Fourth Lifetime Ton-80

Tonight was a very good night. Not only did I hit a couple of ton-40's, but I hit the fourth Ton 80 I have ever hit. Needless to say I am very happy about it. The pic below is the Ton-80.



This ton-80 occured during a special round of practice in which I was trying to complete ten games of 501 on Dartpro. Why? Well because I was doing a challenge at:

http://mistadouble.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=darts&action=display&thread=1119699142

These are the darts I used for that Ton80 as well as for the first round of the paulwilliams 10 Game Challenge:


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Oops.. A Tad North..

Nice grouping... Too bad I just barely missed the Deadeye! Never in my life have I personally hit a deadeye but I have witnessed it done in practice by another guy. Even during practice sessions where I just practice Bull and never aim at anything else. Hat Tricks are almost common for me, even four counts in the bulls, but never once a six count. Oh well. Perhaps next time I'll aim a bit lower.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Even Weighting: The Fat Pencil

The only difference between the Fat Pencil style and the Skinny Pencil style is the thickness of the barrel. Usually the Fat Pencil darts are brass or nickel-silver, and sometimes the lighter tungstens. The first dart below is a FP 25 Gram Black Edge-grip Greatwhite from Bottelsen and I do not like it. First, the "Edge" gripping is nothing more than running the barrel through a threading machine, as if the barrel were a giant bolt. These Greatwhites are 9/32 inch thickness which is too thick for my tastes. I had a similar set of darts that would more accurately fit into the Skinny Pencil category from Bottelsen, which was a 1/4 inch FP Edge grip Kick-Ass, which was a much better barrel. But the threading on the barrel wears down pretty quickly. Of course, since it is only threading, if you have a tap and die set you could always get the grip back by re-threading it.

The second dart is a MP 24 Gram Powerpoint Dimplex, which I absolutely do not like. However, this could have been a really good dart if they had only made the barrel a bit longer and a tad or two thinner. As it is though, it is almost impossible to find a good shaft and flight combo that works well with the barrel. On the other hand, the collar for the point is the nicest looking collar I have ever seen on a dart and will take up to two o-rings invisibly so the point never comes loose.



More Fat Pencil Style Darts. Now of course when you are making darts from brass or any light material, the barrel is going to end up being thicker. Too thick to qualify as a Skinny Pencil style dart. The two darts below fit this category. The first is an 18 gram brass dart I bought at Fred Meyer's for three dollars. The second, which I like quite a bit, is a FP 17 Gram generic dart that came included in a cheap paper wound dartboard that I bought. I would be surprised if they are worth even a dollar on the open market since they are just the cheapest possible give-away darts they could come up with. However, I like the feel when I throw them and that is what counts. In fact I like them much, much more than the Powerpoints above.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Even Weighting: The Skinny Pencil

I would say that the even weighted dart is hands down the most common barrel style in the darting world. It is in its simplest form an unadorned shaft with a point. Given how little lathe work is required to make such a barrel it does not surprise me that they are so common. The darts below are both Fixed Point. The first is a 28 Gram Laserdarts Blackwidow and the second is a 24 Gram Dart Freak from Mueller Sports.



More Skinny Pencils: Of the three below, only the second is not Fixed Point. The first dart is a 22 Gram Halex Tungsten which was bought at Fred Meyer's. The second is special. It is a highly modifiable dart from Voks from their "Soft-Steel" series, so named because you can switch from soft tips to steel tip, and swap out the insert to achieve a heavier or lighter dart depending on your preference. In the photo below it has the tungsten insert and the steel tip and weighs in at about 18 Grams. The last dart is a 15 Gram Red Dragon Featherlite.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

A Rare 9 Count

Being the B League caliber player that I am, it is rare that I hit the same triple three times in a row. I have only hit three Ton-80s in my darting life. Here you can see that I hit the trip 19 three times in one round during practice one night. Needless to say I was thrilled and whipped out the camera immediately. The only other nine count that I remember hitting (not including any ton-80s) was one night after league. We were at a tavern called the Knarr, the match was done and we were just hanging out shooting more darts. In a game of cricket, I had a less than spectacular first round, and then in my second round, I borrowed my teammates Laserdarts Black Eagles and proceeded to hit Trip 20, Trip 18, Trip 19 in that order. The best part? Witnesses, of course.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Middle Weighting

Middle weighted darts typically have a slight bulge somewhere mid barrel as seen in the darts pictured here. This is my least favorite barrel style due to the weight dynamics of the dart. It is often difficult for me to come up with the optimal shaft and flight combo to match the barrel. I think there is also a lot of gray area in determining what is middle weighted and what is not. Sometimes the widening of the dart occurs close enough to the front that it appears to be a taper, or at least be mostly front tapered, as in the first dart pictured below. Other times the bulge is slight enough that the overall impression of the barrel is that of a Pencil style dart. The Crossfire is a good example of that, as are many soft tip darts. Sometimes the barrel has so much going on that you don't know what to make of it (also exemplified by the Crossfire below).

