Scratch build a Nerf gun

I know that lots of people use Nerf guns as the base for a prop build. But I'm talking about actually making a gun from scratch and just using the nerf ammo in it.

This came from a project I've wanted to make for a while. An old west under lever rifle, 'The Gun That Won the West' sort of thing.

It definitely had to cock and actually cycle shells, but just cycling empty replica shells seems pointless and as a method of firing bb's it's a tad complicated.

So that's when I came up with using Nerf ammo. It's simply fired by air pressure and it's about the right size for that sort of loading and firing cycle.


The main question is, has anyone ever done this before, do you think it will be possible / relativly easy?


Another big inspiration is this guy who built a pump action grenade launcher from scratch. I am confident I can make the mechanism but will I be able to modify it for Nerf?

It can be done.

That being said it will not be easy to get right . Most Nerf guns use a simple spring action piston to force the air out.








The basic barrel can be simple PVC the trick will be figuring out how to actuate the air piston with a lever action rifle. If you check out Make Mag issue 29 they have a nice how to on making a Nerf gun from scratch

[EDIT] Forgot the shells. The clip can be a simple spring feed like an actual gun. or a full casesed dart with a mechanical action tied to the lever if your so inclined. [/EDIT]

You can also find a massing amount of information on modding and building nerf guns on the net, tons of forums with this in mind.

As an additional note, there are some non-nerf brand guns (Buzz Bee, I think...) that actually use shell casings to hold the darts while in the chamber/magazine/whatever, so these might allow you to make a more robust mechanism that would also allow you to "just cycle shells" if you didn't plan to shoot anything. And the packs of shells can be bought separately and are compatible with nerf darts.

The firing mech is pretty much what I expected.

The magazine, will be a sprung tube fed mag like a normal lever action rifle.

Cocking the air piston via the lever is definitely my main problem at the moment.

Also I couldn't find and foam darts with casings (quick search of buzz bee products) and it would probably only serve to complicate things.

Scratch that, I found the cased ammo, as well as this:



Much as I was looking forward to a complete scratch build, this is definitely a better place to start. it's £20 in the U.K so I reckon I'll be buying one of those soon.

Hopefully it won't be too hard to convert it from magazine to tube fed, and the rest is cosmetic.

I imagine some fudging may have to be done on the barrel caliber, but otherwise, I want to try and do an accurate turn of the (20th) century replica

I'm sure you are aware at this point but there are some pretty big forums dedicated to nerf blaster modification and homemade builds. The best I've found is probably nerfrevolution.com. The issue surrounding clip fed blasters have been attacked on nearly every angle. The nerf longshot is the most notorious bolt action blaster.

MikeyDonuts said:

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I'm sure you are aware at this point but there are some pretty big forums dedicated to nerf blaster modification and homemade builds. The best I've found is probably nerfrevolution.com. The issue surrounding clip fed blasters have been attacked on nearly every angle. The nerf longshot is the most notorious bolt action blaster.

Yeah I'm aware it's a huge thing, and until now have steered clear of it, until me, my friend (and his mum) got into a pretty lengthy battle and I discovered how awesome they are, having been denied toy guns as a child.

Anyway, once the mechanism is sorted I intend to bring this back to the prop replica area, and will rebuild most, if not all, of the exterior to make it look the real deal.

Despite my better judgement I'll probably delve into some nerf forums (goodbye productivty) just for funsies.

I was going to point you in the direction of the Buzz Bee Rapid Fire Tek, but I see you already found it. A good Nerf forum is OzNerf.com it's based in Australia and there's loads of guys into internal modifications and scratch building blasters.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. You could also think about using the internals of an existing gun and building around it. I recently did a working Nerf Lightsaber and it was a lot easier to use an existing plunger system than bothering with making one from scratch.

Good luck!