I'd be surprised if it was a noticeable difference below 35 feet. It's at the 40+ that the difference seems to become night and day; the Retaliator lost 20 feet to its max range with the Longstrike barrel. I mentioned it a page or two back, but if you look at the embossed serial number that's on the back of the box or on the underside of the Stryfe itself under the flywheels housing above the forward accessory rail on the right side of the gun is the same serial/production number. First gen Stryfes end in a number. Second gens ended with A (mine is 23544A) and probably by now we've gotten to Bs. The difference between the first two generations is pretty substantial. Different lockpieces, motor housing pieces, etc. The result is a much more reliable gun; it jams far less and has fewer problems with one of the lockpieces being wrongfully triggered or getting jammed.
Hammer is pretty easy to use. I've fired SA revolvers before and it's really no different. Tilt the blaster up a bit and reach over with the thumb to get it. Easy as cake. Fan fire is possible with the Hammershot, in fact it's even stated in the instruction sheet. However, you can't do it super fast because the hammer has to travel far enough back to pump the air tube all the way, otherwise you get hang fires. Next, the hammer has to go forward enough where you hear the click, because that is what indexes the cylinder. Still though, fan fire is pretty fast, and I've been practicing a lot with it, and you can snap off two shots with fan fire faster than two shots from single hand. You just have to practice proper technique and pacing.
There's a 5 digit embossed number on the back of the box and it doesn't end in a letter. I kinda figured that since I got the stryfe early on off Amazon. I'm more of a mark my shots kind of guy so speed isn't that big of an issue. I think the problems with early stryfes were people trying to fire to fast.
It wasn't just speed, though that was one of the issues. People also had issues with the ammo detector bar that prevents you from pulling the trigger when there's no darts would trigger with one (sometimes two) dart(s) still in the 18 dart clips and having in some cases substantial problems with the drums where they could fire 10 shots and then the detector would lock and they'd have to eject and re-insert the clip to fire further. They also changed something (the details escape me now, the Thermistors or the Motors) and made it less prone to overheating with heavy use. Mine doesn't like the old regular Streamlines, but I don't have a single issue with the new clips, the drums, or the new elite darts.
I also heard that Stryfes have an issue with Firefly clips, thankfully I haven't heard about those issues with the rapid strike.
For my Stryfe with the non-elite Rayven Firefly clip: Firefly Clip with Elite Darts = No Problem. Firefly Clip with Rayven Glow Darts = Sometimes won't work Firefly Clip with old Streamlines = Jams almost right away. I've got the 18 (20) Dart Mini-Drum, the Firefly Clip, 18, 12, and 6 dart Elite Clips. I've also got enough Elite Darts to load them all at once, including squeezing an extra dart in the Firefly and 6 clips and using the 20 in the drum, with a whopping 7 darts left over. Being able to fire 75+ darts without having to reload a clip and with 5 clip swaps isn't too shabby. I'm also not the type to spam my shots, so those should last me a while. Heck, I've won games with the group I used to have firing less than 30 shots in a round/game.
Centurion Update: Yes, this gun will deform darts, but so far only if when someone screws up the bolt-action. The mechanism is very deliberate, and if you try to fire it quickly and fail to pull the bolt back all the way, or forget to push the bolt forward all the way, the darts can get deformed. Most of my darts have been smashed when a co-worker jams the dart then tries to fire another round without clearing the jam first.
Let me throw it out there. A drum magazine that has the firefly tech in it? I would love something like that, use those darts with a tactical night light and it looks awesome.
I feel like I'm almost monopolizing this thread as of late, not my intention! When I was out looking for Darksteel (who I also found), saw the Hammerstrike and several of the other new Zombiestrike items. I loved the way the Hammerstrike felt in my hand and picked it up. It's no primary, but damn is this a great gun and the best Nerf/Nerf KO pistol I've ever held and would be one fun secondary. Open and free rotating cylinder until it's cocked, beastly power and rather consistent, and the hammer is easy to pull and gives a satisfying lock. After I had opened it and loaded it, for fun I shot the darts into the Target bag. It punched perfect little holes in the bottom of the bag as it shot through it. Wow! Fanning it isn't too bad either, but with only 5 shots, I doubt I'd ever use that in any real game. However, more than anything else, it was fun to fire it. The satisfaction of thumbing back the hammer until it locked, taking aim, and squeezing the trigger to get that furious pop and seeing the dart launch like a bat out of hell is quite satisfying.
Well I got the 35 round drum today. I only had 12 darts free to use and it did lock the strife a bit, but it was fun. I plan on using this in the Rapidstrike and just go nuts.
I figure this might be the place to ask this. But I'm looking to purchase some nerf guns and I want to know if anyone here has ever had a nerf battle. If so how do you go about it?
Wasn't thinking about getting one since it's just to big. Most of the issues have to do with the rate of fire and distance. The average Nerf reviewer looks at how useful a blaster would be for a Humans Vs. Zombie game or a Nerf war where snipers aren't used. I'm more interested in the pistol MEGA blaster, that sounds fun. By the by everyone, I have my rapidstrike coming today. I have a barrel extension and front grip coming from ebay too.
The front tactical rail can hold the red dot sight, just didn't have it on. Give me a few days with it and I can give you an opinion better than my first day knee jerk OMG BEST EVER thing. But with that said, OMG BEST EVER!!!!
