Shaft Lengths in Millimetres, and Where Each One Moves the Balance Point
Named shaft lengths run from about 27 mm (extra short) to about 64 mm (extra long), with medium at roughly 48 mm — but brands vary by ±2 mm at every step. On a 22 g reference barrel, going from extra short to extra long moves the balance point 2.4 mm further back in absolute terms while grading it 9.2 percentage points further forward, because you have added 37 mm of length behind it.
By the Darts Fella Editorial Team
Medium is about 48 mm. Short is about 34 mm. Long is about 54 mm. Extra short is about 27 mm and extra long is about 64 mm. Those are the numbers behind the words, and every brand is within roughly two millimetres of them — which sounds trivial until you realise two millimetres is a fifth of the gap between short and intermediate.
What the length actually does is more interesting than the naming. Add shaft and you add mass behind the balance point, so the balance point moves back. But you also add length behind the balance point, and length grows faster than the balance point moves. Expressed as a percentage of the whole dart — which is how Balance Grade works — a longer shaft grades further forward, not further back.
Both statements are true and they are the source of a great deal of confusion. The balance point moves rearward in millimetres and forward as a fraction. What players feel as "more back end" from a long shaft is mostly the increase in rotational inertia, which makes the dart slower to change attitude — a real effect, and a different one.
Millimetres, not adjectives
Measured overall length, threaded end to flight slot tip. Brand naming equivalents are approximate because brands genuinely differ; where a brand publishes its own millimetre figure, use theirs over ours.
Named length Measured (mm) Common brand naming Nylon mass (g) Aluminium mass (g) Carbon composite mass (g) Titanium mass (g) Extra short 27 XS, Extra Short, L-Style 260 0.50 0.85 0.45 0.68 Short 34 S, Short, L-Style 330 0.65 1.10 0.58 0.88 Intermediate / midi 41 IM, Midi, In-Between, L-Style 370-440 0.80 1.30 0.72 1.05 Medium 48 M, Medium, L-Style 440-510 0.95 1.50 0.85 1.20 Tweenie / in-between long 51 IB Long, Tweenie 1.02 1.60 0.91 1.28 Long 54 L, Long, L-Style 570 1.10 1.70 0.98 1.36 Extra long 64 XL, Extra Long 1.30 2.00 1.16 1.60 Buy by the millimetre column, not the name — when you replace shafts from a different brand, check their published length against this before assuming "medium" means the same thing. L-Style sidestepped the whole problem years ago by printing the length in the product name. A 440 is 44 mm. It is the only naming convention in the category that requires no translation, and it's a mild indictment of everybody else that it stands out.
The material columns matter more than people expect. Swapping a medium nylon shaft for a medium aluminium adds 0.55 g at the back of the dart — over half a gram, all of it behind the balance point. That is a bigger change to the dart than moving from a 22 g to a 23 g barrel, and it costs the price of a coffee.
Balance Grade, defined
Balance Grade is the balance point measured on a knife edge, expressed as a percentage of total assembled length measured from the tip. Lower percentage means the mass sits further forward. It's the single most useful number about a dart that no manufacturer publishes.
Band Balance Grade (%) Where the mass sits Flight behaviour Release it suits F3 — hard front Below 36.0 Well forward of centre Drops into the board nose-down; very little tail movement A short firm push with no lift F2 — front 36.0 - 38.9 Forward of centre Nose-down arrival, settles quickly A pushed release with minimal wrist F1 — front of centre 39.0 - 41.4 Slightly forward of centre Stable, mildly nose-down Most conventional throws N — neutral 41.5 - 43.9 Effectively centred Flat arrival, neutral tail A balanced push-and-lift R1 — rear of centre 44.0 - 46.4 Slightly behind centre Wants a little lift; can arrive nose-up A wristy release with a defined lift R2 — rear 46.5 - 49.4 Behind centre Nose-up tendency; tail-led A pronounced lob R3 — hard rear 49.5 and above Well behind centre Unstable without a large flight Rarely suits anyone; usually an accident of assembly Grade your current darts first, then use the shift table below to work out which shaft change moves you toward the band you want. The reference barrel test
Every row below uses the same reference: a 22.0 g stamped steel-tip barrel, 50 mm long, with a 32 mm exposed point included in that 22.0 g, and a standard 100 micron flight at 0.20 g. Only the nylon shaft changes. Balance point is measured from the tip; assembled length runs from the tip to the rear edge of the flight.
Shaft length (mm) Shaft mass (g) Assembled mass (g) Assembled length (mm) Balance point from tip (mm) Balance Grade (%) Band Shift vs 48 mm medium (pp) 27 (extra short) 0.50 22.70 123 57.2 46.5 R2 — rear +5.9 rearward 34 (short) 0.65 22.85 130 57.6 44.3 R1 — rear of centre +3.7 rearward 41 (intermediate) 0.80 23.00 137 58.0 42.4 N — neutral +1.8 rearward 48 (medium) 0.95 23.15 144 58.5 40.6 F1 — front of centre 0.0 reference 51 (tweenie) 1.02 23.22 147 58.7 39.9 F1 — front of centre -0.7 forward 54 (long) 1.10 23.30 150 58.9 39.3 F1 — front of centre -1.3 forward 64 (extra long) 1.30 23.50 160 59.6 37.3 F2 — front -3.3 forward Read the balance point column and the Balance Grade column as two separate answers — the first tells you where the mass is, the second tells you where it is relative to the whole dart. Look at the two middle columns together, because this is the finding that changes how you shop. From extra short to extra long, the balance point creeps back by 2.4 mm — a real but small movement. Over the same range the Balance Grade moves 9.2 percentage points forward, because you added 37 mm of dart behind the balance point while the balance point itself barely moved.
