I purchased the Longstrike to add to my cubicle arsenal at work... Considering that most Nerf products are meant for children, my review might not be geared toward what a child thinks or deems as "good," but I will try to highlight the pro's and con's of the product and compare it to the rest of the Nerf lineup that I have used before. Here at work, we also have the Longshot, Raider, Vulcan, and Maverick.
Overall build quality of the toy gun is fairly good. It has the same blue plastic camo design of the Raider, and is durable in the sense that it was dropped to carpeted flooring from a height of ~5 feet and nothing so far has broken or cracked off. It feels fairly nice in your hands, and with all the add-on plastic accessories it looks nice (such as the longer barrel, the 'iron' sights, and the non-adjustable butt stock.) The bolt action and slide mechanism was fairly smooth, is identical to how a stock Longshot is racked, and give this gun a more of a "rifle" feel, as I think Hasbro was intending. Ammo clips are interchangeable with the Raider's drum magazine, however it is quite awkward to hold with the drum in place. In a cubicle/office area where it is used, it is fairly large (in full rifle format) compared to the Raider. The extra ammo clip holder in the fixed stock is a nice touch, however it is a little difficult to get the magazine out once it has been inserted. Six shots go fast in an office firefight.
With the reverse plunger system that applies the power to the darts, your dart range is very limited. We have fairly long hallways and when the longer barrel attachment is added, range and velocity is fairly poor. Actually I would describe it as dismal. The Longstrike has the "looks" of a rifle, but let me assure you, it is not. Accuracy, well, it's not like i'm expecting this to be super accurate, (it's shooting foam darts, duh!) but with the full barrel, my test shots showed the longer barrel configuration greatly reduced the range due to friction against the dart and did not significantly improve the shot accuracy when compared to just the built-in barrel. Stock firing distances were less than a non-modified Raider.. about 25 feet, unless you arc the shot... I suppose in an near close-quarter cube battle, this would suffice, but remember this comes with a non-collapsible stock, it's not that maneuverable. The Longstrike is limited in rate of fire especially with the bolt action. The iron sights look nice, but are pretty worthless, even with the "elevation" hashmark gimmick (which reminds me of a grenade launcher sight)
Modifications? Ugh. don't get me started.. To get the edge in cube warfare, I try my best to get more range and better accuracy. The first thing i did was to remove the air restrictor. Disassembly of the Longstrike is relatively easy, (you will need two different sized phillip screw driver bits.) The plunger system comes out with just two screws and you can get access to the spring assembly. With a 1/2" extra long drill bit and my portable drill, i was able to remove the restriction fairly easy and it has added about 10+ feet of more range to the darts, but also increased the bolt firing noise significantly. I still have not yet sourced a stronger aftermarket spring yet, however McMaster-Carr seems to have the size compression springs that I need.. more on this later when i figure it all out. My Longshot is modified to have the AR-15 spring, fore-arm shot-gun pump, and air restrictor removed... my Raider has the air restrictor removed as well.. I don't think the Longstrike will ever get to the 'potential' of the Longshot's range w/o heavy modification to the existing barrel and upgraded spring, and/or dart changes.
In summary, I am dissapointed in the Nerf Longstrike. It is neither accurate, nor does it have the power to get the range you'd expect for a "long strike." If you want a good 6-shot blaster with decent range, get a Longshot (w/o all that extended barrel junk) and modify that-- it has much more potential. If you want a high fire-rate for close quarters, definitely get the Raider with the fore-grip pump action... If you want a good looking gun, well... I guess this is it? For me, the Longstrike, just strikes out.. maybe I'll change my mind after a suitable spring replacement is found to increase the range/power, but until then, I would recommend you skip this one.
