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Which Guns Are Really The Best?

Another essay by: Green-Buckshot

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#1 Green-Buckshot

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 05:25 PM

Does everybody remember when news of the Recon CS-6 first reached our ears? The buzz, the excitement. The overwhelming thoughts of, "OH!! This will be great!" Then the completely underwhelming ranges and modding possibilities? I do. It seems to me that the some of the best mods these days are coming from off-brand guns. The Longshot CS-6 and the Recon CS-6 both seemed to offer ranges they couldn't deliver, while guns like the Lanard Max-Shot, which is half the size of a Longshot CS-6, can deliver a single dart 100 feet? Guns like the Buzz Bee Laser-Tek are cheap and easy to mod, while providing ranges comparable or better than their NERF cousins. I remember walking down the NERF aisle seeing all these rip-off guns, buying a NERF, and being ultimately satisfied. Now, I double and triple check, asking myself, "Why get the Titan when the Buzz Bee Big Blast is more compact and easier to mod?" Nowadays, I find myself buying more off brand than not. I can only surmise a few reasons for this recent trend:

1. NERF guns are more expensive
2. NERF is supplying looks over effectiveness
3. NERF is being geared toward a different market

Now, 2 & 3 kind of go together, and I'll explain why. Despite having a feminist mother, she realized boys and girls were different, and so she would take me to Toys 'R' Us and, although she doesn't like guns, reluctantly buy me a NERF gun. It wasn't really violent, it was just fun. But the NERF guns I remember were different. The didn't look anything like real guns, even when painted. They were bright and colourful and oddly shaped and fun. The thing is, today's target market of kids isn't looking for innovative, oddly-shaped fun. They want real, tactical simulations. They want to make believe someone's head is exploding. This is creating the "need" for more realistic looking weapons, even at the risk of being effective. I'm not going to say I never thought of a head exploding as a kid, but I thought of it a whole lot less than some kids today. I'm not going to blame this new trend in violence on anyone either, I am simply sharing that it exists.
With the release of the Vulcan, I am now gearing up to be let down. That's not to say I wish for it to fail, far from it. But I fear that NERF may have once again chosen looks over function, and is now producing a semi-realistic gattling gun for kids. Would I like to see the Vulcan beat our expectations and trounce our speculations? Hell yes. Do I think it's going to happen? Hell no. From here it looks gimmicky and bulky. I would much rather see what new guns Lanard has coming, or Buzz Bee, but until NERF shapes up and starts producing some really good guns again, I have little hopes.


Note: I know some of the opinions in this contradict with what I said in my previous article. I am not denying this. I still think NERF guns are the best, but after the Recon CS-6, I'd really like to see a decent gun again. That's not to say all of the guns being produced suck, that's simply to say that the bigger ones generally do.




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QUOTE(A side of nerf @ May 18 2008, 12:33 PM) View Post

Also, could you post some more revealing pictures?

#2 eddieoctane

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 05:50 PM

The LS isn't the best gun out there. I am not going to argue that point. But I think part of the problem is Nerf's marketing. They pretended the LS was a loser rifle, and people expected it to be that. We set ourselves up for disappointment because we hyped up a gun that was intended for 7 year old kids. So I think it is more a matter of understanding what we want and who the company selling the gun is actually targeting.

Look at it this way. Kingman sells paintball guns that you have to be 18 to buy. Get hit in the face with a paintball and you will have some serious pain and bruising. Get hit in the face with a dart of stefan, and you are probably going to be pissed, but not harmed. I think we all hope that Nerf guns will be what they look like and ignore that they are marketed to boys in elementary school who are at the age where Power Rangers is still socially acceptable and girls are still gross.

