By Chris Scott Barr

Nerf guns seem to satisfy that part of us that wants to go around shooting people. Not because we want to kill them, but there’s nothing quite as excited as a good old-fashioned shootout. Well if you’re looking for the gun that’s going to give you an edge in the foam-dart arena, this Nerf Dart Tag Swarmfire might just be what you need.

Since this is one of the battery-powered offerings, you’ll need only squeeze the trigger to unleash a round of 20 darts into your foe. Expect a little more heft to this one, as it requires a stunning six “C” batteries. I can’t honestly remember the last time I bought some of those. Look for this to hit shelves this spring for $30.

[ Hasbro ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Nerf guns are the kind of toys that never seem to lose their charm. Much like LEGOs, you can play with them at any age and still have a lot of fun. Of course, when you’re older, you have access to additional parts with which you can modify the guns themselves. This leads to creations that you’d only dreamed of as a kid. Take, for instance, the heat-seaking Nerf Vulcan.

This rather ordinary-looking Nerf gun has been modified to use a thermopile array sensor  and an Atmeaga 168 microcontroller to track heat-generating targets. Once the target has been acquired, it will  fire until it runs out of ammo, or loses track of the object. If you need the latest in cubical warfare, you can find complete instructions here.

[ Make ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Evan Ackerman

Sometimes, 500 Nerf darts per minute is just not enough. Sometimes, you just need heavier artillery. Enter the Mk 19 Nerf grenade launcher, a faithful reproduction of the Mk 19 grenade launcher used by the military. Like the real thing, the Nerf Mk 19 is belt fed, it just fires Nerf rockets instead of live grenades. It’s powered by batteries and compressed air, and is just generally incredibly awesome.

The gun by itself weighs 45 pounds, and that plus the box, belt, battery, and air tanks is over 100, so it’s not like you’ll be running around with it. But hey, that’s not what grenade launchers are about, right? Unfortunately, this particular piece of foam destructiveness is completely handmade (by someone who goes by “Q” apparently), took four and a half years to build, and no, you can’t buy one.

VIA [ MCB ]

Here’s a vid of it firing from the back.

By Evan Ackerman

Hard on the heels of the Nerf Vulcan EBF-25 is the Nerf Raider CS-35, a semi-automatic Nerf gun that makes use of an honest-to-goodness drum magazine, which manages to cram 35 darts into a single mag, letting you fire for a long, long time without having to reload. And the reloading system is modular, so that you can quickly swap the drum out for spring clips holding seven darts each.

The CS-35 is powered in the traditional Nerf manner, by you. Pulling the front grip back ‘charges’ the gun, while pushing it forward cocks it and chambers a dart. Squeeze the trigger to fire, or if you hold the trigger down, you can fire as fast as possible by just slamming the front grip back and forth. A big button on the side of the gun lets you easily release ammo clips, and Nerf thoughtfully included a port on the other side that opens to let you clear out jammed darts. The CS-35 is made of plastic that feels solid and durable, and easily accessible screws suggest that this Nerf gun should be simple to open up and modify.

The one thing to keep in mind is that loading systems aren’t completely modular across all of the guns, and neither are the darts. The drum mag takes only “streamline” darts, and you can’t use it in (for example) the Vulcan. By the same token, you sadly can’t use the Vulcan’s ammo belt in the CS-35. Aww.

The Nerf Raider CS-35 officially goes on sale today for a mere $30; you can find it at most major toy retailers nationwide.

[ Nerf ]

Special thanks to Nerf for sending me one of these bad boys to play with.