The Rubber Band Method
The rubber bannd method is for use on most cocking weapons, like the Sharpshooter II, Crossbow, and Manta Ray. This will not work on the Ratchet Blast, because of it's weird cocking mechnism. All you need for this modification are some mediun to thick rubber bands (the thicker the better). You begin this method by test fitting a rubber band around the cocking handle and a secure place as far away from the cocking handle as possible. The band should be tight, without the weapon actually being cocked. If the band is too small, keep on adding more forming a rubber band chain, until it is long enough (on a Crossbow, you may have to add one or two more bands). When the band(s) are in place, load up the weapon, cock it, and fire away. The extra force of the rubber bands pulling on the cocking handle create significantly more air pressure on the dart or arrow, sending it much further with much more power.
Stretching the Spring
This mehtod of modification is more difficult and is only recomended for people who have lots of skill, luck, and a really strong desire to make their weapon huge. If you don't have any of the above requirements, don't even think about performing this technique, unless it's on a crappy gun like a Sawtooth and you don't really care if it gets busted. For these modifications all you will need is a straight and philips headed screwdriver. Begin by unscrewing all of the screws on the weapon, making sure to save all of them. Now pull off one half of the shell, exposing all of the insides. Locate a spring somewhere in the weapon. It's normaly about where the air comes out. Carefuly pull out the spring and make it longer by pulling on the ends. Now put the expanded spring back in place and put the gun back together again. Putting the weapon back together again is the most difficult step in the whole process. To make it go a lot eaiser, remenber how it looked before you ripped it apart. I know this sound like common sense, but I have seen more Nerf guns broken because of this. Now when you shoot, the dart should travel with much more power.
Chainblazer
After repeated use, no matter how careful, shavings of the plastic from the Chainblazer's firing handle will build up along it's track. These shavings are one of the main causes of weapon malfunction. To get rid of these shavings, just take your fingernail and scrape it along the shavings and they will fall off. To totaly eliminate this problem, once and for all, take an exacto knife and cut away a small bit (like a mm or two) of the plastic off the firing handle around the track. This will make the handle flow much smoother when firing and eliminate the problem of plastic shavings. After all of the shavings are taken care of, use some WD-40, or Vaseline to lubricate the firing handle. You can also use the spring enlargment technique. To make the Chainblazer shoot farther, without the hassle of opening up the entire gun all you need to do is take an electric drill and the approiate drill bit, and enlarge the hole on the back of each dart holder to the size of the hole on a dart.
Eagle Eye
This is a great way to add more range to the Eagle Eye. It can be done without opening it up. First, look to the side inside the barrel, you'll see a hole. If you can, put some tape over it from the inside. If not, you'll have to open it. I opened mine, put some tape on, and drilled a hole to the same size as the dart. I then stretched the spring, and set it back in place. I get an extra 10+ feet on good darts. I also put the gun on it's side and put some glue into the hole where the tape was (if you opened it up). I then smoothed it out with the barrel.
Sharpshooter II
The Sharpshooter II has TONS of modifications, a rubber band method, an internal major overhaul, and a whole slew of combos. The rubber band method is the eaiest to do and gives you the most performance for your trouble. All you have to do is string two rubber bands together in a small chain. Pass one end through the cocking handle, and pull it downward until the link of the chain is in the center of the handle. You now have two ends of the rubber band chain. Take the lower end first and wrap it around to the front end of the gun, inbetween the dart barrels. The upper end is attached the same way, bet be sure to not get the band caught on the dart holders. For maximum affect, use 3 of 4 of these chains, attaching them the same way as the first. The internal overhaul modifications are very difficult to pull off and could seriously screw up your gun. Begin by taking apart the Sharpshooter II , taking out the screws and saving them. When the cover is pulled off, some little parts like washers, small screws, and springs, may pop out. Try to get them back in place the best you can, except for the springs. The springs screw up everything. Take off the two plastic firing barrels at the front of the gun. (THIS NEXT STEP IT TOTALY OPTIONAL AND MAY SERIOUSLY SCREW UP SOME SHARP SHOOTER II MODELS!) If you look closely a inside the barrels, you will notice a hole at the end of each one. Now take out an electric drill and find a drill bit that is the same size as the hole in a suction cup dart. Now drill the holes to the new size, making sure to get out all the plastic dust. Replace the barrels in the correct position and put the gun back together. This last step can be extermly difficult to do, but with a little fancy fingerwork and a lot of paitence and luck, it can be done. With the weapon back together again, test shoot it. If everything was done correctly, the new gun should shoot 200x better than before.
Crossbow
The Crossbow is an even better weapon when fully modified. It's power, range and ease of use increase famously with the proper modifications. To increase the Crossbows power and range, use the rubber band technique. Link two rubber bands together and loop them through the cocking handle and stretch them around the front of the gun, right under the yellow box thing. For even more power, put five or six rubber band chains on! Now, look at the yellow firing tube where you put the arrows on. If you look at the underside of this tube, you will see four small holes. These holes let out half of the air pressure when you shoot! Take a piece of clear tape and cover up these holes making sure not to get the tape bunched up or stuck together. To make the weapon much eaiser to handle and operate, take off the 'bow' part of the Crossbow that holds the ammo. This part makes the weapon heavy, and cumbersome. There is no point in this piece, except that it holds ammo, but all the ammo that is held there gets bent up. Because the Crossbow is rather big and bulky, it makes it impossible to carry arround a second weapon, unless you fit it with a shoulder strap. Take the padded part off the shoulder strap of an old backpack with a pair of scissors. Place the strap towards the rear brace on the back of the gun and wrap several tight rubber bands or electrical tape around it to hold the strap in place. Give the strap a somewhat strong tug to see if it holds. If the strap slips off, put more bands or tape on it. Now you can use the Crossbow as a secondary one shot weapon, and store it over your shoulder! This is the way a Crossbow should be used!
Melee Weapons
Melee Weapons if allowed, can be a great asset to a trained warrior. The two most popular versions are a sword and a mace. The mace is the easiest. Go to a toy store and pick up one of those softball sized squishy foam balls. Take a sharp pair of sicsors and core it a little bit. Take a piece of PVC and jam it in there, sealing it with duct tape. Get a piece of Armaflex or pipe insulation, and hot glue it around the exposed PVC. When it is dry, duct tape the whole thing together and make sure it is sturdy enough to whack someone repeatedly.
A sword is assembled in a similar fasion. Obtain a piece of PVC the length that you want your sword to be (hilt and blade) and buy a piece of pipe insulation that will fit around the PVC. The hilt can be made 2 ways. You can either do what I did with Joyeuse and spray the PVC with spray adhesive, put the insulation over it, duct tape the whole thing, then slide a SNUG piece of galvanized steel pipe over one end, then glue and duct tape that too. OR, you can cut your insulation so that about 7 inches of PVC is left uncovered, then attach an inch of insulation to the very tip of the uncovered end. Glue and duct tape the whole thing. Then decorate as you wish.