Tungsten Barrel Weights

Tungsten Barrel Weights picture

Tungsten barrel weights resemble a bullet, cylindrical in shape, they are narrower at one end and widen out at the base.

Tungsten barrel weights with high density are commonly used for fishing jigs and darts where needing high mass in a limited place.

Why adopting tungsten

Lead, steel and tungsten are the widely used making materials for barrel weights, but nowadays, tungsten is the material commonly used as the high density and environment friendly properties.

The picture shows the three metals and the amount need of each for the same weight. As you can see, it takes a lot less tungsten then steel for the same weight.

Here are the main advantages and disadvantages of the three metals:

  Advantages Disadvantages
Lead
  1. Soft-easy to bend and cut
  2. Low cost
  3. Medium density
  1. Should not be handled by children. If you use lead, insert it inside the car block and seal with wood putty
  2. Only available in one form-1/4" cylinders
Steel
  1. Low cost
  2. Can be cut
  1. Low density
  2. Can rust
Tungsten
  1. High density
  2. Ideal for concentrating weight in a small area
  1. High cost
  2. difficult be cut or shaped

Tungsten is a brittle and dense material. Because of its brittleness another alloy is added to it to avoid breakage, the most common is nickel. The higher the percentage of tungsten, the density increases in the barrel. Thereby you can have a smaller barrel than brass or nickel-silver even with the same or greater weight. The higher the percentage of tungsten, the cost of the dart usually goes up, as tungsten is a hard material to machine. So it is not difficult to find that tungsten is ideal material for making barrel weights.