Barrel

The Furyfire's barrel.

Not to be confused with cylinder.

A barrel is one of the internal components of a Nerf blaster.

Details

A barrel is the outermost internal part of a blaster, simply because the dart or disc exits from it. Barrels vary from blaster to blaster on length and thickness. Sometimes a blaster's barrel can change in size over years of production, such as the Vulcan EBF-25.

The barrel of the majority of Nerf blasters, and every single one in the N-Strike, Dart Tag, and Vortex series are orange in color. Often, the inner diameter of barrels feature straight or spiralled rifling; it is a common misconception that spiralled rifling helps with accuracy by putting a spin on the dart, when in reality it does not because the walls of the dart are not always contacting the sides of the barrel.

Difference between "barrel" and "effective barrel"

Sometimes the term "barrel" is used to describe the vessel in which air is delivered to the dart (e.g. one may describe the Nite Finder as a blaster with a barrel to load darts into). This is different from external barrels, which do not positively affect air delivery in any way. To avoid confusion, the term "effective barrel" was coined, which describes the component of the blaster in which there is a seal around the projectile that prolongs the time it remains in contact with the force from the air from a plunger or air tank.

Breeches, cylinders, turrets, belts, and even shells may have effective barrels in them, as they are the components in which the dart is seated when it comes in contact with the air. Compression barrels, described below, would be considered an effective barrel because they create an air seal for the dart. The length of the effective barrel is very important for dart velocity in a blaster; generally, the longer the effective barrel, the faster the dart travels when it leaves, although effective barrels that are too long may also introduce unneeded friction which will eventually slow down the dart.

Barrel extensions

Main article: Barrel extension

Beginning with the Sawtooth and revived with the Longshot CS-6, several different barrel extensions have been produced. These barrel extensions, some of which also doubling as scopes or blasters themselves, come with the blaster or can be sold separately. Generally, barrel extensions reduce the velocity of the blaster due to introducing barrel drag. It is a dubious claim whether or not barrel extensions increase accuracy.

Modification

Modders often do not modify the barrel itself, due to the fact that altering the barrel requires alteration of other parts. One of barrels most common barrel modification is replacing the barrel with brass, PVC, or a larger diameter material, reducing friction on the dart.

Sometimes the effective barrel of a blaster may be replaced by PVC or brass. This modification is commonly known as "brass-breeching" or "PVC-breeching".

Using a cutting tool, the barrel can also be shortened. Another modification that can be done to barrels is drilling vent holes into the sides of the barrel. This creates more avenues for the air in front of the dart to escape as it travels through the barrel, decreasing air resistance.

Compression barrel

Some homemade blasters and hobby-grade blasters such as the Nexus Pro feature what is known as a compression barrel. These barrels have the same inner diameter as a dart (if not smaller) which causes the dart to always be in contact with sides walls of the barrel, which creates a near-perfect air seal for plunger-powered blasters (essentially acting as an extension of the breech). This extends the effective barrel of the blaster, allowing the dart to reach very high velocities, unlike regular barrels which do not come in constant contact with the dart, giving it the opposite effect. There is, however, an ideal barrel length for compression barrels; a compression barrel that is too long will inevitably introduce more friction and slow down the dart. Some Nerfers have alleged that the ideal barrel length is when the volume of the barrel matches the volume of the air in the plunger tube, so that none of the air is wasted. However, this only works in theory, as air in the real world is compressible and the air seal may not be perfect, allowing some of the air to escape. Compression barrels are usually made of metal such as aluminum or brass.

Blasters that use compression barrels almost always use a pusher breech; a conventional breech will not work as it would require a dart tooth, and dart tooth needs a hole to be made in the barrel, which would allow air to escape.

Sealed breech blasters that use a compression barrel also have an additional benefit; when dry firing, users can manually plug the barrel by sticking their finger in the muzzle (provided the blaster is unloaded) which will allow air to be trapped and cushion the plunger head, similar to how an air restrictor cushions the plunger head.