Let's have some Tacticool!

For those of you who are following me because of the name of this blog, I'm sure you're a little bit confused. "Where's the Tacticool?" My answer to that is - right here.

This is a prime example of what tacticool means. What we have here is an over-decked-out Demolisher 2-in-1, with EVERY possible place to put something, filled. Here's what I put on it:

• A Recon CS-6 stock*, complete with extra clip
• A 35-dart drum* from the Raider CS-35
• A Recon CS-6 barrel extension*
• A Stampede ECS-18 blast shield
• A Recon CS-6 light beam unit*
• A Recon CS-6 flip-up sight*

* = painted
Can you tell I own a painted Recon CS-6?

Front view. Get through that.

Top view showing the handle mounted on the side.

A much more rational weapon, but still kinda tacticool.

10 days later...

My deepest of apologies for the reeeaaally long delay. I had a rather busy life for a while there. Between school, chores, and a three-day, all-day speech and debate tournament, I had limited free time.

BUT NOW I'M BACK!!!


As such, I hope to post something tomorrow.
And just to warn you, I've got another three-day, all-day speech and debate tournament coming up at the beginning of next week, so things might be kinda slow for a while.

Anyway, happy nerfing!

        ,,,,..
[˘˘˘˘7º''''''''''''''''''''

Nerf Demolisher 2-in-1

Have you ever wished you could take a Stryfe and make it bigger? No!?!?  Well, apparently Hasbro thought you did. Seriously, this is basically just a re-shelled Stryfe with a pump missile-launcher on the bottom. Actually, it's pretty awesome; it's just not extremely original. After all, it's basically what modders have been doing for years.

Alright, enough opinion; let's get to the good stuff:

Good:

• Tacticool. It has a stock-attachment point, a barrel extension point, two tacrails, and an AWESOME banana clip. Clip size comparison below.
• Good for warring. Provided your war officials allow grenade-like splash damage, the missile launcher on the bottom will come in handy as a grenade launcher.
• Orange. It will be very hard to mistake this for a real gun. Very hard.
• Stock. The stock holds an extra missile (which comes with the gun). It also apparently holds disc ammo from the Vortex line. Not relevant, but I thought I'd stick that in there.
• Stock (again). The stock is very comfortable and solid. It's my new favorite, even beating out the Raider/Rampage stock.
• Missiles. This is the first Nerf Elite gun to fire missiles, and I have good reason to believe there will be more coming. Plus, if you happen to have a thing against the launcher, you can just throw the missiles like a football.
• Bandolier points. The attachment points on this are really useful.
• Semi-auto. Who would want to cock such a big blaster?

Bad:

• Heavy/bulky. It's definitely not a pistol, even though it basically is...
• Missile launcher. There are a lot of ways this could have been made better. The way they made it, you just pull the handle forward, then slam it back. The harder you slam, the closer to far it will go. However, the harder you slam, the more likely the gun is to wobble around, destroying accuracy. It would have been much better with an air tank system.
• Banana clip. While it looks really cool, I'll be honest: the cool isn't functional. The darts only go down to the point where it starts to curve, so there's a lot of wasted space.
• Difficult to mod. This doesn't apply to the missile launcher, but the whole gun is a bunch of electronics. And some of the wires are hidden away inaccessibly behind an integrated plate.

Ranges:

Using the primary clip-fed gun at full rev and an angle for best possible range, I maxed out at 97 feet. Parallel to the ground at full rev, the darts reached about 60-ish feet. Firing as fast as I could pull the trigger (thus slightly decreasing rev), I got around 55 feet.

With the missiles, I couldn't break 50 feet, and that's with a good angle. Level to the ground, you'd be lucky to get 25 feet. The good news is that the launcher can easily be modded to get nearly hundred foot ranges.

Pictures:

It's a big gun even without the stock attached.

It's an even bigger gun with the stock and a barrel attached.

Clip size comparison: Left- 6 dart standard.
Middle- 10 dart banana.
Right- 18 dart extended.

The length of the draw for the missile launcher.

Mod guide: http://tacticoolnerfer.blogspot.com/2015/11/mod-demolisher-missile-launcher.html


        ,,,,..
[˘˘˘˘7º''''''''''''''''''''

The Mod Kit

Do you find that every time you want to open up a nerf gun, you have to search around for all the necessary supplies? Here's a solution: make your own Mod Kit.

Difficulty: Easy
What you'll need: A shoebox to hold everything.
Suggested: A long, thin screwdriver. A magnet for retrieving screws from hard-to-reach places. A place to hold screws/internals (I use 3 small bowls). Electrical tape or plumber's tape (E-tape is better). Needlenose pliers for pulling things (like locks) out. Something with which to decorate your shoebox so that instead of looking like a shoebox, it looks like a nerf gun Mod Kit.

