When it comes to the Nerf modding community, the people involved tend to draw out all the potential in a blaster. But what happens when people from the community decide to make their own performance-oriented blasters from scratch? Well, you wind up with crazy things like the Rainbow-pump, Caliburn, and the subject of this post.

The Jupiter is a machine pistol styled blaster (for lack of a better term) made by Luke from Out of Darts. Out of Darts is a company that specializes in aftermarket blaster parts, and the Jupiter is their in-house answer to sidearms.

Functionally you could think of the Jupiter as the Mac-11 of Nerf. It is a compact, full auto pistol, that is capable of emptying a magazine in under a second. The available fire rates from the store range from 3 rounds per second to 12 per second. That is not the max potential of the blaster though, I’ve heard of Jupiters firing as fast as 18 rounds per second. Though, almost regardless of fire rate, its infamously difficult to keep extra ammo in the magazine.

The Jupiter uses High Impact Rounds, and the largest standard magazine currently available only holds 12 rounds. There are rumors of a high-capacity drum magazine to be released in the near future. But there are other unusual options currently available if you are willing to strip the Jupiter of its sidearm status.

The Proton Pack effectively turns the Jupiter into an ammo hose. It is a large wearable pack that connects to the magazine well of the Jupiter. With this equipped you have access to 270 rounds without ever reloading. This is achieved with a hopper (its actually a cheese ball container) equipped with a blower that acts in place of a magazine spring. There was a prototype for a 1000+ round unit that seems to have never hit production, at least not yet. The “beta” model is currently out of stock.

This is where I have a problem with the Jupiter. The base model is $99, not including shipping, assembly, batteries, charger, magazines, or ammo. Granted, it has high quality parts. But the rate of fire is so high that this is almost unusable with normal magazines. Remember that Mac-11 comparison? That has a similar problem. Unlike the Mac-11, the Jupiter has a $99 pack that upgrades the capacity. That is just for the current 270 round beta version that is no longer available, not whatever might replace it. Compared to other blasters, you would have to be mad to buy the Jupiter as it stands!

For the same price from Nerf you can buy a Nemesis for $99, or cheaper of you bother looking around. But that includes assembly, ammo, and a battery tray (D cells with the option of rechargeable). With a quick rewire and Li-Po battery conversion the Nemesis can just about match the Jupiter’s performance and fire rate. The nemesis even has a stock advantage on capacity with a 100 round hopper. This can be upgraded cheaply and easily to hold tons of ammo. You don’t have to be an Adam Savage to pull off that kind of upgrade.

Overall the Jupiter is a bit misguided. Every time I try to write positive things about this blaster I just can’t get away from its flaws. It sits in a very small niche as a machine pistol, and an even smaller niche as a pack-fed heavy blaster. I love what the creator tried to do, but the Jupiter gets way out-performed by modified blasters for the price. There are other performance oriented blasters out there, but those are a blog for another time.

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Maybe this should be a retrospective, but this is still fairly recent history. Not that it matters, old favorites die hard.

A while back the Hammershot was a darling of the Nerf modding community. You couldn’t go a day without seeing another Hammershot build online for some time. But what made it so special?

The answer is in the name, Hammershot. It was one of a few hammer-action blasters to come out around the time of its release. Unlike the smaller Doublestrike or bulkier Lawbringer, the Hammershot was a solid balance of size, capacity, and comfort. The hammer action meant that the Hammershot was one of the few spring-powered blasters that could be shot one-handed. Better yet, they could be dual wielded.

The modding community ate these blasters up. With the advent of 3d printing around the same time aftermarket parts flooded online stores. The below average 5 dart capacity could be brought up to 8 with an aftermarket cylinder. Barrel and body kits were made available in massive variety. Even the power limitations with the hammer action were soon sorted out, albeit with steel parts.

So how did something like this fall out of the limelight?

Well, over time people exhausted just about every new idea for this blaster. Shortly after the Hammershot went out of production and they became much less common. By the time the Hammershot’s popularity started to fade, the Rival line had been introduced.

Anymore the newer Kronos model is the secondary blaster of choice for people that want a springer. Even with minimal mods the Kronos dwarfs the Hammershot in power. But that is a blog for another time.

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When it comes to learning how to modify anything, dart blasters (do not call them guns, the entire internet will throw a fit) will always be a solid starting point. Fairly loose tolerances and relatively strong plastic make for malleable platforms that stand up well to modding. But there are such a wide variety of blasters that it can be hard to know where to start. Enter the Retaliator.

The Retaliator is one of the closest things you will get to a basic, catch-all blaster. As standard it is a no-frills, carbine style blaster. It comes with a 12-round magazine alongside basic looking stock, barrel, and grip attachments. The mechanism it uses is a top priming slide with a slightly mushy trigger. Nothing about it is too bad, but there is nothing special about anything this blaster has to offer as standard. However, that is the Retaliator’s greatest advantage.

The Retaliator is an incredibly unassuming blaster as standard, which is why the modded community loves these blasters. Internally this blaster uses a direct plunger system. It’s not overly amazing but its not bad. There is enough space for a brass breach, big bore plunger tube, and even much chunkier plunger springs. (big side note on the springs; in order to reach maximum potential for springs you need to reinforce or replace some parts to keep the blaster from blowing itself apart) This means that Retaliators are capable of making some very powerful shots with the right setup. The Retaliator is not known for power though, its real reputation lies in what can be done cosmetically.

The Retaliator is visually not that special. But that means that the core blasters lends itself well to fitting into other body styles. Pretty much any carbine is fair game for choosing your Retaliator’s  looks, although M4 lookalikes are probably the most common that I have seen. Don’t mistake this as a one trick blaster, the Retaliator is not limited to carbine styling. Some time ago Arctic Warfare styled kits were making their rounds around the web. With the right kit one could have a fairly convincing bolt-action sniper rifle lookalike. This is all what can be done with kits.

Outside of kit built mods the Retaliator is just as versatile. The accessories that come with the blaster lend themselves well to other blasters, along with parts of the core blaster. The plunger system is occasionally transplanted into older Recon shells to bring special units up to modern specifications. Retaliator barrels have been used for everything from cosmetics to Afterburner mods (Afterburners are a blog for another time.) Even the Retaliator’s grip is sometimes used in Bullpup conversions. (Bullpup conversions get weird, that needs its own post) If there is a build you want to do, there is a chance that you will need at least part of a Retaliator.

Overall, the Retaliator is a bit like a hamburger. It starts off very basic, but lends itself well to almost any kind of customization. Ideal for newbie modders and experts alike, the Retaliator is easily the most versatile blaster for modification. This is a great place to start.

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