Still, you make some good points. Nerf has changed, and changed hands many times since were we the target consumer. I wonder what kind of guns my kids will play with (assuming I have kids and Nerf and its ilk are still around).
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C8H18

#3 mystefansdontflystraight

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 06:00 PM

I agree with Green Buckshot. (I love your articles by the way)
Off brand is the way to go these days. Look at the recon. We have had some of our best at it (captain slug, ofallthenerf) and no one has been able to get over 60ft with it (I don't believe 80ft bullshit you see on ebay).
My point is, That green buckshot was absolutely right. Off brand guns are cheaper, easier to mod, and frankly, they out preform their nerf gun cousins. Take the maxshot for example. 9.99$ piece of crap right? WRONG!!!
The thing out preforms a crossbow in the range department. It costs about one thenth of the crossbow. That is not to say that the crossbow sucks, and believe me it doesn't. In the poll, so far, nerf has been experiencing a landslide victory. Nerf does sacrifice looks over performance, because they market them to violence obsessed eight year olds that cannot handle getting hit with a streamline that can go 70ft. For now, when I go to the local TRU to get a gun, I will most likely get a big blast 4 pack, a twin pack of at3ks, or a BBB. (The last two guns I mentioned are older, and back then, nerf hadn't come up with this whole n strike swat team thing)
Green Buckshot is right. Off brand is the way to go these days. Buy discontinued guns, or buy older ones, but unless you are getting an LS to angel mod, or a NF, buy something cheaper that will out perform it.
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QUOTE(Blacksunshine @ Dec 24 2009, 02:15 PM) View Post

QUOTE(white moonlight @ Dec 23 2009, 01:29 PM) View Post

It's just screaming to be rearloading...

I seen a movie about that once.



#4 Retiate

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 06:15 PM

It's not that the new guns "suck", it's just that they don't fit what people are looking for. Most people use single shot, high range guns. The Recon or Longshot provide something different. They force people to get up real close, and not worry about missing one shot. Before it started leaking, I used my Magstrike, and I loved it. Now, I put it down for the time it was broken, and dusted off my old Pump Shotgun. The first one I got used to be the most feared gun we had at the time, but it broke. I got a second, but I never used it too much. But now, I came back to it, opened it up and re-modded it. I loved using it at all the recent wars we had. It is, once again, the most feared gun we own, though to a lesser degree now that we have 3 people using Crossbows. I think it's more that I can hit what I aim at more than anyone else at our group, and it feels good.
But now, I look back at all the wars where I had the most fun. The ones that come to mind include a 6 or 7 person free for all pistol round in a smaller, confined area with limited cover around the outside edges, and somewhere up there are the few 1v1's I had with a couple friends where we each had either a Maverick or a lightly modded DTG. Almost every time I have a small war at my house, we pull out brassed Crossfires and stock darts and we have infinite-lived indoor wars in my basement. It's these wars that cause us to care less about missing and more about trying to get out of the way of every incoming shot while trying to return fire and force the other person to move into your dart (yeah, they go that slow) where we always have fun. But our most recent war, the one where I picked up my Pump Shotgun, is definitely among that list of favorite wars.
I guess it's just that most people see others using 4Bs, Maxshots, Crossbows, etc. and they get similar guns, practice with them, and they do well. People just aren't willing to give these low-ranged guns a shot. I'm sure if people actually picked up the Recon and used it for a bit, they'd find that it works quite well. Maybe not for every situation (a plus for the single shot gun, it doesn't have a time where it's completely useless), but there are times where it could be amazing. So it's not that the new Nerf guns aren't as high-quality, they're just different.
I haven't got a Recon yet, and I'm undecided whether to get it or not. The biggest thing holding me back it it's size; I'm not sure if I could make a comfortable holster for it.
So yeah, I'm still voting Nerf #1.

Edited by Retiate, 17 April 2008 - 06:33 PM.

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#5 Scotch

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 06:44 PM

First of all the Max Shot is not an off-brand gun. Second of all people don't usually buy crossbows for the range, they either buy them for the rarity, accuracy or comfortability. Third of all the Big Blast isn't really a off-brand gun either. I think off-brand guns are more like Ja-Ru, which I think suck.

