Up close and personal: Barricade RV-10- Everything you want to know

Like the Barricade RV-10 NEEDS any more attention:)

After all this time, the official word is there's no such thing as a Nerf N-Strike Barricade RV-10.  Sure, we all know it exists.. and I find myself looking at it in my hand and saying to myself "are you real?" but despite all of the speculation on release dates and discussions on where it'll be released.. still no official release on the blaster to date. Perhaps this is even a marketing ploy, relying on hype from the rumour-mill and word of mouth to promote what in all honesty is a flawed blaster. Or maybe they're just going to dump it:P

Our posts regarding the Barricade are the most viewed of all pages on Urban Taggers. Despite in depth reviews, people still are keen to know more and so I thought I'd write up a piece that goes up close and personal with the RV-10..

Barricade in hand. Oops. No ammo. oh oh..

Q: Where did you get it?

A: I bought it from a seller in Taiwan, whom had connections with toy suppliers (I think he himself owns a toystore) and picked up some of them and asked me if I'd be interested. His price, while quite high, was still better than that off ebay or Taobao.

Are you checking out my butt?

Q: When will it be available in (insert country here)?

A: I have no idea to be honest. Because there is no official release on this blaster, any word on availability in the US, UK, Hong Kong etc is speculative. All I knew was they were not that uncommon in China and Taiwan, but every other country was anyone's guess.

Barricade RV-10. no E.

Q: It's supposed to be called the REV-10 but they made a mistake?

A: Fark, if that's true, then my blaster is definitely worth something:) Alas.. I really doubt that's the case. Not sure why it is just an RV vs REV- but.. it's clearly labeled as such on the blaster and the box and manual.

Down the barrel. Yoo hooo..

Q: Why is it so noisy?

A: The Barricade uses two flywheels, which are essentially two rapidly spinning wheels on motors that are close to one another. It fires by "pushing" a dart through the two wheels, which in turn shoot the dart out at high speed.For this to happen, the wheels have to be spinning pretty quickly, and hence the motors have to work hard for this to happen. Result- it's very noisy, like egg beaters, or electric screw drivers, or any other battery powered device with a motor. (I'm sure there are more quiet motors out there, but Nerf have opted for these)

With the jam door open to see the barrel

Q:  So it's just like a Buzzbee Tommy 20. Lame.

A: Perhaps, but I find it a little quieter than the Tommy 20 (i don't own a Tommy, but from observing friends'). The other thing is it uses a vertical flywheel system rather than a horizontal one like the Tommy 20- this does mean the darts tend to be more accurate. They're also a LOT more consistent with range and shoot straight- firing off all rounds into the distance will see most of the darts land in a very similar spot.

And closed.

Q: Does the Barricade fit into the pistol holster in the Tactical vest?

A: The Barricade is rather fat in the middle (around the 10 round dart barrel). This makes it too fat to slide into the holster unlike the Maverick or the Spectre. Shame really (but then, I can't fit the vest so it's academic for me!)

Doesn't fit into the holster of a Tactical vest. Fatty.

Q: How big is the Barricade?

A: It is around 33 cm (13 inches) long. Weighs in at 561 grams.

Layin' off dem cheese burgers and whistler darts..

Being fitted for a velvet coat..

Q: What attachments can you fit on the Barricade?

A: The Barricade comes with the standard N-Strike tactical rails so and therefore can support all tactical rail accessories. It also has the compatible "rear" for stocks, so the Recon, Raider, Shot blast and Spectre stocks all attach to it with no problem. It doesn't have underside tactical rails, nor does it have a barrel that will allow for attachments ( for Recon, Spectre, Longshot, Longstrike attachments)

Extreme close up:)

Q: How accurate is the Barricade? What are its ranges?

A: It's much more accurate than I expected; as said earlier the darts do shoot straight so if you're a good shot, hitting your mark shouldn't be a problem. If you want it to be firing rapidly, each press of the trigger will obviously add blaster shake which will affect the accuracy a little. As for range, it's nothing special, but better than a Tommy 20- It's probably up there with a stock Recon at around 10-12 metres.

Q: What do you mean by it being SEMI automatic? Could it be modded to be fully auto?

A: This means you have to pull the trigger each time you fire a round from the Barricade. You can do it really fast and you don't need to cock anything, but you still need to physically pull that trigger. I can't myself see it being able to be modded as fully automatic, mainly because it's the trigger pulling back that activates the mechanism to "push" the dart through the flywheels. If the trigger was pulled back once, there's no way for it to keep pushing darts unless you introduced an external mechanism to do this for you.

No restrictors here..

Q: What kind of mods can you do with it?

A: I don't know much about mods, but modworks.blogspot.com (from SG Nerf) have a whole lot of info on it. The blaster does NOT have air restrictors in the barrel for one, so that's one less thing to worry about; most mods would be to quieten the replace the motors and maybe even speed them up some; or for the blaster to only power up when the trigger is half depressed rather than being on all the time. There's also the "fattening" of the wheels so it grips streamline darts better.

That's the trigger. 

What else can I tell you? Firing a round is very light- it doesn't feel very satisfying to pull the trigger and if you didn't SEE the dart fly out of the barrel, it naturally feels like the dart has jammed. The trigger also sticks a little if you're not firm with it. There is obviously a half press/full press feeling with the trigger but it serves no purpose. The blaster takes all darts, although it does struggle a little with streamlines because it doesn't grab the dart as easily as it would with a sucker or a whistler. It doesn't feel as compact as a Maverick or Spectre so it doesn't really give you that "pistol" feel about it.

Another extreme closeup:)

To be honest, personally I believe MOST people will be a little disappointed with this blaster at first, but as time goes on it DOES grow on you. The noise is the biggest turn off for most, but if you're position is already blown (ie they already know you're hiding behind the dining table) then it's not that big a deal.

My other posts on the Barricade RV-10

Barricade RV-10 Review
Barricade detailed photos
Barricade firing dart tag ammo