Red Dragon Crossfire 24 gram Steel Tip Darts
When I first saw these advertised I was really intrigued.
But, I clearly didn’t pay enough attention to both the images and the Peter Wright Super Venoms that are on the display shelf next to my desk.
I was under the impression that the crossfire grip and the grip on the front end of the Supa Venoms was the same, and I’m not usually that careless with detail!
So, there is my confession, sight unseen I got it wrong, Mind you sometimes when you get it wrong you actually get it right (or is it Wright) by mistake.
When the Crossfires arrived I was a bit concerned that the deeply machine grip on the barrel would have a negative effect, or even worse, be distracting.
The darts arrived from Deadeye Darts in the normal Red Dragon (Red and White) Livery.
Sliding the foam tray out of the top of the box was the awakening, I’d never seen a grip this wide, cut this deep in recent time, not that I could recall. That said it was a little bit of a panic response, because I didn’t look properly.
The barrel it the same length as a Peter Wright dart – 54.6mm, and in the case of the 24g version of this dart it’s still only 6.4mm in diameter.
The barrel has an elliptical nose, and at the point where the noses perfectly meet the barrel diameter, the grip pattern begins.
The grip at the front comprises 8 relatively wide and what appears to be deep grooves. In each of the groves a corresponding set of 6 circular points are machine in each band. The front machine work is painted black. The front grip is followed by a plain bare section that carries the Red Dragon Logo and then again runs into another grip section identical to that on the front only coloured Red and comprising only 4 sets of rings.
The Darts are supplied with a set of Red Dragon Crossfire carbon shafts, although surprisingly the length is short (not the usual medium). The flights on this set are Red Dragon Hardcore flights with a predominantly red on black colour scheme the points look longer than normal but actually fall into the normal range, that’s down to the illusion caused by the black points.
So, what are they like to throw? If you’ve thrown any other Peter Wright Dart and you can adapt to the centre of balance then, these are a snap! For that matter if you were looking to swap to a weight these come in I’d recommend you give them a go.
Once you overcome the alien feel of the grip it only takes light finger pressure to be able to guide these around the board. The grip is more a push feature than anything else although I’d still rate the grip as 3.5 out of 5. It’s there but clearly not at all invasive or extreme in any way.
This is another set that I played with endlessly and only improve with the more I played. I have to admit though that every now and again I’d have one wild dart, but I think that’s more a concentration lapse than an issue with the darts.
A great fun set that went without issue straight from the box. 4.0 out of 5.0.