How to make a Nerf Gun shoot 60'+ for $10 (a tutorial)
 

This is the tutorial I talked about posting in this thread over in gaming: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=119032

My logic for putting this here is, that thread was devoted to Nerf Games, this one is all about making a Nerf Gun a formidable weapon :cool:

I whipped up my first good Nerf gun modification last night, and took pretty good pictures in case it turned out cool enough to do a write-up on. Luckily for my potentially wasted evening, it turned out AWESOME! This gun is a BEAST, easily shooting two or three times harder, faster and farther than when it was new and stock.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...f/finished.jpg

Here's what you need to make one of these high velocity foam delivery devices of your own:

Supplies:
From WalMart or Target or ToysRUs, etc:
http://images.hasbro.com/common/imag...5d_main400.jpg
1 NiteFinder...it's like $6. While you're there, buy a pack of velcro tagger darts, they fly better than the shitty suction cup ones that come with it.

From Ace Hardware:
#49 Spring...they have a big section of numbered drawers. Should be like a buck fifty.
One 20 or 25mm long M3 screw
One M3 washer
One M3 nut
A 3 to 4" length of SOMETHING that the foam part of your dart fits tightly in (just the foam, not the 'head'...it should be pretty snug. The two things I found that worked were 1/2" CPVC (Yes, CPVC, NOT PVC) and some little steel pipe fitting. The tutorial I did is with the steel fitting. Bring the dart with you and test fit it for yourself.

From wherever:
One sacrificial Nerf dart or equivalent to be cut up and used as internal support. Use one of the ones that comes with it, or something similar that you have lying around.
If you want the 'laser' sight to work, get 2AA batteries.

Tools
M3 drill bit (or 1/8", if you don't have metric) and drill
High temp glue gun (or you can try a regular glue gun if you've already got one, i bought the hi temp cuz the glue is stronger when it's dried) and some high temp glue sticks.
A way to Cut Stuff. I used both a hacksaw and a dremel, but you could probably do this if you just had one of them, or even a decent file.
Some decently rough sandpaper
A phillips screwdriver

This project is really four complimentary modifications.

This mod is really four complimentary mods:

1. Dissassembly and air restrictor removal
2. Spring replacement and plunger reinforcement
3. Barrel replacement
4. Frame clearancing and padding and final assembly

For ease of organization, I'll devote a post to each. You can get the general idea just by scanning through the pictures, but I recommend reading the whole thing before attempting to duplicate it.

Part 1. Disassembly and air restrictor removal

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...nerf/stock.jpg
Remove all of the screws on the side. Set these asside...it's not terrible important to keep them straight, they're all basically the same, except for the two longer ones on the bottom right.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ottomscrew.jpg
Remove the bottom battery-compartment access screw. Be careful when you seperate the gun, a small square nut will fall out and try to get lost (I didn't notice it was until final assembly, and luckily found it)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5.../nerf/open.jpg

Here you can see the gun open. If you'd like to remove the 'laser' just hack all the electronic bits out of it at this point...for this mod, I just left them in, they're kind of fun, and work better than I thought it would. Go ahead and take the two black screws out of the barrel assembly to remove it...be careful not to lose the vertical latch spring.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...sassembled.jpg
Here you can see that the barrel and cylinder assembly are really five or six parts just squished together...not good at all for an airtight seal. Throw away the three-prong air restrictor and the wimpy spring behind it, and cut the center out of the restrictor part with a long single prong.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...restrictor.jpg
The restrictor should look like this when you are done...I used a drill and a razor blade and needlenose pliers...dremel would have been easier, don't know what I was thinking.

You can stop now, and put it all back together if you want...I haven't shooting with just this, but it is reported online that you get some power gains from this removal. If you couldn't make it to ace to get the spring or barrel, try just sealing all the parts together with hot glue or superglue to make it airtight and putting it all back in. You'll definitely have a better gun than when you started, and until now, all the mods have been free!

