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The BANR, a FAR revamp


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#1 Daimler

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Posted 15 July 2012 - 10:17 PM

Before I start talking about my first homemade gun, I'd like to thank Boltsniper for his FAR, without which I never would have been inspired to start nerfing or build my own gun. My hat goes off to you Boltsniper.

This gun is the result of a failed effort and several years worth of work (on and off for a couple hours during a week then a several month breaks), so I'm glad I'm finally finished and able to share it with the nerf community.

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The BANR (Bolt Action Nerf Rifle) is basically the FAR with a few modifications of my own. I actually started off directly building an exact duplicate of the FAR and failed miserably. It broke repeatedly and only shot about 10 feet. So, I scraped it and salvaged only a few components to start over pretty much completely. In my second gun, I limited the amount of CA glue used in order to prevent breaking of major parts. Almost every part is screwed together, save the ones where such a method of fastening was impractical or what I determined to be impossible. I also replaced a lot of the pvc or polycarbonate pieces with aluminum replacements, which increased strength and reliability. Balsa wood is also nonexistent on this gun and polycarbonate was used in its stead.

One problem that Boltsniper had with the far was the bounce-back that would occur when the plunger hit the bolt, pulling it and the shell back from the rear of the barrel. This would result in a reduction of range.

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I remedied this issue by making the action of the priming handle twist the bolt into a locking position. This was achieved by a small piece of pvc being screwed to the top of the bolt which rides in an L-shaped channel. This way, the bolt locks in place when full forward and rotated, removing all bounce-back.

Another issue I found was the catch, such as in Boltsniper's SCAR-N, would dig into the angled rear of the plunger and create a groove that would eventually prevent the plunger from being able to be fully pulled back. Due to this aggravating circumstance, I took Boltsniper's trigger and modified it to fit the demands.

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The full catch can be seen in the first photo (sorry for the fuzziness). It is basically a lever that pivots about a bolt that goes through the whole trigger assembly. In the second photo, you can see a hex nut that hides a sleeve bearing. This bearing rides on the ramp of the trigger's slide, allowing a smooth pivot and action. Also, there are spacers between the two sides of the trigger assembly's sides and on the catch's pivot to allow these parts to slide and pivot freely and still allow the bolts that hold everything together to be fully tightened and not have any play in the assembly.

Another problem I ran into was that I was unable to get any type of o-ring to seal against anything. Currently, the only o-ring in the whole gun is between where the shell and aft portion of the barrel meet. The o-rings at the front of the bolt were replaced with a dense, hardy foam that seals remarkably well. The plunger o-rings were abandoned in favor of a rubber washer like in Carbon's Snap.

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All together, these modifications resulted in a great seal. Brass tubing was also fitted into the barrel and shells in order to enable microstephans to be fired. I was able to achieve a max range of 144 feet with these modifications and the use of standard streamline darts, like the ones used in the longshot. ^_^

Because this gun has some decent range and accuracy, the iron sites (well aluminum) work pretty well.

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Here's a picture of the mag and a shell too.

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I used a compression spring in mine, unlike the coil spring used in Boltsniper's. The riser and feed lips are also all aluminum, which boosts the strength and durability. Plus it comes apart because it isn't glued together, allowing ease of repair. Also, notice the shell has a beveled edge at the rear of the mid section. This came about because the shells would catch on one another when loading. This is due to the use of a vertical mag instead of an angled one.

Hope you like it. Feel free to ask questions
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#2 zx532

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Posted 15 July 2012 - 10:30 PM

This is awesome

please send me some schematics, or measurements (or even a napkin sketch) of your trigger system
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#3 Carbon

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Posted 15 July 2012 - 11:24 PM

Always great to see one of Boltsniper's designs brought back. I learned all the basics from studying his designs.

Anyway, back to your blaster...

The funny thing is, you've pretty much built what I was hoping to build when I first started with homemades: a simplified version of the FAR. Excellent modifications to simplify and improve the original design. Boltsniper always told me he swore by superglue for pretty much everything, and used it extensively in his builds. Your experience seems to be pretty much like mine with CA glue, spending more time swearing at it. Also, nice job solving the bounceback problem, in a much simpler way than Bolt did it in the SCAR.

My only question: what's the average range you're getting? Because I'd think you'd have to sacrifice a chicken and juggle three chipmunks under a full moon in order to regularly get 140'+.

Edited by Carbon, 15 July 2012 - 11:25 PM.

