How To Repoint Your Darts

The reasons for repointing your darts vary. I sat back and contemplated this for a long time before I actually took a leap of faith.

There was a trend that lent itself toward styling the individual setup, points, barrels, shafts and flights to develop a ‘look’ or Style.

Why repoint darts?

My main reason for repointing is more practical. The point actually is integral in the way I hold the dart. Smooth points sometimes cause my finger to slip resulting in a miss-throw. The result is that I use grip points. I have my favourite points, I’ll cover that later.

Rather than put a warning at the end of the article its right here at the front.

Warning! - Standard dart points can vary greatly in diameter to where they are either way too small and they fall into the dart or way too large where they just won’t go into a dart barrel and might even fracture the barrel if forced in

The best advices I can give is be careful, be vigilant and always keep a tube of Super Glue or Loctite handy.

I have always stayed with mainstream brand points but even the best-known brands are very skittish when supporting the products they sell.

Tools needed for repointing

So let’s start with what tools do I need?

These repointing tools are sold by Deadeye Darts –

Mission R-Point Expert

Deadeye Repointing Tool

Harrows Easy Darts Repointing Tool

Winmau Craftsman Re Pointing System

There are others available, some are very expensive and others are just not something I would recommend. I personally own a Mission R-Point and a Deadeye Repointing tool. If I had to recommend a tool it would be either of these two.

I have used the Winmau Craftsman Re-Pointing System and found it to be cumbersome, heavy and overly complicated. Both the Deadeye Tool and the Mission Tool are quick, simple and accurate in operation.

It’s always good to have a ruler and a fine marker pen close by so that you can note point lengths when you extract the old points, ensuring the results are uniform, being from an engineering background I have Vernier callipers at hand as well, nice to have, but not a must.

As I said earlier point diameters can vary a great deal, and there appears to be no real standard size. The variation between brands can be 0.047mm from the smallest to the largest; the average point diameter is 2.350mm.

Clearly the best rule of thumb is to use the same brand of point that matches your dart. But that doesn’t always meet expectations. For a long time my favourite point was the 38mm Target Diamond Pro Point (now discontinued by Target). I never had any issue with their fitment until I tried to put a set in a Winmau dart. This only ever happened to me once in all the years I’ve done this. The difference between the old point and the new point was 0.07mm (a human hair is 0.017mm thick) but it may as well have been a metre the only way to solve the issue was with Super Glue. I currently favour the Shot! Kyle Anderson Cinder Grip as my best all-rounder, I’ve never had an issue with them.

It’s really not a difficult process to repoint your darts.

Steps to repoint your darts

Simply follow these basic, common-sense steps.

1. i) Mount the 1^st dart barrel on the mounting spindle and clamp the point in the clamp saddle with the barrel nose touching the fixed part of the saddle.
2. ii) With the clamp secured, extract the point by winding the main spindle anti clockwise. Once the barrel is clear of the point measure the length of the point that is clear of the saddle and make a note. Remove the old point from the saddle. Repeat this process for each barrel.
3. iii) Refer to the length of point that you recorded in step ii. Mount the bare barrel on the mounting spindle, and insert one of the NEW points into the clamping saddle, using a ruler mount the new point with the same portion extending beyond the saddle. Clamp the point firmly in place and double check the correct amount of point extends past the saddle.
4. iv) Gently screw the main Spindle clockwise do the dart barrel is pushed centrally on to the point, you may need to guide the barrel and press it all the way on.
5. v) The pressing process may offer a light resistance or it may just go on without any resistance at all. When the barrel is firmly up against the saddle stop turning, release the saddle clamp and unscrew the main spindle until the point of the dart is now clear of the saddle.
6. vi) Remove the dart and gripping the point n one hand and the barrel in the other try to pull the two pieces apart.

The minimal interference fit is such that you will not be able to separate the two pieces by hand. If the pieces separate you may need to Clean the point and apply a small amount of Superglue to the point and repeat the insertion then allow it to dry.

There are so many options as far as points go, so many cool and not so cool names, Raptor points, Shark points, Fire points, Firestorm, Fire Edge, Ghost Point, Lance, Sabre and Apex points the list goes on. If you have any kind of handy ability, you can likely use a repointing tool. Whether like me, it’s a grip thing or whether you just want your darts to look cool or show your individuality it’s worth the effort. Or check our my guide on the best darts.

A final word, there are so many variations in length 32, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42mm and even longer Silver, Gold, Black & Rainbow with Rings, Ribs, Diamonds and other patterns and styles there is no lack of choice and one you start. You’ll be hooked!