These darts in the first picture are: (top) 27 gram FP Harrows Axis and (bottom) 25 gram FP Crossfire by (I think) DMI. I found it on the Shooter's Edge site and tracked it down through a different seller for about half price (as I did with the Warrior).



The first dart in the following picture is the architype of the middle weighted barrel. The bulge is non-trivial and the barrels tapers to the front and back almost evenly. This is a nice looking dart and if you find a good shaft and flight combo for it, it feels very good to throw. However, finding a good shaft length and flight size is quite difficult. I have pretty much settled on the short shaft (although this is counter-intuitive) and a standard dimplex flight (which is to be expected). The fantail flights also work quite well on this dart but only with a short shaft. I have also used a long aluminum shaft with good results, but such a stem requires either a standard flight or a spiraline. The top dart in the picture is the 24 gram FP 20/20 from Mueller Sports.

The second dart shown is sold as a soft tip dart that I have converted to steel with the contoured aluminum points you see in the photo. It is a 17 gram Halex Silversoft with a Micro aluminum shaft and spiraline flights. I used to hate this dart until my finger placement moved forward. Now that my forward finger rests on the point of the dart I do better with it.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Forward Weighting: The Bulge

In the end, front loading is front loading. A tapered dart is simply a forward bulge dart whose bulge smoothes into the rest of the barrel evenly. All of the advantages of the taper dart are also true of the forward bulge dart. There is a lump of metal near the front that you wrap your fingers around, providing an excellent and consistent grip, the weight distribution of the dart reduces wobble and allows for a flatter trajectory.

All of the darts pictured below are front loaded, but only two are true front bulge darts. The first is a 23 gram Fixed Point Warrior from, I think, DMI. I saw them first on the Shooter's Edge website and tracked them down from there. These are some of my favorite darts. They are very unique in that the stem is mostly incorporated into the barrel, and you just use the tips of the spinster shafts, which push fit into the end of the barrel. These darts would be considered tapers if it weren't for the depression mid barrel. There are very very nice darts.

The second, as you can tell, is not a true front bulge dart but it is front loaded by virtue of having a tungsten front on a mostly brass barrel. This is one front weighted dart that requires some attention to always have the same grip since you are relying on knurling to hold the barrel. These are 21 gram FP Harrows Rhinos. They are not my favorite dart by any stretch. They are too light for my taste and the barrel is a tad thick. After my first season in Seattle my team had done poorly and so we were invited to a "tournament of losers." These darts were third prize. I came in fourth, but the first place winner, a friend of mine, opted not to take a prize.

The third set is a set of true blue forward bulge darts in the classic style. This is a very reliable set of darts due to the bulge being the perfect size and shape for wrapping my three fingers around it. This ensures I have a consistant grip everytime. These are 24 gram FP Smooth Laserdart KC's.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Forward Weighting: The Taper

Even though tapered darts are by far my favorite barrel style, I only have two sets. The first is 28 gram Smooth Black Bottelsen GTs. The second is 24 gram Smooth High Tek Bombs. There are elements of each dart that are very good and elements from each that I do not like. I'd prefer fixed points on the GTs and from time to time I put conversion points on them but that destroys the esthetic. The coating comes off very easily and the forward portion had rubbed off within a few weeks of having them and now, after almost three years, the coating is faint and almost entirely gone. The sstems are improved now that they offer the screw in variety, but before they were attrocious. Horrible push in jobs that wobbled and shook loose after every other throw. I will not be buying any more GT's as I have just heard from them that they have no plans to make a fixed point version. Nonetheless, until I can have a special set custom made by some lathe jockey, this is my favorite set of darts.

