24 replies to this topic

[Hunter]

Hey all.

I love the Max Shot. The range is great. Accuracy, superb. My paintjob, freakin' schweet. You know what I hate though? The cocking lever.
So, I got rid of it, and replaced it with a bolt. Leaving a nice clean top to aim along (I think I may throw on a basic sight, too. Definitely try to add a stock...).







Sure, the cocking lever does help out alot. It is, after all, a lever, increasing the power in which you pull it. That does help. This mod does require some strength. I'm currently experiencing some stabalization problems, but they should be overcome.

Happy Holidays,
Hunter

[Renegade]

Great job Hunter, that's awesome! if I had a maxshot, I'd do that to it.

[cxwq]

I know you already mentioned this, but that mod must make it extremely difficult to cock. Not only is that the heaviest spring I've seen in a nerf-like gun but you're cocking it from one side only.

[okto]

Good job, good idea, but building off of cx's post, you should add another lever to the other side, and maybe make it bigger (ie thicker/stronger).
Another suggestion: put some sort of padding on the front end of the slot, or make sure the slot is long enough that the bolt doesn't hit the end. I could see the power of the Max Shot spring cracking the case if the bolt hit it.

Nice work overall, though. Original mods are kinda scarce.

[Hunter]

The slot does leave enough space. Trust me, I was worried about that, too.

Cx is right. It takes a bit of strength to cock. Maybe if I made some sort of homemade lever... To cock it back from the side...

What do you think?

[okto]

Wouldn't that just be the same thing as the original, but on the side?

[Langley]

I did this a long while ago, but the catch broke, and I haven't fixed it yet. I actually had to do this because the blue thing that goes in between the two lever pieces on the top broke. It was pretty easey to cock.

[Falcon]

Going off what Langley said, I would suggest combining the two ideas. Add a second handle coming out the other side, but make them only about 1" long coming out either side. Then, tie one end of a rope to each end of the new cocking handle. This idea came up because they were saying to add a second handle, like how the sneakshot cocks. However, that would require you to remove a hand from the trigger handle, and then brace the butt of the maxhot against your stomach. With the loop of rope, you can cock it like a normal plunger, without the expensive metal smithing required for the handle seen above. Also, most people don't have access to tools of the sort to make a metal plunger handle like that anyway, so this mod could be a general purpose thing, rather than just salvaging yours.

Edited by Falcon, 20 December 2004 - 05:44 PM.

[Langley]

I used a dremel, but for that particular repair you could do the entire thing with a hack saw and a power drill. I used pop rivets as fastners, which only require you to drill a hole, stick a rivet in, and use the relatively cheap rivet gun to pop it. The curved part was just bent with a mallet for the 90 degree corners and by hand for the rest.

[okto]

NIIICE! I've been planning to do that to my Xbow; where did you get the aluminum?

[ompa]

I've found the stuff around my brass, suprisingly. If you have an ACE hardware, it's next to (kind of) the service counter.

~ompa

[okto]

Hrm, I'll have to check that out.

[Langley]

Lowes usually has a big metal display with iron, steel, and aluminum stock. I've had success with True Value on ocassion too. The stuff I usually get is the smaller sizes of channel stock. (the stuff shaped like |_| ) You can usually get some that nest inside of each other, but it's a tighter fit than brass and doesn't slide freely. Angle stock is also good to have around ( L -shaped) and some bar stock (just the long thin 3/4" wide stuff that bends easey) In that mod I also used some thin aluminum plate. I'd love to use steel diamond plate, but it's heavy, thick, and hard to cut. If only they had the stuff in thin aluminum sheet.

Ompa- Was it in a little cardboard display like the brass, or with a bunch of 4-6' long stuff in a metal rack? Because sometimes they make small plastic, steel and aluminum square tubes and whatnaught. I've never used it though because I can never find a wide assortment.

[ompa]

I've seen it in both, at ACE in the metal racks and in the boxes at Home Depot.

~ompa

[Hunter]

okto, on Dec 20 2004, 03:22 PM, said:

Wouldn't that just be the same thing as the original, but on the side?

But the whole point is leaving the top open to aim. If I make a small lever on the side, my view would not be obstructed.

Very nice, Langley.