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#4 KoRnEd

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Posted 15 July 2012 - 11:37 PM

My only question: what's the average range you're getting? Because I'd think you'd have to sacrifice a chicken and juggle three chipmunks under a full moon in order to regularly get 140'+.


I'm not quite sure, but I think he said he was using streamlines :/

Anyways, this is beautiful. For a first homemade, it's absolutely amazing! Awesome work. You've pretty much made what everyone wishes their first homemade to be!
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20:07 tiredKitty Not a good idea, btw.

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#5 Carbon

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Posted 16 July 2012 - 09:50 AM

I'm not quite sure, but I think he said he was using streamlines :/


That makes me doubly curious. The power needed to make a streamline go 140' would make it fly like a wounded sparrow.
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#6 proplus

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Posted 16 July 2012 - 10:14 AM

Wow My hat of to you sirr. -_-
Owned by an FNG again.
did you redo the bolt steup so it accepts cpvc shells and is the mag smmaller?
Because The main problem with FARs where that there shells and mags where always too bulky to carry.
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#7 Collective

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Posted 16 July 2012 - 12:08 PM

With a name like BANR, you almost have to paint it green and call it Bruce.
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#8 Daimler

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Posted 16 July 2012 - 02:51 PM

please send me some schematics, or measurements (or even a napkin sketch) of your trigger system


Here you go... I hope this will suffice. Let me know if anything else is needed.

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My only question: what's the average range you're getting? Because I'd think you'd have to sacrifice a chicken and juggle three chipmunks under a full moon in order to regularly get 140'+.


When I first got the rifle to fire, I took a bag of about 25 streamlines and a handful of stephans out to my yard and fired them all a few times and an ideal angle of 30 degrees. I marked where the farthest one went and that was at 144 feet. On average, though I'm getting about 120 feet with the streamlines and 90 or so with the stephans. I attribute this difference in distance to the streamlines being hallow, while the stephans are not. Therefore, as the compressed air is moving up the barrel and pushing the dart as it also expands the walls of the dart, forming a better seal against the barrel and enhancing performance.

That makes me doubly curious. The power needed to make a streamline go 140' would make it fly like a wounded sparrow.


That is most certainly true. They do corkscrews, veer off to either side, just die mid-flight, and occasionally curve upwards.

did you redo the bolt steup so it accepts cpvc shells and is the mag smmaller?
Because The main problem with FARs where that there shells and mags where always too bulky to carry.


This rifle uses the same shells as used in the FAR. For me, they are a decent size and suite their purpose well. If push comes to shove, however, I'm sure a simple modification could be made to fit the smaller shells


With a name like BANR, you almost have to paint it green and call it Bruce.


Nice hulk reference... I never thought of it that way.
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#9 Carbon

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Posted 16 July 2012 - 03:56 PM

When I first got the rifle to fire, I took a bag of about 25 streamlines and a handful of stephans out to my yard and fired them all a few times and an ideal angle of 30 degrees.


Ah, that explains it, thanks. The generally accepted way of testing ranges is at a flat angle (+/- a few degrees...it's hard to do without a bench)...so I was a bit amazed at your initial range test.
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#10 SpokkyLucaz

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Posted 16 July 2012 - 09:06 PM

I have one question: any chance you may be selling these for those of us without as much genius? ;)
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I can tell you right now, with certainty, that none of you greasy fucks are laying your filthy paws on my blaster and it sure as fuck isn't going in a plastic orgy pile with other plastic guns.


#11 zx532

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Posted 16 July 2012 - 09:53 PM

Im even more impressed now, That catch is genius
(in the picture it looked like you had the usual metal wire catch, but I love that metal one)
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#12 Daimler

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 07:32 PM

Quite honestly, I don't believe that selling these would be practical. From what I remember it took over $50 dollars for the parts alone (possible as much as three twice that). Plus I'd need to get something for the labor involved, which is over 48 hours I'm quite sure. In the end, I would be losing money and precious time in order to make it affordable. Sorry, but I just don't believe it would be possible.

Thanks for your support everyone!
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#13 hamoidar

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 07:53 PM

I like this! When I made my version of the FAR, the catch system failed miserably, and it took me forever to find a way to make it work. It seems as though your system is quite robust and sturdy; mine is not. Great job!
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#14 BMSCmods

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 04:46 PM

This is really nice I also like that you made it shoot shells too. Great mod also very clean.
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