Screw organization, electrical tape, pliers,
screwdriver, "pole magnet".

The aforementioned "pole magnet" is actually a long, thin, metal pole glued inside the shell of a plastic pen, with a tiny magnet on the tip of the pole. It's long; it's thin; and it's comfortable.

In addition, I keep several different grains of sandpaper in my box, so I can sand for painting prep or to sand down certain pieces, like necessary locks.

I also like to keep all the locks and such that I remove in a jar. I don't know exactly why I do this; I guess I'm just afraid I might someday need to put them back. I pretty much keep everything I remove, because someday someone might want a stock nerf gun for posterity. I keep it all in my shoebox.
But that's just me.

Beyond that, I also keep a ziplock baggie of springs with which to replace/add plunger springs for a power boost.

Make sure to make it your own. Use what you like to use, and don't feel like you have to do anything the same as me. This is just an idea-sparker so you can build your own Mod Kit.

Happy modding!

        ,,,,..
[˘˘˘˘7º''''''''''''''''''''

_________________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE

_________________________________________________________________________________

I made a cool box in which to store my Mod Kit.

So yeah.

After-Market accessories

Hey guys! I was wandering around the web and I found ANOTHER company that makes 3D-printed accessories for Nerf guns! So now there are two reasonably-sized online sellers of custom nerf accessories.

The one that I already knew about is Narrowbase LLC. Narrowbase makes Molle-compatable holsters and clip storage, and they have really effective designs for those. However, if you want custom parts to add to your nerf guns, Narrowbase doesn't offer that.

In walks the Australian company Slydev. They make all kinds of stuff, and a lot of it is right up my alley: tacticool. Among other products, they print tacrail-to-bandolier-loop converters, ironsights, extra tacrails, GoPro mounts, and tacrail-to-tacrail converters. Heck, they even make a model of a Minecraft Creeper. I'd really encourage you to go check out their product line, and who knows? You might find that product you've always wished that Nerf would make. If you do, tell me in your comments.

Slydev also prices their products very reasonably, so you won't end up spending way more than you intended. Then again, you might buy way more than you intended…

UPDATE:

 Hey guess what? I found another custom-part-maker: 3DPrintedSolid. Though rather expensive, this Etsy store makes some (as the name might suggest) solid parts. From an insane Rapidstrike-based sniper rifle to dart storage and anything in between, 3DPrintedSolid knows how to make your Nerf gun into a tacticool dream. For comparison, Nerf has made a total of 7 barrel extensions. This guy makes 11! Different barrel extensions! And that's just a fraction of the awesome accessories offered. The products are pricy, but if you are willing to spend that much money, 3DPrintedSolid will give you more than your money's worth.

If you discover any other custom Nerf parts makers out there, please leave a comment telling me! I'd love to check them out!

        ,,,,..
[˘˘˘˘7º''''''''''''''''''''

Nerf Doublestrike

Here is arguably the most realistically styled nerf gun yet. And it has one of the most boring, ambiguous names for any nerf gun. That's Hasbro for you.

Honestly, I think the Doublestrike is pretty cool.

Please forgive me; my writing style is really off today, so I'm just gonna cut to the chase.

Good:

• One-hand operation. While it takes getting used to, you can easily cock and fire this gun with one hand, which is rare with nerf guns.
• Safe colors. Some of my readers may not live where toy guns have to have an orange tip. I do. As a safety precaution, Hasbro decided to make sure that everyone knows this gun is a toy by coloring half of it orange and the other half green.
• Good for small hands. As I will cover later, this gun is designed to be a toy. Not an Hvz secondary, not a hold-up-the-bank weapon, just a toy. And since toys are usually played with by children with small hands, the design for this is intuitive.
• Easy to spin. See video:

Bad:

• Not for nerf wars. This gun is a poor choice to carry in a nerf war for several reasons:

1. Low dart capacity. You're gonna have to reload this thing A LOT.
2. Small handle. See that part of the handle that curves forward? It means that if your hand doesn't fit on the straight part, you will inevitably get a cramp holding it.
3. No holster. There's nowhere to put this gun when you're not carrying it. It doesn't have a holster, no one makes a holster for it, and if you carry it in your pocket, you're likely to lose darts when you pull it out.

• Realistic. You probably won't want to paint this very much, because it has high potential for being mistaken for a real weapon.

All that considered, this might be a good "kid's first gun" to teach firearm safety, or it might just be a fun toy to shoot your brother with. But if you participate in nerf wars and like the idea of this gun, just get a Hammershot, a Rebelle Sweet Revenge, or a Rebelle 4Victory. You'll like any of them much better.

I'll be giving you a mod guide for this one soon.


        ,,,,..
[˘˘˘˘7º''''''''''''''''''''