Top 5 Best Nerf Guns for Kids | 2024 Reviews
What do zombie apocalypse, simulation games and arcade have in common? Easy, it gives you that kind of rush that gets the adrenaline pumping. And nothing has ever given us the boost of adrenaline we seek other than playing with those toy guns for kids. Practically, everyone has tried it one way or another, some offices even purchase toy guns to destress. Although some would argue that these toys would promote violence, weapons have always been embedded in the area of play directly or indirectly, perhaps as part of training for survival mode during ancient civilization or purely recreational, like what happens today.
Girls or boys, even as adults we are in love with the notion of target shooting that there are tons of games in the market specifically attributed to this. But still there are some who prefers to do it the old fashioned way, cops and robbers style with actual toy handguns that have greatly improved over the course of time. What are these top rated handguns? Nerf guns, and we are pretty sure you are very much aware of what they are.
What makes a great toy handgun?
If you’re like the majority of kids and adults who are into the cops and robbers version of games, whether you goof around with friends after school or at work just to enjoy the adrenaline rush, there are a couple of things that you should be looking out for when buying the perfect handgun to use. One of them is precision, it has to shoot the way you aimed it to be, or you would lose every battle you will ever fight. Tough luck.
Next is it should be fairly easy to carry, especially when you are in a very tough environment, say hiding in a confined space or have the need to move around seamlessly. Lastly, cool awesome design, because hey, you want to look like a winner, right? So now we’ll try to answer the question, what is the best nerf gun in the world?
Before going on with our list, you may want to check out our Best Nerf Gun Buying Guide.
Quick Comparison Table
Nerf N-Strike Elite Rampage Blaster | Nerf Rival Apollo XV-700 | Nerf N-Strike Elite Retaliator | Nerf N-Strike Elite Rapidstrike CS-18 Blaster | Nerf Zombie Strike Hammer Shot Blaster |
---|---|---|---|---|
$$$ | $$$ | $$$ | $$$ | $$$ |
up to 75 feet | up to 100 feet | up to 75 feet | up to 75 feet | up to 30 feet |
2.9 pounds | 2 pounds | 2.5 pounds | 3.3 pounds | 1.8 pounds |
Nerf N-Strike Elite Rampage Blaster
At number 1, we have the Nerf N-Strike Elite Rampage Blaster which in our opinion is the most powerful nerf gun of the lot. With its slam fire handle, this Nerf gun is able to spew a good amount of darts, 26 to be exact to your chosen target as who stands as far as 75 feet. Pretty sure this is something every enthusiast is looking forward to, being able to attack precisely and literally win your target every time, given the right situation of course. This blaster makes you feel how a gun with magazine works. Certain attachments and gears will be useful during battle and several fully loaded magazines are definitely one that will guarantee fewer reload trips. In any case, you better know how to load a magazine fast as well, or you might find yourself in a pretty sticky situation, we’re hoping you’re wearing safety goggles at least, because these darts sting.
For those of you who fear that the darts will jam if you are using rapid fire, this one won’t. The only time it will jam is if you accidentally load it with a deformed dart, that you’ve probably picked up during battle, and that’s a huge plus point. We also believe that the Rampage Blaster is one, if not the fastest non battery powered guns HasBro has ever made, which is still very accurate, depending on how far you are from your target.
The Rampage Blaster doesn’t require batteries, meaning less expense, and more resource to focus on getting more darts and magazines for reloads during battle or other paraphernalia for modification. It’s definitely way better than its predecessors by leaps and bounds. What more, is that if you have other Nerf guns, there are certain parts that are interchangeable, like the magazines and darts from the Elite series. If you are one of those who are into modifying their handguns, you would definitely love this, as the Rampage Blaster has fewer parts than the Raider, ergo, easier to assemble and pull apart.
Details of the Nerf N-Strike Elite Rampage Blaster | |
---|---|
Range | up to 75 feet |
Dimension (inches) | 4.5 x 21.3 x 13.4 |
Weight | 2.9 pounds |
Colors | May vary |
Features | 25 dart drum, slam fire handle |
Batteries | None |
Nerf Rival Apollo XV-700
If you are the type of player who gives importance to defense, stays out of scope most of the time and prefers sneaking up to opponents, then the Nerf Rival Apollo is the gun for you. This light and handy toy gun is enough to help you win your battles as we consider it the strongest nerf gun today. For a lightweight gun, this one packs a lot of punch, literally. As Nerf now seemed to be experimenting on different type of bullets and although this one is not like its dart predecessors, nerf balls is definitely the future trend. These little dimpled balls of awesomeness could be delivered up to 100 feet distance.
Think of how useful that could be in an open field, and because it’s round, there is a great deal of accuracy involved, not to mention it is a lot more durable than darts. This is definitely the future of toy guns, point and shoot, plus no more jamming issues as well. And if your friends are also using nerf balls, it would be fairly easy to get the bullets lying around and reloading it in your own magazine.
Have you ever experienced those odd moments when you’re trying your best to complete a reload and are having a rather difficult time in finding a loaded magazine, because you have to check it at a certain direction to make sure that it has darts? Well, that problem is now solved. The Rival Apollo’s magazines are transparent, making it easy to tell, which magazine is good to go during reloading. Fast and easy, check!
Worried about accidental firing, no need to, as this gun comes with a trigger lock, definitely going to save you on bullets, yay!
