"NiteSniper" - Modified Nerf Nitefinder

Alright so this is basically a total reworking of my very first Nerf mod, which I posted up here a fair while ago. Unfortunately after I mad that post, the plunger on it broke so I had to throw in new internals, and while I was at it I added a new light and battery terminals. It sat around for a while until today, when I had the time to repaint it and add the faux barrel back on.

This time, I went for a different camo look, using a technique that I will do a guide on how to do at a later date. This turned out really nice, and it's probably my most powerful Nerf gun I have at the moment, hitting 100 feet or more. It's because of this that I added the faux barrel back on, because it slows down reload time to make it a little more fair and challenging to use in a Nerf war, and also because the wide aperture barrel helps reduce the flailing that streamline darts do sometimes without having much impact on range.

Loading is done by sliding the port tube forward, pushing a dart in and closing the port again. Of course, you don't have to close the port tube, but for night games it covers the bright orange tip of the dart, and makes the whole blaster almost invisible until you activate the light. Personally I'm eager to get in the action with this blaster to see shots I can make from a decent range.

Custom Nerf Nitefinder

In between writing for this blog, riding and working, I've also been moving house, so I have been really busy. The upside of this, Is that I've found well over 100 Nerf darts (from places you wouldn't even think of looking), and this, my custom Nitefinder. I did a review on these and also a mod guide a while ago, but I had no idea where this one was to include it in the pictures or write up.

Anyway, This was the very first Nerf gun I owned and modded. It started out as a simple stretched spring, then later I decided to drill the restrictor out, and I got some great ranges out of it. But, me being me, I wanted more power. So, I added an extra spring to work inside the original one. And then I went further, and added a stock fabricated from a piece of L bar and a short piece of box section steel. I cut a small section out of one side of each L bar piece so that it could be screwed flat to the side of the Nitefinder's body. This stock gave me added stability in Nerf wars to be able to hit 80 foot ranges with decent accuracy. A while later, I bought a Longshot and attached the scope to this, and did my first painting attempt .

2 bolts either side secure the stock

This Nitefinder is one Nerf gun that I can say I'll sill keep using for a while, though not one of my best modding jobs, it looks OK in my opinion, I do like the minimalistic stock look. Performance is still quite good, it's short, so very easy to get around with, powerful enough to get good ranges, and pretty accurate for a Nerf gun. The downside is that it is slow to reload and quite loud. But, like I said, I'll still be using this blast from the past.

Simple Mod Guide: Nerf Nitefinder Ex-3

While many people somehow completely skip taking a short while to mod a Nerf Nitefinder, it is what I think to be the first that you should try to mod before anything else, as most of the basics of foam dart blaster modding can be learned from this blaster with just a screwdriver, a drill, and an extra spring. The Nerf Nitefinder was the first blaster I ever modified, and since then I have modded a few more. But, believe it or not, my first $12 Nitefinder is still working, and is now making the rounds with a few friends who can't get over how far it can fire a foam dart.

Let's make a start shall we? This mod guide will cover disassembly, removal of air restrictors, adding a spring and putting it all back together again. I'm going to break this down as much as I can and throw in some handy advice along the way. First, you'll need a clean space. I use my pool table because it's nice and flat, and has edges to stop screws from falling off. Next, you will need a phillips head screwdriver (otherwise know as a cross or + head) and you want it to be a good fit. too large or too small and you run a large risk of rounding out the heads of the screws, if you do, you probably won't be able to get them out at all.

15 screws on the outside in total

Remove all of the screws marked in the photo above and place them in order somewhere. there are 14 marked with red arrows which are visible from the top, and one more marked with white which holds the battery cover on. If it's your first time modding, print this out for reference, and even poke the screws through the corresponding arrows on the picture to remember where they go back in.

Internals: print this for reference.

Review: Nerf Nitefinder Ex-3

The Nerf Nitefinder Ex-3 is quite a popular little dart blaster and makes an appearance in almost every department store, just like the smaller Nerf Secret Strike. For around $12 AU you get the blaster and three suction cup darts, which i feel is good value, though you do need two AA size batteries for the "light beam targeting".

The blaster is operated by drawing back the ring at the rear of the blaster until it locks in, loading a dart manually into the front of the barrel, and pulling the trigger. It features a tactical rail on the top of the blaster, and below the barrel it has an adjustable lens for what Nerf advertises as "light beam targeting", which is activated by pulling the trigger in half way. It's not a laser, it's a single red LED inside the blaster which via the lens projects a kind of target in the dark. Below that, is a spot to hold two spare darts, VERY handy for this blaster.