Nerf Blaster is a toy blaster made by Hasbro that can shoot foam darts, pucks, or foam balls. The term “Nerf Gun” is often used to describe toys, however it is commonly used as a blanket term for any foam dart ejector, regardless of whether it is branded Nerf.
All Nerf blasters come packaged with a set of Elite darts, Rival rounds, Mega darts, or other ammo types designed to be fired by said blaster, typically just enough to fill the blaster once or to fill its clip or magazine. Refill ammo can also be purchased separately, often from different manufacturers. A majority of Nerf blasters are compatible with the different types of foam darts available; but the Magazine System blasters will only take Streamline darts, which have smaller diameter tips. In 2013, Elite darts became the new standard darts, as they are compatible with both regular and Magazine System blasters.
Numerous accessories for Nerf blasters are available separately or supplied with selected blasters. These consist of ammunition holders or attachments that enhance the functional or aesthetic elements of Nerf blasters, as well as some Super Soaker blasters.
The Nerf line is also sold in Japan by Takara Tomy, which sells other Hasbro products in the country. For marketing reasons, some blasters have been given different names in Japan. For example, the Stampede ECS is called “Blazing Burst ECS”, while the Longstrike CS-6 is called “Sniper Shot CS-6”; nevertheless, these blasters still have their original names molded on them.
N-Strike Elite.
On August 1, 2012, the N-Strike series was succeeded by the N-Strike Elite, which improved on the internal mechanisms for better firing distances and a faster rate of fire. Firing distances are up to 75 feet (23 m) for the U.S. models, while international models (identifiable by their grey triggers) have a maximum firing distance of 15 metres (49 ft). The average Nerf blaster fires darts at around 70 ft/s (21 m/s)
Elite XD
Elite XD is a sub-series of N-Strike Elite and N-Strike Mega (Mega XD), but with advertised ranges of 85 to 90 feet (26 to 27 m) for the US version and 72 feet (22 m) for the international model. Although advertised as having a longer range than the Elite, the only difference in design is the different coloring, it did not affect performance significantly, confirmed by testing Elite XD reshells against their blue counterparts. Recently, however, Hasbro updated the packaging for Elite XD blasters, no longer claiming a performance boost. The current top elite blaster is the Titan CS-50 which is currently top of the range and comes with a 50-round mag and is fully automatic. The dart blaster with the highest rate of fire, at the time of writing, is the Nerf N-Strike Elite HyperFire.