Here are the supplies required for this mod.
- 14" of SCH 40 PVC
- Dremel
- Super Glue
- Plumber's Goop
- Hot Glue
- Pipe Cutters
- Hobby Knife
- Check Valve (found where aquarium supplies are sold)
- PVC coupler
- 1" of PETG (12" required if micro stefans are being used)
- Electrical tape
I am going to assume you already have the gun open and have an understanding of how it works, just to speed things up a bit. I've rambled plenty already.
First things first, use your pipe cutters to cut off most of the stock barrel. Then use your dremel / drill / whatever to get rid of the AR. This part is so basic I'm not putting pictures or elaborating on it.
Next we need to tackle is the pump. This gun takes WAY too many pumps to prime, it's a long reload even for air guns. At 8 pumps, the OPRV goes. At 10, the gun starts shooting quite powerfully. 15 is about maximum power. I've taken it up to 20, but it didn't add much more range. I'm sure now you have an idea of how tedious the pumping on this gun is. 15:1. That is probably the worst pump to shot ratio out of any Nerf gun ever. The problem is remarkably easy to fix. The check valve in the SS2 is in the back of the tank, which means there is plenty of dead space between the check valve and the end of the pump stroke. Obviously, this is a bad thing, as this much dead space makes pressurizing the tank difficult. You can feel it around 15 pumps, very little air is actually getting into the tank at this point. If we can move the check valve closer to the end of the pump, not only will each pump be more efficient, but we will be able to take the tank up to higher pressures.
First, obviously you're going to want to plug the pump. Then, insert a check valve as close to the pump end as you can. It's much easier to attach if you heat the tubing with boiling water first. Once you've done that, attach the tank to the other end of the check valve. With the relocated check valve, you will be able to fill the air tank to much higher pressure, possibly in fewer pumps. Mine worked amazingly well. I put the new pump back in the SS2, with the stock pump handle, and the OPRV went at 5 pumps. That was a good sign.
The next portion of this modification involves replacing the barrel with SCH 40 PVC. In case you couldn't tell from my supply list, I fire mega stefans from this gun. They are far more accurate, and the slight range decrease doesn't matter when you have this kind of power. The reload time on the SS2 is too abysmal to miss. It's basically a Golden Gun, you have one shot most of the time. I figured I could go without dick waving about a 140' shooting pistol and choose reliability instead.
If I haven't sold you on megas, that's OK. You can nest PETG in your barrel no problem.
Basically, take your secret barrel and dremel, sand, and remove everything that prevents you from fitting your 12" PVC barrel through it. I didn't really have a method for this, I just kept going until it fit. When you've finished, do not glue the barrel in yet. Here's a little before and after for you.
Stick a 1" chunk of PETG in the base of your tank. Wrap E-tape around it so that it's snug, then smother the whole thing with Plumber's Goop and slip your 2" length of PVC over it so that it is airtight. Cut down a PVC coupler so that when it is in place, it is flush with the front of the gun.
Dremel out the coupler a bit so that the barrel can slip into it easier.
Super glue your PVC coupler on the end of the PVC. Dremel out all the ridges inside the shell so everything fits properly. Once the tank and barrel are back in place, the coupler should be pretty close to flush with the front of the gun. It doesn't have to be perfect, just as long as it's not off by a huge amount. I gooped and later E-taped each seam so that it is all airtight. Even the slightest leak negatively affects range.
Slip your first, 12" PVC barrel into the secret barrel, again, not glued. Swing the barrel down and test fit it into the coupler. Your goal here is to keep beveling the edges of the coupler and barrel with the dremel until they can lock into place with minimal effort. Ideally, the operation should be smooth enough that the barrel can be locked into place with a quick flick of the wrist.
When you think you've got it, super glue the 12" PVC barrel into the secret barrel.
If it isn't obvious by now, we've got an upside down break barrel set-up here. To load, just flip the barrel up and lock it into place. Load your stefan in the original barrel and hit the secret barrel release as you flick your wrist downwards. The torsion spring combined with the wrist action should flip the barrel down and lock it in perfectly straight every time. By far, the coolest part about this is you don't have to fumble with the barrel with you load it, unlike on regular couplered guns. Better still, when the barrel is flipped up, this gun is actually holsterable. Yes, obviously the barrel will stick out of your pocket, it's by no means concealable, but it slips into a pair of cargo pants no problem. The front profile of the gun is about the size of a Nitefinder without ammo holders. This makes the SS2 a viable sidearm. When not in use, you can still have it pumped and loaded with a full, foot long barrel in your pocket. When the situation arises, pull it out of your pocket, hitting the secret barrel release as you do so. The barrel will flip down, and you're ready to fire, just like that.
The gun says "Justin's Alexander's" on it, if this was your gun, feel proud. He's a man now.
Having this kind of power and range in your side-arm frees up different possibilities with your primary. You can use a scattergun, an automatic, a ball gun, whatever strange contraption you want, and you can always fall back on your Secret Shot 2 for those distance kills. The blaster is also easily powerful enough to be used as a main weapon. With the break barrel, reload times are now respectable, and you can outrange guns several times larger (and heavier) no problem, which greatly enhances your mobility.
I'm sure you are curious about ranges. At first, I was getting 70', which I thought was pretty abysmal considering my hard work. Then I remembered something about more powerful guns needing heavier darts. I made my megas a while ago when I was new at the whole stefan thing, and weighted them with a single copper BB. I quickly put together a few darts with 3 BBs, and despite the shittiness of the darts, the range increased to 90' easily. I have yet to test heavier than that, but I doubt it is possible to break 100'. Oh, and the pump count decreased significantly. 6 pumps is a decent shot, 10 is ridiculous, and at 12, the gun becomes nearly impossible to pump, and the darts start fishtailing despite the massive barrel. The range tests were taken with 10 pumps. A 50% decrease in priming time is always welcome, and with the break barrel the gun can be reloaded in seconds.
Questions? Comments? fire away!
Edited by bourbon, 27 January 2010 - 09:47 PM.
