My persistent searching finally yielded me the new Longstrike, and I must say I certainly approve. It cost $37.44 at Toys R Us (Castleton, not Muncie). Hefty price tag. Looks to be a bit cheaper at Wal Mart.

Out of the box, it comes in 3 pieces: Gun, Shoulder Stock, and Barrel Extension.

The shoulder stock is a semi-permanent addition. It connects in 3 places to the physical gun (bottom of the handle in 2 places and just above the handle), and doesn't come out easily unless you take the gun itself apart. This means it can't be used with the other weapons and no other stocks are compatible with it... if we didn't already assume this. If you choose not to use the shoulder stock, I sincerely wouldn't blame you. It is a badass looking pistol, though it's a bit long. It's a bit awkward to just use it as a pistol with a 35-clip though.

The shoulder stock is capable of holding 2 extra clips, but it cannot feasibly hold a 35-clip. I'd seriously question the ability to mod it to do so as well. Yet again, NERF has smacked us with a "YOUCANNOTHAZ" label regarding accessories with a 35-clip adaptability.

The gun is a solid shooter. I think it works better than a Recon out-of-box, and is a good contender for the Longshot. I haven't cracked it open yet to work on it, but I would certainly not be surprised to see it go toe-to-toe with modded Longshots if you put the work into it.

The barrel extension isn't bad either. In fact, it may well replace the Recon's barrel extension as the norm for the "Hospitalier Special" on Longshots. I didn't notice too much a loss of distance in any of the weapons that used it., and accuracy upped to at least par with it's related extensions. Though beware--it seems somehow biased against more damaged darts. Incidentally though, the Recon barrel extension worked much better on the Longstrike, though it took a bit of coaxing to get it on and off. I think the Longstrike barrel tips & extension are slightly miscaled and bigger than the other compatible weapons.

A few other things worth mentioning...
1.) It cocks like a Longshot, but my doesn't necessarily have alot of room for a Shotgun mod on the gun itself. It's feasible, don't get me wrong, but there's not much room for error. I would also hope that you're a masochist who likes ramming your hand into your clip. If you must do one, you'll probably want to have it go a bit longer than the gun and into an extension.
2.) The clips can be released by the 2 orange pieces in the front of the trigger, like a Recon. The pieces aren't as defined as the Recon from the body though, but they're as wonderfully ambidextrous.
3.) The jam door may actually be worth keeping on this one! For the first time, the "Access" door can be opened regardless of whether the sled mechanism is pulled back or not, though it won't stay unless you've pulled it back. For the least amount of trouble, removing it will still be the way to go, but those people that hate seeing their internals will be happy to hear it's not as much an issue here.
4.) The color is Raider blue, not Longshot blue, and it has the same digital-esque shell engraving as the Raider. This brings only more questions as to whether or not Nerf wants the N-Strike series to be yellow or blue. Ay carumba.
5.) 17 screws on the main body. Not including the shoulder stock or front extension. Just the gun. 17 screws. Grumble.

Overall, I approve of this gun, and I think we'll definitely be seeing parts of this weapon (if not the whole thing) out on the field. It's a refreshing release after the Raider, and while it may not be the most revolutionary thing we've ever seen, it serves to add a degree of complexity to the N-Strike series that we haven't gotten since the release of the Recon.

Couldn't resist opening her up, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. The rumours that this is a reshelled Recon are now nullified; we have a new setup of internals to work with, peeps. It's a closer relative to a Recon and a Raider than a Longshot, but there again; how many ways can you really do the same thing?

For the modders in our community, I've taken a pic and attached it below.

Edit: Mods completed tonight:
-AR Removal (EXACTLY like Raider/Recons)
-Clip Lock Removal
-Bolt Handle fixed, for easier separating later.
-Removed "Access" window.
-No air hole to seal up this time... for some reason.

This thing is a dream to mod. Seriously. Other than the amount of screws, they made it really easy. The interiors took some getting used to while putting together, but otherwise it was probably the easiest first mod to a gun I've had to do. As far as future mods.... well, I can only think of one, that being a trim to the pieces that hold the shoulder stock in place to make it less permanent. Taking the whole gun apart to slip it out bothers me, and I likes my versatility. I also might be able to take another spring pretty easily behind it and pressed to the gun like the Recon/Raider, but we'll see.

I really hope Toys R us has them.
If they do, I'll buy mine tomorrow.


---Slymaverick

Interesting I can't wait to see it in action.

Not to rain on the parade here, but if shotgun modding is as inconvenient as it looks and you say it may be, I might bother to buy this gun only for novelty purposes. Bolt action = ftl. Gun seems to be comparable to the longshot. TL;DR eff that.

Uh...it's still a bolt action, even after a shotgun mod.

How does it handle with the ARs out?



---Slymaverick

I think it's cute how adding a sight and a barrel extension lulls people in to a false sense of accuracy. lawl.

I have yet to see something that makes the Recon worth replacing.

It's more than that. A longer barrel does improve accuracy; this has been proven as longer blow guns have gotten more popular. My understanding is that the barrel of the longstrike, even without the extension, is a bit longer than the recon's. I wouldn't spend $37 just to replace the Recon, but YMMV.

Longer blow guns are more accurate simply because you can line up the end of it better with your eyes. It has nothing to do with the physics of the blow gun. In fact, when it comes to physics, longer barrels are worse because the dart expends more energy bouncing around the walls.