Part 2: Spring replacement and plunger reinforcement

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ockplunger.jpg
Taking care not to lose the latch spring (put it somewhere safe--i lost mine sometime after this picture was taken, as you can see it perched precariously), remove the spring and plunger assembly. Try to leave as much lubricant on it as you can. Take the phillips head screw out of the plunger head, but be careful to keep the plunger head together...it's actually two pieces and an o-ring.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ungerdrill.jpg
With your 3mm drill bit (or 1/8", whichever), enlarge the hole in the end of the plunger rod, as well as in the plunger head (forgot to take a picture of that, you guys are clever enough to figure it out)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...r-assembly.jpg
Once you've drilled the plunger shaft and head, reassemble the plunger assembly. Be sure you get the orientation of the latch spring peg and the notch in the shaft correct, and don't forget to swap in your new Ace Hardware #49 spring!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...erfinished.jpg
The 3mm nut is just the right size to fit in the groove, and let you thread the screw through the plunger head and shaft and into it. I recommend putting a washer under the screw head (before the plunger head), because, if you picture the forces at work when the gun is cocked, all of the force goes from the spring to the plunger head to the attachment screw--the whole reason we're replacing this screw to begin with! It can take a couple tries, or some tiny needle nose pliers, to get the nut lined up and threading correctly, so just be patient.

Part 3: Barrel Replacement
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...cut-barrel.jpg
I didn't really think out my cut location, in fact I was pretty sure I was going to have to head back to the store and buy a coupler to get teh barrel to fit correctly and securely. However, it fit fine with just hotglue. Because of the cut location I picked, the extra width the hot glue added meant I had to clearance the body of the gun to get it back together...TEHREFORE I recommend cutting where I marked 'suggested cut'

tl;dnr version: Make a cut where it says suggested.

It is very important that this cut be as close to square as you can make it. Mine wasn't and my gun suffers from some crookedness because of it.

Now, depending on your barrel material, your prep work here will vary. If you have plastic of some kind, cut it to length...make it a little bit longer than the foam body of one of the darts. If you have steel, like I did, check and see if it is rough inside...mine had some slag left from the casting, so I rolled up some sandpaper and smoothed it out.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...f/gluetube.jpg
Once you are happy with your barrel, carefully hotglue your new barrel to the stub of the old one. This is why it is important you got it straight (I clearly did not). For better adhesion, rough up all plastic surfaces with some rough sandpaper before attempting to glue. You need to make this an airtight joint, so once you've got them stuck together, run a bead all the way around.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...arrel-assy.jpg
Note: don't actually install anything in the gun yet, this is just the only picture i had showing my glue joints. Something about hi temp hot glue and trying not to burn myself made me forget to take a picture at the time
Now you need to glue together all the parts of the barrel assembly that you took apart. This means glueing the barrel stub back to the drilled out restrictor, and glueing the restrictor to the cylinder. All of these need to be airtight joints, so once everything is glued, block the end of the barrel with the palm of your hand and carefully fill the whole assembly with water. If any leaks out, seal the leaks with more hot glue. More is better than less here, as we can compensate for pretty much any extra bulk. Doesn't have to be pretty, just make sure it is sealed!

