Nerf Crossbow Review (5/10)

That odd feeling you get when you know you've made it.

This has got to be my biggest moment since I first got my SuperMAXX 5000 back in January and its really hard to believe I got what some consider to be the holy grail of Nerf blasters. Bask yourself in it's aura, take in every sight of it's dark purple facade. What you are seeing ladies and gentleman is the legendary Crossbow, and by modern standards it actually kind of blows.

Size compared to it's spiritual successor, the Crossfire Bow.

The Crossbow was first launched in 1995 and could be seen as Nerf Action's flagship blaster alongside the Ballzooka. This was also the first blaster to fire two types of ammo, Mega darts and Arrows. The Crossbow is actually smaller than I thought and its around the size of a fully assembled Recon, but the point is this. There's a reason why people pay full price for broken Crossbows and that's just for the shell. This thing has one of the best rifle style shells I've ever used, its so comfortable I don't think there's anything that can quite compare to it. My only complaint is that the trigger is fairly recessed and you literally have to push it flush with the shell to get the blaster to fire, but that's a fairly minor gripe compared to the otherwise superb ergonomics.

This blaster fires the old 11" inch arrows and Mega darts.

The blaster's performance is average if not kind of terrible, it's rather old at 19 years and the seal has dried up by now so I'm only getting about 30 feet with arrows and 20 feet with Megas so it's relatively understandable. If I grease it up, it should fire much better but I stuck a CPVC barrel in the stock barrel and pulled the trigger and it sent the dart flying across my house into the wall with fairly good force. Here's why.

Internals are like a Nite Finder, but HUGE.

Look how simple that is? It's like a Nite Finder that just took too many Viagra pills and tripled the size of it's plunger tube. The spring in this bad boy is beefy and you can feel it too. Just pulling back on the handle and you know this thing will pack a hefty punch without even opening it. There's a reason why modders love the Crossbow, and if you build a blaster with a big spring and a big plunger tube, it's instantly a hit. That's another reason why the blaster is so hard to find nowadays.

Size versus a Longstrike plunger tube. Ouch.

Yeah the only PT comparable in volume with this is the Longshot and the Big Bad Bow. The Crossbow tube has a slightly smaller diameter but it's much longer, so in essence, more power. Also worth mentioning, there is a rather colossal amount of dead space due to that kinked ass air hose. Easily addressable with mods but it's pretty easy to see why the stock performance is so poor. I also have concerns with the longevity of the parts here because the plunger rod seems slightly ill suited for handling a spring of this load with hardly any padding. Dry firing this blaster could be a big mistake.

So in essence, the Crossbow is is rather awesome blaster if you're looking through nostalgia tinted glasses. Even though it has a great shell and beefy internals, it's stock performance is overshadowed by numerous other blasters out therer. If you had the urge to mod it, this thing can become a sharpshooting beast quite easily. But keeping in mind with it's stock state I give the Crossbow a 5 out of 10 simply because it isn't up to scratch by today's standards and I have concerns about it's reliability, but it doesn't take much to make it surpass most modern blasters. Get one on sight, if you can afford one that is.

The Verdict

Class- Spring Powered Crossbow

Range- Average, 30 feet with arrows, 20 with megas.

Size- About the size of a fully assembled Recon.

Reliability- The plunger components can break if dry fired.

Ammo- 3 11" Arrows, 4 Mega Darts

Modding- HUGE potential, this blaster is very versatile and above all, very powerful when modded.
Value: Used examples can go for well over $100 on eBay. With so many good alternatives, it's hard to justify the cost.

Is It Better Than?

Crossfire Bow- Depends, out of the box, the Crossfire has better ammo capacity and better range than the Crossbow, but modded, the Crossbow will take massive dump on it's zombie killing brethren. Make your choice wisely.










Guardian Crossbow- Depends, same deal as the Crossfire, better shooting out of the box and this one boasts better ammo and faster rate of fire than the two. But like before, the Crossbow, when modded, will and always will prevail.

Big Bad Bow- Depends, both blasters are quite similar in terms of plunger volume and mod potential. The Crossbow can be slightly more powerful when properly modded but the Big Bad Bow is much more common. The choice is yours.