Oh, Strongarm, where art thou? Where do I start? This is a great blaster, no doubt. Looking at it, it is very reminiscent of an earlier Nerf gun called the Nerf Maverick. The Nerf Maverick is an old favorite amongst almost everyone in the Nerf community. It is clear that what we are looking at is the successor to the Maverick and a new challenger for the best Nerf gun sidearm. Meet the Nerf Elite Strongarm blaster.

Nerf Elite Strongarm Review.

The Good:

This is a good looking blaster. The blue Elite coloring is a hit, as always. I love the subtle camo effect within the blue paint, it’s a nice touch. The design is a win, overall. They took the Maverick design and tweaked it and came out with a good replacement. It’s very functional, too, with it’s six-shot revolving chamber. It feels very sturdy in your hands and makes you feel very sure of yourself on the battlefield. The “Elite” in the name is no coincidence either, the Nerf Elite Strongarm has the power to back that up.  This blaster is akin to a Maverick on steroids and is able to shoot a barrage of darts at a distance of about 60+ feet flat and up to 75 if angled. And when it’s time to reload, the revolver cylinder opens out pretty far to the side, like a real revolver, to allow for a quick reload. The tactical rail placement is in an optimal position as to not interfere with cocking the slide back. There is a technology at play here called “Slam Fire” which allows you to rapid fire all your darts by holding down the trigger and rapidly pumping the slide back and forth. That takes the rate-of-fire to new heights that weren’t ever realized by its predecessor.

The Bad:

There really aren’t too many negatives with this blaster. The Nerf Elite Strongarm could be a little smaller, just a little bit. The added length over it’s predecessor is noticeable. It accentuates the nose heavy design of these large barrel revolver blasters. It also makes it look too long and thin. Also, the ‘roid-rage Slam Fire mode is great, but it’s not without its caveats. When you’re pumping out so many rounds so quick, you’re going to have to expect a drop in accuracy.

The Ugly:

The Nerf Elite Strongarm clearly surpasses its predecessor in almost every conceivable way. And yet it still gets brought back and compared. The Strongarm shoots further and faster than the Maverick. It moves the tac rail from the slide and puts it above the cylinder, somewhere it can actually be of use. Even though, some would still choose the Maverick. I don’t know if it’s nostalgia or what. This blaster is forever in a shadow, in the shade of the greatness that is the Nerf Maverick. The Nerf Elite Strongarm, whatever its merits, will always be compared to the original Nerf Maverick.

Strong-Arm Tactics.

The first tactic would be acquiring this blaster. There’s no reason not to get the Nerf Elite Strongarm. It is the quintessential Nerf sidearm blaster. Overall, this is a strong, powerful blaster and I enjoy using it very much. For the price it’s retailing for online, I can most definitely recommend a purchase of the Nerf Elite Strongarm. It’s pros far outweigh its cons. As usual, with any of these blasters, you’re going to want to pick up some extra darts. Something like the Nerf N-Strike Elite Dart Refill Pack. That pack comes with 30 extra Elite darts for a good price. This blaster is also available in a few different variations, including a double pack. These blasters can’t be dual-wielded without some trickery on your part, so I guess one is for a friend? If you wanted to dual-wield, you’d have two options. You can tie a string to each of the blasters’ sling attachment points on the back of the slide. This allows you to cock each blasters by pulling them in different directions. Secondly, you can use the little notch on the bottom of the pistol handle to prime the opposite blaster. So it can be done, but it’s nowhere near as effective as something like the Hammershot. This concludes the Nerf Elite Strongarm review. Thanks for reading.

Featured MOD.

For the featured mod today, I have these two beautiful N7 Strongarm’s, inspired by the Mass Effect series of video games. They were expertly crafted by the fine folks over at the PropCornShop on Etsy.com. Check them out.

Nerf N-Strike Elite: Strongarm Blaster.