I have internet! Only took a month and three separate visits from technicians but we got there eventually. I’m sure you all care greatly but writing this from home is significantly more fun.
Cool, now that we’ve got out of the way, lets continue on from where we left off last week. Last week we went through how to remove the air restrictor (AR) in a Nerf Firestrike in a really bodgy manner. This week we’ll do it properly.
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Tools/consumables needed
Phillips head screwdrivers
A long, round hand file
Knife
Pliers
Hot glue + gun
Teflon tape
Electrical tape
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First up, the blaster in question.
Remove the battery door.
Then the shell. There’s seven screws and they’re all identical.
As always, once it’s open, take a good look around and try to get an understanding of how it all works. The Firestrike is one of the simplest blasters ever made so it shouldn’t be hard to figure out.
Take care not to lose this small nut. It’s what the battery door connects to.
Lift the whole plunger assembly out of the shell.
Then pull the plunger assembly away form the light.
With it out of the shell, let’s get to work.
Remove the plunger.
Pry the top piece off.
Then twist the front barrel away from the main plunger tube. It is incredibly hard to get off if you’re pulling it forward but really easy if you twist.
Like so.
Once the barrel is free, the AR assembly will fall loose.
This is where most of our work takes place.
The new Nerf AR design is really quite clever. With not dart in the chamber, the grey piece here practically seals the air in the plunger.
However when there’s a dart in place, this segment opens up.
Use a knife to pry the AR assembly apart and we should find the following pieces.
Again, closed.
Compared to open. See?
As clever as this is though, even when it’s open is is still a fairly serious flow restriction.
Lets start with the back piece first.
Cut through the three posts securing the middle piece.
Then clean it up with a hand file.
Cut the six stems holding the dart peg in place.
Then clean up the hole with the hand file.
Reassemble the pieces in this order.
Like so.
Then secure the front barrel again.
Now lets work on the seal.
Remove the O-ring.
Plug the holes in the plunger head with hot glue.
Then wrap the head with teflon tape until it forms a good seal. There’s no magic amount here, just trail and error until you’re happy with it.
Once happy, replace the O-ring.
Pry the front cover from the barrel.
Then wrap the front with electrical tape to block these two holes.
Replace the front cover and the plunger.
Slide the plunger assembly back into the shell. Start by putting the light back in the front cover then push it all back in the shell.
Replace the other half of the shell and the battery door and we’re done. One Nerf Firestrike sans AR.
Foam Dart Goodness 
Good guide, but may not be accurate for some blasters: where you refer to “twist the front barrel away from the main plunger tube”, I’ve gone through this twice now, and both time the orange sections appear to be adhered both to each other and to the plunger tube. First time I actually broke off the two clips completely, and still nothing separated. It’s possible the plastic parts were simply very old and had effectively glued themselves all together due to deteriating, but either way I had to bypass this partly, resulting in having to cut out the AR parts while they were still embedded in the plunger tube and front barrel respectively. Still doable, but more time consuming.
Would be curious how others might have gone with this? Did I just get unlucky with my two Firestrikes?
I think you might have just gone about it the wrong way. Personally, I removed the check valve with a pair of snips while the two parts were together, then pushed the back half off the front with a dowel rod, that way I wouldn’t have to risk cutting in to that piece. Other than that, just take your time and try not to brute force that many pieces.
Nope, definitely something appears different between our blasters. Rechecked your pics against my parts, and after looking much closer it really appears like some very light (almost varnish) film is on mine and absent from yours. Every part of my AR assembly is stuck together (albeit not all strongly). Might try a little nail polish polish remover or something to see if that is enough to weaken the bond.
Yeah i had the same problem with them being glued or stuck but yeah i just drilled the fuckers out.
This is true of some of the Nite Finders I own. I pulled out two this evening and found that all the pieces in the AR had been sealed with some kind of super-glue by Nerf. No easy way to access them and pull everything out, which was a disappointment!
Has anybody tried a barrel mod on the firestrike?