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Monday, May 14, 2012

Nerf Elite Rampage Internals - Quick Preview!

With the Nerf N-Strike Elite Series rapidly building keen interest amongst the Nerf community, many enthusiasts have also been curious...

How did Nerf improve the spring powered Elite blaster models? Did they retain the reverse plunger system or did they re-design it with another type of plunger system?

Here is your answer!


Yes... Direct Plunger System!

Note that the units i've had a look at might be different from the final production versions. Therefore, this not a full review on them yet, just a preliminary insight into the new internal design.

This photo shows the plunger rod in the primed position (with the spring removed).


Plunger rod, spring and catch removed from the casing. The plunger catch point is situated just behind the plunger head.


Here is a view of the plunger system from the back in un-primed position (left side in the photo) and without the plunger rod (right side in the photo). The bolt which pushes back the plunger head and rod during the priming action can be seen at the front of the plunger tube (similar to how a Nerf Longshot works).


Spring plunger design comparison between the Nerf Raider reverse plunger system (top in the photo) versus the Elite direct plunger system (bottom in the photo).


Spring plunger size comparison between the Nerf Longshot direct plunger system (top in the photo) versus the Elite direct plunger system (bottom in the photo).


Kudos to Nerf for listening to their fans and improving the designs on their new blaster models, they have done an excellent job.

The new Nerf N-Strike Elite Series is indeed shaping up to become a hot favorite amongst Nerf enthusiasts! :)

69 comments:

  1. YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bring back the Vintage Blasters or something similar.
    Maxforce 2112, hypersight lines, etc

    Create blasters that are unique and different to each other. Not just 1st person shooter assault rifles, Recons etc.

    Different and unique! Break the modern day Rules!

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    Replies
    1. Dear other anon, kindly gtfo as you clearly do not understand the implications of a direct-plunger system.

      Delete
    2. I think that your wrong.

      Delete
    3. I think that you're right.

      There, corrected it for you.

      Delete
    4. Plenty of modern, N-strike and Dart Tag/New Dart Tag guns ARE unique. Just because there was one platform that got overused a little doesn't mean anything for 2 whole lines of guns, and Elite in particular FIXES the deficiencies that users found with that offending CS platform by making major mechanical changes to it. It is neither unoriginal nor useless, so please stop attacking it. Furthermore, your vintage argument holds no water. 90% of what made the guns you cite "different and unique" was their gimmicks - LED sights, tacky 1950s sci-fi raygun aesthetics, animal styling. Mechanically, they were all more or less big Nitefinders (pullback springers) and flavors of the Arrowstorm and Razorbeast, plus a few very sci-fi-looking airguns with pepperbox cylinders on them. And finally, there is nothing wrong with "more first-person shooter assault rifles". For HVZ, you don't want clunky old muzzle-loading pistols, high-powered AT airguns, and big pullback springers like the xbow. Those work for NIC wars but are, at best, sidearms and niche weapons in HVZ. For primary use, you want practical weapons with good ergonomics, high ROF and capacity, easy reloads, high reliability and nothing extraneous, i.e. the nerf analogues of first-person shooter (and real steel) assault rifles. N-strike does a hell of a job at filling those shoes for those who need that sort of product. I am just sick and tired of all the anti-progressive sentiment in nerf as of late.

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  3. youtube review! hehe anw where and how did u get one?

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  4. it's beautiful, nerf are giving us something nice to work with this time, it's a putty they have made it so you can't improve it that much, but we will be able to get 80 flat (probably)

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  5. Oh, gee wizz, they put a nitefinder inside a raider, yippie....

    I'll go back to my 7" draw rainbow-catch blasters now.

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    Replies
    1. No need to be an elitist bitch about your plastic toys there, sonny.

      Delete
    2. I'm saying this is nothing we haven't already seen. This is no where near LS sized plunger tube, and basically qualifies as a nitefinder in a raider. At this point, for $10 - $30, we can easilly build stuff that nerf would never dream of releasing, so this lineup, while a tip-toe in the right direction, is just very "meh". I'd say they need to release an "elite" version of the vortex blasters, or at least the praxis, that would shoot to the century mark flat. At 100ft, that would make the praxis, plus a Pyragon drum, easily a war-worthy primary.

      The next thing would be getting the cost per disk to the consumer down to $0.25 rather than $0.50, or else we need a significant breakthrough in the homemade stefan disk category.

      As far as being "elitist", I'd say I'm above re-shelled nitefinders into raiders, but that really isn't saying much. I'm well aware of plenty of superior builders and modifiers in the community, but most anyone with competence is above most of what nerf makes these days, because without heavy modifications, they just don't hold up.

      People just seem starved for any direct plunger release, even nitefinder sized ones like this.

