Hi I'm Andrew, and this is Blaster
Breakdown.
Today I've got a new HPA blaster to show
you, that I've built for NIC level events.
This is the Midnight Longshot. It's a
remote line
Spexbz-powered blaster,
with a sliding brass breech,
and BlasterTech SCAR up the front. Let's
have a look inside.
Right so here's how we started out - this
is the inside
of the Longshot - I've removed a bunch of
things that I don't need,
locks and whatnot. So
we've got the shell, we've got the stock,
bolt sled,
cover, priming handles
and whatnot. All those will be reused,
but everything else is gone pretty much.
So what I'm going to do, starting from
the front with the
barrel attachment piece - this is going to
support
a metal barrel shroud,
I guess. It's the same diameter as the
original faux barrel, but it's going to
extend right through
this attachment piece. So you can see
inside there's a little bit of a lip
in there that holds it in place - I'll
need to grind that down
so that my 19mm tube will pass
through.
With the dart gate I don't need to do
much to this.
Of course I've removed the dart tooth
that sits in here,
but otherwise this piece just needs to
hold my brass breech
nice and centered.
With the trigger all I need to do is
chop off a bit at the end
where it's going to press against the
MJVO-3 valve
at the back. And with the bolt
I'll chop this front bit off - it'll need
to attach to the bolt sled
of course - ream out the inside and that
will
hold my 9/16" brass as you might do any
regular brass breech.
And of course the plunger tube itself -
that'll be gone
to be replaced by the Spexbz.
Now here's something interesting I noticed
during this build:
the thickness of the attachment piece to
the bolt sled
is actually a little bit wider than the
opening of the
Talon mags at the top.
It's only a millimeter or two, and you
can force it
through, but it's not really smooth.
so I'm gonna have to do something about
that -
maybe grind out a little space where it
attaches to the curve of the bolt
there.
OK moving on - here's my 19mm
faux barrel that i've inserted through
the
front barrel attachment piece. And it
fits into the dart gate
just the same as the original plastic
faux barrel.
And this is my main barrel and breech
assembly.
So two pieces of 17/32" brass
joined in the middle with a bit of 9/16" held
in place
for a nice seal. And this will be glued
inside the metal faux barrel.
As you can see I've cut an opening just
for short darts. That'll sit about here
so a talon mag inside the adapter will
slot in
just like that.
Held in place with this.
And here's my bolt with the 9/16" brass
inside -
it's a pretty standard bolt just epoxied
in place.
The brass is cut to follow the shape of
the plastic.
And here you can see where I've smoothed
out and narrowed the profile
of the bolt sled attachment location,
so it slides through the
Talon mag lips a little bit easier there.
So 9/16" slides over 17/32"
nicely - that'll seal up the breech:
open and closed.
And that brings us to the Spexbz. I'll
just attach it so.
This is one of the early version 3
models -
the anodizing didn't quite take. I got
it second hand off another guy,
but you won't see it so that's fine. And
I've got 1/2" brass
attached to the front, and that slides
neatly inside
the 17/32" brass of the
back of the breech assembly.
So the whole thing can come apart easily;
nothing's glued together,
but there's still a nice air seal. Now to
attach
the 1/2" brass to the front of the
Spexbz
I've got a thin ring of 9/16"
and 17/32" glued together,
nested in place. And that holds the 1/2"
brass there.
So the Spexbz will sit right where the
original plunger tube does at the back
here, and that's a nice fit.
And then at the back, inside the stock
piece
I'll have the MJVO-3 valve
fitted right at the back of the trigger -
just about like this.
So the trigger will activate the valve
button directly.
And the valve will be held in place just
by cutting space for it
inside the back of the shell on both
sides.
And then further at the back I'll have
my remote line
inlet connector attached somewhere like
this.
And that will feed into the MJVO-3 valve
inlet so that we have air going out the
right way.
Let's see how we go.
Here we are a few days later - first of
all the trigger:
you can just see I've cut off the angled
end piece,
so that's the right length to activate
the MJVO-3.
