My Nerf Armoury Vol.3 - Raider CS-35

In my opinion the Raider is an awesome gun. It's range isn't anything like modded Nitefinders (or my Big Salvo, which will be in my next post) however what it lacks in power, it easily makes up in rate of fire and ammo capacity.

Here is a picture-filled Raider review by SG Nerf

Disclaimer: Modifications may wear out or damage your blaster, I take no responsibility for people trying to do the same as me and breaking any part of their blaster.

I did a few mods to my Raider, the first was an Air Restrictor (AR) removal, by using the "pipe-cutter" method. I found that cutting slightly closer to the dip achieved a better result as the inside section then had more pipe to glue to (ask if your performing the mod and your not sure what I mean). I did not put any padding to protect the plunger tube.

I took off the safety catch which only lets you prime the blaster if there is a magazine in it, it was quite obvious what it was and was simple to remove. This lets me load darts into the gun by hand, by doing this I can push the darts in further than they would otherwise go.

I did a "power stock" mod for the blaster. This mod makes the blaster harder to prime but adds around 10' to the range. I used a maverick spring and ended up gluing it to the plunger tube to improve reliability. The mod involves cutting the end of the plunger tube cover off, gluing a short plastic piece to the plunger and putting a spring in between the plunger and inside of the stock (again if you have questions please ask). Here is a picture of what it looks like when I take the stock off and prime the blaster:
 

 

The stock streamlines used to tend to swerve at around 20' making the gun useless at any range above that, however they are now accurate to around 30', or 35' if I load the darts singly.

I will probably add to this post after I have some more Nerf war experience with the blaster.

Blog Updates

In case it isn't obvious enough already, I would like to point out three new additions to this website. The two pages can be accessed by the links under the "UK NERF" heading at the left of the blog. They will be updated and improved regularly.

First off is the UK Nerf stocklist, which is extremely useful if your considering buying a blaster, as it shows where to get the best deals on Nerf products.

Secondly, I have created a map to contain information about where "nerfers" in the UK are, where shops to buy Nerf products are, and other Nerf related things. This map is called the UK Nerf Location Database (or UKNLD for short). It can be edited by anyone, and I would appreciate it if you, yes you (unless you don't live in the UK, then not you), could contribute to it, at least with your location.

Another new thing is the search box on the right. This can not only search this blog, but also other Nerf blogs and Nerf forums. Go on, give it a go.

PS. I am selling a Raider CS-35 stock.

My Nerf Armoury Vol.2 - Mavericks

First off is my black, gold and "leather" Maverick. Yes, I painted over the orange tip. I do not plan on even taking this gun out of my house, so I'm not going to get arrested or shot. This has had its air restrictors removed and a couple of flat (run out of power and flat dimension-wise) batteries put in behind the spring. It is freaking noisy, but has been fired hundreds of times and not broken.

Here is my Girlfriends orange Maverick that I painted for her :D Completely stock internals, and it is colourful enough to use outside. The "wood" grip looks awesome in sunlight, quite proud of it really.

I also have a non-painted Maverick which I use more in games. It's had its air restrictors removed, the spring "stretched", and the rotating clip now swings out further.

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.