I think Frank has been considering ending the channel for a very long time. Even some of the Q&As from a long while back had me wondering how much mileage he had left.
I don't think the nature of the hobby was a factor. In fact, many new blasters are right up his alley. We're in a golden age of not only performance but tactically optimized blasters and I think the Frank of 5 years ago would have been absolutely excited. It might have even revitalized him. Plus there are competitive play-styles, like SpeedDart, that emphasize run-and-gun.
I'm sure there are personal reasons he's never going to divulge, but I also think he's just lost his passion for the hobby. I can't imagine doing his job for as long as he's been doing it.
One of the best Nerfing Youtubers out there and my personal favorite. Sadly, it felt like this was a long time coming.
It gets me wondering when we're going to start seeing more Youtubers retiring. Even ignoring the challenges of generating a sustainable income, producing good content is a lot of work. I imagine a lot of these creators have considered changing careers.
I'm not sure why almost no one provides that info, but according to Monkee Mods it's about 10 degrees. I've also seen it rated for 160+ fps.
The BCAR barrel is from MEGO. It's only got a 5 degree twist so not as effective above 200fps.
The barrel is from Black Raisins. I'm pretty sure that I'm getting a better seal than stock because the OD is a tiny bit larger. However, it has a textured finish which is probably not ideal given that the plunger wraps around it.
If you're in the US you can order them from Target.
I used Worker darts in mine. Performance is pretty inconsistent. I got shots as high as 169fps and as low as 114fps.
I opened it completely. I had to dremel the front end to fit the barrel. There are a lot of screws and a few fiddly bits but it's not bad at all to get apart.
I also tried removing the ratchet arm. It works, but I noticed that with it missing the trigger pulls the front prime back just enough that the blaster won't fire. Not a big deal if you push on the front grip, but still a nuisance.
I didn't think Discord is a good alternative for what we had on Reddit, so I'm glad this community was created.
Hopefully, the JSON errors I keep seeing get fixed.
I figured I'd post a blaster pic...
Anyway, I'm really struck by how good this Longshot is for the price. Handling makes the thing fun to use despite only averaging about 135fps.
I did the barrel swap mainly so that I could add the BCAR. I don't see the internals holding up to a stronger spring without swapping them for metal. Once you've done that then you've got the shell to worry about. The blaster feels surprisingly solid but the shell is really thin.
Lemmy is fine so far, but I have some concerns about the long term. Things like who's keeping the platform updated and how is hosting being funded? In 5 years we may find ourselves in a Reddit-like situation where mods start asking for financial backing to keep the community afloat. I don't mean that as a criticism, but even ignoring other factors these services cost money to run. I mean, in this era of inflation and rising interest rates it's core to the problems we're seeing with so many online services. Reddit's leadership sucks and they've handled their situation in the worst possible way, but it's clear that financially they're in a difficult spot.
Beyond that, I expect the Nerfing community to fragment. Whether that's a good or bad thing I don't know. For my part, I'm not joining 5 different groups to keep tabs on what's going on. I've got other interests and responsibilities. I'm happy to support the community here, but I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit resentful that the Nerf Reddit is still locked. I appreciate the protest, but mods are just facet to the community.