War is upon us... Nerf war. The season is about to begin, and now that
folks are getting vaccinated, Nerfing is an increasingly safe way to meet some new friends
and blast them in the face. [Hitmarker sound]
Problem: Your ass has spent the last 13 months fusing into your gaming chair, and if you
chase down a foe, it'll probably make your heart explode!
Solution: A high-powered 3D-printed long-range blaster that lets you hunker down and let
the darts do the walking. Here's how to build it.
I got into Nerf blasters around 2009, back when 3.1% of my audience was just Dad's cheesy
pickup lines. Back then, the idea of a Nerf sniper was a literal joke. NerfHaven had a
bot that replaced the word 'sniper' with the word 'loser,' and 'sniping' with... 'ingesting
the dookie.' But the future is now, old man! 3D-printed blasters hit twice as hard as 2009's
finest, and they're more consistent and accurate too.
In my last video about 3D-printed Nerf, the overwhelming number of comments said they
were 3D printers first, and Nerfers maybe not yet. So if you've done plenty of squirtin'
but not a lotta nerfin', this episode is for you.
In this episode, we are going to build this high-powered, super-accurate blaster that
makes a great introduction to the hobby. Everything I build for you today is Creative Commons-licensed
open-source hardware, and may I suggest downloading it from today's Sponsor, Thangs?
Thangs is a free and fast all-you-can-eat buffet of printable 3D models, and there's
no cutesy staged photos, there's no reading through the creator's life story, there's
no figuring out which versions are outdated, and most importantly, there are no five-second
ad breaks. It's just page after page of cool stuff that you can print in just two clicks.
You can preview every part with an interactive viewer that loads in milliseconds, and you
can download every part of the model at once. Thangs is actually running a contest to make
printable accessories for your HEY ALEXA! OK GOOGLE! HEY SIRI! PLAY DESPACITO! The contest
ends at the end of the month, so check out the winners on April 5th and trick out your
robo-butler of choice.
Links for all of today's models, thanks to Thangs, are in the description... and I have
added a few more Nerfy surprises to sweeten the deal. You could just jump straight to
the description and download everything, but... y'know... let the video play in the background.
The algorithm demands RETENTION!
So, what makes a Nerf blaster a sniper? Well, nothing. A sniper isn't a blaster, a sniper
is a player. A team's sniper sets up shop in a key location and just controls the territory.
They punish enemies who break cover, they beat back aggressive plays, and they delete
anyone who gives your teammates a hard time. Basically, any time a bad guy moves from one
place to another, or stands still too long, or is too powerful for his own good, the sniper's
job is to send 'em back to spawn.
The biggest weapon in this arsenal is going prone. Remember, once you're on the ground,
most blasters' groupings are wider than you are! Even if the enemy's aim is dead-on, they
still have to get lucky to hit you.
No matter how you plan to play, if you're gonna 3D-print your first blaster, make it
a Caliburn. Designed by Nerfing legend Captain Slug and refined over thousands of prints,
the Caliburn is definitely the most popular, and in my opinion, the most reliable 3D-printed
blaster of all.
This is a pump-action springer - you work the pump to compress a heavy spring, and you
pull the trigger to release the shmoo. It's about three times as hot as an off-the-shelf
blaster. And since they feed from magazines, you can fire as fast as you can work the action.
Captain Slug has made TONS of accessories and variant parts, and since it has Picatinny
rails, as Chef John would say, you are the master of your 3D-printed blaster. The linchpin
of this build is the Raider-style receiver that feeds magazines from the side of the
blaster instead of the bottom. So now, when you hit the dirt, you can keep the lowest
possible profile, but you can also reload without having to reorient the blaster. I
also equipped the extended barrel, the adjustable stock, the SCAR muzzle attachment, the knuckleduster
handguard, the angled foregrip, and a serious-business scope. And yes, the scope is both useful and
relevant.
The handguard acts as a monopod and props up the blaster, which both steadies your shots
and relieves your arms. This extra-long barrel builds more velocity, and the SCAR attachment
stabilizes darts. More on how that works in a second. This extra foot or so is fine, because
hopefully you won't need to do too many tactical acrobatics.
Tactrobatics.
Speaking of, let's shoot the elephant in the room and talk about scopes.
Magnified optics in Nerf are kind of a meme because blasters just aren't accurate. This
scope doesn't improve your aim - it helps you watch the shot to see it hit the enemy.
When you fire foam at someone 80' away, that dart is going to be almost invisibly tiny,
and it's gonna move so slow that your target won't feel the hit. In other words, the scope
isn't here to help you land hits - it's here to help you CONFIRM hits.
Nerf blasters have another problem with scopes - darts just drop so aggressively that even
if you ratchet down to the lowest elevation, the target won't be anywhere near the sight
picture. That's why I added this special rail riser, to solve the problem. It's actually
inclined by about two degrees, which tilts the scope down to account for the sharp drop.
I've also added some backup iron sights on an angled rail because the scope is zeroed
so low, it's useless at close range.
The optic is optional, of course. You can add a dot-reflex sight, or just put some irons
on and practice a lot. Just don't pick something with a fancy reticle - you have to see the
dart.
