14 replies to this topic

[1337hax0r]

I was wondering if anyone has tried this or whether it is even possible.

Since all I can find here is 5/8" FBR, and stefan micros are superior to stefan megas, I was thinking of first heating the FBR in a dryer and then squishing it through CPVC and leaving it to cool off in there. Will the 5/8" FBR be malleable enough to fit in the CPVC after trying and will it retain the 1/2" diameter? Thanks, I really would rather use up my 100' of FBR from the old days rather than buy it online.

[Maverick Master]

Why not try it!?!?! Really go and try and let us know.

[LastManAlive]

Try it, and also, try using some copper. If all you have available is 5/8ths, then you whould think about using copper barrels. But in order to make your gun work with 1/2 too, then I have a good idea for you.

Take for instance a Nightfinder pistol.

The mod you need to do is put a 1/2inch PVC coupler on the gun, much like a CPVC one. Now, it will take PVC barrels. For you to fire micro stefans, you need a copper barrel (looser than CPVC) to fire YOUR stefans, and CPVC to fire other peoples stefans. So, for your barrels, take about 6 inches of PVC, and 6 inches of either copper or CPVC, and hammer the copper or CPVC into the PVC. You should have 2 barresl now, one with copper in it and one with CPVC in it. You simply put the PVC barrel into the coupler, and you can fire 1/2inch stefans out of the CPVC/PVC one and your 5/8ths inch stefans out of the copper/PVC one. You should get a good enough seal in the copper barrel and with your foam for a spring gun, but you may need something a little tighter for an airpowered gun.

Thus, spring powered guns need a looser barrel than air powered guns.

[1337hax0r]

OK I think you have a couple things backwards here my friend. First of all, 5/8" stefans BARELY fit in SCH 40 1/2" PVC, so adding the copper barrel inside would make it useless. Also, spring powered guns rely on building pressure behind the dart so they require a tighter (perhaps nested) fit whereas air powered guns work best with 9/16 brass for micro stefans. Anyway, I appreciate you trying to help. I wish I had some cpvc so I could test the FBR conversion...maybe I'll try it with a crayola barrel.

[Pineapple]

I was wondering if anyone has tried this or whether it is even possible.

Since all I can find here is 5/8" FBR, and stefan micros are superior to stefan megas, I was thinking of first heating the FBR in a dryer and then squishing it through CPVC and leaving it to cool off in there. Will the 5/8" FBR be malleable enough to fit in the CPVC after trying and will it retain the 1/2" diameter? Thanks, I really would rather use up my 100' of FBR from the old days rather than buy it online.

I wouldn't do it.

First off, who said micro stefans are "superior" to mega stefans? I've tried both, in air-powered and in spring powered blasters, and the ONLY disadvantage I can see, if any, are Mega stefans in a spring-powered pistol (like a NiteFinder). You'd probably lose a couple feet of range, but that can be made up with trajectory aiming (everyone does it in a war), and megas usually pack a bit more wallop than similar length micros because most megas carry a bit more weight (I use 2 BB sized split shots, or 2 .177 caliber lead balls, as opposed to 1 weight for micro stefans). Only my opinion, others may have a different philosophy.

The hard part about the whole dealio is that FBR, PVC, CPVC, and PETG tubing, all the synthetic stuff, tend to have varying tolerances that do have an effect on stefan performance. One guy's 5/8" FBR may be tight as heck in their 1/2" SCH40 PVC, while others would find it loose enough to yield great performance, in say, an air-powered blaster like a SM 1500 (I speak from personal experience). My 1500s were shooting 90-100 feet with mega stefans back in the day. Same with my AirTech 3000s (single barreled 1/2" PVC).

Nowadays, I use mainly micro stefans, because I received some PETG that absolutely rock and rolled. But that doesn't stop me from experimenting with 5/8" FBR and working with some mega stefans again. In fact, I got a bum roll of 5/8" FBR that wouldn't fit in my SCH40 PVC, but fit nicely in some 200psi (SCH 20) thinwall PVC. The result of this was my SM 5000 Roadblocker project.

Now that I'm running out of PETG,, I'm probably going to revert back to 1/2" SCH40 PVC, since I cannot find any brass tubing in Hawaii anymore. But I'll still crank out micro stefans, since so many of our blasters use them.

I've never heard of anyone trying what you want to do, but remember...it's just foam. Too much heat, too much compression, too much stress on the foam, and you might end up with goo. Or foamy Reeses pieces.

Good luck, hax0r.


