[neondog]

It is much more difficult to figure out variations in your shooting technique if your darts are not uniform. Getting five darts that are straight is not too hard and getting five that are all about the same weight is also fairly easy with a cheap digital scale. Probably the most difficult thing to match up is the cone diameter.

I have bought hundreds of forty caliber darts and thousands of fifty caliber darts as well as dozens of many other types and sizes of darts and I've never gotten a batch that didn't have easily detectable variations in cone diameters. That's the main reason that I buy my competition darts in large numbers so I can sort them into groups of nearly equal properties.

The best way I've found to sort darts according to their cone size is a "drop test." If you want darts that fit the bore tight enough that they won't fall out when aiming down, this won't work. If you prefer darts that are a close fit you can judge how closely they fit by holding the blowgun vertically and, while blocking the bottom end of the barrel with your finger, drop the dart cone end first into the top and count how many seconds it takes for enough air to pass between the cone and the bore to allow the dart to reach the bottom.

Works for me.

 

[NaturalFork]

Uniform cones are certainly a dilemma for me as well. For most of my shooting I use fabricated target darts simply because I cannot make cones as uniform. I also buy in bulk. I have not tried the drop test though. . .. great info.

 

[neondog]

Here is a short video showing the way I test for bent shafts and cone wobble.

 

[NightKnight]

Good post! I would think that one of the manufacturers would try to find a way to make near perfect cones.

 

[neondog]

Good post! I would think that one of the manufacturers would try to find a way to make near perfect cones.

and I wish one of the big three would try to make a car that you could drive for five years before it sprang a leak but in reality they know we will settle for what they are putting out.

 

[Turtle]

I didn't realize the commercial cones had such an issue with consistent measurements. This isn't a surprise though
as I don't have any commercial stuff, mine is all homemade. The cones I've been making I just do a friction test and
when I cut to fit the bore I give the cone a push through the pipe and can tell just from force required how the seal
will be.
The one thing I've noticed though when it comes to bought pipe, there can be substantial differences in I.D which
would effect trying to use commercial cones in them efficiently.