The most common dart these days is the 80% tungsten dart. This is a great advance on the brass darts and the wooden darts that came before that. The main reason that darts are made of tungsten is that tungsten is a very heavy material and darts can be made much thinner than before by using it (perhaps we'll use platinum next, boy they would be expensive) What this means is that the darts can fit together much more closely in the dart board, giving rise to the greater possibility of higher scores. (which is what we all want , Right! )Tungsten, which means heavy stone in Swedish apparently, is a remarkable metal with the highest melting point of any metal at 3000 degrees C or so. The reason you don't get 100% tungsten darts is because pure tungsten is a very brittle metal and is commonly mixed with nickel to make the dart less brittle and easier to manufacture. 95% tungsten is the highest alloy level so far sold by Bottelsen and are a tad pricey. It is not really worth paying the extra for 95% tungsten darts, if the pros are winning tournaments with 80% darts thats proof enough.When it comes to the grip on the barrel of the dart there are many types to choose from diamond pattern knurled barrel to plain and now the new edge grip. Just get a design you are comfortable with, try out your mates darts to see what suits you.Dart tips come in two styles, a fixed steel tip for use on Bristle dartboards or replaceable soft tips for use on electronic dart boards. More and more darts are coming out with 2BA screw threads on both ends of the barrel so you can put soft tip or steel tip or even the steel tip retractable on the end of the barrel. One point to note here is that usually the maximum weight of dart allowed on electronic dart boards is 20 gram, so if you want your darts to be used on all type of boards, do not go over 20 gms for your dart barrel.Next comes the shaft to hold the flights, it should be light to keep the weight of the dart forward and are made from plastic, aluminium, steel wire or even titanium! The only thing to worry about with the shafts is that they are straight and undamaged so the flights are held in place properly. The latest innovation is spinning shafts, which are designed to rotate out of the way to minimise the deflection of the dart when it hits a flight. This seems a great idea to me, it helps to protect the flight as well.That just leaves the flights, which come in loads of amazing designs and materials. The shapes include the classic "kite" design, which are relatively large to the pear drop and all stages in between. Ensure you use the same style of flight on all 3 darts and keep them spread so that there is a 90 degree angle between the four flight pieces to aid in consistency of your throw. Also use flight protectors, not only do they protect your flight; they will keep the flight at the optimum shape as a bonus.brass ball valve