The word proprietary always seems to be commonly associated negatively, let's talk about it for the case of the Challenger Mk3

Proprietary Magazine of the QWK Challenger MK3

Let’s talk about one of the more controversial aspects of the Challenger MK3, the proprietary magazine. It is a slanted half-length dart magazine, and it is designed to be fitted within the pistol grip; the most similar blaster that I have right now is the Worker Phoenix. So we will use the Phoenix for direct comparison. 


So let’s address the question right off the bat, WHY?

  1. The magazine has a very different and unique lip design to work with the mechanical pusher/breech system of the blaster. This is to allow the darts to sit at the correct angle for the system to feed the darts from the magazine into the barrel correctly.


  1. Magnet embedded within the magazine’s follower to allow the activation of bolt lock upon empty magazine feature with the PRO version.


  1. Slimmer and better dimension design of the magazine allows the Challenger MK3’s pistol grip to be slimmer and more ergonomic. Better mag catch/release placement.


That should answer the WHY questions. Now let’s discuss. I am very sure that QWK designed the blaster first before the magazine. Once they got the blaster overall design figured out, only then the magazine is designed to fit the blaster’s grip profile. Hence, it is not compatible with the Worker Slanted/straight Talon mag.


Did QWK do this for a good reason? Or they are just trying to milk a couple more bucks for each proprietary magazine sold? In my opinion, probably a mix of both, extra profits are always a plus after all.

Anyway, there is very little reason why QWK will want to design a whole new blaster that has an internal that is not found in any other mass production nerf blaster that is designed to fire half-length darts around the Worker Talon mag. QWK calls it Challenger because it is a challenge to the norm of the Nerf blaster that we’ve seen for years. Most if not all mass production level battery powered blasters are Flywheelers with simpler design and much cheaper to produce. So it makes complete sense why QWK did this and for the most part, it is indeed for good reasons. Check out the tape measurement of the grips of QWK Challenger MK3, Worker Phoenix and the Gecko and see the difference for yourself.

You may say “Ok what about the Stampede?” Yeah about that...Well we all knew what happened to the Stampede. Lol


Now imagine if Worker is making their own AEG blaster that is NOT compatible with their own Worker Talons…That blaster will probably be boycotted. UNLESS they made a revolutionary design that calls for a whole new magazine design that offers way better advantages than the existing Worker Talons. Though if Worker does have an AEG blaster coming up, the magazine placement should be designed in front of the grip like most typical magfed blaster to continue utilizing the Talon mag, after all the Talon mag was not originally designed to be a pistol grip magazine like the Challenger. But that’s another story to tell.


I can totally understand why this is very off putting for many that have already heavily invested with the excellent Worker Talon mags and will want to give this Challenger MK3 a pass. But do remember that innovations often require sacrifices of the existing design/tech. They probably could design the Challenger around the Worker Talon if they really wanted to, but that would not fit their “Challenger” philosophy, would it now?


A rough side by side comparison of the QWK Challenger MK3 vs Worker Phoenix



Tape measurement of the Worker Phoenix's grip: 16.5CM



Tape measurement of the 3D printed Gecko's grip: 16.4CM



Tape measurement of the Challenger MK3's grip: 14.5CM
That's about 2CM lesser than the Phoenix/Gecko that uses Worker Slanted Talon.


So how does the 2CM translates into actually wrapping my fingers around the grips?


Worker Phoenix: My fingers can barely reach the other side of the grip panel. It feels as if I am holding a wide wooden stick instead of a pistol grip.



Challenger MK3: I can comfortably wrap my fingers around the grip, it feels very natural and familiar.



Better mag catch/release button placement that is more natural and similar to the modern pistol design.



Magnet embedded into the mag's follower for the Challenger MK3 bolt lock activation mechanism.



Challenger MK3's Dart gate designed to mate with the Mag's lip.



Worker Slanted Talon vs QWK Challenger MK3 mag. Notice how the darts' seating angle is very different from each other.

This is probably the primary reason why QWK needed their own magazine design to work with the system.