Nerf Rampage N-Strike Elite Toy Blaster

This blaster is great. It just is. The Raider, the earlier version of this, and reliability issues as did its 35rd magazine. This blaster only ever jams if you have a deformed dart in it. It is very accurate as well. I've gotten so many repeat kills at distances of as much as 30ft it isn't even funny. The 75 foot range claimed on the box is what the blaster can achieve if you arc the shot. More often it would be like 70 or so. Shooting flat, you'll get about 55 ft most of the time. Thing is, that's such a marked improvement over the old blasters that I still give it high marks especially since it's fairly accurate at those ranges. The reason for the power is that the internals are now a direct plunger system. Direct plunger means it's like a conventional syringe. After the famous longshot came out, everyone started modifying its direct plunger system so the blaster could get more than 100ft ranges. Until this year, almost ever blaster they came out with since had a reverse plunger system where the plunger was like a cap. Its the structural inverse of a syringe. The Elite blasters are a return to the syringe direct plunger, which is great, but many people have tried to modify them with limited improved results. The Rampage's internals are very simple and have fewer parts than the Raider did, which is great. It's less of a hassle if you want to take one apart. The nice thing about the direct plunger system is you can increase the spring tension without risking internal destruction, as demonstrated by Griffinmods on youtube. An SG Nerf commenter on facebook reported that you will want to reinforce the internal mounts for the operating parts, on the inside of the shell however if you do that. I for one like the blaster so much that i won't alter it in any way other than maybe painting it. The mount for the magazine, which is on the left side, is the only durability problem. As with the raider, it's a separate piece that snaps on. It is possible to slightly loosen it if you bump it while a long magazine is in there, e.g. the drum it comes with or one of the excellent 18rd clips they now sell. If it gets bumped hard enough, you will have a jam until you re-seat it in its proper position. The only other thing that isn't so great is that it doesn't come with a stock. Of course, being an internally upgraded raider, it can take a stock like most other nstrike blasters, but it doesn't come with one. The elite darts are a great improvement. They are lighter and better balanced than the old streamlines and don't fishtail as much. They also shoot great out of older blasters. The foam is slightly stiffer than the old pinkish foam and the heads are slightly stiffer as well. On the SG Nerf blog, which I highly recommend, they cut one in half and compared it to an old streamline and found that part of the reason the balance is better is that the stem of the head, which goes down the hollow center of every kind of foam dart, is shorter on the Elite darts. Its always good to know why something is good, not just that it is good. There isn't much that can be said for its "educational" quality other than that it gives a kid a sense of what its like to shoot something with a magazine for the first time. If you crack it open to tinker with the internals then I would give it high marks for educational quality though and that goes for any nerf blaster. One last thing i would say is that you really need to get eye protection if you're going to play with elite blasters. They won't give you a black eye but they do hurt. The extra power means the hits sting a bit more when you get hit anywhere but they will never break windows or injure your pets. Just get some goggles, not sunglasses. Shop goggles will work fine though for my purposes, I'm getting some that are overkill but can be used for airsoft as well as in the shop: the Revision Desert Locust Fan Goggles which exceed military requirements for ballistic protection and, as the name indicates, have a fan it so they don't fog up. Despite some minor setbacks I again must say that you should get this blaster. It is truly excellent.