Possemhunter

Thank you Langley. I will attend to that location shortly as well.

If anyone has anything else constructive, please comment.

I just want people to stop using the wrong materials. This community of homemade builders has matured a lot in the last couple of years. Collaboration has become the norm, and we are coming up with some awesome stuff because of it. But use of metals makes homemade shift toward paintball and airsoft, rather than nerf. They have their place, specifically in pressurized applications, but otherwise are overkill.

Why care what its made of? It still shoots foam and is never going to wear out or break on me. Plastics get brittle. Metal will not in this situation.
There is lots of pressure on these parts anyway. Maybe not air pressure, but a spring.

For me, this was a chance to test out new tools and materials. I think everyone should try to get the most out of their capabilities and tools. The material was also free. The aluminum came from scrap lawn mower engines that were poured into castings. The waste sprues became my stock for turning.

I got out my tape measures and took some test shots after lubing the gun. I lubed to plunger of course as well as the spring rest where the plunger rod is guided.

Taggers that fit a bit loose were going about 53 feet.

My very poorly made stefans from years ago were going 55 feet.

The best darts I have right now (just getting back into nerf) are cut down streamlines. They are 2.5 inches long and fit very snugly. I ramrodded those down the barrel. Shots were consistently hitting and passing 83 feet. These streamlines do not have the obnoxiously large hole in them for some reason ( just a pinprick that was loaded facing upwards), so they were quite accurate. There was no erratic flight path. I think I could easily hit someone that far away.

I'm very happy with 83 feet from this pistol. A better plunger rod would no doubt get me into the 90's.

To give some more specs I will say that the draw is 2.25 inches. The spring is a replacement from Joseph Fazzio's, the most amazing hardware store/ steel depot/ industrial supplier ever. I might have the package somewhere for a part number.

I like that. I do some welding so this will be very useful. Thanks for posting.

You could easily replace most of that steel plunger rod with aluminum, particularly if you turned it so two aluminum pieces threaded into a steel catch piece.

I also strongly suggest you try 4568T14 as a barrel material. The tolerances are much tighter, it's hard anodized (pretty), and 6063 is actually really nice to turn, if you have carbide tooling to break the anodized layer. The hole is also held concentric to the OD, unlike CPVC or the other common aluminum barrel material from McMaster. I use 6" of each on my aluminum barrels, press-fit together, and it works like a charm.

You could also invest a little in some Mother's aluminum polish and spin your parts up to 1500-2000 RPM on a lathe, then hold a piece of a paper towel with polish on it against the part, as you would with emery cloth. It gives an almost mirror finish. Automotive wax will protect that finish and prevent oxidation.

That is and idea, to thread a steel piece in. I will try to suck every bit of efficiency else where first, but I'll remember this. Heavy plunger rods never help.

I am only using HSS bits. I have heard that if you get under the layer in one pass, any bit will work. Is this true?



The catch does work extremely well. It takes up very little space and isn't prone to breaking at all. Since the catch lays flat against the spring rest, that takes all the force from both sides, which makes for a VERY sturdy build. Spring pushes against one side and catch against the other.