Nerf N-Strike Elite Stockade Blaster

I found that this blaster was way better than I expected! It is a flyweel semi-auto blaster (meaning you do not have to prime anything for the blaster to shoot) and rarely jams unless you are using damaged darts. Like most other nerf blasters, this blaster shoots foam darts with soft plastic tips. This blaster comes with 10 foam elite darts, so that is the equivalent of one round in the blaster because there is ten slots to place the darts in. Comes with a attachable back stalk that allows you to hold ten extra darts in slots on the stalk. Pretty comparable to the newer nerf Stryfe, main differences being that the Styfe is magazine fed but the Stockade is not, and the way to rev up the blaster is different. To fire both blasters, you have to rev them up. Most blasters like the Stryfe have a rev trigger that you hold as you pull the primary trigger, but the Stockade has a switch that you flip to rev the blaster up. This blaster preformes pretty well in an accuracy test and is a fun blaster to use in nerf battles. You can change the back stalk out with any other nerf stalk, and the blaster has a nerf tactical rail to put things like optics on top. Overall, in my opinion, I'm pretty impressed with this blaster! It performs just as well as newer blasters yet it came out in 2011! This blaster went very well in my nerf collection.

This is, by far, the best Nerf gun in my/my kids' collection. It combines the easy reload of the rotating barrel guns (e.g. the classic Strongarm) with the easy operation of battery powered flywheels. I bought it when my kids were pretty young and had trouble loading mags and dealing with related jams in that type of gun. This gun very rarely jams (actually don't know that it ever has for me.) So play with this gun consists of good ol' dodging the other folks' shots, picking up and easily loading the spent ammo, and then firing back with a reliable and pretty quick rate of fire.This is currently priced at ~40 (Xmas, and all), and I think we bought is at ~25. I'd pay up to 50 or so for this because it's just that much fun and we've used a few of them for 2+ years now.

When this semi-auto front-loading blaster first came out as a Walmart Exclusive which effectively replaced the Barricade (the weaker predecessor of the Stockade), my cousin was happy to get his hands on it. When I used it at our family Nerf War, I found that it performed okay on the three Duracell AA alkaline batteries he put in it. Then we tried stronger batteries, and of course, it produced better results. Now that they released an XD version a full year later, I got to purchase one of my own. This blaster is easier for younger kids to operate due to the rev switch location on the side. Unfortunately, it's flywheels continuously rev and waste battery life while it is switched to the on position. Needless to say, this puts added stress on the motors. This is especially so if you intend to use stronger batteries with a voltage mod like using stronger batteries (x2 button top AA 3.7V LiPo/ LiFePo4/ Li-Ion/ IMR from eBay) with the necessary dummy battery place-keeper for circuit connectivity. When tested on my ProChrono Digital chronograph it gave decent numbers in the high 60 feet per second range (FPS). But I needed more power to help prevent jamming of the blaster while the kids at the family Nerf War operated the blaster under rapid firing conditions, also known as darts per second (DPS). I used two AA 3.7v Efest or Imren IMR batteries (eBay) and a dummy spacer, and the velocity readings produced stronger shots in the high 80- 90 FPS range. The average velocity reading jumped a good 20 FPS. The Stockade is capable of using standard Nerf Elite darts (blue, green, white, orange, and decorated Rebelle darts). It goes through it's 10 darts very quickly on the field if you're not choosy with your shots and is cumbersome to reload, but luckily you can do so on-the-fly by picking up fallen darts off of the ground. Such is the nature of a front-loading blaster. The shoulder stock it comes with was (and still is) well-received in the "Nerfing" community, and is regarded as one of the nicest shoulder stocks that Nerf has ever made, especially for a front-loading type blaster lover. This is due to the 10 slots on the sides of it that you can store darts in (5 darts on each side), and that helps immensely for people who are always running around and needing more ammo. The longer size compared with the shorter shoulder stocks (designed for smaller users, namely, the Retaliator) is another reason that this favored by older Nerfers, as it fits larger people more comfortably. But even if you do not like the shoulder stock, it is removable and interchangeable with other Nerf shoulder stocks. The Stockade has a jam door that disengages the motor if it is even slightly open, which has confused many guests at our Nerf wars in the past. It also has a tactical rail on the top rear of the blaster for an optic or perhaps ammo rack type accessories, and a useful but rather thick sling mount on the base of the handlegrip. The handle grip itself yields no complaints from me, but what does is the fact that you cannot attach anything to the front barrel of the blaster. It is not that I would want to due to the barrel-drag (the phenomenon of barrel drag is when the dart transfers kinetic energy to the sides of the tube as it travels through the tube, resulting in shorter ranges/distances of your shots), but just because of the fact that you do not have that freedom of choice to do so. There is another successor to this blaster, however, and it is released with a different market audience in mind. This blaster is known as the Fearless Fire, and it is a Nerf Rebelle line flywheel front-loader. Being a Walmart Exclusive makes it a "sister" blaster to the Stockade. The fact that it has a rev trigger under the firing trigger, 4 AA batteries, a front-loading drum that holds 20 darts at the ready make it far more advanced than the Barricade and the Stockade (the Fearless Fire is using the Modulus ECS-10's motors and Flywheels) but I believe the auto-indexing rotating mech is still better in the Stockade, as the darts fire smoother in the Stockade than it does in the Fearless Fire. Plus, you can dual-wield the Stockades easier. As I see it, I cannot give this product the full 5-star rating because of the motors. As good as the motors are, they are not mod-friendly and are of an uncommon size to find in the aftermarket. Once they burn out or break, the blaster core is pretty much useless (unless you transplant and modify your own motor cage and a new set of motors, but that is not worth the cost, time, and effort). If you are still reading this, thank you, and secondly look for my other (shorter) reviews on Amazon Nerf products.

Great fun with this great gun! At first I expected it to be pretty cheapy, but it turned out to be great!1). The gun was fairly small and could be held by one hand. However, the fun also came with an attachable stock. (Back part). For a small gun, it shoots far and is quite accurate.2). Like most nerf products, this gun ran on batteries. For the most part, the gins with batteries make loud purring noise. But this fun was surprisingly silent.

This thing never even fired one dart. When the trigger is pulled it sends two darts into the barrel at the same time which jams the gun. Totally useless toy. Only thing going for it is that it looks really cool. Probably the only reason it has ever sold. Don't buy this!

Bought this for a prop project, and it converted beautifully. Under use there is no jamming, the firing mechanism is strong and dependable. I dismantled the product for the re-paint/modding and "underneath the hood" the parts are well engineered, with thick plastic, strong springs and look like they're ready to hold up to a lot of use. The motors are a bit loud, so there won't be any sneaking around. Batteries are 3 AA batteries and didn't drain quickly at all (Using Energizer rechargeables.) Upgrading the speed/accuracy is not simple as you'll need to know how to play with electronics, and likely upgrade the motors inside, so be ready for a bit of a project there.Bottom line for grandpa: If you're not sure what nerf gun to buy for your grandkid, this is a good choice.Bottom line for prop builders: If you like a Warhammer 40k style "bolter" this is a great start.Bottom line for modders: Get the solder gun ready, you'll be using it - and your electronics kit.