Toy Review: Nerf Dart Tag Sharp Shot

One of my biggest peeves during a Nerf War (or any gun battle) is reloading my primary weapon. After firing dozens of orange foam darts, my attention is focused on inserting said orange foam darts into barrels or clips and it's a perfect chance for an unscathed opponent to shoot me while I'm defenseless. This is where a smaller back-up blaster comes in handy. It would not have the firepower to storm an enemy position, but it would be simple and accurate enough to whip out in case the primary weapon is empty. And the Nerf Dart Tag Sharp Shot fits the bill well.

Priced at $7.99, the Sharp Shot is a small Nerf blaster that's a bit larger than the average adult hand. It's a single barreled, single shot pistol that fires a single Dart Tag dart (or any other Nerf dart that isn't a Streamline Clip dart) and can store three more underneath the barrel. Loading is simple. Just pull out one of the stored darts from its storage chamber, insert it through the top barrel, and cock the yellow slide on top of the blaster. One advantage that the Sharp Shot has over other single barreled Nerf blasters is that the slide instantly falls back into original position. This maintains the small shape of the pistol when cocked instead of having a fully extended (and easily breakable) cocked slide in other Nerf blasters. Then aim and pull the trigger to fire. Accurate range is about 20-25 feet. The pistol is free of bells and whistles aside from its simplicity.

What does make the Sharp Shot stand out is probably the first ever useful Nerf accessory included with a blaster: The Quick-Release Belt Clip. The clip is a carabiner belt pair where one clip attaches to the belt and the other to a lightweight blaster like the Sharp Shot. When pulled, the clasp quickly releases from the ball. So the strategy with this accessory is to attach the clip to a light secondary blaster that is pre-cocked and clip the other clip into the belt. When the heat of the battle is on and your primary weapon is out, you can quickly draw your secondary blaster and get a quick shot in. Whether you want to continue using the secondary weapon or retreat to reload the primary weapon is up to you.

So if you want a reliable secondary weapon for a Nerf War or a simple blaster for plinking, the Nerf Sharp Shot works great.