Xshot Insanity Rage Fire Review

Hobbyists like me often forget that not everything has to be about performance. It can simply be fun. But when you have both of those things in a cool package, it’s hard to beat.

That’s where the Xshot Insanity line comes in; it packs the good Xshot performance you’d expect in an inexpensive and hilariously made package. If you’ve ever seen memes or viral videos with blasters stacked on blasters, ammo carried everywhere…that is exactly what you’re getting. And it was definitely worth the $45 I paid.

Modulus? What’s Modulus?

Nerf had a great idea with the Modulus line, with a variety of base blasters and lots of attachments. Xshot Insanity takes that idea even farther and lets you add ammo holders, other blasters, and anything else you can connect via Picatinny rail. There are even special orange connectors included for making those rail links. Not every possible combination is useful, of course (and weight will become an issue if you stack too many blasters), but you can do them! So expect people to try and make the image on the back of the box with all four Insanity blasters connected together.

The Rage Fire is a motorized platform, powered by 6 AA batteries, It comes with two circular ammo holders, two four-way connectors, a scope attachment, and a tripod base. Yep, that’s an actual, kid-sized Tripod! Though if you don’t mind hip firing, it’s just as fun for adults. And, naturally, the giant barrel spins!

Ammo is fed via linked plastic chains that snap together. Loading the chain into the blaster is done by disengaging the indexing mechanism and pushing/pulling the chain through the gap. Reengage the indexer, and you’re ready to fire.

The plastic body of the Rage Fire is decent – not nearly as flexible as other long Xshot blasters. So the blaster itself should hold up to some abuse.

The blaster is fired with a unique two-stage mechanism. Pushing the trigger paddle forward revs the flywheels. Pushing it down after that starts the barrel rotation and chain feeding mechanism (they’re connected).

Performance

On six AA batteries, I saw dart velocities starting at 92fps, and only dipping into the upper 80s. I averaged around 5 darts per second with the Rage Fire; thanks to the wheeled pusher design it shares with the Adventure Force V-Twin, darts can be fed quickly with a less complex mechanism.

One downside of a chain that’s always moving is a noticeable reduction in accuracy. While the feeding mechanism is simple and reliable, it doesn’t pause the dart in line with the flywheels. Even so, when you’re firing darts quickly in succession, you’re still likely to hit the target. And with the new Air Pocket darts Xshot has transitioned to, the accuracy has already been vastly improved from years past anyway.

There’s also the small bit about additional chains not being available yet. However, I don’t see that lasting long, at least if Zuru is this confident in making an entire new product line.

Internals and Modification

There are quite a few screws to remove, but once that’s done, the inside is easy to understand. One switch by the trigger handles the flywheel circuit, while the other does the barrel and chain indexing (a gearbox links the two parts). You can also spot the clutch on the indexing mechanism, that allows you to feed chains into the blaster.

The flywheel cage floats on four posts, with rubber inserts to dampen the noise. It’s a simple, open design, so I already went ahead and designed a new cage for the Rage Fire. I tested my blaster out with a 40mm setup, Meishel 2.0 motors with Daybreak wheels, and the stock pusher motor. The results were quite fun, although if I really want to raise the rate of fire, I’ll need to replace the last motor. in any case, 150-160fps full auto is always a great addition to a giant spinning minigun.

Final Thoughts

The Xshot Insanity Rage Fire is some of the most fun I’ve had with a blaster, and that any kid will have with a blaster. It has the feel of a large cannon, is intuitive to use, has good performance, and is still relatively inexpensive. And for those of us inclined to make our blasters do more, it has lots of potential. This one is a home run.