Guns & Ammo
Nerfing, as seen in pictures and from knowledge, involves teams of players shooting each other with foam darts, fired by means of a nerf gun. Nerf guns, as many of you know, are plastic guns made by Hasbro. To participate in a nerf war, we require you have a nerf gun. Some players have a more extensive supply of nerf guns, and can thus lend their guns to others for game play. If you decide to stay in the nerfing madness after playing a few games or so, you will at some point or another be required to buy your own nerf gun. You can purchase nerf guns in multiple places. Stores such as Toys R Us, Wal Mart, and others sometimes carry some of the newer nerf guns, such as the air tech line of guns. (For more information on buying the right gun, see Weaponry.) Ebay is a great place to buy nerf guns. You can bid on or buy guns that are old and new, with the only downside being shipping costs and usually 1-2 week delivery. In any case, after buying a gun you can attempt to modify the gun yourself, or receive help from any of the nerf Crew. (See Members for more information on the nerf crew. See Modification & Integration for more information on modifying guns.) Ammunition is supplied by the nerf Crew, but if you want to contribute to the game by making your own ammunition, as well as being able to have darts of your own at your home to test your guns, making darts if very easy, and you can contact any of the nerf Crew to learn how to make them. The ammunition is foam backer rod weighted with very small either bb or 3/0 size fishing weights.

Weaponry
One of the most, actually the most, commonly asked question is, what gun should I buy? Well there isnt an easy answer to that, but there is an easy answer to What gun shouldnt I buy? Lets face it; there are a lot of crappy guns out there. Here is a list of good guns in different categories, so you can choose a gun according to your style. Guns not listed on here are generally not good, so dont bother listing to someone the names of guns you find and asking if they are good. Included in this guide is the general price range on Ebay for the listed guns. (Shipping not included). Here are the good ones:

Pistols (Handguns)
Pistols are small, more often than not one-handed weapons which dont always get as much range as the bigger guns, but fire with a faster rate of fire and you can usually use two of them at once. Weather youre using them as a backup or a primary weapon, pistols are great in just about any situation.

Lock N Load ($30-$40 single shot powerful cocking weapon, generally assumed to be the best pistol)
Splitfire ($10-25 two shot, air powered pistol. Very good, but on almost every single one of them there is a design flaw and one of the barrels leaks, giving it slightly less range. Still a great pistol)
Airtech 2000 ($10 on amazon.com. still in stock in stores and on amazon.com, the at2k is my favorite pistol. With four shots and extremely good range for a pistol, added on to great integration (see Modification & Integration for more information on that) capabilities, it is my overall favorite pistol)
Sharpshooter II ($10-20 can be either single shot or double shot modified, but the single shot version is much better. The SSII is a cocking weapon with good range and a nice compact design. An overall very nice gun)
Secret Shot 2 ($15-25 a very high range air powered pistol, exceeding distances reached by any other pistol. A very good gun, but takes more pumps that other air powered pistols and again, only has one shot before reloading)
Secret Shot ($10-20 while nothing compared to its older brother, the SS2, the SS is a good cocking pistol that can be modified to shoot two darts at once. A very compact size makes this pistol a good choice for combining with larger primary weapons)
Eagle Eye ($10-20 this cocking pistol is a good choice if you are big on modifying guns, because it is very powerful with a lot of modification. They are relatively easy to find so they are a good weapon to have around)

Automatics
Big, bulky, holds a lot of ammo and shoots them all really rapidly. What more could you want, right? Wrong. To be perfectly frank, having an automatic as your primary gun sucks. There is one smaller automatic that takes less pumps (but sadly shoots less shots) that is very worthwhile as a backup weapon.

Powerclip ($15-25 a ten shot automatic air powered gun that is a worthy backup in battle, but takes about 15 pumps and a very long reload time)

Long-Range Weapons (Sniper Weapons)
Easily the most popular category among new players, the sniper weapons rule at long-range combat, but usually suffer from their bulky size and generally longer reload time. While new nerfers are very impressed with the performance of these guns, experienced players know that sometimes a higher rate of fire is more ideal for their particular style of game play. While this category lacks guns, the ones that are listed are very powerful and in high demand.

