Xshot has made a solid effort to enter the ball blaster space with the Chaos line, even if the blasters arent quite as useful as their counterparts. Internal magazines with on-the-fly reloading, as well as ease of use and low cost, make blasters like the Orbit solid options for close range blasting. If youre looking for consistency at range, however, you may need a different blaster or a little extra effort to modify this one.
Pump Action Platform
The Orbit blaster is compact and comparable in size to Rival Atlas. It also has a similar layout. A pump grip sits at the front for priming, with a handle at the rear. The top is where you will find the ball magazine. The stock, while short for my tastes, does exist. The blaster is simple in appearance, but you can customize it with a sticker sheet.
On the whole, the blaster feels solid, even if it does feel like thinner plastic than the Nerf counterparts. The handle is large and wide, with enough texture for a good grip.
The blaster loads from an internal magazine along the top side of the blaster. This, in turn is loaded from the back. You can pull the magazine follower all the way back. The spring-loaded tab at the middle can be removed and the balls can be pushed through the tab. The orange button at top of the stock lets you release the follower.
There is a sight at the top of the blaster, but its small an not the most effective tool. A jam door is also available on the left side of the blaster.
There are also a trigger safety lock and a repriming locking, which can be used to deal with jams. I have not had one of these so far.
Blaster Use
The Orbit is easy to use once the magazine has been loaded, the player pulls back on the pump grip. The player opens the breech and loads the ball from the magazine. Finally, he pulls the main spring back. Pushing the grip forward then closes the breech for firing.
Although it is not intended for this purpose, users can use the repriming locking to pull back their grip and load a second ball into their breech.
Performance
My blaster averaged 97fps. So far, the Orbit has been very consistent in its initial velocity. In addition, its also easy to shoot a ball every second, thanks to the smooth, fast priming motion.
The one area of concern, however, is ball flight. The balls fly in an irregular trajectory after 30-12.2 meters. It is as if there is no hopup. This is confusing, as there does exist a hop-up tab in the barrel. It is possible that the ball may not make contact due to its small size. This blaster works much better when it is in stock form and at close range.
Internals And Modification
Modification is actually difficult due to the Orbit’s sturdy internals. With a wide plunger rod, its actually hard to use any of the normal high-strength springs the Nerf Internet Community likes to stuff into blasters. AK Blaster Mods makes one of the aftermarket springs I know of. The system is very easy to disassemble, provided you can find a spring that fits within the limitations of the system.
Last Thoughts
The Xshot Chaos Orbit may not be perfect. However, it does bring new features to primary-type Rival blasters. Smooth pump action, an internal mag thats easy to reload from a bag of balls, and a low price. Although it has good velocities, its accuracy at distance is not as good. Until thats fixed, however (whether by mod or manufacturer), its a blaster best used at close ranges.
