Happy Halloween!

Why on earth are there small children running around the streets at night dressed up like Superheroes, Monsters, and Disney Characters?  Why are they taking their neighbors candy?  Why are there a bunch of pumpkins missing their insides?  Oh yeah... it's Halloween!

Whether you're going to a party with some friends or scouring the streets with a troupe of friends, have a great time!  Don't forget, today is the last chance you have to submit your pictures for Tactical Tag's Halloween Giveaway!  We've had a bunch of last-day submissions, so you still have a chance to get a photo with your Nerf or Laser Tag blaster and enter it to win!

Hammershots, LTARs, Firestrikes, LTXs, the number of prizes depends on how many entries we get!  I'll review all the entries TONIGHT and announce the winners on November 1st!

Enter your submission on the blog or Tactical Tag's Facebook!  Hope you all have a fun night of tricking, treating, and everything in-between!

Another great Halloween Game!!

It's no secret.  I love Halloween!  So, when the Laser Tag group I run here has a costumed game, I get pretty excited about it.  This year we even added some fun with post-game s'mores and other delicious foods as we laughed, told stories, and caught up with our friends.  I broke out my latest Captain America costume again (as it was actually quite warm) and tagged it up with my comrades in the park.

When we started, there were three guys in the park shooting cans with Airsoft guns.  After explaining what we were up to, they joined up, grabbed some gear, and tagged alongside our Trick-or-Treat warriors.  Then my next-door neighbors brought three cousins along, too!  It was a great surprise to pick up 6 more players for the games that boosted our count for the night to 23!  We did three team games and one Zombie game until retiring to the fire pit on the patio to share food and stories.

Not everyone was in costume, but it was still fun to tag it up with the crunchy leaves of fall!  I enjoyed running around with my shield chasing down Vampires and Pirates and Transformers.  What a great evening!

Van Helsing-Inspired Slingfire

I know Van Helsing (at least in the movie) uses a crossbow most of the time... and I had fully intended to add some bow-arms to the ZombieStrike Slingfire that I was planning to use to build one... but that darned RELOAD was too much fun, so I just ended up repainting it to look like something the Monster Hunter would've used.  I was happy to find out that the black N-Strike Tactical Rail wasn't solvent-welded in (as I had seen in reviews before), but the trickiest part of this repaint was re-assembling the gearbox correctly.  I hadn't found any guides out on the 'net to help, so a lot of it was trial and error... with emphasis on the "error" side.  Once I got it working again, it was time to suit up and lay waste to some monsters!

This is my Van Helsing-Inspired Slingfire!  I used hammered-metal effect paint, lightly modified the internals (simple stuff), and was slaying vampires and zombies left and right at a recent Halloween party!  It didn't take me long to paint, either so I was happy with how it turned out.  Halfway through the night I swapped out my 6-Round Mag for a Firefly Tech mag for some glow-in-the-dark action.

A friend of mine also showed up as a Zombie Hunter, which looked pretty similar to my Van Helsing geddup.  We teamed up for the night, but not before battling it out a bit!  My wife went as a Vampire, who was consistently trying to kill me when I wasn't paying attention.  Subsequently, his girlfriend came as a Zombie trying to end him just as easily.  Being the only two humans at the Monster Mash meant two things: we were constantly on guard and consistently running out of darts!  Haha

There's only a couple days left of Tactical Tag's Halloween Contest, so get your entries in before it's too late!  Contest ends October 31st!

Halloween Contest: 10 More Days!!

There's just 10 days left until Halloween, which means time is running out for you to win a Nerf or Laser Tag blaster from Tactical Tag!  While I'm not entirely certain why there are only 4 entries thus far, I figured an extra plug for this contest was in order.

Blasters that are up for grabs may include the following:

NERF HammerShot

Lazer Tag Phoenix LTX

NERF Firestrike (Orange Version)

Lazer Tag Augmented Reality

NERF RoughCut 2x4 (White Version)

NERF Titan AS-V1 (Red Version)

...maybe more?

So get those entries in!  

