Best Nerf Guns For Adults (to Act Like Kids With in 2023)

One of the most impressive “must-see” foam blasters is the Game Face Trion. Designed for tactical competition, the Trion is spring powered and comes with multiple spacers for custom power options.

Straight out of the box, it launches darts at 130 FPS+. However, you can add one spacer for up to 160+ FPS, or both included spacers for up to 200+.

This blaster shoots short darts which are ideal for high-performance Nerf. Included is a 15-dart magazine with 15 Game Face brand darts. It is also compatible with straight Talon magazines, so you can easily get more or longer ones.

Adding and removing these spacers requires no tools and takes no time at all. Along with multiple Picatinny rails, the cut holes on the side of the barrels are M-LOK rail compatible.

The front-angled grip feels nice, but it can be taken off to reveal yet another Picatinny rail so you can add a grip of choice. Additionally, the front and rear sights slide on or off with ease for quick customization.

The Trion has a sweet realistic design that is available in the teal color shown, or in a bright red. It retails for around $79 but has the quality and performance of blasters nearly three times the cost.

It is a significant upgrade for guns in a similar price range like the Adventure Force Nexus Pro. However, the Nexus pro could be better if you want to shoot full-length darts as well.

For a closer look and even more info on this blaster, check out our detailed Game Face Trion review!

If you are looking for a blaster that has reigned supreme for many years, look no further than the Nerf Rival Nemesis.

The Nemesis is a hard hitter, that whips its foam ball ammo up 100 feet per second. With that impressive power comes solid range, and accomplishes this while sporting a fire rate of up to 4 rounds per second.

Its main feature is the larger hopper that can hold 100 Rival rounds and allows easy access to reloading. You can just pop open the top and grab a handful of ammo on the go, to quickly get back to battling. It is important to note, that the ammo can clog a bit so you have to give it an occasional shake to keep the stream flowing.

While it may be a bit over-the-top, this is our current choice for the best Nerf gun overall. Some may choose the Rival Prometheus as the king, because it is bigger and holds more ammo. However, the Nemesis provides a similar feel in a more compact frame, and for much less moola.

I would go with the Nemesis if you want long-lasting automatic firing that packs a solid punch while having the benefit of simpler reloading for all that ammo via the hopper system.

One of the must-buy Nerf choices for any adult wanting to fling foam is the Rival Kronos. It is a spring-powered pump pistol that holds 5 Rival rounds inside and provides top-of-the-line power for a side arm choice.

Load up some rounds and crank them out at around 90 feet per second with an impressive range of 80+ feet. To harness that power it has a trigger lock, as well as a few tactical rails for Rival attachments.

This one is popular enough that you can get custom mod additions like upgrade springs for your Kronos to make it even more of a beast. It is available in many color designs, so take a look before you buy.

Needless to say, the Rival Kronos is our easy choice for the best Nerf pistol, especially for adults who can handle a bit more power.

• Thinking about picking this one up? Our longer Nerf Rival Kronos review can give you even more insight into what this one has to offer.

The Nerf Rival Prometheus is a lot to handle for your opponents, and also because it is actually massive. It is a full auto nightmare that streams up to 8 rounds per second at around 90 feet per second.

With how fast it shoots it needs to be able to hold a good amount of rounds, in fact, it is the Nerf gun that holds the most ammo. The big hopper can comfortably hold 200 Rival rounds to ensure you make your mark.

The Prometheus fires easily with the help of an included rechargeable Lipo battery. However, with that massive amount of ammo, it requires a bit of shaking to fend off clogs in the hopper.

It is also one of the biggest Nerf guns you can buy, so you will treasure the included shoulder strap that helps you bear the weight of its greatness.

This blaster is for those who want to visibly show their power and dominance on the foam field of war. If you have the money, this is the one that could just be the best option for a splurge.

If you haven’t explored the world of custom Nerf guns, a great place to start is with the Caliburn by Captain Slug

This is a very popular choice for those new to the custom Nerf hobby who want to build and tinker with their blaster. Choose the colors of each part, and select different attachments to get in a build kit or have assembled for you by professionals.

The Caliburn is considered one of the most powerful Nerf guns, because it can be customized to shoot anywhere from 140 to well over 300 feet per second.

You will have to buy ammo and magazines separately, but the Caliburn is compatible with both long and shot darts. It is also compatible with N-strike magazines and includes an insert attachment to make it compatible with short dart magazines.

Short darts are the recommended ammo choice for any powerful blaster. As this is venturing into premium Nerf dart shooting, the price tag is higher. It simply has much better materials, options, and performance.

 If this one caught your eye and want to see some other awesome customizable designs, see our choices for the best 3D-printed Nerf guns. The Caliburn is suited for those looking for the absolute best of the best in quality and power.

