Board Thread:General Nerf discussion/@comment-27306930-20191010025505

The first half of my MK-1 arrived today. It was a brick of darts containing 120 full length and 120 half length Pro-Series darts. I've watched a couple online reviews and they all kinda breezed over one of the most exciting new developments: Dart Zone has introduced a brand new type of dart !

A few years back we were seeing new dart types popping up every couple weeks. But since AccuStrikes came out, it's been really quiet. So it's awesome to see a truly "new" dart design again. YIPPEE !

Amazingly there are almost no hi-res photos of the new darts - so here you go. The full length darts have four integral rings, and the half lengths have one ring at the front and one at the back. Drac called them "knurling", which is clearly not the case. But effectively it creates a series of integral O-rings that make better contact with the barrel and reduce friction. Presumably. According to Luke at OutOfDarts they are "very accurate". I'm gonna find out myself in a day or two 😊

You also might have notice something else - the heads have slots. Big ones. As I discussed in the Aerodynamics vs. Ballistics thread, holes and slots themselves don't affect accuracy. It's all the other aerodynamic and ballistic properties (mainly shape and weight distribution) that actually determine a dart's performance. And now we have a very accurate dart with multiple large slots to prove it.

The only drawback I see with these new Pro-Series darts is their potential compatibility with flywheel blasters. Due to the nature of how flywheels grab darts, I see a potential these new darts might not work well in many flywheel blasters. I also suspect they could get easily chewed up, especially by flywheels with higher crush or more aggressive rims. I'll volunteer to sacrifice one or two in the name of science 😉  So stay tuned ... 