      Delete
    3. I may have to agree with Anonymous1. A this looks like it has a plunger tube even /smaller/ than that of an nf.
      It sure is an improvement from reverse plungers though :)

      Delete
    4. That much is true, it /is/ certainly an improvement, and I can see the use for stock/HVZ wars, so long as these darts cost the same as current $0.25ish darts. That's been the main reason I've not bought a vortex yet.

      Delete
  6. I'm so happy now! It's much easier to get friends into nerf when they can start with an off the shelf blaster.

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  7. Hey SG, Does it have AR's? And do you think you will be modding it?

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    Replies
    1. imodify,

      Yes, it has ARs too, similar to other N-Strike blasters. You can see the AR in this photo, at the back of the bolt:

      http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AJKB4sa6FSw/T7H5I1htbuI/AAAAAAAAFUY/ogTJuGSR7bU/s400/Nerf+Elite+Rampage+Internals+-+04.JPG

      I will definitely be looking into modding them when i get the retail versions. :)

      Delete
    2. Of course they have ARs, look at the 4th picture.

      Delete
    3. Dear Anonymous,
      Thanks for the arrogance. No need to go cranky old lady on imodify just to try & prove yourself.

      Sincerely,
      Slightly Less Anonymous

      Delete
    4. How on earth did you get the rampage?
      I was acctually gonna try to swap my Raiders reverse plunger to direct but i should wait till the new raider look alike comes out to see how they did it

      Delete
  8. KewL!!!!!!!!!!! and i wonder has it any AR's. hmmmmmmmmmm.
    ~RedHawK

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  9. how did you get this these pictures?

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  10. Sgnerf, is this actually yours?

    Also, did you test the 75 ft. ranges? Did nerf live up to their claims?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      I will do a proper range test once i get the retail versions. :)

      Delete
    2. Oh come on! Your Killin us!!!

      Delete
  11. totally nailed the direct plunger from day 1, now the question is "if these blasters shoot 75ft forwards how do they do that with an AR attached?" but at least modders will like this.

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    Replies
    1. IS there an AR? I always was wondering whether Nerf could create this kind of performance increase simply by putting locks to prevent dry-firing (like on Vortex blasters) and removing the air restrictor entirely, while strengthening the end of the plunger tube somewhat...

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    2. Or perhaps not. It's visible in the fourth picture. Darn. Well. Maybe it's locking and is only active when there's no dart...? XD

      Delete
  12. What size plunger is it and whats the draw on it?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      The plunger tube ID is around 2.4cm, and the plunger draw is around 7cm (or approx 3").

      Delete
    2. Woah, that's pretty small, especially so for the inner diameter.
      Will be interesting to see how Nerf plans to get 75 ft with these internals....

      Delete
  13. YES!! They have listened to us!

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  14. how much different are the back section of the shells(raider and Rampage). cause the don't look too different to me.

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    Replies
    1. There is a smaller hole in the back of the Rampage with an area around it indented to hold the thinner spring. Beyond that I can't spot any differences in the shells, but I'm seeing plenty of difference in that plunger. =)

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  15. Well I'm surprised nerf switched back to direct plungers! Happy and sad at the same time. It's better because it's a direct plunger but springs will be a little tough cause I can't see a k26 working inside of that! :) and the tubes are minuscule compared to the longshot. But nerf is getting there. I think I'll just wait with my fingers crossed for an Elite Longshot.

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  16. Either that thing isn't primed all the way forward in the photo or it has a terrible breach airseal, which would mean rifled barrels become mostly useless. Do you have any more data on the rifling or the airseal? Nice to know it has an AR at least, so there's some easy modding potential.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DroidFreak,

      Yup, the bolt just happens to be sitting slightly open in the photos (it can be pushed forward fully)... though the breech basically works the same way as in current N-Strike blasters (like the Recon, Raider, Longstrike etc). Its still not a sealed bolt-to-barrel breech system.

      The barrel inner diameter is also wider than the foam darts, so the "rifling" is mostly just cosmetic. :)

      Delete
  17. Hey SGnerf, how does the spring in the rampage compare to the raider's spring?

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  18. 1" by 3" of draw? That's about the same as a draw extended NF, so these could be quite nice. Revisionfive made a NF that shoots 100' with the stock volume, so who knows?

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  19. How did you obtain a rampage? That is really cool

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  20. Dear SGnerf,

    What is the KG of the spring and dementions. Also does the barrel have a tighter fit on the darts. And lastly is there a air release hole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      For the unit that i tested, the spring load seems to be similar to the stock load in current N-Strike blaster models. The spring dimensions is around 17.8mm diameter and 99mm length.

      The front barrel section has similar width as in a Nerf Raider, still wider than the foam darts.

      There are air release holes in the bolt section.

