Clever Customizing

You don't have to invest in real-steel accessories to deck out your Nerf Blaster.  There are simple ways to make additions or add a tactical flair to your blaster that use pretty common materials.  Today I'll share a few of these with you that won't break your bank.

First, this mod also shines some light on my friend's recent laser tag project, but it could easily be applied to any Nerf blaster with a tactical rail.  Flashlights can be VERY handy for indoor games, and having one mounted to your blaster can free up a hand for you to use to reload your blaster or change out a clip.  Lets face it, the "Tactical Light" N-Strike accessory just doesn't cut it.  By taking an ordinary flashlight and some Zip ties, you can mount a flashlight to your tactical rail.  German's Rayven that he's working on turning into a laser tag blaster serves as a great example on how to do this.


By drilling 4 small holes on the sides of the Tactical Rail, large enough to fit small zip ties, you can loop the ties through the tac rail, around your flashlight, and secure them tightly together.  If you use a flashlight that has grooves in it (like this one), it's bound to be more secure than one that has a smooth grip on the outside.  Find a flashlight that'll do the job and you're good.  It also might be helpful to use a flashlight that has a push-button activation instead of the traditional MagLite approach with a twist-on head.  It'll be easier to operate during games than having to manually twist the head to the right setting.

Then there's the ever-popular Red Dot Sight.  Quite honestly, I think sights like this are useless for Nerf Blasters since darts never have a line-of-sight trajectory for very long.  However, instead of paying up the wazoo for one of those N-Strike "Pinpoint Sights", here's a cheap alternative.  Find yourself an NcSTAR DP Red Dot Sight.  These, while designed to fit onto weaver rails, sit higher on the rail and can actually adapt to slightly different sized rails.  You can mount it securely to your N-Strike Rail with a Philips Head screwdriver and they usually run from 8-10 bucks.  Pictured to the left is my friend Eleri who's got his mounted to a Phoenix LTX.  The LTX's rail is actually WIDER than an N-Strike Rail, and it still manages to fit on there.  The only reason I don't have any shots with a Nerf Blaster for this example is because they're really not that useful when you're lobbing foam darts.  Line-of-sight targetting systems like scopes or sights are only useful for line-of-sight blasters (like laser tag).  Still, I know that folks like to have that "Tacticool" look to their blaster and if you have a modded blaster that can hit stuff from far away, this could still be useful to you.

Finally, this one should be a no-brainer by this point, the "Flip clip".  You don't HAVE to invest in the N-Strike Flip Clip kit to have one.  Simply wrap tape around two clips in opposite directions to get the same effect.  I would suggest only using straight clips like the 6 Dart or 18 Dart straight clips, since Drums tend to get a little unwieldy for this method.  You can also make use of sticky-back Velcro (you can pick this stuff up at hardware stores) and put two strips down the sides of your clips.  MAKE SURE that when you tape your clips together that you still leave enough room at the top of the clip for it to get inserted into the chamber of your blaster!