The Best Nerf Pistols in 2023
Plastic Foam-Firing Handguns, Pistols and Sidearms, Oh My!
Nerf Pistols are the type of lightweight assault weapon you need in an extended Nerf War. They're generally lightweight and portable enough to keep at the ready while running for your life.
The history of Nerf is long with guns of all sizes and shapes. We're going to just be focusing on pistols below. Here are a few that you may be interested in.
List of Nerf Pistols
- Nerf Rival Kronos XVIII-500
- Nerf Elite 2.0 Commander RD-6
- Nerf Fortnite SP-L Elite Dart Blaster
- Nerf N-Strike Elite Disruptor
- Nerf N-Strike Elite Strongarm
- Nerf Zombie Strike Hammershot Blaster
- Nerf Modulus Ghost Ops Shadow ICS-6
- Nerf Hyper Impulse-40 Blaster Pistol
- Tehoosen Revolver
Nerf Rival Kronos XVIII-500
Fight for Team Blue or Team Red with the spring-loaded Nerf Kronos XVIII-500 pistol that's a part of the Nerf Rival Series. This blaster is a breech-loaded menace capable of dispensing 5 high-impact rounds at 90 FPS unto your (hopefully) defenseless opponents. With a customizable tactical rail and a trigger lock to prevent unwanted firing, this Nerf Pistol is as sure as they come for a sidearm.
Nerf recommends this model for kids aged 14 and up. Something tells us that college kids might use the Rival Kronos for dorm games like Assassin.
You’re going to want to carry some extra ammo or a second Kronos pistol when facing off with tough adversaries, as the 5-shot gun needs just that extra little boost in foam lethality.
Nerf Elite 2.0 Commander RD-6
Slam-Firing 6 Nerf Darts with this Nerf Blaster equals hope in a battle of pistol vs shotgun. In fact, in many ways the Nerf Elite 2.0 Commander RD-6 (a mouthful to say) acts and feels like a Nerf Shotgun. The rotating drum is a nice touch, and the included munitions (6 extra foam darts) makes the lower-priced pistol model a good investment.
Nerf Fortnite SP-L Elite Dart Blaster
Hasbro is in the business of making money, so of course it made sense to partner with the popular video game brand that is Fortnite. The SP-L comes in a slick yellow color and has an outrageous suppressor attached to the barrel. It’s looks like it wants to be James Bond playing Gotcha in the 80s.
Anyway, that silencer is detachable. Not only that, you can put it on other blasters as the connections line up. Kind of crazy to think that it’s just a toy gun.
Nerf N-Strike Elite Disruptor
The N-Strike Elite Disruptor is a dart drum pistol that works best at ejecting your opponents from their hiding spaces with accurate single shot strikes. It’s a Nerf gun pistol that just plain works. Plus, the blue/gray/orange aesthetic is just pleasing.
Just like the Nerf N Strike Elite Strongarm model, you’ll want to flip open that rotating barrel for a reload though.
Nerf N-Strike Elite Strongarm
We always liked our Nerf Strongarm. The Distruptor is probably a bit better, since it's the model that replaced it, but we never found issue with the Strongarm.
Nerf Zombie Strike Hammershot Blaster
If you like marking up the side of your weapon with paint scratches for kills, then the NERF Zombie Strike Hammershot pistol is for you. This Nerf gun comes in 3 different color combos, including red, splatter, and stripes. We’re partial to the stripes model as it reminds us of the motorized P-5000 Powered Work Loader that gets used by Ripley to fend off the Queen Alien in hand-to-hand combat.
That’s not a bad act to follow. 5 darts leaves us a little shy on firepower though.
Nerf Modulus Ghost Ops Shadow ICS-6
A clear plastic Nerf gun that is good for the parents supervising a nighttime Nerf War, given that the barrel lights up. It fits in the same category of handheld sidearm that the previous two Nerf guns on the list do. The Nerf Modulus is reliable and easy to spot at night, which is great for summertime fun.
Nerf Hyper Impulse-40 Blaster Pistol
40 shots? Now we’re talking.
The Nerf Hyper Impulse-40 holds up to 40 soft bullets to discharge onto your high quality targets at will. It’s not a hammer-action or pump-action pistol, which is a good thing. Instead, you can conveniently reload with one hand while still being able to line up your next target due to the spring-open hopper. That makes it one of the best Nerf pistols in our eyes.
Make sure you wear the included eye protection, as the Impulse-40 blasts soft bullets at 110 fps.
Non-Nerf Brand Pistol Alternatives
Tehoosen Revolver
This looks a little too much like the real thing for our comfort. That said, the 10th Anniversary Tehoosen Revolver can launch both soft foam bullet darts as well as gel beads. The manual pressurized power device fires projectiles for greater distance. Plus, you can eject all cartridges with a single click.
Please please please do not take this into public though. The realism is too raw.