Hey what do you know, more slightly obscure off brand foam weapons to review! I got several more on the way and this is just one of them, actually the first Lanard blaster I've reviewed on here. Let's face it, air power is fun. It can shoot either really fast or really far and it could leak like a sieve too! No batteries required, just a little muscle and some epoxy. The Big Salvo is one of the few remaining air powered blasters on the market and it aims to meld speed and power together in one package. But does it really? Let's find out.
Size compared to Hornet AS-6.
The Big Salvo was floating around the shelves since 2003 so it's seen it's fair share of shit. This Salvo was a used one I picked up on eBay for $7 bucks; a bit of a gamble since the last air powered blaster I bought for that kind of money had a problem that proved to be impossible to diagnose. It's a relatively large blaster but it's not heavy. All things considered Lanard's build quality generally isn't as good as Nerf's but everything about the Salvo feels solid. The real problem is with it's design. The grip on the blaster isn't necessarily the worst I've used but the ridiculously thick trigger guard makes the grip really cramped and it cuts into your finger a bit. The trigger is another story, it's fucking huge. Seriously, I only have about half an inch of room for my finger on the trigger on this thing and the draw length is insane. It uses a multi-stage trigger valve like the old Triple Strike does which just makes it an even bigger pain in the ass to fire semi-auto without accidentally firing another shot.
Close up of barrels.
Unlike the Hornet which uses a massively complex trigger valve to fire semi auto, the Big Salvo relies entirely on how steady your trigger finger is. A full pull fires everything in order, so if you pull the trigger a hair it will fire the first shot, a little further it fires the next and so on. It's not exactly fun, especially with the so-so comfort of the blaster. As you probably might have guessed by now, the Big Salvo fires arrows so it has no way of accepting regular darts without modification. With that being said you don't even have to open the gun to mod this thing. If you take a brass pipe cutter and just cut off the tips of the barrels, CPVC is a perfect fit inside of these barrels. That is of course if the blaster actually works.
Four massive tanks and a lot of dead space.
Thankfully my Salvo works perfectly but many have had issues with the blaster and I believe is is much in part to it's backpressure tanks which are unreliable as shit in general. If it does work, 10 pumps with arrows can get you a respectable 30 to 40 feet but with the simple barrel modification and about foot long barrels stuck inside, you can push a pretty scary 100 feet on each barrel. It surprises me that the Salvo isn't used that much since it has massive mod potential since the tanks are pretty big, maybe slightly less than a Secret Shot II. But again, it's reliability may be a suspect here.
All in all the Big Salvo is an interesting blaster. It packs a decent punch considering it does fire arrows and it's rate of fire is rather good. It's downsides are it's touchy operation, discomfort, and possible unreliability. However when modded it can become a rapid firing, long range monster. It's worth a look just off of how easy it is to mod but stock, it's only good for a 6 out of 10. Pick one up if you know how to do a little modding.
The Verdict
Class- Air Powered Semi-Auto Arrow Launcher
Range- Good, around 30-40 feet..
Size- Same size as a Hornet AS-6.
Reliability- Backpressure tanks can be notoriously unreliable.
Ammo- 4 9" inch arrows
Modding- Great potential, can fire over 100 feet on each barrel.
Value- At $30, it's a solid performer with loads of potential but it may come with some issues.
Is It Better Than?
Triple Strike- Depends, the Triple Strike is remarkably similar to the Big Salvo in that they operate almost exactly the same. The Triple Strike has one less arrow however and it's even more unorthodox design can put some people off. The Triple Strike does have bigger tanks than the salvo though so it is definitely capable of a bit more power with the same amount of a easy modification.
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