However, one flaw we realized about the Rival Apollo is that it remains a two handed weapon, you need to cock it in to charge the mechanism, could be difficult if you are trying to do something else at the same time which is why we're pushing this at the second spot.
Details of the Nerf Rival Apollo XV-700 | |
---|---|
Range | up to 100 feet |
Dimension (inches) | 3 x 18 x 10 |
Weight | 2 pounds |
Colors | Red and Blue |
Features | Spring-action blaster which comes with 7 high-impact rounds, trigger lock and tactical rail |
Batteries | None |
Nerf N-Strike Elite Retaliator
As you could see, if by judging only through its features written below, this gun is a little bit lighter than our number one choice, one of the cool nerf guns ever built. There are definitely a lot of things to appreciate about the Nerf N-Strike Elite Retaliator, but its versatility is on top. It could be used as a pistol and rifle, if you are someone who is pretty handy, you could also be able to use it as a sub machine gun. Its major accessories are also interchangeable with the Recon, so if you are a Nerf gun fanatic, who has a lot of Nerf guns stashed in your arsenal, you will really have great fun mix and matching the Retaliator.
Now, performance wise, it is also almost the same as the Rampage Blaster, but the Retaliator has the detachable stock which aims to help improve your accuracy but with no rear sight. With this, it might not exactly be handy to go around in battles, pretty helpful if you could just set up shop in a corner and wait for your targets to come to you, much like a sniper would.
Also, it would be worthy to note that the restrictor’s noise could get a little annoying, especially when you are sneaking up to your target, so it’s definitely up to you if you want to remove it. With these reasons, we are making this product on the third spot of our list.
Little problem with jamming as well, so you might want to go easy on loading it with darts as there is an issue with its internal spring. Overall, still a good choice of Nerf assault rifle. In addition, the grown-ups who are also in love with Nerf guns would find it a bit awkward to hold it as a pistol because the length is child sized but there is no notable difference experienced regarding its performance.
Details of the Nerf N-Strike Elite Retaliator | |
---|---|
Range | up to 75 feet |
Dimension (inches) | 19.4 x 3.4 x 12.2 |
Weight | 2.5 pounds |
Colors | May vary |
Features | Assault grip and barrel extension attached to tactical rail |
Batteries | None |
Nerf N-Strike Elite Rapidstrike CS-18 Blaster
There are a lot of Nerf machine guns out there and the Nerf N-Strike Elite Rapidstrike CS-18 is one of those that we find to be very nifty. The name itself implies the power it contains, serious rapid-strike firepower. Pretty good choice when you are outnumbered or in a tight spot, just spray a blanket of cover fire and out you go!
This machine gun carries 18 Elite Darts in a see-through clip, which is perfect for easy reloading and with up to 75 feet range, you will achieve complete mobility. What more is that because it is battery operated one push of the acceleration trigger you could steadily spray ammo at your opponent, definitely a nice automatic nerf gun which kids could easily handle.
It comes second to the Retaliator’s dart speed at about 68 feet per second, which enables the darts to shoot in long range. Despite of all its glory, its advantages are also the disadvantages. Since the Rapidstrike is using batteries, it is a little expensive to use than the previous ones on our list. And with a rapid spray of ammo, you could get easily out as well. More reloads, less time to have action packed fun, so we're pushing this to the fourth.
Details of the Nerf N-Strike Elite Rapidstrike CS-18 Blaster | |
---|---|
Range | up to 75 feet |
Dimension (inches) | 3.5 x 24 x 12 |
Weight | 3.3 pounds |
Colors | May vary |
Features | 18-dart see-through clip |
Batteries | 4 C size alkaline batteries |
Nerf Zombie Strike Hammershot Blaster
Closing the list of which nerf gun to buy is the Zombie Strike Hammershot. This is by far the coolest among the Zombie Strike series and has definitely good accuracy for its range. This makes it great for mid-range target practice.
Honestly, who would say no to a toy handgun designed to eliminate zombies? Okay it makes us believe but our kids’ imaginations could run really wild with this one. So if you are looking for a toy pistol to hand out to your nephews, and nieces on your next Christmas gathering, this would be it. Partly because while most nerf guns require both hands in cocking, this one is fairly easier to do so with just one hand, great for the little ones who still have a weak grip.
And also because it is durable, one minute your kid is running after a zombie for shooting practice, the next, they could be using it as a hammer in their makeshift tool shed. The color combination is pretty cool as well, could easily be found when your kid accidentally hides it. What makes it our least favorite is because it only has a 5-dart capacity, and the frequency of manual reloads are inevitable, almost similar to using Nerf bow and arrow.
Details of the Nerf Zombie Strike Hammershot Blaster | |
---|---|
Range | up to 30 feet |
Dimension (inches) | 2.6 x 13.3 x 10.1 |
Weight | 1.8 pounds |
Colors | May vary |
Features | 5 Zombie Strike dart and Hammershot blaster |
Batteries | None |
Conclusion
We hope you learned something from this Nerf gun review, which will enable you to choose the perfect Nerf gun that could suit your gaming needs. While we are not entirely sure how many types of Nerf guns are out there, we definitely feel that you now have the knowledge of which ones to look out for. Should you buy one for a child, always remember to take into consideration their age and if they could already handle the toy guns effectively. Also, please note that it would be best if you would also consider buying proper gear for your kids, like goggles or vests as the darts or Nerf ball could still sting.