5 replies to this topic

[foxmcloud]

So I've been slowly getting into nerf more and more lately...stocking several guns in the office and randomly shooting the kids and hunting them down when they least expect it (which usually turns into my 7 year old and 3 year old becoming bad guys or good guys and whacking each other and/or me with sticks).

 

Two of the guns I've purchased, the Elite Strongarm and the Doominator. They're both very fun guns, but something weird happens with them. Since I've bought them a couple months ago, from the very beginning, the doominator has very weak range when firing normally, and almost double/triple the range when slamfiring. The strongarm is the opposite, it fires well normally but the slamfire is horrible. When the dart fires it makes a loud POOF....as if the air is being let out some how, and the dart barely falls out of the chamber. I've opened the strongarm and looked it over several times, and tried finding out what the issue is, but I can't figure it out. Any ideas?

[The2ndBluesBro]

There is an issue with the seal on both blasters. If they are both stock I would say they are lemons. The doominator is usually cited for reliability issues, not what you're experiencing.

[foxmcloud]

If it were a defective seal wouldn't they have issues no matter what firing style you used? When fired normally the strongarm has a range of 50-60ft. When the doominator is fired normally there's no telling what the dart will do, but when using slam fire it's 100% reliable w/ a range of 30-40ft. 

[shmmee]

With issues happening on both blasters I'd blame your darts. I suspect the tails of your darts are compressed so the AR (Air restrictor) is able to push them slightly out of the barrel and closing the AR. With that closed - all you get is the poof of the AR slowly arresting the travel of your plunger tube. When you slam fire you shoot before the spring can nudge the dart out of the barrel while your AR is still open resulting in better performance.

 

At the very least, it's easy to test my theory - Just buy new darts. No modding required.

Edited by shmmee, 28 April 2016 - 12:27 AM.

[foxmcloud]

That is an interesting theory...I can't wrap my head around what would be the strongarm's problem, maybe the seal can't take the quick priming and discharging of the plunger tube. I'll have to try and improve it to find out. But for the Doominator that makes sense. I have a ton of darts, but I got them all in one shipment from amazon, so they may all be defective. I'll do some testing on that one.

[foxmcloud]

Ok, so I took apart the strongarm and looked at it carefully. I lubed up the plunger tube and improved the seal. I also learned that when firing the PT moves forward due to the pressure of the plunger when firing. When I fire normally, you can watch the PT scoot forward and make a good seal to the barrel. When slam-firing the PT moves forward still, but lightening quick, to the point where I couldn't see it until very close inspection. I suspect that this is why it doesn't shoot well with slam-fire. It's not making a good enough seal. I know this is a pretty specific issue, but any idea why it's doing this? I can't figure out why the tube moves so fast when the function is basically the same with both firing modes.