6 replies to this topic

[ShadowSniper]

Ok, I recently got a new nightfinder, and have modded my two other nightfinders to get a good idea of how these things work.

This time though, I wanted a gun that shoots farther than the other two, and I wanted it quiet. Sooo...after building and trying my own silencer made out of PVC pipe and a cardboard roll, i found the silencing results to be dismal IF it even silenced it at all. I wanted to get rid of that annoying springy pop noise you hear when you shoot, so I cracked open the case and decided to try internal silencing.

After taking a look at the inside, I determined that the noise was due to two things. 1: The spring as it pushes the plunger. 2: The internal parts rattling as it shoots. So, I did my best to tighten things up and stop the rattling of parts (not sure if it actually did anything but whatever). Then I pulled the spring/plunger out of the chamber, took the o-ring off, and put some electrical tape on it, then put the oring back on. After lubing it up, it literally stoped the plunger when I put my finger over the end. Bingo, there was the power I wanted. After putting a new PVC barrel on I then tackled the problem of the noise that persisted to be noisy. I cracked the case open again, and carefully put toilet paper on all sides of the plunger assembly and then reasembled the gun.

After reassembly, I pulled the handle back and fired. STILL NOISY. It was as if I hadnt done a thing to it. Dismayed at my failure, I put a stefan in the barrel and cocked it, with the intent of seeing the ranges anyway. When I shot, the only noise I could hear was a small whoosh of air as the stefan came out, No pop, No rattle. IT WORKED! I now have a almost completely silenced nerf gun perfect for assasin games.

Here's a few pics of the reassembled gun. Sorry, No internal pics. (I might add some later if I feel like it)



Ranges Are as follows. Shot using the same stefan straight ahead (No Angle) on a almostwindless day:
49.8'
78.5'
82.4'
67.6'
74.5'
71.8'

[nerfer34]

Sounds like a good job! My question is in your range testings. How does the sam estefan shoot 49' and the 82'? Last time I checked the NF was a very consistent gun.

[NinjZ]

A stefan changes slightly every time you fire it. Stefans and NERFisnt an exact science.

[nerfer34]

Yea I could see 20 feet at max but not 30. Probably there was a little wind involved.

[ShadowSniper]

Sounds like a good job! My question is in your range testings. How does the sam estefan shoot 49' and the 82'? Last time I checked the NF was a very consistent gun.

The 49.8 shot was the first one I fired, I'm guessing I left a few brambles where I cut the PVC pipe with a band saw, plus it kind of went erradic before straightening out when it left the barrel. I wasn't going to add it in because it was probably some mistake I made cleaning the gun out or loading but I figured I would put all of the shots I took so far. And after taking a few more shots, they were consistently getting in the mid 70's, with some dipping into the high 60's and low 80's.

[LordoftheRing434]

Very nice jorb. If you ever need to open it up again, another silencer consideration is to place a piece of foam sheet behind the plungerhead to prevent spring contact. I performed this on my NF and with a crayola/PVC barrel, I get around the same ranges you get. Mine just has a shitload of rubberbands on it. But what you did sounds like it worked, and I commend you for it.

~Rings

[Pineapple]

You ought to post that mod!

It appears that you have an EX-3 Nitefinder, which, according to the couple that I have, are equipped with a slightly WEAKER spring than the previous run of NFs. Nevertheless you manage to average just over 70 feet flat with your mod, with no bands or elastic.

I rebuilt an EX-3 with the spring from one of my first-gen NFs, custom built a PETG barrel with 'ideal' resistance to work with the more powerful spring, and some nicely crafted Stefan darts, 1.5 inch, BB size split shot weighted. All restrictions removed.

Despite that, I only average 60 feet TOPS. Usually hovering around 55 - 60 feet or so. I don't like the look or the excess strain that rubberbands or elastic or bungee cords have on Nerf blasters. 50-60 is all I want in a pistol anyway. If I need more range, I'd bust out my SM5k.

The only thing I didn't do was put electrical tape on the plunger end, and if that would squeeze an extra 10 feet or so out of my NF, I'd get on to it.


About silencing, it's not as though there is any noticable sonic crack or muzzle blast, which is what most silencers or suppressors reduce. I guess most of the Nerfing we do is out in the open, so worrying about the clack of plastic isn't such a big deal. Heck, we belch and fart louder than most of the Nerf blasters going off anyway.

I tried on one of my old-school NFs to hotglue some foam craft sheet, 1 layer, to the plunger face, and keeping the flat restriction that the plunger pushes up against (since you modded your NFs, you know what part I'm talking about.) It didn't reduce any plastic impact noise appreciably. If one of my six old-style "rental" NFs goes on the fritz, I'll probably experiment with adding layers until we get some sound reduction. Just for kicks, not that I'm in the assassination trade or anything like that.

And yes, I agree that a silencer, even a mock one, would look really cool on an NF, TTG, or even a Crossfire.


-Piney-