Nerf Secret Shot II Review (4.5)

Remember when I promised I was out of ammo Sully? I lied.

I decided to redo this whole review since I got my new camera and I figured I may as well do it in high quality. So here we have two Secret Shot IIs, one of Nerf's few air powered pistols and the awesome successor to a classic, the original Secret Shot. Lets see how this old school hand cannon holds up to modern day standards.

Size compared to a SM500 and a Lock n' Load.

The Secret Shot II is obviously the successor to the original Nerf Secret Shot and other than the fact that they both have a secret barrel, the SS2 has almost nothing in common with it's predecessor. The SS2 is quite large and has most of it's bulk on the top of the pistol but it's not very top heavy. The grip is somewhat small and larger hands will have a rather uncomfortable time gripping this thing. The nifty thing is that all the means of operating the pistol are all at the grip from the trigger, to the secret barrel switch, and the pump itself making operating the blaster a breeze.

The secret barrel seal over the main barrel with a skirt seal.

The blaster takes about 5 to 6 pumps to fully pressurize and with the cruddy megas I'm using, I get about 30 feet out of the main barrel. This is where the Secret Shot II's gimmick comes into effect, picture yourself in a firefight, your primary runs dry and you pull your pistol out and fire what looks to be your last dart. Your opponent sticks you up, thinking you're helplessly out of ammo but no. You press the button, the scope flips down to reveal another dart and you blast that SOB right in the face, or at least that's the plan. I'm hitting about 20 feet with the secret barrel due to the drastic increase in dead space which is less than stellar but hey, they're mega darts, really heavyweighted and drag inducing mega darts.

Internals complete with a big ass tank.

Internally, the tank in this blaster is HUGE, its almost as big as the tank in the SuperMAXX 5000 but the main difference is that this tank is backpressure(Oh crap...) First of all, with backpressure you get intentional air loss when firing and the overly complicated design makes them less reliable than pull pin style tanks which is why most SS2s leak, luckily both of mine don't. But you still get a massive volume of air being unleashed by this tank and there are cases of modified SS2s shooting well over 100 feet, and for a blaster of this size, that's stupid insane. I can't even fathom how inconspicuous this pistol looks only to have it shoot as far as larger rifles can go, not to mention you have a just as powerful holdout shot ready when needed.

Overall the Secret Shot II is an overlooked pistol, it performs decently stock but has devastating potential to scare the pants off opponents when modded correctly. Compared to the Lock n' Load and SuperMAXX 500 which fall into the same category, this pistol is far less expensive and has potential to be vastly more powerful. I give the Secret Shot II a 4.5 for being all around a cool blaster and having awesome mod potential but it falls short in reliability.

The Verdict

Class- Air Powered Heavy Pistol

Range- Good, 40 to 50 feet with good darts.

Size- About the size of a Lock n' Load.

Reliability- Most SS2s have leakage issues due to the backpressure system.

Ammo- 4 Mega Darts, 3 In reserve

Modding- Has potential to be a complete monster of a pistol capable of over 100 foot ranges.

Is It Better Than?

Secret Shot- Yes, the Secret Shot II boasts vastly more power than it's spring powered predecessor but falls somewhat short in reload speed. But really, who wouldn't want a pistol that can potentially outshoot most rifles?

Lock n' Load- Depends, the Lock n' Load is more versatile than the Secret Shot II and offers a balanced combination of speed and power fit for any application. Both pistols are pretty much even all around, it just just depends what you want done to them.

SuperMAXX 500- Depends, the SM500 uses a pull pin valve system that surpasses the Secret Shot II in reliability and this pistol has a better pump. SS2s are much more common though and easier to modify.