There Are 6 Popular Types of Dart Blasters

Before purchasing a dart blaster for your child, it is recommended that you check its suitability for your child’s safety. Fortunately, Mr Toys has provided a list of dart blaster types based on their internal mechanics. Here they are:

String Powered

String-powered blasters shoot its ammunition by using a large elastic string. They generally fire arrows, such as the CrossBolt and the SlingStrike. String-powered blasters are common among the NERF Rebelle series, usually as bows or crossbows.

Spring Powered

A spring-powered blaster contains a spring or a series of springs that delivers the force that pushes the darts to be fired.

Torsion Spring Powered

A torsion spring-powered blaster has a sideways torsion spring that features a plastic stopper on the end. When fired, the spring coils back together and pushes a disc out of the blaster. The NERF Vortex has this kind of internal mechanics.

Flywheel

A flywheel powered blaster fires its darts with a set of fast spinning wheels. These wheels are often powered by an electric motor. In the early days, however, players need to manually spin the wheels to power the blaster. Flywheel blasters do not need manual priming between shots, so that is why they are often used as automatic or semi-automatic blasters.

Plunger System

A blaster that has the plunger system contains a spring-powered plunger that forces air from a sealed tube and out the blaster, which propels the dart forward. The plunger system is divided into 2 sub-types: direct plunger and reverse plunger; the former has a stronger force than the latter. They can be primed manually or electronically by a motor.

Air Powered

The air-powered blaster holds an air tank where air is stored via pump and releases force via trigger, which enables it to fire the darts. Air-powered blasters can perform high rate firing and can fire at long distances.