I believe it is a central tenet of being a geek (and you know who you are) that there is some inner voice that insists, if it can be modded to somehow work better or faster or stronger, it must be so. There is an imperative that won't allow us to just use things as they are. Your particular voice and comfort level may vary, but I have just re-affirmed that voice in my own head by modifying a Nerf gun. Yes, I have been discontent to leave well enough alone and have taken a stock Nerf Maverick and made it into a weapon truly to be feared in Nerf warfare.
For those unaware of these little beauties, a Maverick is a 6-shot revolver-type single-action, single-shot handgun. It reminds this old Mac fan of the .44 handgun in Bungie's venerable Marathon games. AHA! Durandal has NOTHING on Nerf!!! Now all we need is a Nerf double-barrelled shotgun... Hmmmmm....
And so, on a Sunday afternoon I took it upon myself to make the already-formidable weapon into a high-powered Equalizer. (I know what you're thinking--was that 5 sticky darts or 6?). After working on Toshiba laptops (fondly known as T(ons)O(f)S(crews)-hiba, this should be a walk in the park.
The gun splits into 2 shells after removal of 10 screws (making sure it's not cocked, of course) and reveals a fairly simple mechanism. A large spring is compressed, and when released by the trigger, drives a piston-like cylinder forward and the resulting compressed air blows the foam dart out of the short barrel. Removing the spring and pulling it until it is stretched another 2 inches or so increases the travel when released, giving a moderate increase in range and dart velocity. However, as the metal possesses a "memory" of sorts, after a few shots, it returns to more or less its original dimensions. Next, I'm going to try to find a suitable (stronger) spring at Home Depot and see what happens. By the way, the usual applies. Don't try this at home.
