mintee

Nerf United Vancouver is proud to be hosting nerf wars again! Back in time for a few wars for summer/fall 2011, we're starting off with a throwback war.

Close-quarters urban combat is the name of this war's game. This is the PERFECT time to join if you're a newbie to foam ballistics, as we'll be playing mostly indoors, where stock weaponry is equally as useful as modded.

Yes, a few of the vets have expressed their interest in having Nerf Wars again, and have proposed we go back up to scenic SFU campus on Burnaby Mountain and revisit our old battlegrounds, namely...

...ELEVATOR ACTION.

You heard right; smack dab in the middle of Simon Fraser University, in the depths of the Faculty of Science halls, where many darts were lost, where many legends were created. Multiple levels of barren concrete halls, steel stairs, doors and elevators, and a bit of glass.

We'll be playing CTF, DM/TDM, Freeze Tag, et cetera!

Make sure to have your gear and darts marked!

I know this is the same date as Maker Faire, so I'll be organizing one for July and August as well.

And like it says on the description, it's a GREAT time for new blood to join us! We'll be playing mostly indoors where the advantage of heavily modded nerf guns disappears. So we're definitely welcoming anyone who is interested in the sport and new to the hobby!

Facebook event link|Facebook group link
UPDATE: We're organizing a group buy for Foam Sports stefans. Check out our Facebook group page for more details. Watch the video, be amazed!

ARE YA READY? PUT YA GUNS ON! LET'S GO!

It has come to my attention that nobody's organizing the SOF's stop to Vancouver. Does that mean there's no active nerf community in Vancouver? HELL NO, though as much as I hate to admit it you guys sure are quiet. (Two pages on the NUVO thread and most of them are mine. Thanks, guys. I hope this won't be the case again.)

So let's plan! I've already scoped out this brand-new park in Surrey that looks FANTASTIC to play in (and is literally across the street to a Skytrain station and mall/eateries/supermarkets). Holland Park (google map, click on satellite).

If we don't have any better suggestions then this is where we'll war it out. You can take any bus to Surrey Central or King George station, or take the Skytrain to King George station and simply cross the street.


I've also considered Stanley Park and it's just too busy to play in. (Though who wouldn't love a war at Deadman's Island?) Our backup is 3 blocks down, at Bear Creek Park (a short bus ride away). NUVO's old stomping grounds are too small.

Date is Tuesday July 21st, 2009. Let's get there around 9, 10 am?

Bring snacks or money to get food.

We'll be playing the usual Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Pistol Round, Infection, and Team Freeze Tag. The usual NUVO rules will be followed (one shot kill, 3/15, melee/gun blocks, guns are tested on field, etc).

This is what you will end up with.


The following mods are simple and will not be explored in detail:

• Crossfire spring, in addition to the normal DS spring
• Two o-rings on the plunger head
• Air Restrictor removal
• Dril through the plunger stopper and filled dead space with hot glue a la Angel's Shotgun Mod
• Seal the plunger tube and end piece together with Fishin Glue
• Lube the plunger

The first two are shown in this pic.


Now lets get busy.

First of all, throw this away. It is useless and gets in the way of your barrel. You can sand the inside down if you wish, but ultimately too much work for too little gain.


Now, find your barrel of choice, preferably one with a slim wall like brass or PETG. You need to make a physical barrier to prevent the dart from being sucked all the way into the plunger tube, which can only be fixed by taking the gun apart. There are various ways to do this, such as using a thin string, rubber band, fishing line, etc and holding it in place with tape or glue, but I was having fun with my first pipe cutter and did this.



I cut 3/4 around the tube, then folded it in with pliers. You could alternatively just use pliers to crimp it, or tape some fishing line across the plunger end of the barrel. It is easy to make a notch in PETG and brass for the wire, and simple enough to glue it in place.

The barrel I used is roughly 3 inches, and the gun can handle a longer barrel (maybe 4 or 5 inches). Loading it all the way into the back of the barrel was difficult, though, and rather than having a longer barrel which the gun cannot vacuum load completely, I chose a shorter barrel which the gun will consistently vacuum load all the way to the end. I do not plan on ramrodding darts in the middle of a firefight.

To keep the barrel stable, I used a lot of electrical tape. The electrical tape keeps the barrel from being pushed out and stabilizes it against the frame of the gun which used to hold the stock barrel (the part I had first told you to throw away). Also, I glued the front end of the barrel around where the front barrel ring goes around, for further stability.



Not much to it. Just make sure you add electrical tape to one side if the gun doesn't fire straight.

And last, but not least, the dart holders. Since I started using 1.75 inch stefans, my darts had a tendency to get lost in the deep end of the dart holders. I simply used Fishin Glue to glue the flat back piece of the dart holders to a plastic bag, and cut around it with a knife. This keeps my darts in place, without letting them get lost inside the gun.



Now this gun is a heck of a pistol. Even with padded Captain Slug stefans I hesitate to shoot myself with it. At a doorway precisely 30 feet away, the dart doesn't drop and makes a loud impact sound, and accurate as hell if you aligned the barrel properly. It hurts just as much as (if not more than) a fully modded SMDTG at 40 pumps. I imagine at least 40 feet with it.

::edit:: I hear claims of 60 feet, and I wouldn't be surprised, but for personal reasons stated above, I chose to keep the barrel short. Also, Of All The Nerf's already done much of what I've done, so please look through his thread for another look at a Disc Shot mod. OfAllTheNerf's Disc Shot mod

Anyways, I just felt like posting this because I am madly in love with this gun. Simple and even painful up close. This ain't no Maverick, folks.

Now I've been avoiding integrating my Spideys because of a leak. The problem is as follows:

• Pump up the Spideys as much or as little as you like
• Wait one or two minutes
• Fire with significantly less pressure than the amount you pumped it for

Now there's a loss of pressure in the air tanks because of a leak. When you fire the gun after a minute or two, suddenly you get duds! That totally sucks, and nobody wants their backup/integration to malfunction in the middle of a game. So I attacked it with a tub of water, of course, to find the leak. To all those who still haven't figured it out, the answer is here!

Now there's an inherent leak in the middle of your detonator trigger. The part where it is connected to the white tube is poorly sealed. Nothing else in my guns leak; I thoroughly checked them under water and no other problems could be found. Your mileage may vary.


Here you can see the leak. The air bubbles form at the only place I've found a leak so far. See how important checking for your leaks is?

Now while the leak is only for one of the tubes, all of the blast chambers are affected.

How to fix? Goop it up where the white tubing meets grey plastic. Make sure not to goop too much or it won't go back into place in the housing.

I can barely get my MS to shoot 30 feet flat. I've done the following:

• Dremel the green OPR valve and glued it into place
• Dremel off the blue plastic panels which restrict the space for the tank to expand
• Glued the hole on the white winged piece which touches the back of the magazines
• Remove ARs on the clips

The first few darts are significantly weaker than the last in the stream. I can fire two clips just fine. I've tried banding the piston but that doesn't improve the range for me. I still haven't tried:

• Banding the bladder
• Sanding down the plastic which interferes with the trigger
• Putting PETG or brass on the clips

But even Angel's hit 40' at least before those, right? Any tips, anything I missed?