Injection Moulded Weapons - What Do You Need to Know?

At Larp Inn, we get contacted a lot about injection-molded weapons. Customers want to know the weapons they purchase are safe for the LARP system they attend – and, rightly so! Here are some of the details to consider when looking at LARP weaponry.

Typically, injection-moulded weapons are manufactured by injecting liquid foam or expanding polyurethane foam into a mould. These moulds can encompass separate parts of a weapon or even the entire thing, with the fibreglass core already inserted. Once the foam has set, the pieces are removed, assembled where necessary, then begin the latex and painting process.

Conventional LARP weapon construction involves gluing foam pieces in layers that sandwich around the rigid core. These foam chunks are the cut, sanded and adorned to form the shape of the desired weapon, before being coloured with latex and paints.

So, why do we sell injection-moulded weapons?

It is important to note that there is no standard regulation for the safety of weapons within the UK. Every LARP system makes their own judgement on what they deem to be acceptable safety standards, and it is your job to seek out the rules and guidelines before attending an event.

That being said, the larger LARP systems in the UK have set out extensive guidelines for the standards required of weaponry, formulated from years of experience and risk-assessment requirements. These regulations are generally used to inform the decisions on weapon requirements at smaller systems too.

When attending a LARP event, then every weapon is judged on a case-by-case basis, assessing the safety of each item of equipment and costume you bring individually.

We respect these guidelines. We also test and judge weapons supplied to us by manufacturers before we put them on sale.

So, if you sell injection-moulded weapons, what is the issue?

The truth is that not all companies offer the same standard, and even the more successful manufacturers went through a number of problems in the early development of their products. These problems result in safety issues within the finished injection-moulded LARP weapons.

Again, its worth noting that weapons produced in the conventional fashion can have all the same, if not more safety issues. The notable UK weapon manufacturers have perfected their talent over many years of hard work. This level of quality is not always evident from other weapon makers.

Nevertheless, weapon checkers have found that poorly-made, injection-moulded weapons frequently suffer from the following issues:

FOAM DENSITY

The moulding process leads to inconsistent foam density. Weapons are either too soft, or too hard.

CORE POSITION

When weapons are moulded with the fibreglass core inside the mould, the core can be too close to one side or inserted at a dangerous angle.

AIR BUBBLES

Large pockets of air can lead to gaps around the core or even cause delamination, where the weapon falls apart inside the latex shell.

Let’s be honest – we want you to be happy with the item you receive. We definitely don’t want to refund you, nor do we want you to leave us a bad review.

Who can you trust?

Epic Armoury weapons offer great quality for low cost. There injection-moulded weaponry is almost impossible to distinguish from their conventional products. They are consistently safe, good looking and cheap.

We take hundreds of Epic Armoury weapons to Lorien Trust every year, where every product is checked by weapons checkers for safety before they are authorised for sale.

NOTE – There are a number of Epic Armoury weapons made with polyurethane handles and crossguards. This line of weaponry is specifically targets high detail for low cost, but the pommel is often too firm to be used safely by UK LARPers for our full-contact combat. We still sell these, but they all have clear warnings stating they are for cosplay and theatre use.