The Bombs are nice darts. I paid about 85 dollars for the Bottelsen GTs, and about 18 dollars for the Bombs, and they are nearly the same dart. The Bomb is fixed point which is better, but the GT's have a more salient taper which is a the key ingredient, thus giving them the edge. The Bombs suffer in this regard because they can only taper down to a certain width since they need a 2ba stem. The GT's have a very narrow threaded opening for their proprietary stems, which are more expensive and harder to get. The Bombs have the advantage in this regard because you can get 2ba stems anywhere and in a variety of lengths ans styles. The Bombs are 24g which is a better weight, but the GT's have such a superb weight distribution that the extra gramage is not noticed.

One nice feature of the tapered dart is that you grip it around the front most portion, where the taper begins. Making for a very solid no-slip grip. Thus no knurling or rings nor any other gripping texture is necessary.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

The Art of the Barrel

As the first real request I have gotten for blog content was regarding barrels, I decided to do a series of blog entries discussing various barrel styles and what I like and don't like about them. As you can see from the photo below, I personally own a variety of weights and shapes of barrels. My weights range from 28 to 15 grams and I use both fixed and moving points. My darts can be divided into three weight distribution styles: Forward Weighted, Middle Weighted, and Even Weighted. The forward weighted darts are either Tapered or Forward Bulged, my middle weighted darts all have a slight bulge somewhere mid barrel, and the even weighted darts are either Thin Pencil or Fat Pencil. Future posts will take a closer look at the individual styles so I won't go into detail here.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Requests Welcome

I received a number of requests lately for specific pics, etc. on the blog, so I figured I'd open it up for everyone. Any requests out there?

Mix 'n' Matchin'

Well as it happens one of the best qualities of the modern dart is that it exists in parts. It can be broken down into its constituents and this offers the opportunity to build a great variety of dart styles from just a few pieces. One of my favorite things to do with my collection is to mix and match the barrels points stems and flights. I am always coming up with unique and interesting sets this way. Such as the set below. This sets flies well and enters the board almost exactly perpendicular to the floor. It is a surprisingly accurate combo. Here is the breakdown:

points: alloy contour steel points
barrels: Halex 17g Nickel Silversoft
Shafts: black aluminum micro
Flights: Spiraline Spike



As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Homemade Flight

My buddy made this flight based on some characters related to work. He did a fantastic job but it was labor intensive for sure. Each side of the flight has a different character on it with a different colored background. I am currently looking for GOOD flight making software/methods.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Today's Selection

25 gram Crossfires, short aluminum shaft, standard dimplex flights. These are some of my more unique darts. The first time my buddy saw them he said, "Ah. Sputnik."


15 gram Red Dragons Featherlites, medium Spiraline shafts, Spiraline flights. My lightest steel tip set. Fixed point. I have never even seen lighter steel tip darts on the internet.


21 gram Harrows Rhinos, short nylon shafts, standard flights. I won these in a consolation tournament after an unsuccessful league season. They have tungsten front loading but it is a brass dart.

As always, click the image for a larger picture.

What I Throw

24 gram smooth fixed point Laserdarts KC's, nylon shafts and standard Amazon flights.


24 gram smooth fixed point High-Tek Bombs, nylon shafts and Spiraline flights.


28 gram smooth Hammerhead GT3's, with fixed point conversion tips, "new" GT shafts, and standard Unicorn flights.

As always, click the image for a larger picture.

A Nasty Collision

As you can see from the photo below, this is one of the nastiest dart collisions I have seen in terms of damage to a flight. I have Robin Hooded shafts many times, banged up the outer edges of flights, even knocked a few flights off, but I have never seen a plastic flight rip almost all the way through to the point where it is almost severed, and hanging on by a thread. Makes for a good visual.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

GT's Climbing the Ranks

Haven't posted in a while so when I hit this trick, I figured I'd better make a post out of it. I have been using my GT's lately now that I have some nice new conversion points on them. I am getting used to the heavier weight (28 grams) again and I am hitting my marks more often. I have in the last few months ranked my three favorite sets of darts in order:

1. 24g smooth Laserdart KC's
2. 24g smooth Hi-Tek Bombs
3. 28g smooth Bottelsen GT's

But the GT's are climbing again and becoming my prefered dart (as long as I have a fixed point on them).


