Max Force Shadowhawk: OzNerf Forums

Featured on the Oz Nerf Forums, "Oxymoron" picked himself up a Max Force Shadow Hawk and has given a pretty indepth review of the blaster, right down to the internals. He's given it a pretty decent rap- check out all the images and his thoughts after the jump.


I picked this up for $79 @ Target in Westfield Chermside. I love it! Even without a trigger it's a lot of fun.

The 100ft ranges stated on the box are very possible as well. Firing flat, I can hit the fence on the far end of my yard 22m (70ft) away with about half the shots in the 8 round clip. The reason only half make it is because the accuracy really dies down after about 15m on some shots. They act like a streamline nerf dart does pretty much.

The pellets seem to hold their shape in flight well also. I got my friend to shoot me at close range and you definitely feel a sting. If a young child was hit on bare skin at close range I'm pretty sure they would be crying. It can leave a pretty good dent in a foam box.

I really like the bolt mechanism you use to advance the clip. It's got a nice feel to it and works very well.

The whole gun is super sturdy too which I really like, it has a nice solid feel and it is quite heavy compared to any nerf gun without batteries.

I looks bloody good too.

Anyway, on to the pics...

Here's how it looks in the box...

What you get...

Size comparison with an AT with Yellow Raider Stock...

Clip inserted...

Bolt lever...

Barrel - notice all the water left on the inside. FYI, the barrel has an ID of 8mm and it is quite a thick walled, hard plastic. Priming handle (nice and comfy) and the very flimsy Bi-pod legs. I pulled them off right away as they looked quite silly IMO and they are easily removed and re-attached.

Not onto the internals. I was very happy to find that every screw on the shell is the same size because there are a lot of them and I wasn't looking forward to making notes of where they all went. The screws they've used are also a lot stronger than nerf screws so less chance of stripping them. The only downside is that they are not magnetic so my screwdriver wouldn't lift them out of the holes for me.

I started by undoing the priming handle and in this pic you can see the nice solid connection to the priming bar.

Getting the shell apart is pretty straight forward apart from this little section on the rear. It is a small outer shell that clips into the back piece you can see behind. you just need to pry it apart gently after taking out the screws.

The other tricky bit is the orange front section. It has two screws on the opposite side of the blaster that need to be undone. These pieces are also an outer shell and they are clipped and glued to each other so I had to pry them apart with a bit of force with a flat head screwdriver.

Screw locations...

Area with glue that needs to be pried apart...

Now you've done that you can finally open it. The empty side of the shell...

The solid theme continues inside with lots more screws and covers. Luckily the internal screws are also the same size. 

A closer look at the priming bar. Nice and solid again. But what are the teeth for??

Removing the first orange cover piece reveals a cog and more teeth on the plunger rod (left of pic). As the priming bar gets pulled back, the plunger rod is pushed forward ready to be fired backward. Pretty cool if you ask me.

We can also see a nice long clear plunger tube. It's worth mentioning that the stock plunger seal is 100% air tight  

The spring is about 17.5cm long and feels like it is around a 9 or 10Kg load. Much more than any stock nerf spring.

The plunger tube is very long - about 18.5cm, but only 13.3cm is used in the plunger travel. The ID of the tube is about 27mm which gives a total air volume of 76ml - just less than a Longshot (81ml) and RFSG (80ml)

Plunger tube OD is about 30mm. This shot also shows the way the air is directed up to the the barrel.

The next thing to do is remove the final orange cover. This holds the parts that seal onto the clip and the moving parts that advance the clip when the bolt is moved. If you bump the bolt when this cover is off stuff will jump out at you but it's easy enough to put back together. I won't include all the detail pics I took here as most people will have been mainly interested in the plunger/spring setup.

Here's how everything should sit under the cover. The big black piece is pushed onto the clip to create an excellent seal with the back of the clip. The front of the clip is pressed into an o-ring which creates another great seal. It's pretty well done if you ask me.

And finally, the inside of one of the "barrels" in the clip. The pellet is held in place by the 4 little nubs until it is fired. I'm thinking this means the whole clear barrel works (or rather hinders the pellet) in much the same was as a faux barrel in a nerf blaster.