Hey everyone, Gunner here.
I realized something the other day while I was fixing up a new blaster. I have been posting guides and reviews for a long time now and I never actually introduced myself. You see the gear and the numbers, you do not see the guy behind the safety glasses.
So let me fix that.
Mojave roots
I was born and raised in Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas. Growing up there means heat and open desert, and it teaches you to make things work with what you have.
In my twenties I worked in a custom off road shop. I welded roll cages, rebuilt suspensions for desert trucks, and laid down custom paint. That job taught me one thing that has never left me: build it to survive the place it lives. Out there, that meant heat, dirt and impact. Everything else is detail.
How a mechanic ended up modding foam
It started as something to do with the guys from the shop after work. We would take store bought blasters out to the dry dirt lots on the edge of town once the sun went down.
It did not take long to find the problem. Out in the open, normal blasters were not enough. They did not reach, and the cheap plastic gave up in the dirt and the heat. My mechanic brain would not let that sit.
So I started treating plastic toys the way we treated the trucks. Take it apart, find the weak spot, put a stronger spring in it, brace what warps. Suddenly my blasters were reaching a lot further than my buddies’ were, and they noticed. I started building lighter gear to carry too, because nothing you wear in Nevada in July should be heavy.
The paint job that put us on the map
Once the insides were sorted I had a new problem. Bright neon plastic in desert brush is a flare telling everyone where you are hiding.
That part I already knew how to fix. Auto body work is auto body work whether the panel is steel or ABS.
On February 13, 2009, I started this blog. The goal was simple, honest reviews and modding guides that actually hold up. One of the first things I posted was a guide and a video called How to Paint Your Nerf Guns. Sanding, the right paint, and a clear coat so the finish does not chip the first time it hits the dirt.
That one took off. It got shared around for years and it is still the post this site is known for. It told me something worth knowing: players do not just want gear that shoots hard, they want gear that looks like it has been somewhere.
What this site is for
Life gets busy and there have been quiet stretches here. The promise has not moved:
- Honest reviews. If a blaster is mediocre, it gets called mediocre. Nobody is paying for a good word here.
- Real teardowns. Screws out, guts on the bench, and a clear look at what is actually inside before anybody tells you to upgrade it.
- No fluff. Advertised range gets labelled as advertised range. Plain answers, in the order you need them.
I still treat every blaster like a project in the shop. Find the weak spot, upgrade the part, make it look incredibly cool.
Come say something
If you have a blaster you want pulled apart, a mod that worked, or a paint job you are proud of, tell me. Leave it in the comments on the guide it belongs to, or reach me through the contact page. Half the good ideas on this site came in from readers who found a better way to do it.
That is me. That is my story. Now let’s get back to the workbench, I have a new spring to install.
It’s Nerf or Nothin’!