As a general rule, never store darts in your blasters when they are not being used. You'll see this warning on blasters like the Triad and a large sticker on the side of a new Roughcut.
This is due to the springs in the valve systerm for both the Triad and Roughcut. It's all about the springs! When you leave darts in the barrels, this depresses the springs - and if left in this position it makes the springs weaker, and more likely to lose air seal, or cause a malfunction.
The same can be said for blasters that must be primed in order to remove the clip; Retaliator/Recon, Longstrike, Longshot, Alpha Trooper, etc. Also - any blaster that can be "primed"; Strongarm, Maverick, Roughcut, etc. Essentially you don't want to leave the blaster primed over extended periods - it messes up and weakens the spring. Envision a truck or car parked for extended periods with a heavy load - the shock absorbers and springs under the car would become weaker over time under this load - same goes for NERF blasters.
With this in mind NEVER leave your blaster primed when not in use - make sure to pull the trigger before you put it away.
Keep this in mind when purchasing used blasters off sites like Ebay, etc. I always run across a few ads with blasters primed in the photos - and it makes me cringe thinking about what this is doing to the spring. I definitely wouldn't buy any blaster stored in this condition - you are almost guaranteed to have a weak blaster that doesn't work correctly.
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| Compressed spring on a Raider for sale on Ebay. |
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| The clips are crammed full of darts AND it's primed... for the Love of God, WHY? |
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| Trifecta of compressed springs! At least the drums appear to be empty. |
The same goes for clips and drums - never store clips and drums when they are full of darts. Again, this compresses the spring inside and makes it weaker over time. Simply unload all darts when you store your clips and drums - and remove all darts from your blasters. I keep an eye out for cheap drums and clips on Ebay - and these are things you should keep in mind to avoid. You don't want used drums that have darts jammed into them. This irks the hell out me when I see it.
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| You just lost a sale! Ugh! |
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| Again??? These drums are ruined! |
Anyway, there it is. Avoid storing darts in your blasters, clips or drums when they are not in use. Avoid buying or bidding on lots when the blasters are primed and darts are stored in the clip or drum.
***Update 8-28-16***
I recently bought a NERF lot of 6 blasters on Ebay for around 45 bucks including shipping. It included a Dart Tag Swarmfire, Recon CS-6, Maverick, Strongarm, Rebelle Jolt -AND- an Elite Alpha Trooper! The EAT is worth the cost alone because they are hard to find... anyway, I receive the package, everything is packed nicely, all blasters individually bubble wrapped - and the first thing I do is pull the triggers to make sure nothing is primed. None of the blasters were primed - except the EAT... ugh. Who knows how long the thing had been sitting with the main spring mashed down and fully compressed. When I test fired it - it was definitely weak. Luckily I was planning on upgrading the internals anyway, so it didn't make a difference. Just goes to show - this happens all the time!