Femling Design Stagecoach Review

Author’s note: thanks to Out of Darts for sending one of these blasters my way to use and review!

Silly Shells. They make firing all kinds of ammo from the same blaster easy and fun. And while we’ve had some practical, shell-fed blasters made recently in the community (the Breacher and the BattleAxe come to mind), there’s always fun to be had using a break-action shotgun. To that end, we have the Femling Design Stagecoach, a 3D printed, double barrel shotgun. With double the internals of other blasters, it’s not quite as fast to use as other blasters. But it’s more flexible in other ways, and it makes for unique experience if you have either the money to invest, or the time to print all the parts to go with a hardware kit.

IT’S SO HUGE!

That’s not a joke – the Stagecoach is a large blaster. You have to account for two large plunger tubes and springs, lever-action priming, shell accommodation, and more, and that all takes space. With two shells loaded, the blaster sits at six pounds. It’s definitely a blaster for older users and hobbyists, not kids.

That being said, if you’re big enough to actually use it, you’ll find it’s pleasant to operate. Pressing the lever at the rear breaks open the barrels, and bending those barrels down compresses the two springs to prime the blaster. Two springs is a tough prime – thus the lever action to help with the process. If you have shells already in the blaster, they’ll also get ejected out the back. And while sending shells everywhere is a bit messy, it’s also really fun. Although I’d recommend not holding the blaster in front of your face when you’re priming it. Ideally, the shells are going to the side, or over your shoulder. Occasionally, depending on the print tolerances of the shells (or if they’re special types like bottlenose), you’ll have to take the shells out manually.

The Stagecoach can use virtually any ammo that can fit in the Silly Shell format, as well as some of the extra-long shells designed for high velocity. That makes it a bit more flexible in combat than blasters like the Breacher; with the right shells, you can be launching half darts close to 180fps instead of waiting for opponents to get close.

I Put My Thang Down, Flip It and Reverse It

The blaster has multiple setups for operating it, depending on how you setup the blaster on assembly (or how you order it). There are two triggers, one for each barrel, but they can be rigged to allow one trigger to fire both barrels if you absolutely need to dump darts downrange. They can also be staggered based on right or left-handedness.

Assembly is relatively relaxing, if Dr. Flux’s assembly video is any indication. It just takes a while. There are also a few steps needed for tweaking the blaster to make things line up correctly (making sure the blaster latches shut while sealing, for example).

Always Remember…

…to operate the blaster as recommended. That means, for example, not firing the blaster or fiddling with it while the barrels are open. If it doesn’t seem like a good idea, don’t do it! That’s how we break blasters or pinch fingers.

When you’re done with the blaster, don’t leave it primed. Fire that last shell, then *carefully* open the barrels until the shells pop out. That step will happen ~2/3 of the way through the breaking action, before the plunger tubes catch. At that point, you can carefully close the barrels again, so that the blaster is sitting at rest without any springs primed.

Gameplay and Performance

The Stagecoach was a ton of fun to use at my last Nerf war. As stated above, I found out that with the long shells, I could hit people from farther away, and switch to other shells once the distance closed. Is it a blaster you’ll see used in a competitive format? Unlikely. But unleashing clouds of ammo while plastic shells bounce off the floor is endlessly entertaining.

Internals/Assembly

I’ll leave this video here – even if you’re ordering an assembled blaster, you’ll likely have a few pins that need inserted due to how the blaster gets packaged for shipping.

Final Thoughts

The Stagecoach is a pricey blaster to buy fully assembled. But if printing and assembling a shotgun blaster is your thing, then getting a hardware kit is a great idea. It’s a niche blaster, but it turns out it’s right in my niche!