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Firstly, dart fit changes dramatically in the cold. The darts shrink up a bit, and don't seal well. In fact, it was so bad that velveeta was actually able to stuff stefan megas into brass barrels which were sized for stefan micros.
Secondly, regular gaskets do not seal well when cold. My pulse strike-based blaster wouldn't hold pressure in the cold because the front seal was leaking from shrinkage. Sonreese's sonic bazooka wouldn't "pop" properly, and was having major output problems. I suspect the piston valve may have been getting stuck or moving too slowly because of cold. Velveeta's mav-titan also seemed to be underperforming, possibly as a result of gasket problems.
Some of my ideas for possible solutions to cold-weather play include:
making special "cold darts" which are sized for tight fit in cold weather
replacing gaskets with ones of a slightly larger size or softer material
I also have considered that it might be possible to somehow treat regular gaskets to make them work better in cold. Does this sound possible or reasonable? Also, one quick workaround I did for stefans and marshmallows (which we played with in the snow to reduce dart-loss) was to stuff them into an inside pocket of my jacket so keep them a bit warmer.
Lastly, sonreese was thinking that for winter play it might be preferable to use nerf weapons which operate not by air pressure but by directly pressing/pushing/throwing the projectiles, since most of the cold-weather issues have to do with the contraction of critical pieces which need to seal in a gun that relies on air (springers and air guns). He thought perhaps a homemade vortex-ring type gun would be ideal.
I know, for many of you this will be a non-issue, but in MN we have 6 to 7 months of this kind of crap weather, and we need something to do.
Got any ideas?
