Monday, June 24, 2013

Centurion: Reverse Plunger?

My buddy Pocket over at Urban Taggers found info on the new N-Strike MEGA Centurion that has me scratching my head.  No, I don't need special dandruff shampoo or anything.  I'm scratching my head because there's a reverse plunger in there.  The big plus for the N-Strike Elite lineup has been their direct-plunger systems.  Seems like every modder on the planet will tell you Reverse Plunger < Direct Plunger... but if that's the case, how do we explain this?

This is a Reverse Plunger System discovered by Langley (NerfHaven) that is found in the new Centurion.  The blue Direct-Plunger System above it is from an N-Strike Longshot CS-6.  It's a larger system than the Longshot, but it's still a reverse plunger setup... so what gives?  I know folks will instantly condemn the Centurion for this design choice... but all the range tests and firing analysis point to one obvious fact: the Centurion DOES get the 100 ft ranges that the box has been boasting.  Regardless of whether you like the internal layout or not, one thing is for certain... this system still manages to deliver on it's ranges.

I'm no expert in these things, but I know plenty of you who read this ARE.  What are your thoughts?  How are they getting such fantastic performance from a Reverse Plunger System?  Is there even MORE potential in here if it were to be a Direct Plunger System?

11 comments:

  1. Reverse plunger defdinetly decreases the potential. If modified properly, it could hit the right ranges. I've already figured out how to convert it to a direct plunger and get it to shoot 100 feet.

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    1. What do you mean MiniUin. How would you convert it to a direct plunger, and with what?

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  2. it doesn't shoot 100 feet it shoots 65feet flat

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    1. The ranges nerf gives for its blasters are always for angled shots, we know it and deal with it

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  3. Many people have just got this "reverse plunger = bad" idea stuck in their head. This is really oversimplified, and the reason all the reverse plunger guns sucked was just because they had tiny plunger volumes. You could arguably make a reverse plunger gun with great ranges (as shown by the centurion), but direct plungers are much easier to make at home and aren't any worse.

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    1. I think people keep rolling with the reverse plunger = bad thing because a direct plunger system that takes up the same amount of space can shift a lot more air and has much less dead space.

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    2. anyone even think of the incredibleness of a reverse plunger blaster that shoots up to 100 feet?

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  4. I'm thinking with that barrel and how easy the prime seems from the videos that it's like a HAMP system, where the actual pressure in the plunger tube is pretty much irrelevant.

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  5. Though reverse plunger is a strange design choice, they probably went with it for the sake of ease of priming. Despite this, the blaster's real merits are probably applying the Elite designs tighter tolerance between parts to achieve excellent compression. Direct plunger or reverse plunger; either way so long as the air seal is good, performance is also good.

    Such a conclusion is based on the assumption that reverse plunger designs exist for two reasons: lower cost and ease of prime. (e.g. Longstrike prime ease versus Longshot prime difficulty) Both are going to be important for this blaster's market success. I also make the assumption that the reverse plunger, if the plunger compression ratios, air output restrictions, and seal tolerances remain equal between reverse and direct systems, fires darts at lower range because of the plunger's greater mass, lowering output air velocity.

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  6. Maybe the reverse plunger is there to make it easier to detune for countries like Australia?

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  7. They didnt put the direct plunger to make no harm to kids, and maybe, nerf may have been thinking if it could have done and disbalance in games (i.e. snper who can't let you pass an area and will pick you from afar(sorry for so many comments I must have you crazy, sorry)

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