When I first saw a photo of this new Nerf blaster I thought to myself, “I have to have that gun!” Well to paraphrase Mr. Spock from the episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, “Amok Time”, I can honestly say that, “Having isn’t always as good of a thing as wanting.” This is very true.
There are some good points to this gun. The Alpha Trooper CS-18 comes with a drum clip that holds 18+ darts and fires as fast as you can pump. The range for each test shot was over 50 feet consecutively. I was also able to land each shot pretty much on target. This was one thing that I really liked about this gun, other than the drum clip.
What I didn’t like was the fact that after 36 shots the pump lost a screw. I couldn’t believe that it would break so easily. I didn’t put what I thought was enough force to pop a screw out of the pump. I think that this blaster would not hold up to vigorous play. I would not trust my life in a zombie war with this gun. This may be a good back up gun, but I
think that you should put your money into a heavy duty blaster.
Another problem with the gun is it is lacking a stock. You can add a stock from a Recon, although it doesn’t fit perfectly. The addition of the Recon stock actually gives the gun a better feel in my opinion. Nerf should make stocks available for separate purchase like that do with scopes for instances such as this one.
The Alpha Trooper CS-18 is a Target Exclusive and retails for 19.99. Though it comes with a drum clip this blaster also can accommodate standard clips. I would suggest unless you are someone who needs every Nerf gun out there, avoid this one. There are a number of new Nerf Blasters coming out this year so save your hard earned dollars for one of those.
Digital_Matrix_with_Nate