Front, Centre or Rear weighted darts?

Most novice or beginner dart players wouldn’t know what I am talking about when I say, front, centre or rear weighted. Those a little more serious or experienced in the sport of darts will know exactly what I am on about, how your dart barrel is balanced.

So why would you even care how its balanced? You have tungsten darts, they have 90% plus tungsten so are the best quality you can buy. They’re shaped perfectly to how you hold and throw the dart, so who cares about how it is balanced?

Let’s go back a little to explain why it is important to know whether your darts are front, centre or rear weighted.

Now remember the balance is typically only set up or manufactured in top quality darts. So we are mainly talking about Tungsten darts. Nearly all steel or even at the lower end brass darts are only centre weighted as they are sold to the mass market such as the beginner, home/garage only user or those just starting out in the sport of darts.

Nearly all tungsten darts, no matter what percentage tungsten, whether it be 70% or right up to 97% tungsten will have a balance that will be either front, centre or rear weighted. If the sales pitch does not say, it will be centre weighted, this being the most favoured or common amongst the darting world.

So again, why is it important? Remember that darts are manufactured to suit your type or style of throw, not the other way around. You don’t buy a dart you like the look of in your favourite or preferred weight and change the way you throw your darts to suit the barrel. No, it’s the other way around.

Dart barrels are manufactured to provide a centre of gravity or balance point as some call it either at the front, centre of rear of the barrel. This balance point is typically where the thrower would hold and release the dart to ensure the dart will fly and land with the least wobble and most accuracy.

Most players hold or grip the barrel before throwing in the centre of the barrel, hence centre weighted darts are the most common. But some prefer to hold the barrel toward the front of the barrel and some, although the least common hold the dart at the rear end of the barrel, towards the stem or shaft of the darts setup.

If I was to make a guess from all dart players, I would put around 35% of all players prefer front weighted barrels, 60% centre and just 5% rear weighted dart throwers, just to give you an idea. But that’s purely a guess from being around darts and dart players for 40 odd years.

Now let’s make one statement here. NO throw or holding of the barrel is right or wrong, it’s just a personal preference. It’s what makes all dart players unique in their own way.

So let’s look at the different balances. Front weighted darts are typically bomber or teardrop shaped which will see the widest part of the barrel at the pointy end. Datadart Easy Fighters and Neo Bomb’s by Showtime Darts are typical examples of front loaded or front weighted darts.

The Centre weighted dart used to be just the straight, typically fully ringed barrel like Unicorn’s Core XL Striker – Ringed dart. But throughout the years and as technology has improved, the ringed dart has had knurls, scallops and plenty more introduced into the barrels. The Simon Whitlock Special Edition by Winmau is a classic example of this. If this barrel was stood upright it looks like the Auckland Sky Tower it has so many variations on it. But it too is a centre weighted barrel.

Then there’s the Rear weighted barrel. Just like the front weighted, it should be pretty clear it is a rear weighted dart by the width of the barrel which will be the widest near or towards the stem. Shot Darts do a nice rear weighted dart called the Viking Drakkar which is a very good example of a rear weighted dart. I saw a young lady throw a set of rear weighted darts at the Papakura RSA a few weeks back and she had certainly mastered the art of throwing a rear weighted dart.

So the next time you look to buy a new set of darts, have picked out your preferred weight, tungsten content, design, colour and style of barrel. Make sure of its balance to ensure it fits your type of throw perfectly.

You can check out any of these darts at www.bullseyedarts.co.nz New Zealand’s largest online only darts store with over 550 darts and plenty more to choose from.

Straight Arrows everyone.

Paul Webber

Owner – Bullseye Darts