Notes From a Maker

A semi-automatic mag-in-grip Nerf pistol has long been the holy grail in Nerf design. Fortunately, the hobby has come to a point where mag-in-grip pistols are now possible. While many are electronic and rely on tiny flywheels, very few are air powered due to many engineering challenges. This is a prototype design I'm working on that aims to solve some of those challenges in an unusual way. Difficulties with Pneumatic Nerf Pistols So why is it so difficult to design a semi-automatic Nerf pistol? There's a couple of obstacles which make it different and more challenging compared to a larger form factor blaster like a rifle. Dart Size Dart size is a huge constraint to Nerf design. Before the popularization of half darts, it was impossible to fit a magazine in the grip due to the darts being nearly 3 inches long. Half darts make it possible at last for magazines to be able to be held in the grip. Even still, the darts are larger than one of the largest pistol calibers, the .50AE, a...

The Nerf Rapidstrike is one of Nerf's fully automatic flywheel magfed blasters. Released in 2013, it was the first fully automatic flywheel blaster in Nerf's stable, and it remains one of the premier modding platforms for fire rate. While there have been other full auto blasters released later on like the Hyperfire, the Rapidstrike is more preferred for modding because of the pusher system, which can be pushed to very high fire rates without skipping darts, which the conveyor belt systems in later blasters are wont to do.  Target and Parts I am targeting a very budget build, utilizing relatively affordable components compared to what's out there. Battery will be 3S to maintain commonality with my Stryfe, as I plan on using that as my only battery. FPS will be in the 150-ish range, if not slightly lower to stay within the FPS limits of our local group. Fire rate will be as high as possible, and the highest I have seen so far is around 16DPS. Now that's not practical at a...

  LW Spec Front End Coming in at 1.05kg (2.3lb), the original Mesa blaster isn't exactly a heavyweight, but it's no featherlight either, especially compared to other Nerf blasters. There are always benefits in lightness, so it makes sense to try and lighten the Mesa a bit. I'd be happy to get it under 2 pounds, or .91 kilograms. Planned Modifications Since most of the back half of the blaster is pretty buttoned up, there wasn't much I could do in the back to save weight. Thus most of my weight savings came from the front. Now this does affect the center of mass of the blaster to bias it a bit towards the rear, but that seemed like an acceptable change for a few reasons. For one, a lighter front made it a little more maneuverable, as there's less inertia when turning. Also, I wanted to add some side rails for more accessories, which would have cancelled out the weight savings in the front and biased the center of mass anyways.  In the entire blaster, the 3D printed c...

  I will be going over the design process of a Nerf magazine stock. It's a pretty quirky adapter which allows the user to use a spare Talon magazine as a stock.  The part can be downloaded on Thingiverse . Inspiration I saw a video of the Russian PP-2000, which was one of my favorite weapons to use in the game Ghost Recon Online, and I noticed a feature that I had never seen before. In addition to the familiar folding stock, there was a cutout that apparently was designed to hold a spare magazine to use as a makeshift stock. That was pretty fascinating, and seemed like an interesting way to hold more ammunition on the gun itself, which I am a fan of. Thus, I wanted to do a similar thing with my Nerf blasters.  PP-2000, with the spare magazine inserted in the stock Initial Concept The first step was to determine whether I wanted to make it out of a full size Nerf magazine, or a half length Talon magazine. Ultimately, I chose to use a Talon magazine because the full length ...

  The Nerf Hammershot is a five round revolver released in 2013 as part of the Zombiestrike line. Notably, it was the first Nerf blaster to use a hammer cocking system, which allowed it to be primed with only one hand. There were other single handed priming mechanisms used in the past, such as the trigger pull mechanism used on the Dart Tag Snapfire, but the hammer prime allowed for much more power and greater springloads, while having one of the best triggers in the business. Three new colorways were released in 2020 as Amazon exclusives, and I picked up the "Caution" colorway during a sale. Here we will be taking a deep dive at the internals, with detailed notes and disassembly instructions. Plenty of reference photos will be provided along the way. Disassembly Disassembly starts with first removing nine screws on the shell, labelled below. The screws are the same throughout the exterior of the blaster. The nine screws holding the bottom shell together Once that's been ...

The Berm, with a straight handle After the Mesa, I wanted something simple and easily repeatable, as that would make it easier for others to reproduce it as well. To that end, I wanted to try to make it completely 3D printed, and not require any other tools to build.  Initial Design I had some ideas for what I wanted. It definitely would have to be a pistol format, and I wanted a simple design. I had some ideas for a Welrod style blaster, so that's what I decided to focus my efforts into. While working on figuring out a mechanism for a magazine version, I decided it would be easier to just start out with a single shot variant. The Welrod style also helped with some design criteria for the blaster. True to its stealthy covert origins, I wanted my blaster to be quiet and inconspicuous. In addition, I gave myself the challenge of making it completely without any metal, which means no conventional springs or screws to hold it together.  The Welrod MkII, the inspiration for this bu...