Step 4: Frame clearancing, padding, and final assembly
This step is pretty free-form, all the hard parts are over. You can sum up this whole step in "cram everything back into the body" but, in case you're curious how I did it, here's more detail:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...melandpads.jpg
I took the life of a sacrificial arrow dart from a dollar store nerf knockoff (it had fins and wasn't the right diameter to use for nerf, so I didn't feel bad mangling it) for this step. I think a nerf dart would work fine for this step, too, if not, I'm sure you'll be able to adapt something. Test fit a bunch to see how much you have to dremel--if you cut the barrel stub where I recommended, you'll only have to dremel the farther back flange, not the one closer to the barrel tip, as the glue glob will be completely inside of the little forward enclosure. In any case, slit a dart in half (or something) and add padding to support the barrel from side to side shaking and other abuse. You could just wait until the gun is fully assembled and glob hot glue in around the barrel until it doesn't move, but I still wanted to be able to take my gun apart.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5.../gluedfoam.jpg
Now, slit what is left of the dart lengthwise, and cut that piece in half...you'll understand what I mean if you try to do it. Those pieces are perfect for padding the rear spring perch. I'm not totally sure this is neccessary, but it surely can't hurt anything.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ulptedfoam.jpg
I used my gluegun tip to burn the foam even with the sides of the perch, so it wouldn't interfere with the plunger shaft or the opposite side of the case. If you think this is a good idea, go for it, otherwise, feel free to skip this whole step.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5.../finalassy.jpg
Slide the plunger assembly into the cylinder, and carefully line everything up with the body, starting with the latching mechanism and the latch spring, as you reassemble teh gun. Reassemble it into this side first, so you can throw the two retaining screws in. The flange for the lower of the two retaining screws is almost surely going to get sheared off, but because the barrel is clamped between pieces of foam, I don't feel like I need to reinforce it. Maybe a project for later.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...finished-1.jpg
Make sure the trigger is lined up in its track. Be sure you put the little square nut for the battery cover back in its little groove before putting the two body halves together, or you'll hate yourself when you go to put the battery cover on. Once that's in, snap teh body halves together, screw it together (longest two screws go under the dart holders, rest don't seem to matter), throw in some batteries if you're using the light, and you're done! Congratulations! You now have a nerf gun capable of shooting 60+ feet with startling velocity and surprising accuracy. Load a dart, cock it (see how much harder now?) and fire it off at whatever looks like a target. Maniacal laughter is appropriate at this point.

THE END

WHAT AN EFFORT!!! WOW!!! :thumbsup:




SUPERIOR TUTORIAL!!!!!!!!

awesome dude! gonna have to buy a couple of those guns and get to work!

You inspire me.

Neighborhood vermin beware!!

Freaking awesome tutorial. For $10 it makes me want to go try it. That's a lot of fun for such a low cost.

I bet I could kill me some zombies with this mofo.

60feet is quite a good distance! I'm happy that you made this tutorial available to us!! i'm definitely gonna try it soon... when i get 10$ to spare.

This will be on tap for the kids and I! Plenty of room outside for this type of fun.

I could use this to shoot people as they pass my office... but the suction cups would stick on the glass windows better...

I just bought 2 nitefinders from target... was on sale from the normal $7.99 to $5.74

need to go by ace hardware and pick up what I need to mod em!

If you're looking for more resources, checkout nerfhaven.com and nerfhq.com, the top two Nerf forums.

Sweet fucking nuts! I love you for finding this.

did the air restrictor removal mod on one of my night finders... definently an improvement... sound it makes shooting darts is kinda a suction cuppy sound, pretty cool... but if I dry fire it, it sounds like plastic crashing into plastic...

I think that little spring and 3 prong piece you say to throw away might help reduce the impact of the plunger, especially when dry firing. I'm gonna drill a hole in that piece and leave it in on my next gun... see what happens.

and for some reason my other gun is being a dud practically every shot... like the darts barely leave the barrel... weird... guess that means its time to modify it too

My 14YO thanks you!

that spring/3 prong piece and the air restrictor are there for the exact purpose of making the gun safe to dry fire... removing any part of the assembly will yield plastic-plastic crashing goodness, but not removing any part will take the total possible power down. My solution is just not to dry fire the gun, especially since all the trigger parts are plastic and have a limited life anyway. If you want to dry fire it, I think the best solution would be to make some kind of overtravel stop in the plunger handle itself, and if that's not possible, put a rubber buffer on the end of the plunger. There's a part for the Tippmann model 98 paintball gun that would be perfect for that.

My nightfinder had such soft plastic for the plunger handle that I couldn't even use the stronger ACE spring, but I squeezed a TON of power out of the stock spring by removing all restrictions and epoxying the whole thing together. Using a brass barrel helps too (the size is 17/32" - 1 ft sections available at Ace for like $4) and that size of brass can just be jammed into the stock barrel assembly.

I'll post pics as soon as I get em on my compy... it turned out pretty cool, especially with my mod to the laser ^_^

Careful! You'll shoot your eye out, with that thing.