-Piney-

[sam]

Piney makes a good point.
But here's what I think. I don't know if you could stretch it down to fit into cpvc, but I think it maybe possibly to stretch it down enough to use 9/16"or 19/32" brass. With lots of twisting I can fit most of one of my mega Stefans in 9/16". It fits similar to micro Stefans fit in say 15/32" brass. So with a little stretching I think it might be possible with some brass. Of course this is assuming that you have similar FBR to mine.

[1337hax0r]

I think what I'm gonna do is get 2 30 packs of dart taggers and make myself a nice set of 60 converted darts. Does anyone know what brass size they would recommend in an airgun for this ammo type? Cxwq recommends 9/16, but everywhere else I've seen people use 17/32, but if someone has experience with converted dart taggers please let me know.

Also, I wish I had some of that thin-wall PVC around here, but I haven't found any to fit my FBR.

[Paloose]

I use stock tagger darts, but 9/16" brass is good for air guns, and 17/32" is good for spring guns.

Most people would nest the 17/32" in the 9/16". But I just nest the 17/32" in 1/2"pvc so I can still use stock darts with good results.

[sam]

With converted tagger darts, you should use 17/32" brass. I'd say that dart fitment is good enough where you could use that size with both spring and air powered guns. Which air gun will this be going on?

[1337hax0r]

This is going to be on both a sm1500 and an at2k. On at2k it is a little confusing, since I cut the turret at the line so that the barrel stubs are remaining. The body of the dart fits snugly in these stubs, so adding anything to the inside of them like many mods suggest would be way too small or require tons of sanding. I think I'll just cut the barrels flush with the base.

[LastManAlive]

OK I think you have a couple things backwards here my friend. First of all, 5/8" stefans BARELY fit in SCH 40 1/2" PVC, so adding the copper barrel inside would make it useless. Also, spring powered guns rely on building pressure behind the dart so they require a tighter (perhaps nested) fit whereas air powered guns work best with 9/16 brass for micro stefans. Anyway, I appreciate you trying to help. I wish I had some cpvc so I could test the FBR conversion...maybe I'll try it with a crayola barrel.

If you are going by those sizes, then you either A) have some funky foam, have a funky ruler or C) you are converting metric to inces wrong, because if you'r 5/8ths inch foam BARILY fits in your 1/2inch Sch. 40 barrel, then why are you posting? Just use that for a barrel. You can still use a barrel with CPVC inside it. You are talking about the white PVC right? The greyish stuff is Sch. 80 and if it is, then you should turn to brass 9/16ths brass for your darts.

Also, I think YOU have your facts backwards. For a spring gun, the last thing you want is a tight barrel. Though my foam fits close enough for springers and air guns, I do know that I like to use a losser fitting dart in my spring guns. To tell you how loose that is for me, it is able to be blown down the barrel with a loose fitting dart with SOME preasure. But like Pinney said, everyones foam is diferent.

I personnally find stock tagger darts tight in CPVC, and my darts fit loose in CPVC and moderately tight in 17/32s brass. From these 2 facts, I would say to use 9/16s (nested in 1/2inch PVC for the 1500) for both guns if you plan to use tagger darts in them both. I am actually thinking about making custom darts for my guns myself aside from my stocked up pile of crap darts (I don't make the best darts when rushing). I am going to use tagger dart foam for my NF for I have no clue how they do in my air guns yet, but they go farther than my stefans.

[Paloose]

On at2k it is a little confusing, since I cut the turret at the line so that the barrel stubs are remaining. The body of the dart fits snugly in these stubs

I know at least on the at3k that if you cut the barrels past the line then the tighter barrels stop and you are left with a little more space. Enough space so that you could fit in your 9/16" brass barrels with ease. But since I don't have an at2k I couldn't tell you if it's the same for both guns.

[Falcon]

Just to reiterate the point, you should use 17/32" as your main barrel section for dart tag stefans. If it's in an airgun, just stick some 1/2" PVC or PETG over the brass to protect it. If it's for a springer, nest a short piece of 1/2" brass in the back of it.

People talking about 9/16" brass are referring to the use of standard micro stefans, which are typically a good fit for 9/16". Dart tag foam is smaller than average stefans, and is a perfect fit for 17/32".

[1337hax0r]

So if I wanna use both I'm screwed =/

[sam]

I would just completely switch over. My brother uses Dart Tag conversions, and I love them. If most of my guns weren't already modded for my stefans (with are almost the exact same size as DTCs), I would also use DTCs. I don't seem any real reason to use both.