My ProChrono Digital chronograph measured the speed of the rounds fired from this Red (or Blue, the color should not be a factor) Rival Artemis blaster traveling at the average velocity of 96 feet per second (FPS). It is hard not to like this hefty blaster. That is, if you like springers. This blaster is endowed with Nerf's famous Slam-fire function (hold the trigger and pump the priming handle for one shot per prime), and a decent ammo capacity. This has a higher ammo capacity than the Apollo and Zeus (6-12 balls, but they have replaceable magazines) but cannot hold as much Rival rounds (for those who do not know, they are soft foam balls) as the Khaos (40 round magazine) and surely will not be able to hold a candle next to the Nemesis (100 round hopper). It has but a 30 ball capacity worth, three built-in 10 round capacity (3x10 balls) magazines, but they cannot be removed or replaced with magazines sold separately. I suppose that if you need to shoot more than 30 rounds, you are probably too far from your opponent or just blindly shooting preemptive shots. The shots are harder to aim than say, an Apollo, but you will probably be able to overpower someone using an Apollo in ammo capacity and Balls Per Second (BPS; no, not Basis Point or Bits/Bytes per second). This blaster seems kind of like the Rival version of the Elite Rampage dart blaster and the Mega Rotofury with it's front grip priming handle. It has 4 rotating barrels that take turns firing rounds. Apparently, the other three barrels gather rounds to be fired in a counter-clockwise rotation (clockwise from your opponent's point of view), firing when the barrels reach the bottom position. There is a mini tactical rail on the top front of the blaster. This is a Rival rail, which is not compatible with Picatinny rail accessories (and not truly compatible with Nerf dart blaster accessories, but it is possible to attach the Nerf accessories pretty solidly). You can put a Rival Red Dot Sight if you have one, although in my opinion it does look kind of goofy with it on. You may look like you are holding a robot dog. Anyway, the ergonomics feels meaty up-front with the big priming handle that feels nice an solid, but the main pistol grip is uncomfortable to me. As in the case with the Rival Atlas, my middle finger does not agree with the bump at the top of the pistol grip. While this is not a deal-breaker, I am willing to bet that it could get rather annoying if you focus on it during use. It is slightly quieter than the Atlas, but it does make that ratcheting noise that the other Rival springer blasters have when they are primed. Naturally, it has a safety lock in a easy-to-access location (above the trigger) to prevent accidental shooting. There is a lock-release lever connected to an internal locking mechanism in event that it accidentally activates when it is not supposed to; in theory, freezing up your blaster, so having access to it would be easier than having to unscrew everything and open up the blaster to fix it. There are 2 uncommonly shaped sling-mount attachment points in back of the blaster. One on the rear bottom of the handle, and bottom of the rear of the blaster. There is a loading/reloading-Access door that is easy to slide to the back of the blaster, which gently clicks into (and out of) place and holds the magazine springs back to make reloading easier to do on-the-fly. This means that picking up ammo off of the ground and putting it back into the blaster when running-and-gunning would be an ideal style to use with this blaster in particular. In conclusion, the Artemis adds a factor to the Rival line that has been missing thus far, in the ability to resource spent ammo faster and shoot off a decent volley of shots in quick succession without having to stop to reload another magazine. It may look odd to some, but it will be welcomed to most Nerfers who prefer to run, gun, and scavenge their way to victory.
