Board Thread:General Nerf discussion/@comment-37882578-20190815144807/@comment-27306930-20190824030458

Challenge accepted.

I don't own any shell blasters myself, so I've made some basic assumptions. The shells form a triangle. The diameter of Elite darts is ½ inch each, and we'll guesstimate the four walls of the associated chambers measure about 0.2 inches, for a total of 1.2 inches at their widest point. Somebody who owns a shell should verify that for me.

So assuming the individual shells are approximately 1.2 inches across, and they are arranged in a circular pattern like a traditional Nerf drum, and we assume they would be dovetailed in the most compact storage arrangement, then the drum would have a diameter of approximately 10 inches. Not bad really.

Here's how that works: Let's start with the arrangement of the shells. Two nested triangles that have a base of 1.2" have a total length 1.5 times the base, equalling 1.8". To get 35 shells in the drum, you'd have 17 nested pairs, plus half the length of the 35thshell. That's 17x1.8+0.6 = 31.2 linear inches.

So let's bend that line of shells into a circle. It's going to stretch a little, but we'll account for that in a fudge factor at the end. Now remember π=c/d ?

Well, if the total circumference of all the nested shells is 31.2", then 31.2÷π = 9.94 inches. We need to compensate for the fact that the drum is going to need an external shell, plus our fudge factor from before, so it's safe to assume the drum itself would be about 10 inches in diameter.

Problem solved.