User blog:Death By Foam/Nerf N-Strike Elite Stockade review

The Barricade RV-10 is an ideal candidate for dual weilding, but there is always room for improvement, that is why the Elite line exists. Enter the Stockade.

Ther are no changes to the blaster's molding (with the exception of the "Elite" tag on the N-strike emblem). It comes with 10 elite darts ("J" code) but with the included shoulder stock it could hold 20. This is the first detachable shoulder stock to have ammo storage. The stock does a good job at taking some of the weight off of the front of the blaster. It does add weight, but, the blaster as a whole is more balanced now and gives the Stockade an SMG feel to it.

The switch for the motors is still on one side, so if you're a lefty, you'll have difficulty turning on the motors, the switch should be on both sides, or even better, activated with a half trigger aqueeze. It wouldn't be that hard to do. Also, there is now a gate inside the barrel that darts have to push through before entering the flywheels, that are now toothless and closer together. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but if the wheels were of a larger diameter the darts would fly just that little bit further. The motors are considerably quieter now too. The cylinder rotation clockwork is the same as the Barricade and Maverick, this means that high frequency trigger squeezes could result in a jam.

The box features the Stockade with textured digital camo on the molding, however the actual blaster doesn't have it. Unlike the Elite Alpha Trooper and Elite Rayven boxes, the box artwork from the N-Strike variant (Barricade) hasn't been recycled due to the included stock, a new photo had to be taken.

This blaster easily gets the Elite range of 15-20 metres, the Elite darts and new motors are responsible for that. This blaster is quite accurate as well.

Concluding, this blaster is an overall improvement over its predecessor. The stock is nice and makes the blaster more comfortable to use. There are a few design flaws though that Hasbro need to address but in all this is a good blaster. You can buy it in Australia for $28 but on sale could go as low as $14

Cons
1. The plastic is good quality, but (like the Barricade), the plastic in the handle can be pressed in with not a lot of effort. This is inherited from the Barricade.

2. There is only one anchor point for a strap, but you could put a keyring through the iron sight for a second. This is inherited from the Barricade.

3. the blaster is a bit more clunky than it's predecessor on the trigger squeeze.

4. the paint for the Elite livery has a few fuzzy edges.

5. the fore grip is located under the cylinder, this is too close to the pistol grip and a person's grip might prevent the cylinder from rotating. This is inherited from the Barricade.



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