8 replies to this topic

[Buffdaddy]

As most of you know, the Longstrike is, to put it kindly, not deserving of its sni.per rifle shape. The thing just blows, and even doing things like powerstocks can only help so much.

I set out to rectify the situation, with my Longstrike and an AT3K (rotation mech and other things messed up, but tank and pump still intact). I had the following goals:
1) Place the tank as best as possible, reducing deadspace.
2) Make my 1st angel breech. Expect the first one to be semi-crappy, lol. Yes, this partly conflicts with goal 1. Moving on...
3) Modify a clip to hold stefans, another first.
4) Make observations, for others to take note.

Note: most of the pics were taken afterward, so I'll try to explain things as best as possible.

First things first: we're gutting the SOB. Take out pretty much everything, keep only the sled and trigger. As shown, the locking mechanism on the sled will no longer operate properly without the inverse plunger pressing it at the right times, so take that bit out, as well.



Dremel the shit out of the innards; since we're placing an air tank in here, it needs the room.


Now for my main idea: the best way to eliminate dead space is to place the air tank on the sled, so it's only a couple inches from the loaded dart. Placing it in the back is easier, mind you, but this method has far less dead space. Plus my brass was limited.

This was the end product. The breech, while in working condition, does not open as far as it should. Simply put, I measured something wrong, so opening it farther causes the two parts of the breech to come apart. Bad thing. Luckily, I forgot to dremel one part of the shell in the rear, so the sled stops before this becomes an issue.


As for the air tank attachment, again, I was just going off the resources available to me, so I wedged plastic pieces between the old sled lock hole and the tank, and epoxied. Assuming a correct breech, it should sit back farther, and require actual tools/bent metal pieces to hold it in place. But hey, we're experimenting here!

Now for the rest: The saving grace of using the 3K instead of gutting something else was the perfectly-sized firing pin. After removing the spring, I epoxied the longstrike strigger to a plastic piece to the 3K trigger. There's coat hanger wire epoxied through it (not shown) to keep it in one piece. I expanded the "primed" hole on the back of the blaster (the one that shows if it is ready to fire), to let the firing pin slide back the extra 1cm or so it needed. Now you can cock it properly!


Mow the full assembly sequence:



The replaced tubing runs out the side, and through the stock to the pump. It's currently duct-taped on there, and seems just fine for me. The overhang lays on top of my shoulder, so it works out. Depending on your preference (say, you don't care about clips, and just want a breech-fed rifle), you could dremel out the bottom front of the Longstrike and put the pump in the "pump shotgun" position.

And one last thing:

I went ahead and made a slot to slide this half of the shell off, that way, if something breaks in further testing, I can take it apart easily.

The breech works, amazingly, and right now it's getting standard 3K ranges with 1.5", single bb micro stefans. I still need to plug the pump. Since there is no mechanism to lock the sled in place, Firing requires you holding the gun so that your spare thumb is wrapped around the cocking bar. Otherwise, pulling the trigger pulls the WHOLE sled back. It's a minor inconvenience, but nothing horrible.

Thus ends the experiment. I learned a lot, and now we know that we can, in fact, have Longstrikes that are worthy of use.

-Buffdaddy

Edited by Buffdaddy, 21 June 2010 - 09:42 AM.

[Zorns Lemma]

Instead of building an Angel breech (which has more deadspace in it anyways) and force having a moving 3k tank too, just hook up the boltsled to a simple pullback slide breech and half your problems will be solved.

popatachi has an excellent writeup where he does the general idea of what you do, but in a raider shell and doesn't keep it n-strike magazine compatible.

[Foam Ninja]

This shows that we can beat the Reverse Plunger. Oh man this thing is wicked.

[moosa]

This shows that we can beat the Reverse Plunger. Oh man this thing is wicked.

He just replaced it with an air tank... As if no one else has attempted such a thing before.

Nice job on the mod. It must be nice to have strong performance in a blaster with that form and cosmetic appeal.

[Buffdaddy]

Instead of building an Angel breech (which has more deadspace in it anyways) and force having a moving 3k tank too, just hook up the boltsled to a simple pullback slide breech and half your problems will be solved.

popatachi has an excellent writeup where he does the general idea of what you do, but in a raider shell and doesn't keep it n-strike magazine compatible.

I am aware of that mod in particular, and doing something like that is in all reality more ideal. But then it wouldn't give me a chance to practice doing new things on the modding front, would it? That was as much the objective as making it war-worthy. Plus it gives me something more original to contribute.

Although I should note, the amount of deadspace is vastly reduced by my lack of materials; I barely had the brass to pull this as it is. Instead of the normal angel breech, with 1/2" brass pushing the dart, I cut up part of a dry Sharpie pen and epoxied that into the feeder instead. Still operates the same and all, but the smaller inner diameter of the sharpie, it does make the setup more efficient.

Tl:dr is I did a straw mod without thinking about it.

Edited by Buffdaddy, 21 June 2010 - 09:43 AM.

[Blue]

You might want to consider replacing the pump with something that is easier to pump at higher pressures like a 2k or hornet or super soaker pump. Nice to see the mod done, but the $30+ it costs for a longstrike kind of sucks if it's really only a shell that you are using, not to mention the 3k guts that were used.

[ModSquad]

The pics aren't working for me. (I use a mac)

[Buffdaddy]

You might want to consider replacing the pump with something that is easier to pump at higher pressures like a 2k or hornet or super soaker pump. Nice to see the mod done, but the $30+ it costs for a longstrike kind of sucks if it's really only a shell that you are using, not to mention the 3k guts that were used.

Yeah, even getting stuff on sale, it's saddening. Although I have extra springs now...The 3K, I can justify, as it was in pretty bad condition when I found it. What I used is what was left, in all reality.

Perhaps the "Reconbow" mod is a better option for the Longstrike. For me, that currently isn't a viable option (lack of tools, and I'd like to develop my skills more), but it would certainly work.

[HOTH]

I thought it was great. The idea isn't new, but I like that you tried it, and it's a great mod.