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One of the best surprises of 2018 is a blaster that didn’t get officially released until December 1. Sold under Walmart’s Adventure Force line, the Double Trouble is a semi-auto blaster that feeds from two rotating drums. $20 gets you a blaster with a twenty dart capacity, reliable firing, and far above average stock velocities. As usual, Prime Time Toys seems to be doing something right with their electric blasters.

Double the Fun

The Double Trouble feeds from two staggered, front-loading drums. A fairly long trigger pull rotates the drums, lining up the next barrel before pushing the respective dart into the flywheels. The blaster has no “rev trigger”; an on/off switch sits atop the main grip. The drum housing can be removed by pressing back the orange button at the top of the blaster. The user can then flip forward the flywheel housing. This not only allows drum removal, but also an easy way to potentially clear jams.

The Double Trouble is only slightly larger than a Stryfe, and is very comfortable to hold. The handle is adequately large, with some texture to it. It’s also well balanced, with the six AA batteries located at the bottom not adding too much weight. The blaster can easily be used with one in each hand, but if you don’t like dual wielding, you can use the textured lower grip for your off hand instead. The shell feels solid, and is just about on par with anything you’d see from Nerf.

Outperforming the Competition

Oh, boy, does the Double Trouble hit hard. Like most Prime Time Toys electric blasters, the Double Trouble hits much harder than most stock Hasbro offerings. With the included Sureshot “waffle” darts, I averaged 92 fps on a fresh set of alkaline batteries. Thanks to the included darts, almost all of my shots were on target, as well.

Rate of fire suffers a bit due to the need to cycle the drum magazines. At best, I could do three darts per second, which still isn’t a bad number for a semi-auto blaster.

Modification Thoughts

As a flywheel-type blaster, the Double Trouble can take the same kinds of modifications as a Stryfe or similar blaster. The 130-size toy motors inside can be replaced with aftermarket motors, and the flywheels can be, as well. The motor cage itself (the plastic piece holding the motors) has the same mounting holes as the Adventure Force Commandfire. At the moment, the only aftermarket cages are online for free at Thingiverse, so you or a friend will need a 3D printer handy. That being said, I would expect modded performance with a new cage to be on par with that of a Stryfe or similar blaster. Remember not to throw away the rubber motor cage mounts!

Final Thoughts

The Adventure Force Double Trouble performs beautifully, is comfortable to use, and is fun. As much as removable mags have become a staple of the hobby, there’s still much to be said for using drums you can load on the fly. And for $20, it’s one of the best semi-auto stock dart blasters on the market. There’s no way to go wrong with this blaster.