Details
The blaster has a six-dart cylinder at the front of the blaster with a short, rifled muzzle. A short tactical rail sits on top. The cylinder can flip out nearly all the way for quick reloading. The blaster can also slam fire.[4] There is a lanyard loop on the priming slide of the blaster for a sling, bandolier, or other carrying device. A priming indicator is visible at the back of the slide, beneath the loop.
Unlike its predecessor, possibly for preventing jams, its cylinder only rotates on plunger return, not on trigger pull (and also not on prime, as occurs with the Spectre). Therefore, the blaster cannot be fully loaded without utilizing the cylinder drop, whereas in its predecessor it was possible to prime the blaster, turning the cylinder, in order to load additional darts.
It can be said that clearing jammed darts or changing dart types in this blaster is easier due to the scalloping of the cylinder chambers around the dart heads, similar to the Spectre REV-5. Also, the cylinder drops out further than the Maverick, making for easier access and arguably quicker reloading.
In addition, the base of the grip has a narrow extension, which fits into the notch on the front of the slide. This theoretically allows the Strongarm to be dual-wielded, with practice.
Official description
Speed and mobility are yours with the quick-draw fast firing of the Strongarm blaster! It has the same long-range power as other N-Strike Elite blasters (sold separately), firing the 6 Elite Darts up to 90 feet. Hold the trigger down and pump the Slam Fire handle repeatedly to rapid-fire all 6 of your darts at your target! Loading is easy and quick with the flip-open rotating barrel, and you can attach most N-Strike accessories (sold separately) to the blaster’s Tactical Rail for even more battle advantage. Add the Strongarm blaster to your arsenal and unleash a storm of darts at your target!
History
The Strongarm is likely a successor to the popular 2005 N-StrikeMaverick REV-6.
It was first discovered on an online eBay auction on July 28, 2012. The seller provided front and back pictures of the new-in-box blaster, and it sold for a record-breaking $1,125.01 USD to an unknown buyer. Within a few days, Hasbro Singapore released a stock promotional image in which the Strongarm was wielded by a model alongside other blasters, proving the blaster’s existence, however the image was shortly removed and replaced.
In December of 2012, it gained a soft release along with the Stryfe and Firestrike in select retail stores.
It was re-released in 2014 with improved Elite XD internals and a white, blue, black, gray, and orange color scheme; this re-release was shown off at the 2014 New York Toy Fair.
Color schemes
The Strongarm has been released with the following color schemes:
- N-Strike Elite (blue, white, black, silver, gray, and orange)
- N-Strike Elite running change “economy” variant (same plastic colors as the standard version, but sporting considerably fewer paint operations, particularly on the obscured side when still in packaging).[5]
- Elite XD (white, blue, black, gray, and orange)
- Sonic FIRE (clear red, black, and orange)
In addition, all versions of the Strongarm released in Australia and New Zealand feature a gray instead of an orange trigger, which signifies modified internals that result in a reduced performance to conform to stricter local safety standards. The packaging of the single release advertises a range of only fifteen meters (as opposed to the Canadian version’s twenty-two meters and the European version’s twenty meters), although the Australian two-pack, which features two gray-trigger Strongarms, still advertises a range of twenty meters.
Value packs
The Strongarm was available as part of various value packs and multi-packs:
- A “Double Your Darts” pack that contains the Strongarm and twelve instead of six Elite Darts was available as a general retail release in the United States and as a Real exclusive in Germany. Some promotional stock photos of the packaging depict a special deco for the darts that isn’t actual present on the darts when purchased at retail.
- A “Strongarm 2-Pack” that contains two Strongarms and twelve Elite Darts. This two-pack was available as a Walmart exclusive in the United States and Canada; in October 2016 this pack was seen in select Canadian Costcos. A two-pack with the same content but a different packaging design, named the “2-Pack Strongarm”, was available as a Kmart exclusive in Australia.
- The Strongarm & Firestrike All-Mission Pack was available as a Costco exclusive in the United States and Australia and as a Galeria Kaufhof exclusive in Germany. It contains a Strongarm, a Firestrike, a variant of the Bandolier Strap and twenty-five Elite Darts.
Reloading and firing
To reload the Strongarm, first drop the cylinder by pushing the turret release button located on the left side of the blaster. Load up to six darts into the cylinder, then push the loaded cylinder back up into the blaster’s shell.
To prime the blaster, pull the slide back and let it spring back to its original position. Pull the trigger to fire a dart.
To slam fire, hold down the trigger and continuously prime the blaster.
This blaster works with all Micro Dart and clip system dart types except Streamline Darts. It cannot use the latter type without modification because the stems in the Streamline dart heads are longer; they will butt against the chamber posts and therefore not fit all the way in.
Trivia
- The Strongarm is about one inch longer than its predecessor, the Maverick REV-6.
- The Strongarm, Spylight, FlipFury, Doominator and the Disruptor are currently the only slam fire blasters that are also revolvers.
- After the Stockade, the Strongarm is the second revolver to come packed with darts which are clip system compatible.
- The Strongarm can be de-primed – that is, the primed plunger can be released without firing a dart. To do this, hold the slide back on a primed mechanism and pull the trigger very slightly. Then slowly release the slide.
- This blaster can be fired quickly by pulling back the priming slide just enough so that it does not fully prime. Done fast enough, the blaster will fire a dart (but not move to the next barrel). This could prove useful when time does not allow a full reload of all six darts.
- The Strongarm is one of the best selling Nerf blasters.
