Best Nerf Guns

Introductory apologetic: I am totally against weapon toys. But this is NERF! My little boy and girl (now aged 7 and 3 respectively) have absolutely no weapon toys whatsoever!… Dammit, I forgot about Darth Vader’s light saber. Ok, so there’s only 2 weapon toys in our household but you can surely see the reasoning behind getting them, or will so soon.

What Nerf gun to buy?

If you’re wondering what Nerf gun to get and which one is the best, well, it’s the one you like the most or the one suited the best for your kid. There are differences between guns though, the main one being the size. You’re not going to get a 5 year old a huge Nerf cannon. For toddlers it is better to go with simpler (and cheaper) models that they can easily carry around. My kid just turned 7 but even for a 6 year old he was handling the Nerf Mega Cycloneshock like an adult while my 3 year old daughter likes to shoot at her big brother with the Mega BihShock Blaster. And btw, Nerf guns are for girls as well! Don’t believe me? Check out the Rebelle line! Cool, right? Seeing my son and me shoot at each other laughing in the living room got my little girl hooked on nerf guns even before she could possibly load the chamber. In fact, I spent around 15 beautiful minutes one cold afternoon just reloading the small blaster for her so she could shoot. Having had much practice that day she then proceeded to asking me to reload the gun so she could shoot at her big brother when he was watching cartoons. Bonding comes in many forms but this was definitely one of the funnier ones 🙂 As for the dart size that was one of my biggest concerns. Before getting my son his first Nerf blaster I decided it was going to be one that can carry the largest ammo. I consider them safer a bit… and since we had our 2 year old daughter with us as well, I didn’t like imagining the little blue darts flying around. Also, it’s a lot easier to find BIG ORANGE darts than smaller dark blue ones when you play in the back yard. Unfortunately the darts are not universal and interchangeable so try to stick to one series if you can.

Are Nerf guns bad?

I just remembered… there’s also that wooden sword and shield we keep in the backyard, but come on! Every boy needs a shield and sword. What kind of a deprived life would he have without it? What kind of a man will he become?! It’s not like giving kid a hand grenade, rocket launcher, mini gun, combat knife, machine gun, uzi, crossbow, LAW, Desert Eagle .50, sniper rifle toy replicas or something like that. It’s just a fun toy that shoots darts out. It really is! When I was a kid everyone, including me had toy weapons. It was because I grew up during wartime and my country was being attacked. It was an unbelievable sight, you should have seen it. EVERYONE had rifles, pistols, grenades, plastic combat knives and what not. Even plastic racks of bullets tied around them that made you look like Rambo. But this were not cartoonish toys, they were almost like airsoft replicas. You can still find them for sale but they’re nowhere near as popular… seems everyone got sick of the real weapons so they don’t want to buy kids toys that remind them of that period. Those kind of toys are bad, but Nerf is Nerf dammit!

Why are Nerf guns good?

Well, they’re obviously good for developing children’s movement, perception, dexterity just plain old moving around, reflexes but are also extremely useful for developing on the field battle strategies and decision making capabilities 😀

How to fix a Nerf dart

Before breaking your Nerf darts please read a few advice I’ve learnt to extend the life of your ammo. The guns are actually quite sturdy and simple to use, not requiring any batteries. But the darts… they need a bit of handling To prevent the most common damage a Nerf dart gets – that the sponge loses the stiffness and sometimes makes the dart even drop out of your gun making the toy basically jam, you must NEVER KEEP them in the barrel after play. I’ve found this advice on a reddit thread after I was googling for why my nerf darts no longer work. You see, keeping them in the barrel will make the barrel continuously press on the dart and weaken it a lot; so storage them properly. Never leave them outside in the sun! The dart in the photo was stuck on a rooftop during summer for a few weeks. It’s practically useless… even dangerous! The plastic tip hardened and then broke after a couple of uses. If the tip falls off, that is completely easy to fix unlike the previous 2 malfunctions. Just superglue the tip back on like I will do with the other 2 darts on the broken darts photo and you’re good to go!

Where to buy Nerf guns?

Almost anywhere! But unfortunately if you go to your local store you probably won’t find quite the toy you’re looking for and will settle for something else instead. So my advice is to browse the Amazon Nerf selection (insanely large btw) and order your arsenal. If you’re still wondering what gun to get, it’s easy… the one you like. Hope the information above has helped you.