Board Thread:General Nerf discussion/@comment-29595756-20180117023625

I've seen lots of people say that it isn't worth it to mod Buzz Bee shells. I decided to see for myself if it really was that hard to do.

It's actually quite challenging to do because there is no easy way to get the AR out (if you didn't know, each shell has an AR instead of the blaster). I basically had to saw the entire end with the AR off so that the spring and components would fall out. Then I had to drill the internals to make it wide enough for the PVC pipe to fit all the way in. At this point the shell cracked and I was worried it wouldn't work. I managed to cram the PVC in well enough so that I could glue it in place. If you are wondering what the tape is for, it holds the shell together and it also makes up for the bit I sawed off, plus it stops the shell from ejecting every time I open the blaster.

All in all, it was a lot of work for just one shell, but it makes a really fun blaster in the end if you use the break action shotguns like the DoubleShot or GunSmoke. I'm using the shell in my GunSmoke, and reloading is much quicker now that the shell is rear loading. It also improves the performance greatly and I'm able to hit about 40 feet with Elites. This isn't great though, and I would guess that the main issue is that the seal between the shell and the plunger is pretty bad. I know from experience that the springs are quite strong.

So, if you want a more practical Buzz Bee shotgun, it works decently, but most shell blasters use clips so it might be less helpful on those because you would need lots of shells. I'd say it took me about half an hour of drilling, sawing and sanding to get just one shell done, so it would take a long time to make a war practical amount. 