Best of the Worst 1: Ebayer Sells Used Darts

Check this out! Absolutely wasted tagger darts on ebay!

 

Listed for $3.99 with $3.95 shipping! More than brand new Hasbro darts in the smallest package! Seller has multiple listings... AND THAT IS NOT ALL.

THE DESCRIPTION

READS

"GOOD CONDITION".

Shelf watch: Zombiestrike moves in, and Rapidstrikes finally arrive

Here's another shelf watch which was delayed in posting. This isn't the one from somewhere nowhere near Florida that Toruk promised, but it is from nowhere near Florida: Toronto and a place near the border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, to be specific.

Shelf Watch 12-15-14 Lakeland Square TRU and Target

Lakeland, Florida. Slightly late in putting this post up, and stay tuned for a possible Shelf Watch from somewhere that isn't Florida at all...

Target

Strongarm XD (Xtra Dumbass Marketing) finally appears IRL

Xploders on clearance, recent models. Is Target FINALLY ditching the triggerless wonders and graduating to foam? Back 2-3 years ago, this would be a wall of spitball and gel ball garbage as big as the actual foam dart guns!

TRU

Spotted this pistol:

 

Not the first to find it but it's a new one to me. It's a PTT product. Fires those PTT Xtreme Darts (which are similar to the Zuru/X-Shot Super Dart and have not the slightest connection to the Buzzbee Extreme Dart) and has a 70' range claim on the box.

Sears has a listing that shows a clean image of it. That odd feature under the cylinder might be holstering trouble, but there shouldn't be any reason to not chop it off (PTT: WHY? In general, why do you third parties have such dumb aesthetic greeblies slapped all over otherwise fine designs?). Overall I like the aesthetic, minus that little tumor, and the main issue I see is possible incompatibility with full length darts. 8 shots, and making it go should be easy, probably new barrels and you are beating Strongarms.

BoomCo display touting "The Next Generation Of Blasters", Smart Stick, and the onboard shields of most of the BoomCo stuff. Tubes full of BoomCo darts, generally a lot of pomp and circumstance over... What now? Practically dollar store pistols done with better quality, and one good viable piece, and tons of gimmicks.

Do note the BoomCo Darts "safe and soft" and the clever "won't jam" with a no-signed jam jar. The BoomCo dart is a solid (but soft) rubber tip and at .40 caliber and 1.4g, has a really high sectional density for a nerf dart, higher than a .68 caliber paintball. As to not jamming, it's all harmonica clips, revolvers and muzzleloaders, which may be ammo-insensitive, but just aren't going to hack gameplay.

I would like to see a magfed BoomCo gun - perhaps I will have to rechamber a Retal and mod some mags. The smaller caliber and "straw" body ought to work great.

And NOS Lumitrons! Rockin' tracer discs like it's 2012!

On the NOS subject, there were zero Stampedes, Vulcans, or any other pre-elite stuff here aside from these Lumitrons and tons of Vortex firefly mag kits. Dart Tag seems to be on its last legs even as an exclusive with only Snapfires and Sharpshot player packs seen on an endcap and not being restocked. E-Rays and tracer elites were seen (which are probably NOS and not being restocked) and continuing the trend against pumps, there were no Rampages to be found.

Observation about Nerf box art: All the "flagships" have that orange gradient type for the model name - Rhino-Fire, Rapidstrike, Demolisher.

Koosh Dart Tip Glue, BW12, And Customer Satisfaction.

I was planning my next dart order, being that I have mowed through half of my Yutoys Koosh lot already, and I was going to buy from eBay seller "beautifulwoman2012" and do a review of the first and most common koosh source, as well as getting that cool dark green foam they offer, and hopefully the slick (more accurate and reliable) tips. I was however expecting to receive poorly glued darts and spend time rebonding tips.

Then I saw this comment on reddit from user JeffOnReddit, in the thread of my Stock Class Ammo Roundup:

My last batch from BW2012 was as nicely glued as Yutoys ( i bought darts from both). Have i been lucky?

Which hinted at things turning around with the koosh quality control.

Then I found this listing:

Nerf N-strike Elite Rampage Retaliator Blasters 500 pcs Darts Improved Adhesive

Improved adhesive!!