But if you are referring to off brand guns as Lanard or Buz Bee, then yes you are right.

-Scotch
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QUOTE(VACC @ Jan 24 2008, 10:21 AM) View Post
Woah, woah, slow down there buddy. If you put it ALL in your mouth at once you're just gonna gag and get it all over the carpet.

#6 chalywong

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 06:45 PM

I think the main problem is that more and more people on the forums get on to the site and look at what other people are doing/using and try to emulate that. You see tons of people on here that problem sit on the forums more than they actually nerf. Just from looking at a few threads you get this impression that there is only a few good blasters out there and everyone tries to copy it.

From my personal point of view, I don't think people understand the importance of ROF in the search for the almighty powerhouse blaster. From an assassins standpoint, I wouldnt be caught dead outside my house during a game with an xbow or big blast. Compact size, decent power and above all else ROF is king in these type of games. I'd rather be able to fire off few quick underpowered shots rather then breech load and pump/prime a powerful blaster any day in an assassins game. In wars its a bit of a different story but I would still lean to saying nerf has some great blasters out there for all styles of play.

Look at the recent war with Carrtoon and them. They see a dude walk up with 2 LS's and mavericks and guess what he played with them very well! On the forums here all you see is people bad mouthing these 2 guns saying they are garbage giving people the wrong idea. Nerf is still king by far just look at the blasters that have come out in the recent past and try to tell me that they aren't doing something right.

Hornet - amazing ROF and good distance, SEMI-AUTO
Longshot - sure the range and accuracy leave somewhat to be desired but its the great ROF that makes this gun deadly in the right hands
Crossfire - small, powerful for its size and 5 ammo holders, perfect for assassins games
Recon - pretty much the same thing as the LS but a much smaller package making it even better
Magstrike, Disk Shot and a few other blasters have really good potential that people often overlook.

The main thing to look at it here is although Nerf hasn't released an almighty long range blaster, they have released a bunch of fun game changing blasters that keep the game interesting. In the end isn't that what we nerf for?
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#7 Captain

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 07:32 PM

With NERF guns, you can trust the quality of the gun. You can tell just by holding a NERF gun and say, a Buzz Bee gun. There is a difference in the general feel of a NERF gun that makes it seem well put together when compared to something else. And we can't expect too much out of a gun like the vulcan that has to comply with safety standards, so hasbro doesn't get sued over some stupid kid taking his eye out or something like that. (If you ask me, they should just have you sign a liability waver before you buy them) If you compare the stock performance of several NERF guns in the same class, new and old, they should have similar ranges within a margin (With the exception of a few sucky guns). What I'm trying to say is, NERF has been making similar performing guns for a long time, but the newer ones are just having trouble reaching our high standards of range because the complexity and variety of fragile parts that can't withstand the stress that we put on them. A crossbow is robust and simple, so it is easy to fix if breakage occurs, while a longshot is somewhat fragile and can easily break if care is not taken, often causing irreparable damage. As time has progressed, kids have become bored of strange looking cartoon guns, and so hasbro has had to keep up with that by making super-cool looking guns with laser sights, scopes, and clips. NERF is trusted by most people because it's been around the longest, and has ensured quality. Unless NERF makes some major changes to it's product line, we won't be seeing many simple spring powered guns like the crossbow anymore. But as far as I'm concerned, NERF is still king.

-Captain

Edited by Captain, 17 April 2008 - 07:33 PM.

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I don't care what anyone else says, Atom Blasters are fucking awesome.

#8 Green-Buckshot

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 08:03 PM

First of all the Max Shot is not an off-brand gun. Second of all people don't usually buy crossbows for the range, they either buy them for the rarity, accuracy or comfortability. Third of all the Big Blast isn't really a off-brand gun either. I think off-brand guns are more like Ja-Ru, which I think suck.

But if you are referring to off brand guns as Lanard or Buz Bee, then yes you are right.

