My Nerf Zombie Strike Nailbiter Review

By: Jeremy Alden

This is a review of the Nerf Zombie Strike Nailbiter a spring-powered semi-auto blaster with an integrated clip system built to resemble a nail gun.

What’s cool about the Nailbiter is that it has a unique design that helps it stand out from other Nerf blasters. It also has some cool features, like a clear barrel so you can see how many darts are left, and an easy-to-use clip system.

The Nailbiter is a great blaster for those who want to look cool while shooting their Nerf guns. The design is not only eye-catching but can also help provide an intimidating presence on the battlefield, as it looks like an actual nail gun. 

Nerf Zombie Strike Nailbiter Review

Closer Look at the Nerf Zombie Strike Nailbiter

Included is the blaster itself are eight zombie striker Elite Darts and the instructions.

Starting from the front the nail biter does have an inch strike barrel love for you to attach your favorite barrel extension behind the muzzle is the integrated clip system (not a magazine)

The clip holds eight darts and moves up automatically when you pull the trigger. That clip does not come out of the blaster it's locked in place so you cannot Quick Change clips for faster reload

I found it's easiest to load the nail biter by pulling the clip all the way up loading it then pushing it down to prepare to fire below the clip on the underside of the blaster as a small end striker tactical rail.

Firing

When you pull back on the trigger you are simultaneously doing three things priming the internal spring to fire raising the clip to the next available barrel and releasing the catch to actually fire the dark. There isn't a separate priming mechanism like most spring blasters to trigger itself in the priming handle.

All you do is press the trigger repeatedly to fire which means you're ready to fire pretty quick. However, the trigger is a little weird ergonomically meaning that it is much longer than normal triggers to make it easier to grip with more fingers but that makes balancing the rest of the blaster a little awkward for best accuracy.

I recommend placing your off-hand on the front of the blaster to stabilize the barrel or out of stock below the grip near where there is a sling attachment point.

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There are two more sling attachment points in the front of the blaster but a thick sling mount may cause Miss feeds by rubbing on the clip so I'd recommend running a one-point sling on the rear sling mount only on the back of the blaster is an in striker stock attachment point. This stock attachment lug features the classic stock orientation.

Unlike the Zombie Strike scavenger which recently came out is inverted or upside-down stock, worry not the Nail Biter has a normal stock attachment point so your stocks will fit on as they normally do. That's an external overview of the Nail Biter.

To recap, the operation you load in your eight darts, you lower the clip, and pull the trigger up you let's see it fire.

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Operating The NailBiter

Operating the Zombie Strike Nailbiter is a unique experience. I found it fun but it might get a little annoying or frustrating if it's your primary in a long Nerf battle I found myself switching between right and left-handed shooting during my testing procedure due to hand exhaustion.

I really got fatigued the clip system fed surprisingly well even under rapid fire in inverted firing positions. Honestly, I was not expecting to be able to rapid-fire this blaster upside down. But I didn't have any cases of the clips slipping and skipping darts or failing to push the clip to the next barrel.

To compare performance I put the Nail Biter up on my Chrono and achieved an average muzzle velocity of 46 feet per second, which is considerably below the 70 FPS.

Overall Opinion

We should expect from most Nerf primary blasters on the market right now. So your rate of fire is pretty quick, but the muzzle velocity is very, very slow. That's the objective information on the Nail Biter.

Now to my personal opinion, overall, I'm unimpressed by what it has to offer an integrated clip that only holds eight darts, which doesn't give any option to quick load a spare loaded clip leads to a very slow gameplay.

Furthermore, the 46 FPS Chrono average is considerably lower than that 70 FPS elite par. So you're definitely going to get outgunned by nearly anything else on the market right now.

I think the trigger-firing system is pretty neat. And I'm actually impressed by the reliability of the clip feeding but the whole blaster strikes me as a cheap gimmick and not worthy of performance nerf gameplay. My negative personal opinion aside, I didn't experience any jams or malfunctions and the one-handed operation is pretty fun.

So if you're not a performance Nerfer, and just looking for a fun blaster, the Nail Biter might be fun for you. Just expect to be outgunned by other Nerf blasters. I think this is the perfect blaster for target practice or backyard battles with your kids because it's so basic, but don't take it into any field battle expecting to win if you're looking for a reliable primary, there are better options on the market right now.