The Huntsman Big Boomer has been known about for about half a year, when it first appeared in SE Asia as well as select places in eastern Europe. I finally came across one at a Go! I was astonished to discover that Games and Toys had this week’s sale. Your money is better spent elsewhere.
Large, But Not In Charge
The Big Boomer blaster is large in size, especially its length. The Big Boomer comes with a removable stock and a large scope attachment that doesn’t detach. It also has an eight shot cylinder, which can be removed to reload. The trigger is cosmetic; this is a slamfire-only blaster. All said, this is a long blaster without much capacity to match. It is not the most balanced blaster, as it has so much plastic between the grip and the priming pump.
Once we open up the blaster, it becomes clearer that were paying largely for a giant hunk of plastic. The internals are straightforward a decently sized plunger gets pulled back by a bar and sled. The shell has a ridge that allows the catch to ride on the shell. This releases the plunger at a predetermined distance. Its a strong spring and a fairly large plunger, too.
Priming bars also operate the rotation mechanism. They line up the cylinder barrels on the prime with the plunger, then move them forward 1/16 rotations when the priming grip is moved forward. However, the rotation mechanism is a key weakness, as it turns out.
Major Issues
The rotating mechanism is secured at the back with a shell ridge and at the front where the removable cylinder is. The mechanism is not held in place by anything else. It is assumed that the system will stay centered if everything is in place. This is not true. The indexing gear is often pushed to one side instead of turning properly. This is in stark contrast to a blaster like the Dart Zone Legendfire, which has its rotation mech firmly secured at the point where it exits the blaster shell. Zero rotation issues in that blaster.
While were on the topic of removable cylindersthe cylinder is fairly tedious to remove and replace, but even more so when loaded with darts. The cylinder is difficult to place in its proper spot without having to squish a dart or two.
Blaster Performance
When the barrel is manually lined up, the Big Boomer performs admirably. Average speed of the darts included, which are very poor foam, is 65fps. Nerf Elite darts, which fit the barrels tighter, average 75fps. However, thats when you physically line up the barrels properly.
Normal operation, with the incomplete rotation, results in the dart firing off-center and rubbing inside the faux barrel piece. Normal dart performance is variable, but it averages around 50s. Many darts, however, just end up fishtailing and failing to get any real distance.
Last Thoughts
It is difficult to sell a huge chunk of plastic with very few blaster internals. There are many issues with this blaster’s operation, including a poor rotation and poor reloading. Buy something else.