-Scotch


By off-brand I meant a brand not owned by NERF, so yeah, Buzz Bee and Lanard.
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QUOTE(A side of nerf @ May 18 2008, 12:33 PM) View Post

Also, could you post some more revealing pictures?

#9 The Infinite Shindig

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 08:14 PM

Best gun threads are stupid by definition. I'm drawing upon years of seeing similar threads on the forums resulting in zero productivity. The true answer to this question is simple, "That Depends." If you have nerfed in a wide variety of conditions, you would know exactly why that answer is true.
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#10 baghead

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 08:31 PM

I don't Discriminate. All Foam Flinging Blaster companies have things that kick ass and things that are a the suck.
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Don't call it a comeback, I never left.


#11 ompa

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 08:37 PM

Nerf guns now are just more difficult to mod; they have just as much, if not even more, capability than before. It just takes alot more innovation and hard work to get them to that point. Look at the LS once it has had spring and bolt replacements. As for the Recon, just wait until people start integrating NF plungers into them and replace the bolt; I think you'll start seeing some ranges in the 50-60's, which is pretty good for such a high ROF pistol.

But as for the guns in general, Shindig has a point. At the DCNO I was at, I saw Evil using 2 Maxshots with ridiculous effectiveness. The gun I was using had superior range, accuracy, and ROF, but since it was my first war with it, I wasn't able to effectively compete against Evil. Nerfmonkey had a Big Blast, and he just killed people left and right with that thing. I know I would have trouble using something with such a low ROF, because I just don't like playing like that quite as much as I do at medium range pumping off shots.

It really depends on the player and the situation more than anything, as Shindig so adequately put it.

I'd definitely put Lanard up there in terms of quality, but Buzz Bee? The plastic just seems too weak to hold up war after war. With Nerf or Lanard, I'm not so worried about that.

Also, to be quite honest, I love that the guns are kinda crappy. It means I have a lot more work to do to get the guns up to par, and thus Nerf keeps my interest, and has kept it, for the longest out of any hobby I've had. If the guns that came out kept being as simple as the NF or the Crossbow, I would have lost interest long ago.

~ompa
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#12 Green-Buckshot

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 08:40 PM

Best gun threads are stupid by definition. I'm drawing upon years of seeing similar threads on the forums resulting in zero productivity. The true answer to this question is simple, "That Depends." If you have nerfed in a wide variety of conditions, you would know exactly why that answer is true.


Because you inspired me to write articles (even though you posted Spoon's articles) I will answer you respectfully and honestly. This article is not so much Gun Company Vs. Gun Company as it is, "How has the target market changed the reliability of NERF guns?" The answer being that in a lot of cases, non-NERF guns appear to have an edge.

Bags: I understand that. Non-discrimination is awesome, but the fact remains that the bigger guns NERF has released (Longshot CS-6, Recon CS-6) have fallen short of expectations. Keep in mind that this is a highly opinionated persuasive essay.
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QUOTE(A side of nerf @ May 18 2008, 12:33 PM) View Post

Also, could you post some more revealing pictures?

#13 ChiliPepperFender

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 09:15 PM

Bags: I understand that. Non-discrimination is awesome, but the fact remains that the bigger guns NERF has released (Longshot CS-6, Recon CS-6) have fallen short of expectations. Keep in mind that this is a highly opinionated persuasive essay.


The longshot falled short of expectations? How? With an Angel mod and a high-cap clip you have 90-100ft with twelve shots. Not to mention you can integrate guns on the bottom where the bipod was. Who knows, someone may come out with a write up with the recon hitting 80, not likely, but possible.
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#14 baghead

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 09:18 PM

Best gun threads are stupid by definition. I'm drawing upon years of seeing similar threads on the forums resulting in zero productivity. The true answer to this question is simple, "That Depends." If you have nerfed in a wide variety of conditions, you would know exactly why that answer is true.


