Taking the new Takedown up a notch.

Behold My Modified Rival Takedown

I'm very happy with how this project turned out, but there aspects of the process that I wouldn't necessarily recommend (at least not without caveats), so read on if you're curious what those might be.

Stock Firing Tests

The packaging for the Takedown claims 90 FPS.

Actual results tend to be a bit above that point.

Not by so much that they could claim performance of 100 FPS on the packaging though.

Screw Placement/Types

The Takedown has 4 distinct types of screws - the "standard Rival" size used on most of the screw posts, 3 shorter length screws for the top rail sections, 1 really long screw in the hole behind the pump-grip's track (the one sitting on top the shell instead of off to the side), and a pair of shorter, finer screws on either side of the grip that threads into the plunger tube (the very top-most screw in this photo, its counterpart is still attached to the other half of the shell).

The Internal Layout of the Takedown

It's immediately obvious that Hasbro adapted the existing layout of their earlier Overwatch Reaper tie-in blaster for the Takedown, judging by the lock placement and how they're tripped (the bracket screwed into the back of the plunger tube would extend further out into a rear priming handle if this were the Reaper shotgun).

Internal Mods Completed

The Takedown has had its various mechanical locks removed (along with the bracket for 2 of those locks, since it serves no purpose once they're removed), and its main spring replaced with an unused Kronos upgrade spring I had sitting around in the bin (which required shaving down some of the ridges on the plunger rod a tad, as the upgrade spring had a narrower diameter than the stock spring). I still hadn't exhausted my supply of spare thicker Rival o-rings from various spring upgrade kits so the plunger/AR interface and primary o-rings were swapped out for two of those as well (these o-rings actually get TOO good of a seal in the plunger tube if not also paired with a much heavier spring, so the more lightly modded "functional Kronos" in the collection only wind up using 1 replacement).

Firing Tests with Upgrade Spring

Yup, that's a good 50 FPS jump in performance all right.

I would be lying if I tried to describe this prime as anything but "hefty".

I find I can manage well enough, but I would recommend a lighter spring load for most people (this one is roughly comparable to K26, and I've seen feedback that K26 in a Takedown made it effectively impossible to prime for other folks).

If you simply must have this sort of performance from yours, I'd recommend rubberizing the grip (or using grip tape, or potentially replacing it entirely), as the stock priming grip's thin profile and relative smoothness is the main hurdle upping the difficulty factor (making it a bit wider with finger notches would go a long way to alleviate that).

Start of My Detailing Process

The paint job on these latest batches of Rival blasters has been... minimal, so my normal detailing process helps liven things up even more than it otherwise would - the placement of the numeric code on the black priming grip necessitated the use of silver, which came out quite striking.

Detailing completed

Both sides of the shell have now been detailed, and I'm quite happy with the result. Currently waiting for picatinny rail covers to arrive (more to break up the red by adding additional black contrasts along the top edge than because I want to mount things... though I'm still going to do that part anyways), and then I think I can call this project completed.

The Best Shot (that I'm aware of anyways)

Happened to put this back over the chronograph after I finished the detail painting (for reasons) and got this result, so... I took a picture.

Firing 2-rounds "Shotgun-style"

With this spring load intentionally double-feeding to fire 2 rounds at once still fires both those rounds faster than it did single rounds on the stock spring load.

Firing 2-rounds "Shotgun-style"

Firing 2-rounds "Shotgun-style"

It's a testament to the efficiency of the Kronos-internals it uses that the Takedown significantly outperforms my Atlas at its own gimmick, and the Atlas has a much heavier spring load installed.

Rail Covers Installed

Getting those sections of Nerf to Picatinny rail in place was... way more difficult than I anticipated it being - leaving aside how I couldn't get the forward section in the correct length and had to cut/sand down a longer one instead (which is more annoying than difficult), just sliding them into place over the stock rail sections was monstrously difficult, because the faux "hammer" at the back of the shell and the small gap between the 2 rail segments meant that there wasn't enough space on either side to slip the longer rail section on without tipping it at a fairly steep angle (which was less than ideal).

Brute force and swearing eventually prevailed, but I would recommend going with a section of rail cover that's not "quite" as long as the stock rail if you're inclined to do something similar, as that should be far less troublesome getting into place (the front and rear stock rails are 5cm and 10cm in length respectively).

Accessories Mounted

Attaching the tac-light to the front rail section was orders of magnitude simpler than attaching that rail section itself was; the reflex on the back rail meanwhile was simplicity itself (since it uses a quick-release clamp).

Project = Complete

Attaching entirely unnecessary accessories is pretty much my idiom at this point.