      Delete
  21. no need to not do a review sg, you can just post an updated review when you get a post release model.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Why would you not give people at least an idea of the ranges? Is nerf preventing you from doing that? C'mon seriously guy it takes like freaking 10 minutes to do. Who gives a rat's hairy ass if its not the retail version? Does the one you have get 75 ft. or not? I'm sorry if I come off as being rude but if I was in your situation and there were no legally binding issues for doing so, I would test the ranges right off the bat because to me thats the most important thing. Some people (like me) don't give a crap about modding potential because we don't have the time to mod every damn blaster we get. Thats why I'm very interested in these because of the supposed ranges out of the box. Just saying my man if you have the balls to go as far as showing the internals, might as well go the full nine and give some ranges.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      Well, as i mentioned, the unit i had a look at isn't the production version. From preliminary tests, the ranges didn't differ much from a stock Raider, so most likely its not as fully optimized as the production version, hence it can't be used to represent the actual performance of the retail models.

      Delete
  23. Hey SG,
    Are you planning on getting an elite retaliator to compare the internals? Also with the rampage, are there any springs already out there (e.g 5kg maverick spring) that might be able to fit in the rampage to give it an extra boost? Cause I live in a place where the power of the elite blasters are apparently going to be "downgraded" but i still really want to get 75ft ranges. Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      Yup, i'll be posting up full reviews, internal guides and mod guides for the various N-Strike Elite blasters once i get them.

      The stock spring dimensions is around 17.8mm diameter and 99mm length, so the stronger aftermarket springs should fit within those size parameters.

      So far, i've not seen any existing aftermarket Nerf blaster springs that could be used... so i guess new aftermarket ones will probably need to be custom made for the Elite blasters.

      Delete
    2. Alright thanks ;)

      Delete
  24. Are the shells the same shape on the inside? I ask because I like the new parts, but I like the original N-Strike look better. So I wanna transplant the parts. From the pics, they look the same. But I would like to be sure, if you please.

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    Replies
    1. Ben,

      The interior of the Raider and Rampage shells have different moldings and supports, so you'll have to do some additional modding to transplant and re-fit the parts.

      But why the need to transplant the parts? The Rampage has the same exterior design as the Raider anyways, just with slightly different (and newer) paintwork. :)

      Delete
    2. I don't really like the colour, though. Moreso with the Retaliator, since I wanna be able to use the Recon's iron sights, what with the Recon's yellow sight. I'd want to do the same thing with the Longstrike. They better make an Elite version of that.

      Delete
  25. SG Nerf do you think the AR's can be removed easily? does it need tools like a dremel or pipe cutter?

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    Replies
    1. DarkSonarch,

      Yes, the AR removal process is similar to the Recon or Raider... it can be done with pipe cutter method or drill method.

      Delete
  26. SGNerf, where did you get this blaster?
    If you would do you mid sending me a link?

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  27. Did you receive any of the new darts? If do, how do they compare?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      I've not gotten the new elite foam darts yet, but i'll definitely be reviewing them once i get the full retail versions. :)

      Delete
  28. Hey SG Nerf, when you look down the barrel of the Elite Rampage is the inside of the barrel spiraled, in order for the darts to spin? Please Respond!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      Yes, there are spiral grooves within the Rampage front barrel, but the barrel is much wider than the foam darts so they don't actually create a significant spin effect... its basically just for show.

      Delete
    2. Thank you for the quick response!

      Delete
  29. Do you reckon you could swap the reverse plunger from an AT with the direct plunger from a Rampage? That'd mean the world to me - an OP AT, all the power of the Rampage but with the goodness of a bottom located clip.

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    Replies
    1. Labrat,

      It's possible... but because the Rampage internal case moldings and parts mounting points are different, you'll need to do a fair bit of custom work on the Alpha Trooper internal casing to get the parts to fit and align properly.

      Delete
    2. Damn. . . :( would it still work fine after?

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    3. Labrat,

      I guess how well it works after modding will depend on your quality of workmanship when doing the conversion/transplant of the parts. :)

      Delete
    4. Cheers for the reply. Yeah I guess so. Really hoping they're gonna upgrade all the reverse plungers into the Elite series. . . the Alpha Trooper is IMHO the best Nerf Gun on the market.

      Delete
  30. How strong is the Rampage's spring? Ex: 3 kg

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      The Rampage stock spring is around 2.5-3.0kg load, similar to most stock Nerf blasters.

      Delete
  31. I want to change the spring but, is there any disadvantage of changing it? And... Where do you get the spring?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous,

      If you change to a heavier load spring, the blaster will naturally require more strength to prime and there will be higher stress in the parts, hence higher wear and tear during usage.

      Those are factors that modders have to consider when installing stronger aftermarket springs.

      I custom order the aftermarket springs through my company.

      Delete