Click >>HERE<< for Contest Details!

XD Blasters getting Local

Unlike previous recolors, Nerf has been rolling out some of their latest blasters with more than just shiny new colors.  Those "XD" blasters are toting better ranges than the 75 Ft Staple that used to adorn every Elite blaster.  Recently, I found a white XD Triad at a local Target store and a XD Stockade that was labeled as a "Wal-Mart Exclusive".  At first, I thought "XD" would be a stamp for a certain range, but the Triad's XD range is listed at 80 with the Stockade XD range listed at 85.

At this point, printing XD on a box is essentially saying "more than 75 Feet" or "more range than the blaster you already have".  Think of it as the Blue Trigger blasters in the short-lived Dart Tag lineup.  It's likely that the springs are slightly stronger.  In the case of blasters like the Triad, which uses that Smart AR system, it might actually be worth getting since spring upgrades are about the only way to crank more power out of blasters like that.  The flywheel blasters, like the Stockade, could be interesting too.  It probably means a motor upgrade.  And, of course, a better stock blaster means a stronger modded blaster (to a certain point) so these might work well for folks like me who generally just do simple mods like ARs and Volt Mods.

I can't tell if I'm annoyed by the fact that XD blasters will have all sorts of different ranges or if I'm happy to see more a variety instead of "EVERYTHING IS 75 FEET" like they started out with.  However, it at least looks like they'll be keeping a few of the upgraded blasters in my favorite Blue n White scheme!  It'll be interesting to see how the Elite lineup pans out from here.

Nerf SlingFire Magazine / Clip Size Testing

So the NERF ZombieStrike SlingFire has been out for awhile.  I neglected to pick one up at first because I just wasn't sold on the design.  After watching more videos and seeing the conflicting opinions out there for it, I was even more leery to nab one.  However, between the fun-looking reload and a potential idea for a prop weapon for Halloween (insert shameless contest plug here), I took the plunge and brought one home.

I can see all the praise and criticism with this blaster, but I still find myself walking around the house reloading and dry-firing this blaster out of sheer fun!  Then I got to thinking how the SlingFire might work with different size magazines or "clips" for that Nerf nomenclature.  In this video, I test everything from a 6-Round Quick Reload Clip to the massive 35-Round Drum the N-Strike Raider CS-35 came with.  The video below shows my findings.

NERF N-Strike Elite Longshot CS-6

This is my second build for an "Elite" series Longshot CS-6.  No, it's not a "fake"... I assure you this blaster is quite real, but instead of Hasbro releasing an Elite-spec Longshot, I built it instead.  Just like my first one, the Elite Longshot Version 2 (or ELV2 as I've come to call it), is designed to look and perform as if one had actually been released... with a few tweaks.  This ELV2 is actually more powerful than the first one I built but also incorporates the Front Gun that I had omitted in the first one.

This project has been on my workbench for quite awhile.  It's not exactly what I had envisioned back in February of 2013, but I'm glad it's finally done.  My original idea was a little more ambitious, having more refined details for the pump-grip as well as integrating stronger internals into the Front Gun.  After a few jams both with the blaster and trouble with getting good ideas going, I got burnt out on the project and let it collect some dust.  I revisited it a couple of times, but never quite had the drive to really get after it until I finally decided to wrap it up and call it a day.

I still go through the comments for the original Elite Longshot I built and laugh at all the "FAKE FAKE FAKE" accusations, but I also thought it might be good to hopefully clear up the confusion that half-a-million views may have caused.  As such, I not only documented this ELV2 build much better, but also included photos from the build in the video.  The title of the video may still be just as misleading as the original, but I'm hoping that fans looking for an Elite Longshot video will stumble across this second build and figure it out.

Check out the Video and Picture Gallery to see more with this completed build!

Revisited: Whiteout NiteFinder

Over the years there have been blasters that I've modded that have been sold or given away.  There's still a small handful of blasters that I've held onto because they were unique.  In this case, I stumbled upon my Whiteout NiteFinder, which has served as a trusty sidearm on many occasions.  Aside from it's sought-after recoloring, this particular blaster utilized an LED MagLite kit that replaced the original gimmick of the NiteFinder: it's red targeting beam.  I did other basic mods on it and kept using it until it made it's way to the bottom of my Nerf bin.  Below is the video I made back in 2011 when I first completed it.

