Opening the NERF Longshot

You know, in each of us, we carry a very dangerous item. It is so dangerous, it can create strife at work and in the house. It can even reduce a person to tears in seconds. And in some cases, fatal heart attacks. The effect of this item can even be spread to the other side of the World in seconds. If anyone claims they can control it, they're lying through their teeth. No one can control it. Not even for a second. Men would go weak at their knees, women would even beg just to use it. Beware, for when you use it, you become its slave. And at the end of the day, you WILL willingly become its slave, to the point of doing anything desperate to escape its clutches. Aw, heck, this is going nowhere. On with the real story.

And so, to cut the crap, I am its new victim today.

The NERF Longshot is one of the latest NERF toys to hit the shores of Malaysia (technically, its more than two years old in the US). Not only that, the latest NERF range (of 2008), the CS-6 and also the Vulcan was available as well. However, my main weapon of cherish is the Longshot. Long have I waited to get it in my hands. Long have I scoured eBay for one who would ship to Malaysia. Long have I.......... aw, heck. Let's just skip this part.

Anyway, the NERF Longshot is a single shot non-powered rifle as opposed to the Vulcan which is battery operated and feeds on belts of ammo in seconds. There is a reason why I liked the Longshot. This was because of its design, it would not go out of place in any Sci-Fi event, be it a cosplay, TV series or even in a movie. Not only that, the rifle is is the perfect base for any cosmetic modifications although many opted to increase its firepower instead.

The box is huge. And there is no way you can sneak
this back to the house without being caught. You
can see my Sony Ericsson T630 for scale comparison
since I am too lazy to walk 300 metres to buy a Coke
can and climb back up all the way to the Hotel room.

And I mean huge because unlike other toys, there are no
space for packaging. Just the no-nonsense cable wrapped
stuff. So, yes, this gun is huge. Luckily the paper box is
strong enough to hold all these together.

From clockwise, you have the rifle itself, another rifle
part, the scope, the grip for the extended part, the
cocking mechanism and two ammo clips

As I have seen the guy in Toys R Us trying to disassemble
a returned NERF Vulcan, he had problems taking this
reload bung off, which is similar to this part. As a
precaution, I unscrewed it so that if I wanted to remove
it, it would be easier to do so and not permanently wedged.

Unlike other NERF guns which requires you to just
pull some part to cock the gun, this is a double-action
(He ha ha) step. First you pull the bung towards you
and then push it forward, back to the original place.

This would thus push the firing pin into position, and
also place the ammo into position. Just like those
sniper type of rifles. Quite cool. Not so when you're in
the heat of battle and people would look at you funny
as if you have a jammed rifle.....
One nice thing is that when you cocked the rifle towards
you, you can slide the flap back to reveal the firing
parts as shown above.

Notice the orange tab near the trigger. This unlocks the
ammo clip. It will not drop to the floor but you'll have to
pull it out. The ammo clip tab release only works when
you have pulled the reload bung towards you.

If you have loaded your ammo correctly, the red rectangular
bar would show up, telling you the rifle is ready to fire.

In its basic form, the rifle looks the business.
Oh, you can extend the butt if you want to
make the rifle longer.

To lock the extra part into place, you just
insert it and turn, just like a bayonet.

Now the rifle is the longest NERF weapon. Mind you,
hold the rifle with two hands as its now very heavy
and you can actually sprain your wrist.

OK, so it does shoot up to 35 feet as claimed but I
cannot aim it on my shoes, even with the scope.
Maybe I am too tired since its past midnight

This type of ammo is different from other NERF guns.

The only gripe I had was that the drip area, near the thumb,
is very narrow and also, there is no trigger guard. Already,
playing with it has given me some modification ideas......