From the Manufacturer
Take your blasting skills to the extreme with this two-in-one blaster! This blaster is more than three feet long and can launch foam arrows up to 35 feet away! Aim with accuracy and pinpoint precision using the targeting scope. Two quick-reload clips hold a total of 12 STREAMLINE DARTS. There’s even a fold-down bi-pod to help you steady your aim for important shots. Looking for a quick shot at close range? The blaster has removable parts to give you one-ha…
Buy Hasbro Nerf N-Strike Longshot CS-6 at Amazon
I’m definitely too old to be writing this review. Old enough to know better than to state my real age.
I own 3 of these. They’re like potato chips, you can’t have just 1. It’s true, it’s a little on the weak side straight out of the box, but Hasbro was thinking ahead. I suspect it was intentionally designed with the modder in mind because there’s not a drop of glue anywhere. Just remove the screws and open the case. Once inside, you only need to add an extra spring. Don’t worry about removing the restrictor. You’ll get plenty of range with just the spring mod. My favorite source of springs? The dollar store. Buy yourself a toilet paper roll dispenser, remove the spring and insert it in tandem with the stock spring in the piston. Voila, you have 100 ft range. (Tish, that’s French!) Okay, maybe not. I never measured, but I know I can shoot from one end of my apartment to the other with a nearly flat trajectory. That’s easily 30 ft with virtually no drop. I’m sure you could get it to fly farther with a slight incline. If you need help with the mods, just google “nerf mods” and you’ll find plenty of helpful sites. I don’t recommend any in particular, but they’re all more or less equivalent.
The most attractive feature, which drew me to it in the first place, is the clip-feed. Yes, it’s prone to a bit of jamming if you’re not careful. As long as you pull all the way back, and push all the way forward, with a smooth even stroke, you’ll have no problems. How well you load the darts into the clips matter too. The common snag point is near the front of the clip so try to load them all the way back so the rear of the dart is flush against the flat surface of the magazine. Do that, and you shouldn’t hit any problems. I like to quick cycle through my spares just for fun. I’m generally able to feed through 6 magazines without a jam. It’s a shame Nerf doesn’t sell spare magazines. Thankfully, they sell spare streamline darts. The extra range makes it very easy to lose darts.
The attachment that goes on the nose of the gun is pretty worthless for anything but spare parts. It’s only there to qualify the CS-6’s claim as the longest Nerf gun. It appears to add a touch of accuracy, but sacrifices a lot of yardage. I’ve never tried, but I suspect you could harvest the spring if you crack it open. There’s some glue on this one, so you’ll need to hack into it.
If you’re lucky, you may be able to find the Wal-Mart exclusive package: a Long-shot with all the standard accessories + an exclusive “laser” sight. Look up Nite-shot if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
Hopefully, Hasbro won’t detune this model in the future. Nerf products have a tendency to become less potent with successive generations. After 2 or 3 generations, the popular Nite-Shot and Maverick are just shadows of their former glory because of the cheaper and/or thinner material they use.
One final warning for anyone considering modifying this gun. Do not attach the bolt lever until you’re finished with your modifications. The big orange knobs on either side that cock and load the darts are designed to go on and stay on. I made the mistake of fully assembling it before deciding to modify. I had to force them apart which stripped some of the plastic inside the knob. If you want to see what the stock gun is capable of, just use the half of the lever that has the rod. This should be enough to draw the spring.
I don’t condone modifying your toys. Especially because the final product tends to be a bit overpowered for smaller children. I accept no responsibility for product damage or bodily harm caused by this toy. I also apologize if I’ve repeated anything the other reviewers said. I honestly did not read more than a handful before I wrote this rant. I mean review.
5 stars for being the most entertaining toy I own, and I own many. Way too many.
3 stars for being a good teaching aide on the basics of Nerf modding.
4 stars for durability. I haven’t broken anything yet, but as it goes with abused Nerf toys, something has to give eventually.
5 stars overall. I honestly cannot think of a more entertaining toy. The term toy excludes video games and airsoft.
UPDATE: As things normally go at Nerf HQ, they’ve watered down the Long-Shot. I recommend the new N-Strike CS-6 Recon which uses the same clip system, but also offers modularity.