Practical Stock Class: Doing Magfed Right, Individual Ammo Load and Scavenging Considerations

I cover the tech's viewpoint typically, and game design and meta-concerns have been touched on by both me and contributor Herbert West, but there hasn't yet been much about actually playing.

Granted, I don't consider myself an "excellent" player of either stock class or HvZ, by far. I am a much better tech than I am a player, but I almost always succeed by an underlying methodology to the apparent madness on the field. In no way do I claim my ways are the only way to approach the game, by far - your mileage may vary, for what it's worth, etc. - but this series will be my player advice.

This first topic was inspired by comments left by an anonymous user on my ammo roundup post, which focused on magfed systems above all else:

"...myself and many HvZers i know avoid relying on mag-fed blasters due to the amount of time taken to scavenge darts and refill those mags during long-running matches. Front loaders are more efficient as they are easily topped up from a pouch of loose darts as you walk or jog."

Namely the longstanding "detachable-magazine debate" - within stock class, you have one group of players (most of them, in my experience) working around a milsim-type usage of detachable mags and noting the high endurance and quick reloads offered by this system, and another, typically minority at this point, group advocating shotgun-style loading on the fly (LOTF) from a supply of loose rounds.

Stock Class Ammo Roundup [HIGHLY OBSOLETE]

Warning: This is not current information. 1.5 years is geological timescale in terms of superstock.

In this post I will attempt to make sense of the various options available to the player. As OldNoob said, we are in the golden age of darts, and what to buy can be confusing at times - yet with the field slowly wising up about ammo, staying current and not shooting junk is ever more important to success on the field.

Concept Bullpup Rapidstrike

Contributing factor 1: Let's face it, Rayvens are so 2012. They have all their rough edges, cage alignment problems, vibration problems, ergonomic problems, janky trigger linkages and just general malaise about them. They are semi-auto, and expensive, and as of right now, their availability is low.

About the only outstanding feature of the Rayven system is that it is (prior to the 2015 Crossbolt) the only bullpup, magfed nerf gun you can buy off the shelf.

Now, I don't mind bullpups. I would not want to fight exclusively with them, because I find standard layouts are far better with mag changes and intuitive handling despite the length efficiency and inertia shortcomings - but I really don't mind bullpups at all. I just don't care for semi-autos nor the aggravating and dated Rayven.

Contributing factor 2: My RapidPistol is down. I smoked my RS motors after a year of bashing. I was happy with the perfomance of the weapon but not its ergonomics. I want a new secondary that will handle and carry more like a Rayven. I am considering selling my RapidPistol (with a FK swap) and replacing it with something.

Contributing factor 3: There is a standardization program underway within the squad (details not to be posted). Discussion of the upgrade path for a Rayven-wielding scout led to mention of a Rayven full auto conversion with RS parts, which I countered by suggesting a bullpup RS, getting rid of all the Rayven hardware completely.

Enter the XM198 Vulture:

That should do it. I will hopefully get on this build sometime soon.

Shelf Watch Gainesville, FL: More Of The Same, K-Code Elite Madness

I am at the old stomping grounds for squad stuff and an HvZ minimission, and today I have time to kill, so I trolled the stores.

Wal-Mart Butler Plaza:

 

Zing Sky Ripperz on clearance.

Note: Target is not clearancing these. I suspect Wal-Mart is dropping them or overstocked.

Clipfire internals and mod guide (lots of pictures)

This took long enough to post, eh? A review of the Clipfire can be found here, in which I promised an internals guide which I said would be done "soon". As it turns out, "soon" can mean "in a few months" - still, better late than never.

This guide assumes that you are opening your Clipfire with the intent to modify it - after all, there aren't many other reasons why someone would want to open a blaster, and if you have it open anyway, you may as well modify it while you're in there. The Clipfire is the only blaster that I've worked on that is easier to open, modify, and close than to reassemble in its stock configuration.

One convention that I follow consistently in this guide is that the text underneath each picture corresponds to that picture. I've erred on the side of too many rather than too few pictures, as a Clipfire can be tricky to work with.

The blaster depicted in this guide has had the front of the barrel shroud cut off. As this makes it possible to open the shell completely, this makes the pictures clearer. If you leave the front of your barrel shroud in place, everything here still applies. Also note that the rest of my barrel shroud has been slightly warped in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the glue holding on the front of the shroud with boiling water, so yours won't look exactly the same if you cut off the front.