Choose Your Weapons: Relentless Ryan

Moving to Mission after a lengthy spell at former sponsor ‘Bit of Bully’ was never going to be easy, yet Ryan has quickly made the Bolton manufacturer his darting home. Signed as part of their expanding professional team, starring fellow PDC Tour Card holders Connor Scutt, Martin Lukeman and Alan Soutar, it proved a statement into where Mission aims to be, with Ryan among the players at the forefront of this effort.

As part of a recent launch, Mission released Ryan’s new barrels to the general public, much to the gratitude of darts fans worldwide. In this review, I’ll be taking a closer look at the barrels themselves, as well as both the supplied setup, and the setup Ryan himself uses. Based on comments from previous reviews, I’ll also be touching on my own experience using them – something I usually try to avoid.

Steel Tip – 21g*
Length: 49.30mm
Width: 6.65mm
Tungsten Percentage: 95%
Points: Mission Glide 32mm Black
Stems: Mission Grip Lock Short Black
Flights: Mission Ryan Joyce No. 2
Price: £54.95

* Used in this review

The darts are a thin-bomb style barrel, with the bulk of the barrel towards the centre, naturally centralising the balance. This plays straight into the hands of Joyce, who holds his darts in the center. The playing style allows Joyce to score heavily, as, due in part to the setup he uses, stacks the darts – much like how Phil Taylor does. The thicker center acts as a target, which can be attacked by Ryan to deflect darts into their intended target.

For those, like myself, that prefers to propel the darts with a little more force, the darts cater to that as well. With the thicker center, it means the taper is naturally longer. This allows for closer grouping, as well as more naturally created space in the treble – even if the gap isn’t quite visible, it’s always possible to sneak the second and third dart in.

The rainbow PVD coating features in the groves, as well at the rear barrel on the smooth section. This creates a sandblast effect, which, while offering very little in the way of grip, clearly defines the barrel from the stem – something that is especially useful when using aluminum stems, as Ryan does.

Ryan opts for short black Mission Alicross stems, which are not only more durable that a nylon stem, but slightly heavier. As I mentioned previously in this review, Ryan prefers to stack his darts, which relies on the darts landing flat in the board. The heavier stem moves the balance towards the rear, which brings the rear of the dart down in the air.

The grip itself is a thinly cut ring grip, popularized by the two-time world champion, Gary Anderson. The dual rings, running near the entire length of the sub-50mm barrel, offer a relatively high level of grip to the user. I personally found the grip familiar to use, as it had a … ‘worn’ feel.

For the last six or seven years, I’ve used Harrows Supergrip barrels as my match darts. The Supergrips, while a fantastic dart, do typically wear quickly – Joyce’s feel identical to my four-month-old match darts. Mission themselves give the grip a rating of 6 out of 10, which I feel is a fair judgment.

Along with the Mission Connor Scutt darts (exclusive review featured in Darts World magazine 580), these are my pick for the launch. Such a simple design, but featuring a fresh twist with the rainbow PVD coating – Mission has once again created a barrel that redefines darting engineering.

A huge thank you once again to Mission for sending these fantastic darts out to me for a review!

—–ENDS—–

Addition Models Specs:

Steel Tip – 23g

Length: 49.30mm

Width: 7.00mm

Tungsten Percentage: 95%

Points: Mission Glide 32mm Black

Stems: Mission Grip Lock Short Black

Flights: Mission Ryan Joyce No. 2

Price: £54.95

Steel Tip – 25g