[AirApache]

Alright I see what you mean, but keep this in mind (and for most people it takes a while to get past this concept, including me), you can't really 'aim' with your gun. It's a practice thing, as several threads have pointed out. There really is no point to keep a sight or whatnot on the top because it won't help much, unless you're fighting indoors.

When you can shoot with your eyes closed then you know you've practiced enough. (I feel like such a hypocrite saying this...I never practice).

[okto]

You can aim. Having a feel for your gun doesn't mean that sights aren't useful.

[Hunter]

I would agree with you if it was any other gun. Personally, my Maxshot has very good accuracy. I feel a sight (or atleast being able to see along the top of the gun) may actually help a bit for this particular case. Think of the crossbow. You have an almost unobstructed view, and you can follow the case seam along it. I don't own a Crossbow, but it must have decent accuracy as well.

[NerfMonkey]

Hunter, WOW. Awesome. That kind of reminds me of the Scout's cocking mechanism, when I opened mine up I found a little metal rod that fit into a notch-like thing on the inside of the slidey part on top. When it is pulled back, the metal rod thing catches and pulls back to cock the gun. It also looks like some of the older guns with the handles on the sides that you pull back like the Sneak Shot or the Eagle Eye. Very nice!

[Hunter]

So, here are my possibilites:
1. Use this bolt method.
Pros: Clean, out of the way
Cons: Hard to cock, possibily easy to break plunger shaft?
2. Create a sideways cocking mechanism
Pros: Out of the way, easy to cock
Cons: Not sure how it will work, possibly easy to break plunger shaft?
3. Cut down the original cocking lever
Pros: Original pieces are in place, stable
Cons: Some pieces may still obstruct view

I think I will attempt option 3. If I minimize the stock cocking lever and create a smaller handle for it (maybe off to the side?), the internals will still be original, and my problem of view obstruction is greatly diminished.

Off to work,
Hunter

[ompa]

Hunter, here's another possibility. It was stated before, so I take no credit, but I'll try to make it clearer.

Run the bolt all the way through both sides of the gun, and make it very long. Then, bend both to go to the back of the gun, and then form a handle with the two ends.

This would make cocking easier on the cocking rod and your hand for pulling it. If you need any pictures, I'll post them from paint.

~ompa

[Jangadance]

Although the Max Shot is one tough cookie and you mightn't need to worry about this too much...

Adding weight to the plunger handle increases the resistance, so it'll slow the thing down as it tries to compress the air. Putting a big metal bolt that runs all the way to the rear of the blaster would weigh quite a bit and among other complications might decrease performance due to the added resistance. Somethin' else like that might work though.

If you're gonna leave it cocking from the side, make sure you use a real firm grip when you pull it back, because you wouldn't want it bending sideways and snapping off. Obviously. Real neat design though, cleanly pulled off, Hunter.

Edited by Jangadance, 22 December 2004 - 06:26 PM.

[AirApache]

Hunter, on Dec 21 2004, 12:25 PM, said:

I would agree with you if it was any other gun. Personally, my Maxshot has very good accuracy. I feel a sight (or atleast being able to see along the top of the gun) may actually help a bit for this particular case. Think of the crossbow. You have an almost unobstructed view, and you can follow the case seam along it. I don't own a Crossbow, but it must have decent accuracy as well.

Yeah I suppose you are right; kind of depends on the distance, though (Is a maxshot really that accurate to the point of a sight past 50 feet?). I do appreciate the feel of an unobstructed top, however.

Good luck! (Langley's is pimpin', by the way...but I'm sure yours will get there soon.)

AA

[Langley]

Why not do something similar to what I did and have an extension on the plunger tube that comes out of the back? Instead of having it bend upward you could have it bend to the side, as not to obstruct view.

[Doom]

My Max Shot's cocking lever broke months ago and I replaced it with a single rope. That was a very simple and cheap modification -- I only had to drill a single hole in. I've had it like this since and I feel it actually increased performance mostly because there's about zero resitance now. It also functions as a strap, also allowing me to sling it over my shoulder and operate it with one hand. That however, takes some getting used to (but does work verrrrryyyy nicely).

I could only dig up a single image from my hard drive of this. You can also see my replacement rubber band that fixes the problem where you can only shoot it upside down.

Hope this helps if someone's looking for a better Max Shot cocking method.

Edited by Doom, 28 December 2004 - 09:21 AM.