:D

Wow this is totally sweet! I am going to have to run to walmart and grab some nerf guns this weekend.

I'm gonna buy me some Nerf stocks now.

Great tutorial, thanks for sharing!

Lol I remembered this from years ago and am gonna make it either tonight or tomorrow.

Ok I just got done stretching the spring as far as I could and removing the air restrictor. My barrel was glued together so I had to saw it apart with a steak knife just to get it apart!!! I glued the barrel back together with super glue and it seems to be holding. I wonder how airtight it is.

I gained probably 5-10 feet max distance, and up close the dart velocity is much, much greater, but tapers off at the end. I do have the shitty suction cup darts though.

This is fun as hell!!!!!!!!

pretty cool, is the stock laser even a laser? some of you refer to it as a light

Neat! Now get it to fire darts with sleeping poison. I could so see that on something like Burn Notice (tv show that uses silly but sometimes real little inventions like this to accomplish goals; think modern McGuyver).

This reminds me when I used to make blow dart guns as a kid. They were pretty formidable. My dad worked at a printing press and they'd have excess thin, fleixble, plastic. I'd roll those up as a tube, tape it. Then roll a cone put a needle through it, shove it in the tube, cut of the excess and blow. Thing would stick in walls 15 yards away.

It's a small red circle that you can even calibrate. It's definitely a red laser.

Finally done with my gun!!!

Total mods:

1. Removed air restrictor in the barrel
2. Replaced spring with a beefy spring from Home Depot
3. Padded the inside like telekinetic's guide
4. Cut the barrel and attached a 1/2" CPVC barrel

It now shoots 71 FEET LOL!!!!!!!!!!

Pics:

This is after the glue has been applied!
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2788191_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...9_901617_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4362345_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5206544_n.jpg

Not bad for my first ever Nerf mod!!!!!! I think it's a super clean mod. I used super glue and a steak knife. :thumbsup:

Awesome thread.

We were visiting friends a couple weeks ago and they had a bunch of Nerf guns that they had bought for Christmas. First thing hubby asks them: "Have you thought about modding them?" The rest of the weekend was spent researching Nerf mods and taking apart Nerf guns. I think hubby wants some of his own to mod now.

Nice work Lasereth! That looks super clean, you done good!

I had some friends over the other day and did two of the world's quickest mod, I should buy another and make a video.

Absolute Bare Minimal mod: Cock NF, place 1/2" drill bit in drill press, drill straight down barrel through air restrictors. You are done! Just about doubled the distance, total time, 60 seconds.

Slightly less Bare Minimal Mod: Cock NF, place 7/16" drill bit in drill press, drill straight down barrel through air restrictors, jam clear plastic PTFE tubing into barrel. Seal with hotglue. Picked up another 15 feet. Total time, 120 seconds.

I'd love to see what this guy could do with a tube of toothpaste, a pack of gum and a Penn Arms L1.

Telekinetic you have created a monster.

I now own like 20 foam dart guns. I've modded 5 of them at least.

My Sky Chaser ($3 from a local store) now shoots 85 feet with $3 of mods in it:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/15500030/SkyChaser1.JPG

My Ultimate Snipe Blast shoots 60-80 feet depending on the dart. STOCK spring in it also!!!! :

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7460263_n.jpg

Sky Chaser Green version (65 feetish):

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7711344_n.jpg

The Arsenal:

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...7_675256_n.jpg




Also, the Nitefinder you see in the previous post above now shoots a few of my darts 100 feet lol. I shortened the barrel and removed another air restrictor.

I don't know what that bolt-action looking thing is at the bottom of the table but I want one.

That's a Buzz Bee Hunter. I'm still trying to decide how to modify it. Since it's bolt action, it makes modifications extremely complicated. One of the funnest guns I have though lol.

I've recently taken a liking to the Buzz Bee Ultimate Snipe Blast and have decided to try and sell my first two production models on ebay.


They shoot 50-70 feet with ease and are super easy to load (unlike my Nitefinder listed above).

My collection is still growing lol. I haven't been on the computer in weeks. My wife loves the new hobby :)