Hammer Head Darts

All of the Black Rhino darts are here under one listing, so I’m going to list and evaluate each of their packages together below. I’ve purchased and tested all of these, and for even more detail look up the “.625 Cold Steel & Slock Master Big Bore Blowguns Total Review”. Black Rhino has really done a great service to the blowgunning community by creating a .625 dart cone that will fit the long-standard .40 and .50 caliber dart shafts (all of these dart shafts are essentially the same .40 and .50 caliber darts that you’ve been shooting for decades). This practically doubles the number of darts available to .625 caliber blowgunners! This is truly a great innovation that deserves crediting, even if not all of the darts are practical. Below is each package, what it contains, ballistic stats for every dart, and my evaluation.Note that NONE of these darts are hunting darts! For hunting make sure you buy one of the many razor tipped broadhead darts that are available elsewhere instead.Note that not all of these dart packages are always available.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.625 Target Wire Darts Mix Colors.625 Target Wire Darts Neon.625 Target Darts Neon with QuiverAll of these packages include the Needle Point Dart and are functionally identical, except for dart cone color or inclusion of a quiver:* Needle Point Dart *Weight: 21 grainsVelocity: 158 fpsRating: Highly recommended!Description: Finally, there is a .625 target dart that won’t destroy its companions if it accidentally hits another dart! This is an excellent lightweight target dart, and for shooters who have difficulty blowing a “Big Bore” blowgun are easy to shoot. This is one of the best darts in this entire collection, as well as one of the fastest .625 darts available. If you buy any of these darts, make it this one or the Wood Dart.Note: One negative is that some of these dart cones are off-center. Perform a "roll test" and cull any dart cones that wobble. Search the "Blowgun Accuracy" video for details on how to do this.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------* Wood Dart (8”) *Weight: 24 grainsVelocity: 155 fpsRating: Highly recommended!Description: This is the other really good Black Rhino dart. It is made of white pine instead of bamboo and the shafts are arrow straight with no curve to them, making them superior to every other brand of .625 bamboo wood dart available. These are nice fast target darts, and great for all-around plinking. If you want a shorter and even faster dart, you can cut these down to resemble the 5” Wood Dart that comes in the Sriker Dart Package further below.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.625 Light Needle Point Dart Package, includes:* Needle Point Dart * (see description above)* Spear Tip Needle Dart *Weight: 23 grainsVelocity: 156 fps*Rating: Acceptable.Description: This dart is almost identical to the Needle Point Dart but has a slightly flared spear point. It shoots almost as fast and well as that dart, but the flared point means that it will tear up target backings faster. Do not let the spear point fool you into thinking that this dart is suitable for hunting; it is too small.* Broadhead Tip Dart *Weight: 23 grainsVelocity: 156 fps*Rating: NOT recommended.Description: Don’t let the name fool you. This is not a hunting dart. The plastic broadhead is not big enough, sharp enough, or has enough penetration for humane hunting. It has no practical value and will tear up target backings rapidly, in addition to being very difficult to remove from the target.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.625 Sriker Dart Package, includes:* Wood Dart (5”) *Weight: 18 grainsVelocity: 164 fpsRating: Highly recommended!Description: This is the best dart in this package. I actually recommend that you buy the 8” Wood Dart instead (above) and cut those shorter if you want a faster and shorter dart. Like that dart, these white pine wood shafts are straighter and less likely to have a curve to them than ANY of the other .625 wood darts, which are all bamboo darts. These and the 8” Wood Dart are the best wood darts available for the Big Bore blowguns, period. They make reasonably good target darts, and great all-around plinking darts.* Stunner Screw Dart *Weight: 19 grainsVelocity: 150 fpsRating: Acceptable.Description: This dart does not provide any more impact than the .40 and .50 caliber darts it originates from. Buy this one only if you have a hard time shooting the other heavier .625 caliber stun darts. This one had an unusually low velocity for its light weight, and I think that it is so short that it sits crooked in the blowgun barrel, allowing air to blow past the dart skirt until the dart starts moving and straightens itself out.* Stinger Dart *Weight: 27 grainsVelocity: 152 fps*Rating: NOT recommended.Description: This short little dart is fast and looks like fun, but really has not much practical value. It will bury itself to the cone (or pop off the cone) in any target backing, or be very hard to remove from a wood board target. Stick with the standard Cold Steel Mini Broadhead dart instead. The only other use that might be fun is shooting through aluminum cans, though again the Mini Brodhead will do that much more satisfactorily.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------* Hammer Head Dart *Weight: 51 grainsVelocity: 132 fps*Rating: NOT recommended.Description: This short dart suffers from exactly the same shortcomings as the Stinger Dart (above). It will bury itself in the target backing, either up to the cone or actually popping the cone off as it passes through. In a wood board backing, it will bury itself hard enough to be very difficult to remove. Do not let the small broadhead tip fool you into thinking that this is a suitable hunting dart; the broadhead is just too small. These might be fun for shooting through aluminum cans, but otherwise they have no real practical value. The longtime standard Cold Steel Mini Broadhead is only slightly heavier and slower than this dart—buy those instead.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------* Target Mini Broadhead Dart *Weight: 79 grainsVelocity: 119 fpsRating: NOT recommended.Description: I really, really liked these darts when I tested them . . . for about three days! Then I noticed that even indoors and in the air conditioning, they were rusting. This is a great dart design with more weight and impact than the standard Cold Steel Mini Broadhead, but cheap steel makes these a fail. Stick with the original tried-and-true Cold Steel Mini Broadhead or the Slock Master Rat Dart instead. I hope that Black Rhino will upgrade the steel to fix this serious issue in this otherwise great dart.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Velocities reported from The Blowgun Channel. *Some velocities are back-calculated.