Witness the future of high-performance foam dart warfare with the Worker Harrier. It is an injection molded pump action spring-powered rifle that is very customizable and can be upgraded with loads of options.

The Harrier fires short darts anywhere from 150-200 FPS, with 120-200 ft range depending on the barrel and spring combinations included. Two different strength springs are included along two different lengthed barrels.

The barrels are threaded for easy swapping, but the springs take a bit more effort to swap out. You will also get an orange scar barrel extension when purchased from Out of Darts.

A short 5-dart magazine, 10 Worker darts, a vertical foregrip, and adjustable stock are also included. This blaster is also compatible with longer straight Talon magazines.

Multiple Picatinny rails allow for plenty of custom attachments and even swapping out the main vertical grip. This powerful guy also comes with a trigger safety so you don’t accidentally pop someone too close.

If you haven’t seen blasters from Worker, they are definitely worth investigating. The Worker brand offers some other bangers, like Swift, Phoenix 2.0, or Cheetah which is on this list.

The negatives are of course too much power for a close-range battle, and a bigger price tag. Our choice for the most realistic Nerf gun, I think it’s worth the price if that’s what you’re looking for and want to try some intense outdoor battles.

The Rival Perses MXIX-5000 is the go-to choice for the best full auto SMG style blaster. What really makes it great is that it can crank out up to 8 rounds per second, and includes a good-quality rechargeable battery.

The Perses is still pretty big, but much more manageable for carrying in a longer battle. It fits all the best of the full-auto Nerf Rival guns into a bit smaller frame than the Nemesis.

 It also shoots at the up to 100 FPS and with a range of up and over 100 feet. It also features a small tactical rail under the barrel, a trigger safety, and includes 50 Rival balls.

As you are spewing out rounds quickly, it is nice to have the 50-round hopper for fast scooping reloads. However, if you hold that trigger down, you will be reloading more than you fire.

These days it is well known that this blaster is awesome so it has a bigger price tag. I would choose this one if you want an easy-to-fire Rival blaster and don’t want the more massive options.

The Nerf Ultra Pharoah is spring powered blaster that shoots over 100 Feet per second with a decent range. Since no Nerf brand snipers really have that great of range or accuracy, you might as well go with one that looks the best.

It has a sweet gold accented design, shoots a bit harder than the standard blaster, and has a good-sized magazine. The mag holds 10 gold Ultra darts that are also included.

The knock on the Ultra series blasters is that the ammo kind of stinks. However, there is an upgraded version of the ammo, the Nerf Ultra Accustrike rounds, that performs a bit better.

On the blaster is a non-magnifying fixed scope, a tactical rail under the barrel, and room to store another Ultra mag in the stock.

The Pharaoh is our top choice among Nerf sniper rifles mostly due to its looks, but also because it is pretty inexpensive. It is a shiny value sniper that will at least put up a solid fight when you aren’t too busy looking at its shininess.

When you want to ball, but you are on a budget, the Xshot Excel Crusher offers a lot for a really good price.

The Crusher is a Nerf minigun that is fed by a 35 dart belt and pump-fired to spin the barrel so that it creates a realistic firing feel. It doesn’t require batteries and is pretty simple to operate with the ability to slam fire.

Performance-wise, it shoots a bit harder than the average Nerf gun at 80 feet per second, with a range of up to 90 feet or so.

Elite darts are also compatible with XShot blasters but they don’t quite perform the same. One really nice thing about the Xshot brand Nerf guns is that they have comparable or better pricing than the name brand, but include a lot more ammo with their foam dart guns. 

The Crusher comes with 48 darts, an ammo belt, and two small pistols as well when bought from Amazon. You can even pick up some extra belts and extend the chain to make your chain hang really low.

When considering a minigun, this has really cool design and won’t attack the wallet. If considering a budget is just not you, peek at the Nerf Elite Titan CS-50 which is awesome, but one of the most expensive Nerf guns.

A newer Nerf blaster with some elegance is the Nerf Elite 2.0 Eaglepoint. It is a bolt-action revolver-style carbine.

The ammo cylinder holds eight darts, and this blaster is primed with a bolt that sticks out on both sides. It has average Nerf performance firing at just above 70 feet per second dart velocity.

You can tell there was a bit more effort put into the visual design, with the removable scope and barrel standing out as the main features. The scope has non magnifying lens on both ends, and the barrel lug allows you to swap the front end out if you want.

There are plenty of tactical options with three N-Strike rails, and it comes with dart storage clips on both sides of the stock. With 16 included darts, you can fill the cylinder and have the rest stored on the gun.

Overall the Eaglepoint is worth considering the due to the looks alone, but it is honestly quite fun to shoot. Around $20 isn’t bad especially since it’s hard to find cool attachments sold separately.

