Nerf Rival Kronos XVIII-500 Review | Blaster Central (2024)

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The Nerf Rival Kronos XVIII-500 is a compact pistol-style blaster with a smooth priming mechanism and excellent performance. Named after the Greek God of Time, the Kronos will stop the clock with its sweet design.

In this review of the Rival Kronos, I will guide you through the top 3 features of this blaster, and why I think this may be the pistol you have been holding out for from the Rival series.

You can purchase the Nerf Rival Kronos blaster on Amazon.

The Nerf Rival Kronos XVIII-500, a compact spring-action blaster, was released by Hasbro in 2018. This is indeed quite a small pistol within the Rival series, which Nerf started releasing back in 2015.

As expected, the Kronos fires only in single-fire mode, with a firing capacity of 5 High-Impact Nerf rounds that are held in a spring-loaded internal magazine.

In the packaging, you will find the blaster and five rounds. There are a few color variations available, including Red and Blue, as well as special edition Deadpool and Phantom Corps Sets, if you’re looking for a more exclusive version.

Here’s my take on the small yet fun Nerf Kronos.

1. Flip and Slide Reloading

The Kronos has a spring-loaded internal magazine with a 5-round capacity. To reload, there are a couple of steps required.

First, locate the little orange access door on the top of the blaster and flip that open. Then you need to slide back the top section of the blaster (which is also how you will prime the blaster; more on that later). This will reveal a little hole to feed the rounds into. Slide it forward back into its original position after loading, and then you will be ready to start firing.

The dual functionality of this sliding section is pretty clever. At first glance, this is a pretty sleek pistol without much bulk. But when this section slides back, it’s a nice surprise to find a decent-sized hole to fill in the rounds without too much mucking around. I know this makes a big difference to people with fat fingers like me.

This also adds another layer of security on top of the flip access door to stop any potential issues with rounds falling out (in case the access door accidentally opens during play). But that satisfying click that the door makes when it closes means that this is also pretty unlikely, and a sign of what a solid design the Kronos is.

2. Smooth Slide to Prime

As mentioned, you need to slide the top section back for reloading but also for priming. This sliding action is very smooth and not too heavy to slide back.

There are also these two cool black fins on either side of the blaster that make it super easy to grip and slide back with your fingers.

In contrast, some other slide-action blasters have a somewhat chunky sliding section to make it obvious where you are meant to put your hand to grab and slide. But the downside of this design is that all that extra plastic can make the blaster heavier, harder to holster, and awkward to hold if you have smaller hands.

Also worth mentioning is that there is a little priming indicator at the back of the blaster, so when you see the little orange dot, you know this baby is primed and ready.

3. Single Fire Is All You Need

The Kronos offers single fire at a whopping 90 feet per second, which I got comfortably close to during my test sessions.

For a pistol-style blaster, this is quite an impressive speed, even though it is lower than the 100 feet per second standard for a lot of the larger Rival blasters.

Single-fire is the only mode available, but the smooth sliding action of the priming handle makes this blaster a dream to prime and pump out those rounds one at a time without fuss.

There is also a nifty safety lock on the right-hand side just above the trigger to stop you from misfiring.

Don’t be fooled by its size; you’re looking at a pocket rocket. The Kronos is a compact and well-designed pistol blaster for the Rival range, and is included in my list of best Nerf gun pistols.

That sliding priming handle is a slick design, and being able to fold your opponents at 90 ft per second with a little pistol is no mean feat. If you are a holster guy, I would even consider getting two, as they are so light and sleek to carry around.

If you’re a fan of the Rival series (like me), be sure to check out my list of best Nerf Rival blasters to see which ones you should consider buying.

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Last updated: August 24, 2023