Board Thread:Questions and answers/@comment-27306930-20160211031722/@comment-27306930-20160229030123

Okay, the Academy Awards are on, which preoccupied Mrs. ElliottW long enough the attend to my StrongArm situation. Becky, my favorite SA suffered a catastrophic plunger failure this morning while we were on a date, umm, I mean mission. I suspected that the combination of having no air restrictor AND an OMW Final Stage kit wasn't a good combination. I guess I was right.

As I mentioned at the top of this thread, the SA with its air restrictor intact was outperforming my Becky, who had an air restictotomy many months ago. So I grabbed another StrongArm from inventory and started kitbashing.

After an hour (and three double vodkas ... or so, I guess) I managed to transplant the plunger and bolt sled from a stock SA into Becky, then reinstall the OMW kit. Lo and behold, Becky is working again, marvelously ! So there is something else going on that's not immediately apparent. Clearly there are pressure gradients behind the AR that are beneficial in transferring energy from the plunger to the dart. In other words, it just works better that way, knucklehead ;-)

I also took this opportunity to modify the barrel stanchions so that it swings away a full 90 degrees for easier loading. It's a simple mod if you have the right tools, and it makes a HUGE difference in reload time. Best part is, there's no impact on performance or wear on the blaster. I would say it's been an excellent night, my friends.

"I don't always mod blasters, but when I do, I prefer to mod StrongArms. Nerf on my friends."