The new 2023 Mission Spring Launch brought us a great new range of darts including two new player darts including "The Punisher" Shaun McDonald's darts.
As a side story, I personally played and met Shaun at the 2022 WDF British Classic (I lost 3-0 unsurprisingly) but later in the day, Shaun asked me to score one of his games and knowing he used to use the same darts as me, I was intrigued by what darts he was using. They were a prototype of these new Mission darts and I couldn't wait to get my hands on a set when released.
Shaun used to use the Red Dragon Dragonfly 3, a 95% straight barrel, sub-50mm in length, and that design has inspired the shape and feel of these new Mission Darts.
Product Information
23g Steel Tip - 95% Tungsten (Also available in 21g & 25g Steel Tip and not available in soft tip)
Length: 48.5mm
Width: 6.45mm
Supplied with short Mission Sabre Shafts and No2 Shaun McDonald player flights.
Price (As of 04/05/2023): £49.95
Grip & Balance
Mission Darts themselves rate the grip a 6.5/10 which at first I didn't agree with, straight out of the box the darts feel sharp and pretty grippy however after an hour or so worth of play the sharpness does wear off, leaving a still good level of grip, slightly above the mid-level in terms of a grip rating. This is mostly down to the wide squared cuts that feature across the barrel, with square cuts often being slightly grippier than radial grooves.
The darts are center balanced however have a slight front bias due to them being slightly shorter in length. As with all darts the balance goes further back the longer the stem and bigger the flight that is attached. I personally use an intermediate length setup and these darts sit up nicely for me personally at about a 30 degree angle perpendicular from the floor.
Dart Performance
For me personally, these darts have become my new match darts. Now this isn't surprising as they're effectively a grippier version of my own custom darts which I have said I need a second version of for a while. The grip allows for a lighter hold on the dart meaning I can guide them to the board and use my fingers and wrist to propel the dart to the board without over use of my arm or shoulder (the key to any technique.)
Even with a longer setup they tend to stand up slightly in the board due to the short length as mentioned before and because of the black coating, if the dart sits around the treble, it can almost look hidden which some players do prefer.
Summary
It's a slight twist on the classic ring grip style and I would say if you're a fan of a classic ring grip dart but perhaps want something a bit classier looking with the silver recut radial grooves and smooth band as well as a bit of added grip that isn't unfamiliar, you can't go wrong with these.
For the price of £50 I think these darts represent great value in the current market, although technically they are not over complicated in the machining process they really do look great and black coatings with silver recuts always look classy.
One thing I will say is due to the nature of the cuts being wide and square, there is a lot of room for darts to collide between grooves and a lot of chips can occur on the coatings but that is expected as with all darts that are coated.
The darts can be purchased from DartsCorner here. Thank you to Mission Darts for sending these darts to review!
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