These darts are excellent for punching paper with a .625 bore blowgun including the Cold Steel Big Bore blow gun. Cold Steel might have intended for the bamboo darts to be used for paper punching or the mini broadheads with their pipes, the problem is bamboo skewers are a natural product and aren't a consistent weight nor are they perfectly straight. Additionally the Cold Steel mini-broadhead darts tend to tear up the back stops. These darts solve the problems with the Cold Steel darts with their construction. They are both straight, a consistent weight and lack any sort of barb. Are they perfect? No. They can be a little loose in the bore of some Cold Steel Blowguns. There is at least one review on here of these darts stating they were too loose. I found them acceptable on bore tightness not quite as good as Cold Steel darts, but they were usable and generating enough kinetic energy to stick into my backstop. These aren't hunting darts and I wasn't anticipating them to blow deep into the backstop just to stick in enough so I can work on my fundamentals of aiming.

Darts wouldn’t fit in the casings but they investigated apologized and sent new ones free of charge. They are a good company just made a mistake.

These darts have a softer, lighter cone material than the Cold Steel darts. They can take several hits to the cones without cracking and splitting. Their ability to take several cone hits and lighter weight makes them perfect for shooting targets. While the competition's cones often split or crack with a single hit, these keep right on working. The needle tip is far less destructive to foam targets than broad head types so even your targets last longer. These are obviously not hunting darts. They are purpose built for target shooting at which they excel. These are the lightest commercially available .625 darts. They are easier to shoot at a higher velocity than others. They are also less expensive than other .625 caliber darts. Save your expensive hunting darts for hunting. Use these for practice. I'll certainly be buying more.

These shorter darts are a lot of fun, and are easier to remove my wooden targets. One thing I like a lot about the shorter darts, is they are stout and very strong and won’t bend like the other long thin darts.

Very sharp. Good flight.

good quality blow gun dart but wire is really small, amost that of a 50 caliber or even 40 caliber- assume it would be larger like they use to be-- usable but not as good on rattle snakes--take two or three do make them good snakes-

That oiled feather they put on these absolutely helps these darts! A bit longer and weightier than the big bore builders, these drove exactly 1/4" further than the 'leading competition.' Solid steel, too, not cheap flexible steel, which is important for a dart primarily used for targets (or bugs) so it will see much use and abuse.My new go-to. Hands down, favorite target darts.