My Nerf Armoury Vol.1 - Nitefinder

Over the next few weeks (or maybe months if I'm slow), I will be "showing off" my Nerf blasters, one by one on the blog. First off is my smallest, slowest firing, but my most modded and most powerful gun, my Nitefinder.

After getting the gun and putting a couple of batteries in it, you will find that the "red light beam" is awful. I found a simple free way to improve it, all you need is a couple of centimeters of tin foil:

For a bit more information about the mod, click here.

After using this a bit, I found that it was still almost useless. This is because I rarely used it to help aim, as usually I just point the blaster in the general direction of the enemy and fire, and also the lens in the front of the gun moved out of place every time the blaster was put down (If asked I'll explain in more detail).

To make use of space left after I took the "targeter" assembly out, I put in a small single AAA LED torch. This fitted extremely well with only a bit of sanding to get it to fit. I then soldered some new wires in to get everything working. And yes, I am now using 2 AA batteries to power a AAA torch, it is now very bright, and I am confident it is not going to blow the LEDs.

I added a Nerf Firefly spring to the gun which fits brilliantly and has given it significantly more power. (Its the smaller one on the inside in the picture).

I also did an air restrictor removal type procedure, where I used boiling water, a sharp craft knife, and a flat head screwdriver to melt the glue and take out a large section of the firing mechanism. I then replaced that part with a (heavily glued in to make airtight) thick rubber pad with a 5(ish)mm whole drilled through the middle. This mod allows more air to go through to push the dart out, increasing range. It also allows the plunger to travel slightly further into the gun, and the rubber cushions the impact.

Did you notice the metal bar in the picture of the gun with the light on? Well it's a magnet, so I can do this:

As you will have noticed, there is also a large rubber band on the gun, this increases ranges by I'm guessing another 10ft. I will measure exact ranges if there is enough requests. I think I have given the gun the most power it can handle without a barrel replacement, which I don't currently have supplies for. Unfortunately the accuracy of this gun isn't great, as every so often one of the darts fired will fishtail/spin awkwardly in the air.

If you participate in outdoor Nerf wars, or like "sniping" (I use that term extremely loosely) I would recommend this over the maverick because it can achieve twice as good range with just some rubber bands attached, or over three times the range - like mine - with internal mods as well. However if you play in very confined spaces or with small children then the Maverick would be a better choice, because its significantly faster rate of fire will be much more important than power.