14 replies to this topic

[SuperBlob]

Hi! Forgive me if this is a noobish question or anything like that; I'm new to Nerf modding, and I couldn't find an answer to it anywhere on this forum or elsewhere. That might just because it's obvious, but none of my friends who've modded have modded Mavericks, so I don't have any examples to go off of either.

I recently decided to attempt to mod my Nerf guns, and, after watching some videos online, decided that the Maverick AR and half-barrel mods looked easy enough to do. The video I followed, as I later discovered, didn't go very far with removing the ARs; it didn't cut out the dart-holding rods from the caps or anything, it just removed the first air restrictors and the springs. The mod also involved taking one of the AR springs and putting it on one of the end of the barrel, presumably to help it snap out quicker. In any case, both mods work fine, but when I try to fire the gun empty (even just that chamber) or cock it twice, it makes a rather loud cracking sound (I can post a video demonstrating if need be). Is this a normal side-effect of removing the ARs, a result of adding the AR spring to the barrel, or did I just do something wrong? And if I did do something wrong, how can I fix it?

[cheyner]

That's called dry firing, and is a great way to break your plunger tube. You need to not do that, and to protect against others doing it you need to add padding to the plunger rod, making sure to cut a hole so air still gets through, try craft foam, layer it up if need be.

You did nothing wrong, the AR's are there to prevent this, along with keeping the ranges safe.

[evilbunnyo]

I had that problem before. You need the caps from the ar's for sure. It is called dryfiring cheyner is right. And its not good. On a maverick it won't be the first thing to break that's for sure.

[SuperBlob]

Okay, that makes sense. Are there any tutorials online that explain how to do this? Or would be able to explain? Like I said, I'm new to Nerf modding and I'd rather not take a do-it-yourself approach only to find that I've broken the gun, haha.

[Swiftone1990]

If you stick a dart in and try to fire, and it just crashes, it means you failed to put the PT back on its catch points in the shell. otherwise, its just the normal modded noise.
As for AR removal,
Baghead's Maverick Mod

and if that isn't enough, this is a firefly, but same idea
Firefly Mod

EDIT: also, more maverick work
CPVC Mav

Edited by Swiftone1990, 30 January 2012 - 07:23 PM.

[SuperBlob]

The darts are firing fine, it just makes that cracking sound firing empty, that's all. And sorry, wasn't really clear on that! I meant any videos demonstrating how to add padding to the plunger rod like cheyner mentioned. But thank you for those! The Firefly mod looks interesting and definitely within my capabilities; I might try that next.

[Pichu47]

The darts are firing fine, it just makes that cracking sound firing empty, that's all. And sorry, wasn't really clear on that! I meant any videos demonstrating how to add padding to the plunger rod like cheyner mentioned. But thank you for those! The Firefly mod looks interesting and definitely within my capabilities; I might try that next.

Padding the plunger rod is very easy. You just take a piece of craft foam and glue it to the plunger rod. You really don't need that much thickness, maybe about a quarter of an inch.

[SuperBlob]

Padding the plunger rod is very easy. You just take a piece of craft foam and glue it to the plunger rod. You really don't need that much thickness, maybe about a quarter of an inch.

Okay, that makes sense. Would it look something like this?:


(skip to ~30 seconds)

(I don't think that's the correct place on the plunger, so I apologize if this is an extraordinarily stupid question)

Edited by SuperBlob, 31 January 2012 - 06:03 PM.

[cheyner]

No, that is not the place we are talking about.
The complete opposite end of that piece is the right spot though, so you are getting closer.

What you are having us check is increasing the seal between the turret and plunger, which wouldn't hurt either.

Edited by cheyner, 31 January 2012 - 06:19 PM.

[KaptainKrazy]

Put some form of padding on the end of the plunger (the end with the black ring):

[Pichu47]

Put some form of padding on the end of the plunger (the end with the black ring):

That is where I was talking about. Just put 1/2 to 1/4 inches of craft foam there and your blaster should last for a lot longer and not make an agonizingly horrible cracking noise every time.

[SuperBlob]

Okay, I didn't find crafting foam, but I found some foam that seemed like it would work, some epoxy, and went at it. The gun still fires fine; I'm getting plenty of distance out of it. However, the cracking sound hasn't been diminished significantly if at all. I took a few pictures of what I did; I can take a video or a sound recording if you need to hear the cracking sound:





Did I do it wrong?

EDIT: Sorry, accidentally made the images huge.

Edited by SuperBlob, 01 February 2012 - 09:49 PM.

[SuperBlob]

Okay, as it turns out, I think I just needed more padding. Also, I found that putting the padding in the end of the plunger itself rather than the rod made it easier to attach, had adequate sound-dampening results, and had no noticeable impact on range. Is there some drawback to putting the padding there that I should probably know about?

Also, I'm thinking about next doing an AR and possibly lock removal mod on my Recon. This gun needs to be safe for Humans vs. Zombies, though. Can anyone with experience modding Recons tell me A. will doing so cause the gun to make that cracking sound when dry-fired? and B. does firing the gun at yourself at point-blank cause any pain (this is the test they use to make sure mods are safe for the game)? I can post this in a separate topic, if need be.

Edited by SuperBlob, 02 February 2012 - 12:10 PM.

[Blue]

Use common sense here... If you take away the only thing creating a cushion of air to slow down the plunger tube of course it's going to make a plastic slamming into plastic cracking noise. Why would you be dry firing it anyways? With the lock removal you can cock the gun back, remove the clip, then hold back the slide as you pull the trigger to uncock the blaster without firing it. As for the pain factor... you are not really going to notice much of a difference between stock and modded.

You should really try to understand what you are doing before you do it; it will make trouble shooting and problem solving a lot easier.

[Swiftone1990]

I suggest Blue's brassed recon mod. I finished one up a week or so ago. While noticeably better ranges, a point blank shot really does not hurt at all. And any springer with its ARs out will always make bad noises when dry fired, so just don't do it.