5 replies to this topic

[DartSlinger]

The Air Zone Double Barrel Blaster is a Toys R us exclusive that can be purchased in-store and online (here) for $12.99. In my range test here, it got these ranges.

12' 6"

15' 4"

15' 4"

15' 6"


14' 8" Avg.










It has a two-finger priming pull, and it fires one barrel for each priming. It does not fire both barrels at once.



It has a hinging trigger instead of the usual horizontal sliding trigger. It is quite comfortable.





It has a nice double-barreled shotgun look to it.





Its darts are mongos that are 1" wide by 3.5" long.







Its foam is very thick and firm.

INTERNALS

To get to its internals you first have to remove the large orange cap at the end of the barrels. This is by done by simultaneously squeezing the barrels together and wedging a small flat-head screwdriver underneath the cap to disengage the cap from these two nubs.

Once getting the cap over those two nubs, insert the screwdriver into the front of the cap (There is a little hole in the front of it.) and press it down while pulling off the cap so that this nub is disengaged from the cap.

Now pull your cap off, and then slice through a sticker on the side of the blaster that also impedes opening it. Then remove the screws and it will come apart. Once you get your cap off, slice off, sand off, or somehow remove those nubs from the end of your barrels so that the cap will slide on and off.

This is the main part of the internals, and it can be easily removed from the blaster.

Here is the catch and spring rest piece.

Removed from the blaster.

When the catch is removed.

The plunger removed.

The plunger rod.

The way that the blaster works is this. The nub seen on the end of the plunger rod engages in these grooves on the plunger tube

and rotates the plunger. The plunger seals to the barrels through this gasket here, and the plunger rotates about that hole in the center of the plunger.

When the plunger rotates, it seals with one barrel at a time through these holes below.

Both barrels are one solid piece of plastic, but their air flows are not connected: they fire individually.

Here is a picture for reference of how the barrels and plunger tube go together.

DO NOT POST YET!

Edited by DartSlinger, 17 May 2013 - 03:07 PM.

[DartSlinger]

The Plunger is composed of two concentric tubes, the inner one being the actual plunger tube.



Here is the Double Barrel Blaster's plunger tube compared to the plunger tube of an Air Zone Triple Shot and a SNAPbow plunger tube (1.25" PVC).

The plunger tube is fairly large, much larger than any Nerf Elite plunger tube. The Double Barrel Blaster has 78.3 cubic centimeters of plunger volume. For comparison, the Triple Shot has 161. Here are the plunger tube dimensions, which were measured with digital calipers.

Double Barrel Blaster:

Diameter: 30.95 mm
Height 104.1 mm

Triple Shot: (for comparison)

Diameter 37.6 mm
Height 145.03 mm

These measurements, of course, are not the exact amount of air that is displaced when each blaster fires. These measurements are just the full volume of the plunger tube.



Here is the Double Barrel Blaster's plunger compared to a Triple Shot's Plunger. (It has been modified, but you can still see the Triple Shot's original plunger seal.)



The Double Barrel Blaster's spring is stiff and very similar to a Triple Shot's spring, although it is smaller.



Here is an image of how the trigger functions.



On the catch/spring rest piece, the circled piece must be placed correctly, or else the blaster will not fire.



It goes here.



Then here.

MODIFICATION



This blaster's stock is like the Triple Shot's stock: short, worthless, and easily removed. It just pops right out.



Time to remove the air restrictors. I cut off the ends of the stalks and drilled down into them to widen up the opening. I used successively larger drill bits, and then finally ripped out the little rubber things and the rest of the stalk supports with needle-nosed pliers. You can also smooth down the remaining plastic pieces of plastic with a dremel. This gives you a few more feet of range, so you should be hitting about eighteen feet flat now.





I personally think that it looks much better without a goofy three inch long stock on it.

I made a nice, well-edited YouTube review for this blaster that includes review, internals and range test.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFJGl6AOX14

Edited by DartSlinger, 26 May 2013 - 09:51 PM.

[Exo]

Wow. This is a neat blaster. Will you be doing a barrel replacement later?

[DartSlinger]

Will you be doing a barrel replacement later?

Probably. I'm thinking about breeches right now. The plunger is most likely too small for a hopper or RSCB, but would get excellent range with a turret or breech system.

[Pointman9]

Excellent, very detailed write-up.

So this thing has a range of 15 feet?

[DartSlinger]

Excellent, very detailed write-up.

So this thing has a range of 15 feet?

Thank you.

Yes, it gets ranges of about fifteen feet. This is due to large, heavy darts, extremely small output hole on the plunger tube, and only a very short length of the barrel actually gripping the darts. This last part wastes most of the plunger's power. You can hear a crack as the plunger hits the end of the plunger tube.

Edited by DartSlinger, 17 May 2013 - 09:51 PM.