Thursday, November 27, 2008

Nerf!

Yes, Nerf. And yes, I have been drinking but, I only had two beers in me when I decided to turn my innocent little Nerf gun into a deadly weapon. Okay, maybe not deadly but, I have more than doubled the range, and made the darts fast enough to leave a nice red mark if you get hit by one.

(this is my gun. there are many like it but this one is mine)
(actually this one belongs to amazon, I was too lazy to take a picture of mine)

I picked up a Nerf Switch Shot EX-3 (also known as the Nerf Wii gun) at wallyworld a few days ago. This is probably the best gun controller for the wii and the ability to shoot Nerf darts makes it just plain awesome. So, for only fifteen bucks I couldn't pass it up.

First off, this is a kickass little toy. Even without modifications the darts can fly over 30 feet, and the Wii mode is fantastic. You're probably asking yourself "if it's so great why did I have to mess with it?" Don't you know me at all?

Just because it ain't broken is no reason not to fix it, or something like that. Actually I was over at my brother's for thanksgiving earlier, and being the dutiful uncle that I am, I took it upon myself to entertain my nephew while everyone else was fawning over his baby sister. He's got a Star Wars themed foam dart gun which frankly sucks. Sure it looks great, but it's only got a fifteen foot range, twenty with a good tailwind. Not that that kept him from getting his only dart stuck up on the roof.

So, after an excellent meal, I come home and get to thinking about this poor deprived child with his lame-ass blaster and decide that he needs something better. Something like my Nerf gun but then I think, if this is good enough for a four year old(yes, I'm the bad uncle, not to be mistaken for the creepy uncle) then I need something much better for myself. The only solution; break out the powertools. Proper application of powertools is actually the solution to most of the worlds problems.

Again, no photos cause I'm lazy, but I popped open the firing mechanism. It's a simple, spring loaded, air chamber about 3/4 of an inch wide, but it only has an opening of 1/8 of an inch for the air to flow through to the dart. This is far from big enough, so I drilled it out to 1/4 inch, with some good results, but not good enough for me. I look at the barrel side and, after removing the guide post for the dart, I see that there's another 1/8th inch hole on this side and some sort of valve in between. I drill this side out to 7/32nds of an inch and tape up a couple of holes in the barrel. And, bam, I've got a weapon of Nerf destruction.

This thing actually scares me a little bit now, and I know I can make it even more powerful with a few more modifications. Those would require exterior changes though, and I quite like the stock design. The only things I would change are the grip, which is usable, but too short for my ham hands, and the front ammo/accessory holder, which, IMO, is just useless weight.

Now I couldn't go through all this trouble and not test it out by shooting a few cans, could I? And, I can't shoot cans without making a video, can I. So, as a little present to you for reading this whole article about a toy gun. I give you video. Sorry about the stupid accent; something about drinking and playing with guns (even Nerf guns) brings out my inner redneck.




βeta, out.

2 comments:

mom of 2 wonderful brats said...

Can I suggest a few more targets for you?...

~Jessica~ said...

I suggest no operating a video camera during or after having consumed alcohol... Just a suggestion...