not going to be used any more.
Not required, I just liked doing it.
Cut off the sled attachment piece of the barrel and trim it down so it fits nicely on the front of the 19/32" brass. You will most likely have to trim it down further than in this picture, I did. Just make sure you have the back lined up with the mark you made earlier using the bolt sled.
Take your 8/32" Drill bit and drill out a hole straight through the bolt sled and through the sled connector.
REINSERT THE BARREL INTO THE PLUNGER TUBE BEFORE THE NEXT STEP. Once you glue the connector on you will no longer be able to insert the barrel into the plunger tube. MAKE SURE YOU REINSERT IT FIRST.
Then put some Zap-A-Gap on the sled connector and lightly clamp it to the 19/32" brass. Don't clamp hard, the brass will bend and you'll be screwed. Allow it to dry before trying the next step.
Reattach the barrel to the sled using the pin you yanked out earlier, the hole you drilled should go straight through, if it doesn't, use a drill to widen it a little until you can slide an 8-32 threaded rod through it without it hanging up on anything.
To pass correctly through the clip during the cocking and loading process, the sled attachment piece must be shaved down so that it does not hang out at all from the edges of the piece. You can see that I had to trim the sides down a good deal to make it work correctly.
Again, this step is critical to the correct functioning of the breech, if the rear portion gets hung up on the clip during cocking, you'll have a useless gun and probably get shot while you try and clear the jam.
A view from the front, you can see the slightly recessed 1/2" brass that shoves the dart forward and the correct alignment and trimming of the sled attachment piece
Here's the stock spring with a cut down AR-15 spring under it, I had a bad experience previously with a full length AR-15 spring, but after reading some more, I changed out this 2.5" piece for a 4.75" piece as recommended by Captain Slug. It works perfectly under the stock spring.
If you leave the half-pipe too short, the rear part of the breech will actually slip off the half-pipe during cocking and that causes all sorts of alignment issues. I screwed up a previous breech doing that.
Replace the trigger catch in it's slot with the two extra springs glued on. It should sit nicely in the groove without popping out.
After replacing the whole assembly in the gun, use the dremel or another cutting tool to trim down the lip over the nerf logo on both sides of the shell so that the 8-32 rod can slide freely back and forth, it's a subtle trim, but it's needed.
Here's the breech completely closed, you can see the areas I had to shave down to make the rod slide cleanly back and forth, and the mark where I glued the sled attachment piece.
The breech from below, open.
The breech from above, open again.
The front end of the gun, you can see where I cut out the "Air Vents" from above the barrel so that the 8-32 rod can move the full distance it needs to cock the gun and load the dart.
Here's the basic design for the modified shotgun grip.
Materials: 1/4" Plexi and 1/8" Plexi
7" total length from front to back
Rear arm is 4" long and 1" tall
Front grip is 3" tall and 3" long
This makes for two arms that link a front 8-32 rod with the back 8-32 rod that goes through the bolt sled assembly.
Then a 3" half-pipe of 3" SCH40 PVC is added to the bottom by using a small plate of 1/8" Plexi and 8-32 screws/nuts.
A mechanical diagram of the modified shotgun grip is Available Here
Here's the cut and partially assembled front grip.
As you can see it's deeper and shorter than the Captain Slug V3 in order to move the guide rod up over the main barrel and to accommodate the sledless design.
Yes, the joining plate is on the inside on this picture, it shouldn't be, the plate goes on the outside.
Here's the assembled front grip, you can see it bows out a little bit, but I'll fix that by changing the angle of the screw holes in the 3" PVC halfpipe, you have to make sure that both the pipe and the side piece are perpendicular to the table when you drill or it'll come out like this.
Here's the grip installed, I overestimated the length needed for the rear armature a little bit, so I'll correct the cut and make it nice and neat.
The diagram linked above reflects the corrections I made to the grip.
The bowing you saw earlier is fixed by pressure from the upper front guide rod, but this puts undue stress on the joining plate and needs to be corrected a different way.
Grip installed from above
To avoid the stock collapse syndrome, add two 3" pieces of 1/2" PVC to where the stock would slide over the main body of the gun.
