Apologies for the lack of review postings! To save my sanity, I needed to take a break. Sometimes you get depressed and you need to recognize it and find a way out.
Today’s review is about a blaster that has been around for quite some time. Captain Slugs Caliburn is a blaster that has been through many revisions. It can be used with multiple ammo types and can also be swapped easily between them due to a new assembly method. Its a great design that can be used in both superstock and NIC levels of play. Because you can swap out springs easily. And of course, its a testament to the things that 3D printing can do for the hobby.
In my case, I got the MEGA version. Because Im a strange person who has lots of Buzz Bee Tyrant mags and uses them. Captain Slug, thank you so much for sending me the model to review.
With Great Power
When I fired the MEGA Caliburn, it made me laugh. Mega darts dont usually travel at 140-150 fps, but with the included K25 spring, they do. This is the case for both Nerf and Buzz Bee style Megas, and the Accumegas travel not quite as far, but more accurately. Thanks to the retaining pins in the middle of the blaster, I could more easily pack the blaster, as well as remove the plunger for an easy spring swap. Although the blaster is much longer than a Hades, it is still suitable for older people with longer arms.
The body was 3D printed.
The blaster had one issue for me. I found the prime to be slightly off. I initially had trouble getting it to catch and the bolt would go inside the plunger tube. It got stuck on an edge of a 3D printed part. This was the same problem that Captain Xavier faced. The bolt was replaced by one that was 1/10cm longer in his case. Captain Slug had discussed it with me. I decided to try a different solution and added a rubber washer to cushion the bolt’s back. This solved my bolt jams and catching problems. I was also happy with the blaster’s draw.
After this, the MEGA Caliburn itself worked as intended. It was just that I was completely inept at using it up to the end of mission zero in the YSU Humans v Zombies Invitational.
Accidental User Malfunction
This part is embarrassing, but Ill post the video anyway because its important to show.
A MEGA Caliburn uses a 788 spring to fire Mega darts at a decent rate below 130fps. This is well within the range of many HvZ game. The less power you use, however, the more problems you have with darts. K25 and K26 can fire all darts, even imperfect ones, while a K25 or K26 will not.
For obvious reasons, smooth darts work better in enclosed barrels. Have some excess glue on the head? Youre probably going to jam. This was an issue I did not experience when I tried the blaster for first time. But, this was only with used darts. Prior to the HvZ game, I topped off my ammo bucket with lots of brand new darts (or at least as new as Buzz Bee XL darts can be, fresh from the package). My blaster was jammed by a lot of darts that had glue on their sides. Many darts that didnt jam had enough friction to not leave the barrel at one point, I had stupidly shotgun loaded three darts (seen at end of video).
Final Thoughts
The blaster’s actual problems are easily fixed by Captain Slug, who has made these blasters purely for the hobby and provides excellent customer service. If you have a 3D printer, you can even replace parts that break on your own. Its simply a blaster with a lot of parts. Treat it with care and maintain it, and itll work wonders.
The blaster itself is wonderful to use, with lots of options for power. Itll fire as fast as you can prime it, and with the ability to swap out the front half, you can even fire different ammo types with ease. Megas are a great example of odd ammo types that I enjoy.
It’s up to me to be more careful about which darts I use. I really should unwrap the rest of my AccuMega darts.
Its a pretty penny due to the time and materials needed for it (lots of time for printing the body parts), but is reasonable for an NIC-level Mega primary. The Rival version is the same price. If you want to just shoot normal darts, the Elite version is And of course, you can buy the front halves separately if you already have the newest iteration of the Caliburn,
