Board Thread:Questions and answers/@comment-46627445-20200815060845/@comment-27306930-20200815152958

First, those 18650s are not going to fit nicely in either your Stryfe or RapidStrike. What you need are 14500 IMRs. Most people don't know this, but the size is coded in the name. 14500s are 14mm wide and 50mm long (14x50), the same as AA batteries. 18650s  are 18mm wide and 65mm long (18x65). So you're going to have both a length and width problem getting 18650s in your blasters.

The reliability of drums is varied. The general rule is - the bigger the drum the less reliable it is. That's not to say some CS-35s aren't rock solid, but in my experience it's a pretty good rule. And they perform the same pre and post-upgrade. So if it's reliable before you mod your blaster, it will work reliably after you mod your blaster. But if it's unreliable, a blaster mod isn't going to fix that.

The good news is, you can replace the spring with a much stronger spring like the ones at FoamBlast and greatly improve the reliability and feeding speed of any drum. I highly recommend them.

The reason competitive nerfers prefer CS-18s is simple efficiency. You can carry more darts in the CS-18 form factor than any other mag except the CS-22. You can make flip-clips, store them easily in thigh pouches, or carry them in your belt. You can't do any of that with a bulky drum.

That being said, CS-35s are awesome in certain applications. Every nerfer should have at least one in their arsenal.