I stuck a couple of blobs of epoxy putty
in place to help hold the Spexbz
just right, but spoiler alert, I don't end
up keeping these.
Now with the MJVO-3 valve
located at the back, I'll just show you
what I did:
So it's just a matter of cutting away
the plastic
molding until it held
the valve nice and securely.
Just about like so.
Same deal for the other side of the
shell - it's just a matter of trial and
error,
going bit by bit until I had the right
shape.
But now when I put it in place and close
the shell together,
it's a very secure fit - held in place
very neatly
just using the shape of the plastic
itself. So that's really solid.
And the Spexbz connects to the valve
outlet of course,
and here's how I attach the remote line
connection. So it's on the outer edge for
me as a right hander,
and i've got this 45 degree push-fit
piece. And I just cut a hole, just big
enough
to hold that in place. And a little hole
there for the 6mm
hose, and that'll also be nice and secure
when the two halves of the stock
are attached. Because the MJVO-3 valve
slightly obscures the back of this slot,
I ground down
these ribbed pieces just a little -
a couple of mm so that
the stock pieces will slide in
just here, and just sit at the bottom of
the MJVO-3 valve.
And with those pieces all connected up I
can actually test
by connecting my remote line and see if
the Spexbz
is working as expected.
Yep that's good, and we'll try it with
the trigger
instead...
And yep that's good too.
Now the stock itself won't be able to
slide, of course,
because of the way everything's fitted
together. So to help keep it in place
the old-fashioned couple of bits of PVC
pipe
cut to length will be inserted here.
And that'll hold the stock nice and
steady so it won't collapse.
Here's my barrel and breech assembly, and
I've glued this
inside the metal faux barrel, so that's
nice and secure
there. I like to use a piece of 1/2"
brass
inside my breech when I'm working on it,
polishing it, just so I don't get any
bends.
And the 9/16" bolt I can attach
to the bolt sled just with the original
pin.
And that slides over the rear of the
breech like so.
And then that will all go over the 1/2"
brass
fixed to the Spexbz,
with the dart gate piece and the muzzle
holding everything at the front.
And the trigger sits like so with the
return spring.
It's very important not to forget the
N-strike rail
nub! And we can start putting this
together.
I later went back and made a few little
changes to the
way the breech works: I sanded down this
plastic
finger so it's a bit narrower and
tapered
to fit into the dart gate. And
the dart gate itself I cut away some of
the
plastic bits that open up for a full
size
dart to enter - they were not necessary.
And here's the access door: and you can
see where I've
ground down the ridges on the underneath
of the inside, and so that'll open and
close
regardless of the position of the bolt
sled itself.
And just one final test with the remote
line to check that everything's working
nicely.
And now finish screwing it all together.
And there we are - I'll put the priming
bar
in place and check the movement.
That's nice and smooth. And inside we can
see the breech
opening and closing.
I'll stick an adapter and a magazine
with some darts in,
and that fits really nicely.
I think it's time for a firing demo!
OK so first I'm going to try some
Worker Gen 3 darts. This blaster is
intended for
NIC level events so i'm aiming for fps
of around
250 to 300.
I don't think I trust that 165 there.
So there we are: an average of 286 is
pretty much what I want.
Next I'll try a mag full of ACC3 darts.
I've got 45cm of 17/32"
barrel, and my inlet pressure is about
65 psi.
So there's another dodgy reading - 87
probably isn't correct.
And an average of 270 - a bit lower than
the Worker Gen 3s.
Now I've set up 100 feet from the
target at the end of the yard.
Again starting with 15 Worker Gen 3
darts.
You can see the slide action working
nicely,
and of course I'm using the bipod
because why wouldn't you?
So I had a few darts decapitated, and a
couple of shots went
way high, but most things on target.
I'm pretty happy there.
And now we'll try with the ACC3s.
The scope I'm using isn't really helping
much with aim, but I think it looks
pretty good on this size blaster.
So a wider spread with these darts, but
still mostly on target.
So there you have it: that's the Midnight
Longshot.
If you've enjoyed this video, please like
and subscribe,
and leave any questions or comments you
have below.
Thanks for watching, I'll see you next
time.