Thanks to an Australian friend of mine who attended Endwar, I have one of these blasters on hand! As a fan of the Mega series, the Megalodon doesn’t disappoint – it launches Mega darts fairly rapidly, with respectable levels of power. More importantly, it does so for a good price. It’s a blaster I intend to use for many HvZ games to come.
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Twenty Darts is Twenty Darts!
The blaster screams “toy” with its red, orange, and white colors (and dabs of darker grey mixed in). There are no tactical rails to speak of, though there are iron sights. Of course, if you’re just cranking the handle at your hip, those may as well not exist. Such is the life of a small but mighty blaster.
The crank handle is a bit cramped for adult hands, but acceptable if you’re just gripping it. The main handle is open and comfortable.
Slight Assembly Required
If you pay careful attention, however, there is a hole in the shell directly in front of the drum. If you insert a long thin metal tool (like an Allen key), it’s actually possible to depress the middle retention rod and remove the drum.
Basic Operation
The Megalodon is easy to use. Pull the handle back, push forward, then pull the trigger to fire. As you do so, you’ll cycle through the 20-round drum. However, you can also slam fire, simply by holding down the trigger while operating the crank.
The crank handle provides plenty of leverage for the short priming stroke – think of it as fulfilling the same function as the gear train in Rival blasters. You’re simply trading an extended priming distance for the compression of a strong spring.
Internals
The plunger tube is short and wide, measuring around 1.5″ in diameter (I did not take an exact measurement). It is, however, tapered at first, with a small hole for bleeding air/accelerating the plunger head. So only the last third of the plunger tube is actually useful for accelerating the dart. As a result, spring upgrades can only do so much by themselves.
Performance
The Megalodon was fairly consistent, spitting out Mega darts at 58fps. That doesn’t sound like a big deal – in terms of speed alone, it’s not much. However, these are Mega darts. They weigh more, so even lesser speeds equals a decent amount of energy. Not to mention that Mega darts like to sail pretty far (as well as pretty far off target). If you have Accustrike Megas, this would be a fun platform to try them on.
Final Thoughts
The Megalodon has funny proportions. It’s big and goofy. It’s everything a Mega blaster should be. It has an impressively large capacity and decent range and rate of fire for what it is. If you like Mega blasters in any way, it’s worth the $40 when it finally hits shelves in the United States.