Tommy 20 Dart Shooter

Tommy 20 Dart Shooter
Ruff Stuff Air Blasters Motorized Mech Tommy 20 Dart Blaster

I decided to get this "automatic" gun despite the negative reviews I read because I desperately needed more firepower! I was at first curious as to how this gun worked because I couldn't see how 3 AA batteries could build up that much air pressure in such a short time, but I've found that this gun doesn't use air pressure at all. It shoots out the Nerf darts by pushing them through two spinning wheels much like how an automatic football or tennis ball thrower works. Here are my comments on the most important features of a Nerf gun: 1) Power: Quite powerful, more power than your regular spring powered piston pushing Nerf gun and as powerful as some of the hand pumped air pressure Nerf guns. Grade: Very good. 2) Speed: As advertised, this gun can pump out shots quickly and plaster your opponent with bullets before he can hand pump out 2 or 3. This is really a semi-automatic machine gun. Only problem is that you'll run out of bullets in 15 seconds if you fire continuously. Grade: Excellent. 3) Jamming: Yes it does, but then so does any other Nerf gun. All Nerfs misfire or jam to some degree due to badly fitting bullets or misrotating barrels so this isn't a big deal to me. The problem I see is that you have to squeeze the trigger firmly. If you half heartedly squeeze the trigger the gun can jam, so I think some of the jamming can be put down as operator error. Grade: Somewhat. 4) Accuracy: Surprisingly accurate, except when it shoots crooked darts, so just make sure all your darts are straight. Grade: Very good. The yellow Tommy 20 is the "semi-automatic". To shoot, you first have to turn the spinners on with a switch and then manually pull the trigger for each shot. The green Tommy 20 is the "full auto", there is no extra switch, you pull the trigger and the spinners start spinning. Each has it's pros and cons. With the green Tommy 20, it takes a few seconds for the spinner to get up to speed so the first shot is always poor (check my other review), but you don't have to keep pulling the trigger. With the yellow Tommy 20, you have the extra step of turning on the spinners first, but the first shot is always good. Pros and Cons: As this is a battery operated gun, you can't really use it in a duck and fire situation as continuously using the battery will run it down quickly. For duck and fire, you'd need a manual gun. This gun is for when your opponent is being pinned down and you run up to him and score like 20 shots on his behind. And because of the noise of the motor you can't use it in any stealth situation either because your opponents will hear you from a mile away. So as any true Nerf warrior knows, you need more than 1 gun at all times. You use this as a machine gun when your opponents are charging you or when you need to spray them with bullets; for those purposes this is truly an excellent gun and a necessary addition to any good arsenal. This gun comes in green or yellow, either one is a must buy! Postcript/3 month review: To avoid jamming, you must only use the darts that come with this gun. Even the replacement BuzzBee darts are different. I now only use the BuzzBee darts without the purple collar under the suction head, they are shorter and won't jam. The ones with the purple collar are slightly longer and cause jamming. And make sure all the darts are straight; bent darts can also cause jamming. Simple mod: I have modified the gun by taking that red muzzle off. You can do that by unscrewing 4 screws at the front and just pulling it off, it's not glued. By taking the muzzle off you reduce jamming and you can unjam the gun quickly by simply reaching in the mouth of the gun and pulling the jammed darts out. It doesn't reduce accuracy or range. Postscript/6 month review: This is the 2nd gun chosen in firefights (the first gun chosen being the Tommy20 automatic) I think that says a lot for this gun.