The Rival Atlas XVI-1200 is a pump action blaster that loads and fires two balls at once. It fires smoothly and has a nice shotgun feel when you pump it.

It comes with a cylinder mag that holds 12 rounds, meaning you can fire it six times before having to reload. While mag takes a bit of time to get used to, reloading is simple enough.

Besides including 24 Rival rounds, this one also has the familiar trigger safety, and long tactical rail on top. Like other Rival blasters, the Atlas performs very well, with excellent velocity, and overall range.

Having the option to fire two rounds at once is unique, but that also means it runs out of ammo a bit faster. If you the style of the Atlas but want to see some other great shotgun options, see my list of the best Nerf shotguns in 2023.

The Nerf Modulus Stryfe is the newest version of the old fan-favorite smooth shooter. The Stryfe is a semi-auto flywheel blaster that is popular because it can be fired one-handed and has a lot of attachment points.

While you can’t fire it super fast, it can be a super compact automatic pistol or be changed to rifle length with a few attachments. The ones that are included are a barrel and a vertical foregrip, with room left for a stock at the rear and a scope up top.

This Strfye operates with 4 AA batteries(Not included and launches darts at 70 feet per second. The N-Strike magazine that comes with it holds 6 darts, which are also included. This one can be very entertaining to change the look of, but won’t knock your socks off with its performance.

I would recommend the Nerf Stryfe for those who don’t want to worry about priming the blaster and already have a few Nerf attachments laying around. Unfortunately, Nerf attachments sold separately are kind of expensive so you might as well buy another blaster you like if want more options to play with.

The Nerf Hammershot is a unique spring-powered hammer action pistol. It holds five darts in its rotating cylinder and can be primed with your thumb.

Not only do I recommend the Hammershot, but I feel you should have two. It is of the few nerf guns that can be fired one-handed, so why not dual-wield them?

This is the most popular Nerf revolver, with its main appeal being its fun look and feel. It has been out a while and has been upgraded with a few different paint job choices.

One large tactical rail on the top lets you get crazy with a scope or something if you really want to. The Hammershot shoots about 70 FPS and includes 5 darts that are zombie green.

The Zombie theme is pretty minimal, but I still love the style. If you haven’t seen Nerf’s out-of-the-box zombie blasters, check out our picks for best Zombie strike Nerf guns.

The Worker Cheetah 2.0 can be a little deceiving because it has so much power in an unintimidating frame. It has a nice-looking clear shell that makes the internals visible with a red and orange color scheme

While it’s made of mostly plastic, the barrel and cylinder are aluminum. The included rifled barrel slides on the end and helps make the Cheetah 2.0 accurate to up to 100 feet!

This one comes with the upgraded Cheetah spring that produces up to 200 feet per second dart velocity. All parts for assembly are included with a 15-round Talon magazine and some Worker darts.

The priming is a bit different on this gun. It is primed by pulling the back handle and also moving the barrel back and forth.

This blaster fires only short darts one at a time. Firing is a bit slower because of the priming process, but the price is hard to beat.

Assembly: You will have to take a few screws out to open the shell and assemble the internals. It comes with instructions, and there are also assembly videos out there to help.

With internal modifications, this one will always shoot over 150 FPS and can’t easily be tamed.

Slower priming speed might also hinder you in a battle where the opponent has a blaster with similar power. This is an amazingly fun target shooter but not ideal for a fair Nerf battle.

That being said, it is a fun place to start for those wanting to get into the custom Nerf hobby.

The Nerf Jolt is must have as it is the cheapest, small enough to conceal for a surprise attack, and shoots straight enough to be effective.

The beloved Jolt is easy to use with a simple T-priming handle that allows you to load and fire fast. It comes with two darts and has about a 50-foot range with 50 FPS power.

While it may be designed as a soft choice for the kids to participate in the fun, the Jolt most certainly has and will continue to light the faces of adults with a smile.

For some info about the different versions that are available, check out our Nerf N-Strike Jolt review.

While it’s not a foam flinger, I figured I would include the XSplatRball SRB1200 to show the best the Gel blaster trend currently has to offer.

What makes it the best you ask? Well, it is full auto, holds 1200 rounds, shoots up to 210 feet per second, and can fire rate 11 beads per second.

If that doesn’t impress you, it also comes with a rechargeable battery and 6000 gel beads. If you aren’t familiar with this type of ammo they are 7.5mm water-hydrated beads that are both non-toxic and biodegradable.

One charge of the battery can shoot about 5000 beads, and they are pretty inexpensive to stock up on. You can get 60000 gel beads for under $10.

This gel blaster feels good in the hand and has a sweet blue light on the side that adds to the futuristic aesthetics. If you are considering a gel blaster, this is the king right now and worth the price.

Remember to use the safety glasses included, because you likely won’t be able to dodge the ammo storm it produces.