Schwaggy

So after seeing a lot of people in the online community finding the Elite series guns at Toys R' Us stores, I decided to check it out and only one store around me had an Elite. I grabbed 1 of 3 they had. Unfortunately, the model they had was a Rampage. I never liked the Raider on account of the layout of the gun (drum gets in the way) and the jamming issue while slam firing. We will see if this new iteration of the Raider (Rampage) can sway me over.

First things first, this gun is still stock. I wanted to get a baseline so if/when I start modifying it, I'll know how much it improved.

Without further ado, range tests. I fired 6 darts for each measurement, taking the averages of the group. Darts that were misfires/went fishtailing all over the place were not included as I feel this should be indicative of the blaster's capabilities itself and not a measure of how FUBARED my foam is. ATG shots were fired at apprx. 45 degrees.

Rampage with Elite Darts
PTG: 45-50'
ATG: 75-80' ***

***My backyard is 71 feet wide, all ATG shots with elite darts went well outside of my backyard by a decent margin. Looking over the fence they hit 10 or so feet from the end of the fence.

Rampage with Streamline Darts
PTG: 40'
ATG: 60-65'

I wanted to check out how the Elite darts measure up in the reverse plunger guns so I grabbed my trusty Alpha Trooper (stock as well, closest thing I personally have to the Raider)

Alpha Trooper (Stock) with Elite Darts
PTG: 25'
ATG: 55'

So there ya have it, the ranges. If anyone has any questions/doubts let me know.

Onto the darts themselves, not really much to say here. They seem to be the same material (at least same density) as the streamlines just recolored blue. The major difference are the tips of the darts, they are a tad bit heavier. Most of the weight on the darts seem to be focused on the back of the tip (ie the part that joins to the foam) but the overall tip does feel a tiny bit thicker. The darts do shoot pretty well, much much more accurate than streamlines. Not one of the elite darts fishtailed out of control, fizzled out mid air, or went off in it's own direction like it had a mind of its own. I was very impressed actually. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say they shoot similarly to my hot glue tipped streamlines out of modded blasters, they travel straight and controlled but still might veer off target a foot or two at longer ranges.

One huge complaint with the blaster however... The slam fire sucks, it sucks in a major way. Let me preface this with saying this may just be mine (maybe I got a defective one?). The slam fire sucks (I cant say it enough). I was only successful with slam fire in TWO scenarios:

1. When you place the drum into a completely empty gun, pull the trigger, and push the priming grip forward.
2. When the gun already has a dart in the breech (say it jammed or something, pull the drum, dart still in breech).

All other attempts at slam firing the gun resulted in nothing but my Elite Darts getting chewed up by the breech. Very, very, very dissapointed. I was expecting it to function like my Alpha Trooper in regards to the slamfire but was sorely dissapointed. The old Raider (even with all of it's jamming issues) was a better slam fire weapon than this thing.

So there ya have it. If you are unlucky and dont have these at your local Toys R' Us yet, here is a sneak peak.

As for me, honestly, I wish I could say I loved this gun but that's not the case. The range and accuracy are commendable but the slam fire totally kills it for me. The purpose of the raider with the huge drum has always been as a bad ass high-cap assault type blaster great for rushing and close quarters combat. I can use my AT and run through a 35 round drum faster than I can get through the 25 round drum on this thing. Plus, it doesn't come with a stock, which is kind of lame especially considering the price.

So I just recently got into nerf and the last few days, admittedly, went on a nerf buying spree. The other day, however, I came across something kind of cool...

I wanted a longshot and I found one, when I went to go pick it up, to my surprise, it was red. I had only ever seen them in yellow and blue. Oh well, whatever, paid the lady and I went on my merry way. I did some research when I got home, couldnt find much but found that the red strike guns were only sold at walmart on black friday of 2009.

Now, this leads me to my question. Would I be foolish to use this? I have no interest in collectible nerf guns or having any sort of rare collection, but, at the same time, don't want to risk using/breaking something so rare. Would I be better off picking up another nerf longshot and just keeping this as a show piece?

Also, exactly how rare are these guns? I only saw one on the bay of e for a ridiculous $179. Just seems a bit expensive for a plastic toy gun.