Nerf Alpha Strike Hammerstorm
Hasbro
$15
73fps average
Two darts per second (One handed)
A solid, reliable update to a popular sidearm.
Nerf Alphastrike Hammerstorm Review
April 6, 2020The Hammerstorm is an interesting anomaly. It’s part of the Alpha Strike line, but it’s clearly not constructed the same. The blaster is screwed together, not clipped. The handle is large and comfortable. There’s much more plastic than you’d expect. And you have eight shots in the cylinder, plus storage for eight more. As a result, it’s possibly the best blaster in the line so far.
Hammershot Remixed
The Hammerstorm draws obvious comparisons to its popular predecessor, the Hammershot. It’s a quite larger platform, of course, thanks to all that extra plastic and ammo storage. So it’s not quite something you can holster as backup (at least not without heavy plastic removal). Even so, it feels great in hand, and far more solid than other Alpha Strike blasters. Given the obvious design differences, it seems like a previous design simply got repurposed for the new blaster line.
The Hammerstorm ups capacity to eight darts, instead of the Hammershot’s five. It now features two Nerf rails, one on the top and one on the bottom. It even features a proper Nstrike barrel attachment lug, in case you really want to use those long barrel attachments. Four different sling points sit around the shell. The eight ammo storage slots sit under the cylinder. In the words of one particular Youtuber, “TACTICS, BRO!”
The handle is large and fairly comfortable. Mind you, it’s very plain, but it also doesn’t do anything objectively wrong. There’s room for all your fingers, assuming you don’t have really large hands. The priming hammer placement is the same as the Hammershot, and it’s easy to pull down with your thumb for one-handed usage.
With a solid shell, nice features, and the simple fact that it doesn’t feel cheap, the Hammerstorm is already a winner compared to other Alpha Strike Blasters.
Using the Blaster
Pulling back on the hammer primes the blaster; it also rotates the cylinder by a barrel. After that, pulling the trigger fires the blaster. The blaster is incredibly easy to reload – while priming the blaster turns the cylinder 1/8, manually turning the cylinder makes a 1/4 turn. So once you’ve reloaded the sides, one turn exposes the remaining empty barrels.
Do keep in mind that the trigger is a bit touchy. Lack of discipline can result in unintended firings.
Performance
With the included Elite darts, the Hammerstorm averaged 73fps in testing. Rate of fire was decent at two darts per second when used one-handed. However, this rate of fire will vary, depending on individual finger strength and how many hands you use; younger children may fire slower, for example. In addition, one hand priming, one hand firing means you can pull off shots faster. Only slightly, but it’s noticeable when emptying the entire cylinder.
Internals
The Hammerstorm has a similar setup to the Hammershot – the rotation mechanism is slightly different. Beyond that, I would expect modders to be able to change up the internals in a similar manner; new springs or spring spacers are both effective.
Out of interest, I cut and installed a small length of CPVC (CTS 1/2″) to add some precompression (though more could have been done). That by itself raised velocities to 84fps.
Final Opinion
The Alpha Strike Hammerstorm is different from the rest of the line. It feels…good. It fires consistently, with the power you’d expect, and it’s a solid update on the Hammershot design. The fact that it’s also the same price just makes it that much better.