So the common advice — "use a longer shaft to move the weight back" — is technically correct in millimetres and misleading in every way that matters. If you want a genuinely rear-graded dart, you need mass at the back, not length at the back. Swap to aluminium or titanium shafts, or fit flight protectors, or choose a barrel with the mass bunched behind the point in the first place.
Do the same table with aluminium shafts and the picture shifts. A 48 mm aluminium shaft at 1.50 g pulls the balance point to about 59.1 mm and the grade to 41.0% — still F1, but a third of a percentage point rearward of the nylon version at identical length. Material buys you rearward balance; length buys you inertia.
Nose-down angle and grouping
What all this produces at the board is the part players actually notice.
Shaft length Nose-down tendency in the board Grouping behaviour Flight shape that pairs Who it suits 27 mm extra short Minimal — darts sit close to horizontal Very tight vertical stacking; darts sit almost on top of each other Standard or teardrop Players who need maximum room in the treble bed and have a clean release 34 mm short Slight Tight, with a little more forgiveness than XS Standard or teardrop The most popular length in steel-tip for good reason 41 mm intermediate Moderate Balanced; errors show but don't compound Teardrop, vortex or kite Players between short and medium who can't settle 48 mm medium Noticeable nose-down arrival Wider stack; darts separate more in the board Kite or pear The default supplied with most sets 54 mm long Pronounced Wide stack; darts less likely to touch but easier to deflect off Pear or slim Players whose darts fly nose-up and need the correction 64 mm extra long Strong Widest stack; obvious tail movement in flight Slim or super slim Rare. Usually a fix for a very lifted, lobbed release If your darts consistently arrive nose-up, move down this table one row at a time rather than changing barrels. One caveat on the grouping column: a wider stack is not automatically worse. Three darts that separate slightly in the board are three darts that don't deflect off each other, and plenty of strong players deliberately run a longer shaft for exactly that reason. Tight stacking looks impressive and occasionally costs you the third dart.
Materials, and how they fail
Material Mass at 48 mm (g) How it fails Thread durability Loosening in play Worth buying if Nylon / polycarbonate 0.95 Snaps at the thread on a hard strike Moderate — the thread strips before the shaft breaks Common; needs regular checking You break shafts often and want them cheap Aluminium 1.50 Bends rather than breaks; thread can seize in the barrel Good, but seizes if overtightened Low, holds well You want measurable rearward balance Carbon composite 0.85 Splits lengthways under a direct hit Good Low You want stiffness at nylon-ish mass Titanium 1.20 Rarely fails; bends under extreme load Excellent Very low You are tired of replacing shafts and don't mind the cost Nylon with steel top 1.05 Nylon body fails first; the steel top survives Moderate Common Your flights keep splitting at the slot Integrated shaft-and-flight 0.55 - 0.90 combined The whole unit is scrap when it goes Varies Low You value simplicity over tuning either component Choose material for failure mode and mass, then choose length separately — treating them as one decision is how players end up changing two variables at once. Threads, springs and the failure that ends a leg
Almost all steel-tip shafts use a 2BA thread. It is the near-universal standard and it means shafts and barrels from different makers generally interchange. Soft-tip is less consistent, and some machine-league darts use proprietary threads that lock you into one brand's shafts.
The failure that matters is loosening. A shaft that backs off half a turn during a leg changes the assembled length, changes the Balance Grade, and eventually falls out mid-throw. Nylon is the worst offender because the plastic thread has no bite. Aluminium and titanium hold considerably better.
Three fixes, in ascending order of effort. Rubber O-rings between shaft and barrel are the cheap one and they work well enough that most players stop there — they add about 0.02 g, which is nothing. Spring washers do the same job with more consistent tension. A drop of low-strength thread lock is the permanent solution, and it means you've committed to that length until you go looking for solvent.
Check tightness between legs, not between sessions. Half a turn is enough to move you a full percentage point on Balance Grade, which is a bigger change than most of the purchases on this page.
Choosing a length from what your darts are doing now
- Darts arriving nose-up with the tail low: go longer, one step at a time. More length behind the balance point damps the tail.
- Darts arriving steeply nose-down and burying: go shorter, or drop a step in flight area first, since that's cheaper.
- Third dart consistently deflecting off the first two: go longer to widen the stack, or go narrower on the flight. Try the flight first.
- Darts wobbling in the last third of flight: check flight condition before you touch shaft length. A creased wing is the usual culprit.
- You want a more rear-graded dart: change material, not length. Aluminium at the same length gets you there; long nylon does not.
- You want a more front-graded dart without changing barrels: longer shaft, lighter material, smaller flight. All three pull the grade forward.
- You have no idea and just want a starting point: 41 mm intermediate in nylon with a kite flight. It sits in the neutral band, it stacks acceptably, and it gives you room to move in both directions.