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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Koosh Vortex Firestorm Review (5)


There wasn't many sniper like blasters existing between 1990 and 2000, let alone any that were good. Koosh(At this time was owned by some company called Oddzon)in 1998 stepped in and introduced the Vortex lineup, which included sports gear to their signature ring blasters, the Tornado and its X/2 pistol, the Powerstrike, and the Firestorm. And look what we have here, the inferno has arrived.

It took me two years to get a Firestorm, I've seen $100 to $300 price tags on these bad boys before and I had to resist dropping that kind of money on it. Luckily just a couple days ago, I won one on eBay for the cool price of $50, yeah, not bad. I consider the Pyragon to be the modern counterpart of this blaster because of the two having the highest capacity in their lineups, and hell, both have something to do with fire in their names, so I'll be comparing the two throughout this review.

If you've seen my older posts, I've been experimenting with homemade Koosh Rings called  "Black Knights". Sadly, these rings performed mediocre, they were flimsy and curved too much to the right in flight, so I'm working on a new batch called "Sentinels". The one I made was hitting about 50+ feet flat and somehow less angled. I know there's room for improvement because Firestorm's can hit 70+ to 80+ flat with stock rings, and I can definitely perfect the Sentinel. So all in all, ranges are top notch stock. The Pyragon hits similar ranges stock, even in slam fire. Only problem here is, good luck fabricating a XLR Disc, no really.

I cannot get this blaster open, even I could I'm afraid to do so. First off, the monster safety tip on this blaster is secured with these white plastic pegs, glued in extremely tight from the looks of it. If I got that off, here's what renders it impossible. The priming handle is one solid piece, linked to the priming rod by two metal rods   jammed deep into the handle, I wouldn't be shocked to see if they were glued too. So unless you want to destroy this thing to get an internal shot, don't even bother. Either way, this is technically a Tornado with a six round revolver mech built into it, you can get ideas.  Oh yeah no modding potential due to this, sorry TornadoBow modders with an itch to gut this thing.

Loading is really not as much of a pain in the ass as I've heard.
Just pop your rings on and done.
Onto cosmetics and handling. The blaster has the strangest of looks, I've ever seen. Looks almost like merging a bright orange salmon with a Tornado, its very fish like. Despite this, its very ergonomic, the grip and the foregrip are very comfortable, you can probable gripe at the stock a bit, with its inward curve, but I got used to it. The priming handle is by far, the best I've used. Your whole hand can grip it comfortably; shoulder priming is a bit funky but not impossible.


Other than the fact that I was completely unprepared to own this blaster, I still really like it. It's comfortable  and hits very nice ranges. Its performance alongside the Pyragon is debatable but no matter, pick one up up on sight, and make sure to get, or make, some rings for it. All in all, give this puppy a 5.

The Verdict
Range- Excellent, 70 to 80 feet
Size- About the size of a Longshot with no Front Gun
Reliability- Homemade or poorly maintained rings can jam, otherwise this stood the test of time
RoF- 1 ring per 1.2 seconds
Ammo- 6 Koosh SpinFire Rings
Modding- Absolutely no potential, you can't even open it

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