Supermaxx 5000 ($35-50 generally hailed as the most powerful of the sniper-class weapons, this gun reaches extreme ranges and doesnt even take an obnoxious amount of pumps, anywhere from 5 to 15. when not specially modified, the reload time is very long and the gun is very large, especially when modified with a long barrel)
Crossbow ($40-70 easily the most pricey nerf gun around, this high-demand weapon is ideal for modification and can become a very powerful weapon. Being cocking, it has a quick firing rate and the reload time isnt too bad)
Modified Super Soakers (cost varies. If you happen to have an old super soaker, some of them can be modified into powerful sniper weapons. It really depends on what super soaker you have and how you modify it. The downside is super soakers are usually large, and always have an inconvenient amount of pumps required)

Medium-Range Weapons (Trooper Weapons)
Probably the most widely use nerf guns among all players alike, the Trooper class weapons dominate in medium to close-quarter combat. With high rates of fire, fast reload times and high potential for modification, the trooper class weapons lack in weaknesses aside from battle against sniper weapons at long range. The good trooper weapons list is very extensive, so only the ones held in very high regard are listed. For more information on trooper weapons, contact one of the nerf Crew.

Supermaxx 1500 ($10-20 one of the most versatile nerf guns, often used in integrations and is one of the most powerful trooper weapons. The sm1500 is a four shot manually rotated air-powered weapon with great range and high rate of fire and a low reload time. Highly recommended if you can find one)
Big Bad Bow ($40-55 expensive, but a very well built gun. A cocking weapon with good range and rate of fire, but unfortunately only one shot)
Expand-A-Blast ($5-15 a relatively cheap gun, the EAB is a good trooper weapon, but like most cocking weapons, is only one shot. Still worth getting, it has a pretty quick reload time; you just have to be careful about not putting the dart too far down the barrel)
Blastfire ($10-30 the only semi-automatic nerfing weapon, the air powered blastfire offers (obviously) high rate of fire but somewhat slow reload time, due to the fact you have to reload five bullets. Combined with high range, this gun is very good)
Arrowstorm ($20-30 a six shot push fire weapon, very high rate of fire and great range make this gun a powerful choice. The only downside is reloading six shots)

Times & Places
Nerf wars are held relatively often. Every weekend or more likely every other weekend is when they are held, and some might be on half-day Wednesdays, but that is less likely. Sometimes the war will be held at someones house. If you would like to volunteer your house to be a nerfing site, that would be good and you should contact a member of the nerf Crew. Other times the fight will be held at a playground or area where there is a low population of people and a large space. The time and place for the next nerf war will be posted on the website at least five days before the specified date, so you can contact members with availability/conflict.

Modification & Integration
Nerfing isnt all just about running around shooting people with foam darts. Its about shooting people with foam darts out of well-built guns! Modifying guns is probably the most difficult part of nerfing, but unmodified guns in a nerf war is like a handicapped man in a street fight. This section gives some basic knowledge about general nerfing modification, but nothing specific. For modifications on specific nerf guns, contact a member of the nerf Crew.

Tools & Materials
There are certain tools and materials used for the modification of most nerf guns. These tools you can either buy yourself or borrow from someone.
PVC & CPVC pipe
PVC and CPVC pipe is used for making barrels. The size used for the darts that we make are 1/2 inch PVC and CPVC. PVC is used to fire mega darts, and 1/2-inch CPVC fires micro darts.
Small Screwdriver & Pliers
For opening nerf guns and prying things apart/off.
Dremel
A dremel is an electric rotating device, mainly used for sanding down parts of plastic that get in the way. Not a required tool for modification, but very helpful.
Duct Tape & Electrical Tape
While I personally prefer electrical tape, both of them are good for securing things into place and filling up extra space. You can also make your gun look jazzy.
Pencil & Ruler
For measuring and marking.
Hot Glue Gun & Sticks Of Glue
A critical part of the nerf equipment pool, hot glue is used to put together just about everything. If something tells you to attach something or replace barrels, it usually means to use a glue gun to attach barrels or whatever else there might be.
Hacksaw/Miters Box Saw
To cut PVC and CPVC youll want to have one of these, the miters box is very strongly recommended, because you can perform perfectly straight cuts.

