12 replies to this topic

[dskippy]

Hey everyone,

I am having some trouble making a decent barrel for my new rainbow with a full [k26] inside a 1-1/4" pvc plunger tube using a skirt seal.

I have read a lot of the posts and tried to follow the conventional wisdom of cpvc and brass but it's not working.

I made one barrel, very standard, of 11" of 1/2" cpvc and hammered it into pvc that I drilled out. I cannot push my darts into the back in at all a reasonable amount of time. I reamed out the back to try to help loading but still it's very very tight. Firing actually works okay once it's I'm there but it fish tails.

I then tried 17/32" brass inside 9/16" brass inside pvc. this is okay. Not as tight and I can load it. this barrel however fish tails like mad. I mean our banks off at right angles and his the ceiling. sometimes I get a really long strait shot. mostly fish tailing.

my brand new, first rainbow is far from perfect too. the Aral it's weak and needs to be corrected but even a is seems like way to much power for my barrels.

I tried putting 4 inches of pvc with no brass at the end of my barrel made of brass to give it more length, telescoping, just to straighten it out but no luck.

I know a lot of the write ups here are for home made darts and they fly much better. I really need to use elites though since I play in a setting with shared darts and they are our standard. is anything going to work?

Are homemades just too much power for stock darts?

- Mike

[Asamere]

Try a length of Mcmaster PetG. Specifically this stuff
It may be an easy fit or a tight fit, based on elite dart to elite dart, but either way it tends to launch them reliably. This should also be able to utilize the power of your blaster. As for reliability, It's what I've done for the terrifying Roto Rocket, and it keeps the darts in check.

[Asamere]

(Double post disregard and delete please.)

Edited by Asamere, 01 November 2013 - 07:07 PM.

[Mully]

Almost any kind of home made blaster firing Elite Darts isn't going to work for you at all.
As long as you're using Elite's, there's nothing you can do about your fish-tailing problem unfortunately, unless you want to wait the tips with glue, which your group might not be to happy about.
As you said, CPVC is a little too tight for stock darts; you could try nesting PETG in 1/2" sch40 as Asamere suggested, or you could simply stick with brass. I recommend brass, specifically 17/32", 17/32" nested in 9/16", or just 9/16". Whatever works best for you.
Aside from that, I recommend sticking with modified blasters if what you're using is stock darts. You can make them shoot quite hard, and most have a much faster reload time than any kind of home made.

Edited by Mully, 01 November 2013 - 07:21 PM.

[azrael]

The tips of Elites are way too light to provide stable flight at what I assume are significantly fast speeds, coming from a blaster like that.

TBH, I'm surprised you're not blowing off the tips.

Edited by azrael, 01 November 2013 - 07:38 PM.

[Some Guy]

What kind of CPVC are you using? If you're using Flowguard Gold CPVC, the rubber on the ends of the elites will be squishing against the sides of the barrel too tightly to shoot. If your not using a too tight barrel, it might have become tighter when you hammered it into PVC. To avoid this, use a 5/8" spade bit in the 1/2" pvc, then slide and glue them together. Elites have a push fit to a twist fit in looser fitting CPVC which have achieved over 100 ft flat out (obviously when the dart doesn't fly downward) of a nerf clip fed CPVC breached Pump Snap. (In the cpvc clip fed system, I bored out the first three inches of the barrel with a 1/2" drill bit so that the dart is easily pushed in). The problem with using elites, though, is that they are unpredictable, inaccurate, and when the head is bent a bit, the darts head will bend inside the barrel and jam it up. So if you want to continue using elites, cut off the plastic nub under the head and give it a weight like an eraser (something to make it accurate), then glue a straw insert into it so it doesn't bend.

Hope this helps.

~SG

[Azrael0987]

Elite darts fishtail with pretty much any homemade blaster with a decent amount of power. If you cut the darts down to stefan length it will fly almost as straight as a stefan. Wobbly, but it wont curve off to the side. Granted they would be useless with stock blasters, but its definitely easier than making darts. I suggest trying it out with a few first and seeing of you like it.

EDIT: I wasn't trying to lie. It has worked reliably for me before. I'm not sure what the difference is. I know I have shot them out of crazy powerful blasters so its not that mine was less powerful (Unless i'm seriously underestimating your blasters. But I dont believe I am. I've used pumpsnaps and the like before).

Edited by Azrael0987, 02 November 2013 - 04:30 PM.

[Some Guy]

Azrael0987, I just tried out what you suggested.
Shot an inch shortened elite dart out of a pumpsnap, hit a wall 15 ft to the right at 40 ft.
Shortened it to 1.25", then did a flat shot with the pump snap, and it flew upwards into a tree at 60 ft, then fell on the ground. I put a straw in it, and tested it out in a pumpsnap/Rainbow Pump/BBB, and it continued to be unpredictable.

Stop lying to people.

~SG

[cheerios]

The air vent hole on the side of the dart head is what causes Streamlines to spin out of control. They weigh more than regular slugs so they're plenty heavy, so weight isn't the issue. Streamlines and elites in general are pretty worthless in any blaster with more power than an elite blaster; just make some stefans if you are dead set on using your pump-snap.

[KaneTheMediocre]

Hey everyone,

I am having some trouble making a decent barrel for my new rainbow with a full [k26] inside a 1-1/4" pvc plunger tube using a skirt seal.

Are homemades just too much power for stock darts?

Homemades are not necessarily too much power for an elite dart, but a fully compressed [k26] inside a 1-1/4" PVC plunger tube using a skirt seal is too much power for an elite dart. You aren't going to make an accurate homemade blaster shoot much farther than standard elite blasters if you're using the elite darts.

You need to either reduce your power (a lot), or change your darts. Tagger, sonic, and suction cup darts can fly much faster/farther than elite darts before becoming aerodynamically unstable. A fully compressed [k26] is still probably too much, but you should be able to strike a balance that fires those darts accurately and much farther than stock elite blasters.

[dskippy]

If your not using a too tight barrel, it might have become tighter when you hammered it into PVC. To avoid this, use a 5/8" spade bit in the 1/2" pvc, then slide and glue them together.

...

Hope this helps.

~SG

It did. That was my problem. I got myself a spade bit instead of a normal drill bit and it bad the slip in much easier. As a result my CPVC is not being squished too much and the fit is much better. Thanks. I'm getting 100 feet regularly now but the direction is very unpredictable indeed. Guess the elite darts are just crap.

-mike

[azrael]

As said before, Elite darts do not have enough mass to be stable at higher speeds. That's why they're going wherever.

[Demon Lord]

You could try a longer barrel, closer to 16'' up to 24'' to achieve stable flight, or port the end of your current barrel setup.