Beginner's Guide to Barrel Material

What's up people! A very common Nerf modification involves replacing the stock barrels (i.e. what the blaster came with) with your own more efficient barrels. Note: I will have in-depth guides to each barrel material coming up! This is just a general overview to get you accustomed to the various methods of replacing your barrel to increase the effectiveness of your blaster!

Air Restrictor Removal- You're basically changing the barrels by removing all the plastic and springs that hamper the efficiency of the barrel. Oftentimes, this involves ripping/drilling out the barrel post and assorted other items inside the stock barrel by using a Dremel, power drill, or simply needle-nose pliers.

-Good for: Any blaster

-Pros: No actual barrel material needed

-Cons: Oftentimes, you don't gain much more than 5-10 feet in terms of range 

-Find it: In your blaster

Crayola/Rose Art- Basically, you just need to gut out a marker until it can accommodate a dart!

-Good for: Air powered blasters (ie ones with a pump)

-Pros: Easily available (who can't find some markers to gut out around their house?)

-Cons: A tad bit too loose for springers (such as the NiteFinder) 

-Find it: Walmart, your siblings' pencil box (not saying you should steal...), Target, Walgreens, etc.

CPVC- One of the cheapest and easily available barrel materials and highly recommended! 

-Good for: Springers (generally require a tight barrel fit to build up pressure behind the dart)

-Pros: Really cheap (~$3-4 for 10 feet), can fit in couplers which gives you a ton of versatility

-Cons: Not that good with air blasters

-Find it: Home Depot, Ace, Menards, Lowes, etc.

Brass (17/32 inch diameter)- A really good barrel material, make sure you get the "K&S engineering" brand (woot Chicago!)

-Good for: Muzzle loading stock darts (i.e. taggers, streamlines, micros, etc.) into springers

-Pros: Very exact measurements (so you can make breeches), really low friction

-Cons: Expensive (~$3-4 for 1 foot), Will dent if you bang it into walls (so make PVC sleeves around it!)

-Find it: Hobby stores (my local 'Venture Hobbies' has it to make train tracks or something for model trains),  You can also order brass online

Brass (9/16 inch diameter)- Same as before

-Good for: Long barrels for air blasters

-Everything else is same as above

PETG- A really good clear barrel material, similar to 9/16 brass but a lot cheaper

-Good for: Springers or Air blasters (not as exact diameter wise as brass, some suppliers have thinner or thicker PETG)

-Pros: Very cheap, it is clear so you can see if you have a dart in the barrel!, you can cut it with scissors

-Cons: May possibly dent

-Find it: Online at 'McMaster-Carr' http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/1561/=hz3d8n (not the actual PETG you get when you search PETG on their website) Note: The part number you want is: 2044T43 (under the plastic tubes, not cardboard :) )

-Briguy52  :]