Because you inspired me to write articles (even though you posted Spoon's articles) I will answer you respectfully and honestly. This article is not so much Gun Company Vs. Gun Company as it is, "How has the target market changed the reliability of NERF guns?" The answer being that in a lot of cases, non-NERF guns appear to have an edge.

Bags: I understand that. Non-discrimination is awesome, but the fact remains that the bigger guns NERF has released (Longshot CS-6, Recon CS-6) have fallen short of expectations. Keep in mind that this is a highly opinionated persuasive essay.


To the question of guns falling short of expectations, that's the HYPE machine's fault, it has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacturer, remember every single thing we do after we open the gun is NOT what it was made to do. Which means any time we modify a blaster we're making it perform in ways and for purposes not intended by those who produced said product. Furthermore, Since we are NOT the target market of said blasters, it's completely unreasonable for us to ask questions like if the current market is hurting the potential for any one Brand. As such, no one should expect anything out of a newly manufactured gun until experiments are done and successful mods are made.

In terms of Brand Consciousness as I stated there are both gems and guns that suck donkey testicles being made by all companies. And unlike say shoes, one cannot predict that because a particular manufacturer made it that it's reliable or will work well. The only thing is to either go out on a limb and test it yourself or wait and see what the general consensus of the NIC is... even then it's not always the most accurate way to make purchases. No two nerfers can/will mod exactly alike, reguardless of how detailed a modification's wirte-up is, and No one can guaranty that just because it worked for one person that it will work for you.

In addition to that I will once again argue the most fundamental key to Nerfing as a Sport: the gun does not make the player. Yes, one may play better with a particular blaster, but it rarely has anything to do with the guns modifications, brand, ect, but it's functions may work better for that player's style. Every Nerfer has their own style and can use different blasters better than others. Also, a well seasoned nerfer can perform well with whatever is available, adapting their play to both what they're using and who they're playing with.


-Bags

EDIT: Cleaned up my Counter/Rant and took out some of the wordiness

Edited by baghead, 17 April 2008 - 09:29 PM.

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Don't call it a comeback, I never left.


#15 Quilan Fett

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 09:32 PM

Other guns like the doubleshot could be great, but Buzzbee and somethies Lanard use really crappy plastic.
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SNAP Shotgun


This guy can see the future!

QUOTE(pokemaster @ Mar 3 2009, 04:18 PM) View Post

hasbro in a nerf war!!!!! dude the will cancel it and confinscate are guns

#16 Bomberman

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 11:31 PM

Personally, I don't like this type of thread that much, but GreenB, you were very convincing in your essay. And my theory, or my opinion, is mainly video games and computer games. More and more kids are staying inside on weekends and playing violent, war-based video games, with killing, and blood, gore, instead of going outside and playing with toys. I mean, back in 1995, kids played outside more, there was'nt as much high graphic video games, and technology, so kids were inclined to go out and play with their friends, and hang out. As for today, the average sleepover (for boys) is sitting inside, and staying up through the night beating their Gears of War, Call of Duty 1,2,3,4, Ghost Recon, and all those other wargames. Nerf has to keep up with kid's current interests, so they have to make the blasters look like the rifles, and rocket launchers, in the video games, and keep their profits up. It has been said before int he topic, but kids just don't think that a foam-shooting gun that is in the shape of a carnivorous or creepy animal is cool anymore. I bet in 4 years, when the next trend style of weapons comes around in video games, like Alien blasters or something, Nerf is going to make some "Galaxy" line or some crap.
But on topic: It's all about how you use your weapon. There is no 'end all and be all' of nerf weapons. I think what needs to be said has been said.

~Bomberman

Edited by Bomberman, 17 April 2008 - 11:32 PM.

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QUOTE(silentsnipe) View Post

It's not like that. I put lube on it and its the same. Its just stuck. And when I cock it back it goes farther back then usual. Also I push as hard as I can and it wont go back in. I've tried the methods and they wont work. Also pics are up.


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