A week or so ago I took it out and started messing around with it.  I noticed that it didn't quite have the "oomph" I remembered it having and also that the flashlight wasn't working consistently.  It only seemed right to repair it, but while I had it open... I figured I'd do a little more than repairs!  This Whiteout NiteFinder seemed more than deserving of some performance upgrades, so I got to work on it!

It's not quite done and it'll probably not be anything too earth-shatteringly new to the modding world.  After all, NiteFinders have been a great blaster to modify for a LONG time!  Instead, I thought it'd be nice to revisit this blaster and other ones that I've kept around in an attempt to have other folks do the same with some of their favorites, too!  New spring, new seals, a tighter barrel, this should be slinging darts better than ever when I'm done with it.  I'll post it up for "Throwback Thursday" and, with any luck, get to work on a few other oldies that could use some new life breathed into them!

Worldwide Winnings!

I've gotten several questions about the Halloween Giveaway regarding entrants from outside the borders of the good ol' United States of 'Muricah.  It'd be silly for me to rule out some of my favorite fellow bloggers (and their fans) from this contest, so I SUPPOSE the only option is to open up this contest to anyone on the face of the planet.  From Australia to Antartica, Great Britain to Bombay, Costa Rica to China, and all the other letters of the alphabet!

There were also a few questions about WHAT blasters you'd be winning.  The most I can say to that is this:  If your winning photo has Nerf in it, you'll get some sort of Nerf pistol.  I'll probably let the winners choose from a couple of models.  If your winning photo has Laser Tag in it, you'll get some sort of Laser Tag blaster (LTAR, LTX, Laser Challenge, etc).

Don't have this thing called "Halloween" in your country?  That's okay.  That's what we have the internet for!

Good luck everyone!

Nerf Dart meets iPhone 6

The guys at uBREAKiFIX are office war Nerf fans, so with all the "break the iPhone 6" videos out there, it was only fitting to nail this smartphone with some foam goodness.  As you would expect, it doesn't take a normal dart blaster or even a slightly modified rig to put a dent in the iPhone 6's touchscreen.  They went so far as to build a blaster to fire a modified N-Strike Elite dart to nail the phone.

On the one hand, I suppose you could now say "We can break the iPhone 6 with a cotton swab!" if you were to modify it enough.  The hitting power that broke the iPhone was hardly the cause of a foam tube with a rubber tip.  I'd chalk that result up to the hot glue in the tip and the dowel rod in the middle of the dart in this test.  The high pressure blaster they built is probably a culprit to this, too.  On the other hand, it's fun to see Nerf making its way around an office of phone repair guys and YouTubers!

So yes... saying you can break an iPhone 6 with a Nerf Dart is technically correct.  Which, by some standards, is the best kind of "correct".  Either way, I'll just have to tell my coworkers that they won't be able to defend themselves against me by using their phone as a shield unless they want it broken.

Halloween GIVEAWAY!!

To help celebrate my favorite holiday, I'm doing a GIVEAWAY!  All you need to do to win is submit a photo of you in a costume with Nerf or Laser Tag or a Halloween-themed Nerf or Laser Tag blaster (for those who are a little camera shy).  Submit that photo as either a comment here with a Link or you can also submit the photo on Tactical Tag's Facebook Page.

This photo contest giveaway will END on October 31st, after which I will round up all the photos and give away the prizes.  For every 10 photos, I will give away a blaster.  If we get 22 photos submitted, I give away TWO blasters.  If we get 45 photos submitted, I give away FOUR.  More photos = more chances to win!  Who cares if Drac has epic Zombie Slaying blaster or Bobololo has a spot-on Hillbilly geddup that's sure to win if there's more than two slots to win, right?  RIGHT!



All the nitty-gritty rules and details are listed below!