Basic Modification
A lot of mods (modifications) can be done to almost any nerf gun, such as barrel replacement. Others are specific to a certain class of guns, such as band modding a cocking weapon. Here are some of these basic mods:
Barrel Replacement (Single Barrel)
To single barrel an air powered gun, simply open it up, take out the barrel assembly, and replace it with a single tube of PVC or CPVC pipe, which you glue over the air tank hole that you see once you take off the barrel assembly.
Barrel Replacement (Multi Barrel)
The multi barrel is a bit harder. Again, this is for air-powered guns. Open then gun, and take out the barrel assembly. Cut off the barrels that are currently on there, but leave the base of the barrel assembly. Replace the barrels with PVC or CPVC pipe. Smaller guns or guns with more barrels might require you to use CPVC.
Plugging The Air Release
This is again only for air-powered guns. Open the gun. Find the pump, and slide it out of its tube shelter. On the end of the pump that goes into the tube, it should be flat and right in the middle there is a hole. Clog that hole up with hot glue, but dont put too much so it makes a huge blob. It should flow over the hole however.
Band Modding
This is a mod for cocking weapons. Make a chain of rubber bands and put it through the cocking handle, then make it come around and loop it over the barrel. It should be very tight, but not so it breaks when you cock the weapon. Do this a few times so you have 3 or 4 chains around your gun.

Creative Modification (Personalizing Guns)
To make a gun really your own you might want to do something special to it. This Creative Modification is doing something to your gun that very few or no people have done to their gun. It could be integrating a gun into another one, or it could be sawing off unnecessary pieces of your gun to make it look cool. Whatever you do is really up to you. It is often good to have someone with a lot of experience help you creative mod so you dont saw off anything necessary or screw up your gun by adding a faulty integration.

Integration
Integration is where you take the insides of one gun and put it either on or in another gun. This is very helpful because you have a gun mounted on another, thus giving you more shots before you have to reload. Another good thing about it is you can make your own personal integrations that nobody has done before, and then you can really call that gun your special gun. Again, integrating without expertise can result in failure of operation of your gun, so be careful or seek assistance.

Equipment & Game Play
One of the biggest problems faced by a nerfer is what to bring to a nerf fight, and what happens once youre there. Most of the nerfing population carries certain things. One is eye protection. While nerfers in other places may not, we require that you wear some sort of eye protection while nerfing. Most nerfers wear sunglasses, but goggles and other eye protection are generally accepted. If you are not sure if something you have counts as eye protection, chances are it doesnt, so just find some sunglasses or something. You are not allowed to fight without eye protection. If you wear prescription eyeglasses, you do not have to wear something over them, but you can if you want. Another piece of equipment you want to have is something to hold ammo in. it could be pieces of PVC piping glued to a belt, a small bag attached to a belt, or just simply a pocket. Whatever is best for you, there is a lot of flexibility in this field. Other things to bring may include holsters for backup weapons, somewhere to attach a ramrod to and other things as well. Besides eye protection, the equipment you bring is really up to you. Game play in nerf is, as you might assume, very different than other sports. Most of the time we play a game called team survival. Team survival starts off with two or more teams. The teams all go to an assigned spot. When all teams confirm ready, the round begins. Each team tries to hunt down all the players on the other team(s). If you are hit, anywhere on your body, even your hand, you are out for the round. You may not interfere with game play if you are shot, or you will sit out for a round or two. If you get hit on your gun, you are not dead (meaning out for the round), but if you purposely move to block the dart with your gun you are dead, even if the bullet wasnt going to hit you. When only one team has players left alive (not out), that team is victorious. There are other styles of game play too, such as capture the flag, zombies, and more but those are played less frequently.

Members
There are certain members of the nerfing community known as the nerf Crew. These nerfers are highly experienced and can help you with your nerf questions or projects.

Matt Taylor
Everything expert, fond of creative modification and integrating weapons, go to for any problems you might be having or anything.

Chris Reilly
General nerf knowledge expert, go to for information or to answer specific questions.

Kamran Golestaneh
Basic modification expert, go to for help with modding guns.

While there are more members of the nerf community, most of them are still learning the game and can probably answer questions but are not in any state of expertise.