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Going Ringless

I have decided to take the number ring off my dart board. I have been throwing like this for a couple of weeks now. I like it a great deal, and I was surprised a bit that it didn't slow me down too much. I have long "known" where each number was on the board, but this is the first time where I have needed to know "without looking." The board is more pleasing to the eye this way and I can rotate it between throws (if I wanted to) with no hassle.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

Fancy Conversion Points

If you don't like moving points all that much, and think most conversion points are ugly, then try these points on your darts. They are some kind of alloy and they are hard to get on the darts since they have no hole in the base of them, nor do they have key slots. Nice looking points though. Because of that sudden widening half way up the point it seems like these points would do a lot of damage to a bristle board over time.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

3rd: Ton80 with KC's

I hit a Ton80 tonight so I thought I'd celebrate with a blog entry. The darts:

barrels: 24 gram smooth fixed point Laserdart KC's
shafts: short black nylon with stem rings
flights: standard Unicorn


As always, click the image for a larger picture.

A Christmas Recommendation

Quick Coffee Blog: Coffee Blog? You figure it out. It's Saturday morning here. Are you thinking about buying some expensive darts for someone for Christmas? Here is my recommendation in the "80 dollars or more" range:

These are the 28 gram Smooth Black Hammerhead GT's that I'd mentioned a few posts back. I said then that I wish I'd never bought them, but I'd now like to soften that up a bit with: "I wish I'd waited to buy them." Waited for what? Read on to find out.

This was one of the first sets of darts I ever bought with hard earned cash that couldn't be picked up at Fred Meyer's for less than 20 bucks. My first major darts purchase. So I didn't know then what I know now. And that is: I prefer fixed point over movable point (but I do throw MP from time to time), and 28 grams is too heavy for me, I need something between 22 and 24 grams to throw consistently and comfortably.

I also wish I'd waited until some of the features of the GT's had been ironed out, and some of them still aren't. One they have improved is the threading in the base of the barrel where you screw in the shaft. I bought them, fortunately, during the first year that they started threading the inside of the barrel. Unfortunately they still weren't threading deeply enough. I guess they'd determined they'd like to have a screw on shaft at some point and were experimenting. Model's earlier than mine were smooth inside and you just shoved in a little rubber gasket that held the shaft on. Later, when they finally released the screw on shaft, I bought a set (they are pictured below) but the tinly little screw that you have to screw into the back of the darts was too long, and I had to have a friend take a grinder to it so it would fit in my darts. otherwise there was a small gap between the shaft and the barrel and it was unsightly.

Another aspect of the GT's is that they are MP only. And if you like movable point darts then these are EXTREMELY good darts for you to purchase and worth every penny because they have many good features. But for my money, I will not purchase another set of them until they release a fixed point version. Afterall, I am patient, I have plenty of other darts to throw in the meantime, and it isn't as if Bottelsen is morally opposed to the FP. They have other lines which are fixed point. So I am confident they will do the right thing and make a fixed version of the GT's some day. This begs the question: why don't you just put a set of conversion points on them? I have tried that, but then the darts just look goofy and that goes against my darting aesthetics.

[NOTE: re-reading this over a year later I laugh at my predictions. Since I have written this I have bought three (yes, three!!) additional sets of GT's in various weights. That is how good of a dart they are.]

Another thing they need to improve is the coating they put on the "black" GT's. It wears off almost immediately. Look at my darts below and you can see what I mean. Laserdarts does something similar with their Black Widows and their system seems to be better. I throw my widows all the time and the coating has not worn off yet. So this is another feature Bottelsen needs to improve.

So what do I like about the GT's? Many things. On the whole they are extremely well made darts in terms of throwing. They have a nearly perfect taper, which is by far the best taper in the business. This makes for a very good front loading of the dart. And front loaded darts have the tendency to correct for sloppy mechanics, or flawed mechanics to some degree because the majority of the dart follows that mass of weight in the front of the barrel. A thin, straight barrel does not sport this advantage (but they have different advantages). Also note that heavily tapered darts such as the GT encourages a gripping style in which the middle finger is placed on the point of the dart, just in front of the thickest part of the barrel. This means that you are grabbing the dart around its center of gravity. This is why there is no need for knurling, rings, grooves or any of that other gripping texture common to other barrel types.

So in short, I recommend these to throwers who appreciate movable points who also like front loaded or tapered barrels, an absence of gripping texture, a smooth throw, and excellent styling. Buy whatever you buy your darting friend for Christmas, good luck and happy holidays!

Zeeple.


As always, click the image for a larger picture.