Quick aside - there are TONS of tightly-optimized competitive blasters, with more releasing
all the time, but I feel like makin' goofy bull[REDACTED] instead. Should I... A) Build
an auto-aiming smart scope, or B) Build a wearable cyborg blaster? Hit me with a comment!
Get it? Hit me? Eh? Ehhh--
Anyways, this configuration is great for new Nerfers because the receiver accepts official
Nerf clips. Yes, Hasbro calls them 'clips,' not 'mags,' and the adapter handles the most
common aftermarket mags.
Short darts, aka Slugs, are just straight-up better than full-length. They're more accurate,
they have less drag, and you can carry twice as many rounds in the same amount of pocket.
You can even 3D-print magazines yourself!
You have two options, Katana and Talon, and the adapter in the description accepts both.
Here's Thanhtacles' KaThanHa, and my own Tal.0. All these need is a follower spring, which
you can harvest from a Nerf drum magazine. I would recommend Talon because you can't
stick 'em in backwards, but the Katana mags do work with off-the-shelf Dart Zone Probe...
Dart. Zone. Pro. Blasters.
A dart moving through the barrel is basically plugging up the works, and once it leaves
the muzzle, the remaining pressure releases behind it as a puff of air. This gives the
dart's tail a good flick, and causes it to fishtail as it leaves the barrel. You can
see that drag stabilization quickly straightens out the dart, but the damage is done. It's
now slightly off-course and it's lost a little bit of its velocity.
So, we attach a SCAR. That's short for String Centering And Rifling. Looks like a suppressor,
but it's more like a stabilizer. Inside the SCAR, six fishing lines are stretched tight
at skew angles, gripping the dart as it passes through and spinning it like a football. Exactly
how a SCAR reduces fishtailing is, uh, well, it's up for debate, but see for yourself - the
dart definitely leaves the SCAR straighter and truer. A SCAR is an essential accessory
to any high-powered springer, but it's absolutely necessary for our snipety-sniping.
Captain Slug has done a phenomenal job designing for printability, so barely anything needs
supports. You can run most of this off in any rigid filament, but if you Nerf on a hot
summer day, the temperature can rise enough to soften PLA. If you think the temperature
will break 120 Fahrenheit, print in PET.
Some of the load-bearing elements have to be made of ABS, polycarbonate, or some other
high-strength material, or they'll shatter under the spring's power. Either way, you're
gonna need a ton of plastic. At least two spools for the blaster, and probably another
spool for accessories, gear, and... color variety.
Buying an 0.6mm nozzle is also a good idea. This is over a day of straight printing, and
it's not gonna get any shorter with a baby nozzle.
You're gonna need screws, springs, and other hardware, but Captain Slug sells premade parts
kits. I highly recommend buying them - they're convenient, they're cheaper than buying everything
by the box, and, well, it supports the creator. The inclined riser and angled rails need metric
hardware, but the Caliburn itself is imperial. There are metric Caliburns, but I don't think
many of the variant parts I specced out are available in metric. So, y'know... move to
America.
If you want to build a blaster exactly like this one, check the description for all of
the items you'll have to print. Note that many parts of the Caliburn - these ones...
uh... if you're listening to this, tab back - all these parts have been replaced by custom
parts, so don't print the base ones - print the custom ones.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!
Remember how in the last Nerf episode, I shilled for my Nerf gear store? Well, it's closed!
I'm gonna give away all the models that I used to sell. You can now download my Warp
Saya mag holders, my Scramrod ramrod, my FourStar throwing-star rack, my brass-breech stencils,
my Merlynn Stencylls... all for free, all on Thangs. You can 3D-print an entire loadout!
I did.
Remember to check back on Thangs on April 5th to download the winners of their AI assistant
contest, and give your favorite female-presenting kitchen appliance something special. When
the sudden but inevitable robot betrayal happens, you might just be spared!
Curse it.
Our Patrons enable us to make ridiculously over-the-top projects, and if you can chip
in, visit patreon.com/zackfreedman. It makes a tremendous difference, and really expands
the scope, heh heh, of what we can make. I gotta send 250 thanks-per-second to im noT
Betta Core and cmd (command?) our almost unfairly generous Co-Lab-Orators! Their names have
been camouflaged somewhere in this episode... snipe 'em if you can.
Our loyal Lab Assistants are: Daniel Cadwell, Andrew Paton, brad cox, Cyrus Draegur, Accalia,
Paul Rector - damn near killed 'er! Robert Berriz, Michael Dunn, Gregory Jones, Sir Derpington
of Derptopia, Joe Harp, good succ, James Barry, Varka, Shout out to my fans in [female robot
voice] Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!, Tech Daddy, Azundo, Anthony Mincarelli, Michael
Rauch, Olivier Yiptong, Brian Santero, Bryan Glezerson, Zanforian, Bill Schuller, C. Harris,
powerful_cch, Jason, TheANTIFA, Taranach, Roger Pincombe, and My Dog is a Bear!
Thank you so much for watching, and I'll snipe you in the future!
[Jazzy music]