If you would like your stock to remain collapsible, skip this step.
Before beginning the painting stage, cut off the rest of the Bipod holder on the bottom of the gun so you have a flat surface below the barrel.
And now, the painting.
Start out with a coat of Duplicolor flat black vinyl dye, make sure every bit of the stock shell is covered, otherwise you risk paint flaking off in odd places after the job is done.
Do two to three coats of vinyl dye before you begin to add the secondary color. If you're wondering, the entire breech is there being painted, and the shoulder stock was painted with gloss black instead of flat black, it doesn't matter for the purposes of this, being as it's all being covered up. The entire mounting area for the tripod has also been removed for reasons you will see later.
Next, lay on a coat of the secondary color, which in this case is going to be silver. The end result will be a metallic red primary color with a silver secondary.
Paint the grip in the same way as the main gun, beginning with Duplicolor Vinyl Dye.
Here's the main body of the longshot completely taped up, the barrel and breech are remaining silver, so there's no tape on them.
Lay over at least 3 coats of Duplicolor Metallicast Red, if you don't put multiple coats on it, the red turns slightly yellow/gold and doesn't look right at all. Make sure you let the paint dry before you put on the next coat.
Here's the pieces painted with the red coat, the grip is done in its second coat of Silver, ready to be painted with the final coats of red and the stenciling.
And viola! The tape is taken off and you have a beautiful red and silver longshot, ready for reassembly.
Give the grip at least 3 coats of red, the same as you did to the main gun.
I laid my signature logo stencil over the grip and taped it down before cutting a hold in a sheet of paper to prevent overspray.
And there you have it, the Hereti Corp logo.
Yes, I know I didn't cut the plate on this side to the correct length, I was lazy and didn't trim it back like I did on the other side.
After all the tape is off, give all the pieces at least two coats of Clear Coat to protect your paint job. You can see a slight difference in the sheen of the paint after I applied the clear coat.
Time to put your gun back together.
Before you do this, make sure all the clear coat has dried, or it'll stick to everything and look like complete crap.
Reinsert the spring and plunger mechanism into the plunger tube and reinsert the two small silver screws to secure it in place.
Lay the barrel, plunger and breech assembly back into the gun, making sure that all the posts and tabs line up correctly. Then reinsert the two silver screws and secure the front barrel stabilizer. Then make sure the trigger spring is in its proper place and reinsert the wide-head silver screw to secure the trigger.
Make sure the breech slides freely and that the remains of the sled are correctly slotted into the guide slots on the shell.
Here's a closeup of the trigger mechanism, make sure that the catch is properly inserted and moves freely up and down.
Here's the partially reassembled Longshot, missing the grip and the shoulder stock.
Just a clear shot of the rear paintjob before it's covered by the stock.
And here's the completed gun, with logo bearing grip and shoulder stock installed. The weight is nicely balanced with both pieces in place.
A view from the front, I didn't add the PVC stabilizing ring at the front like FA24 did, but I may do it later, depending on how well the gun functions as is.
The gun, in all it's glory, I thought about putting something in the under-gun position, but I kinda like it the way it is, and the grip makes it a little difficult because of the brace rod I put in. Maybe a SMDTG with the barrels split, we'll see.
More pictures of the sake of pictures. Technically the other side of the gun though.
Hereti Corp's new standard in heavy assault rifles.
With a heavy shoulder stock and a clip based loading system, this gun will provide for the needs to the Hereti Corp shock troops, as well as the heavy infiltration squads.
Ranges:
All ranges shot flat from shoulder level, 2" Stefans with 1/4" Steel Shot weights.
50, 52, 56, 56, 64, 66, 68, 68, 68, 76, 76, 78, 80, 80, 82, 82, 82, 84, 88, 90 (Average: 64)
Was a windy day, which probably accounts for the wacky spread of the ranges. When I get the materials for the plunger head replacement I think the ranges will jump some as well.
Hope you enjoyed the guide.
Suggestions and constructive criticisms are always welcome, as well as questions.
You can find my Flickr based guides and a bunch of pictures here:
Nerf Pictures and Writeups