Lot of bull and misinformation about these darts in circulation. One myth being that original Durro Bristow all have 16 ring barrels - they don't. The ones Bristow threw with did but Durro also produced at least 6 different barrel patterns in a range of even numbered weights. There will be a more in depth look at this model in the coming weeks but for now enjoy these 3 offerings for starters:

Original Durro advert from 1983:

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Original set of 22g classic 16 ring Durro Bristow circa 79/80 with logo leather wallet,blue ali Tru-Lon stems and rare Durro Bristow face flights:

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Original set of 24g short barrel 14 ring Durro Bristow circa 1983 with original sig point block,leatherette logo wallet, red fluted ali stems and Crafty Cockney S.A. flights:

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Now I had a 22g set and they did have 16 rings. I didn't know they produced at least six other barrel patterns though? Team Durro used to also consist of Linda Batten (if I've spelt her name right?), Bobby George and Colin Baker, to name just a few.

Anyway, what happened to Durro Darts, did the company go bust?

Interesting information, Thanks for sharing

Great!

There has been a lot of Bristow Durro darts on Ebay lately but its hard to know if they are genuine or not.

Now I had a 22g set and they did have 16 rings. I didn't know they produced at least six other barrel patterns though? Team Durro used to also consist of Linda Batten (if I've spelt her name right?), Bobby George and Colin Baker, to name just a few.

Anyway, what happened to Durro Darts, did the company go bust?

Yes Taffy, Team Durro had several members including those you mention and sure Pat Piper was another. Will post up some scans of old adverts and one of the Team Durro members when i dig them out. Durro ran in to money problems and went bust in 2003 when they were finally liquidated. Like a number of those smaller independant companies, they found the game had changed with the likes of Unicorn,Target and Winmau now dominating the pro signature range market.

Most folks probably were not aware of all the Durro Bristow hybrid models as i don't recall ever seeing pictures of the others in their adverts only the standard 22g Eric actually used. Although they did mention the alternative barrel patterns in some ads including the one i posted above. Most people just wanted what Bristow used and the others were on sale for a far shorter time as he was signed up by Harrows not too many years after the alternative models first appeared. Will post up the other barrel patterns when i get chance - the 14 ring one above is a fatter, shorter variant. There was also a knurled one which is the design Harrows later produced for their knurled Harrows Bristow range, a small knurled banded version and one with a large thin knurled "wheel" similar to the type later used on the Durro Harrington Kryptcore.

There has been a lot of Bristow Durro darts on Ebay lately but its hard to know if they are genuine or not.

A certain Bristow collector from down south has been selling off his collection on Ebay over the last year or two. So assume you and others from here will have seen at least 2 or 3 of the knurled Durro models i am on about? Yes, they are genuine but never fetch as much as the more in demand 22g classic 16 ringers which i must admit lash over any of the other Durro Bristow range! The original and by far the best for me. Can be hard to be certain though even on the 16 ring as i think you already know several people have had copies made. At least one of which did at least state they were only modern replica's when he was flogging them on Ebay a while back.

I wonder if Brissy himself has any of his own?

getagrip wrote:

I wonder if Brissy himself has any of his own?

Be interesting to know. Many players though don't seem that bothered about keeping old darts. Taylor routinely gives his away and bet many more give them to charity etc to be auctioned off. Here's the Durro Bristow 22g with Eric's preferred set up of CC reseal kite flights and original fluted aluminium stems:

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Nice set up

Here's some of the original Durro adverts they ran from 77 to 80 and also some of the Team Durro ones that Taffy brought up earlier in the thread:

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And a few more for ya:

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who is the kid on the far left in the team pic? He seems a bit young to have been signed up?

getagrip wrote:

who is the kid on the far left in the team pic? He seems a bit young to have been signed up?

It's a young Rodney Harrington!!!

No, only joking mate! Lad is called Kevin Morgan and was 15 at the time of that pic in 1978. Durro saw him as a young talent to add to the established male and female stars they had such as Pat Piper,Linda Batten,Colin Baker,Eric Bristow and Bobby George who are the other pro's you will recognise of course all looking much younger there! Interesting that less than 7 years later i'm not sure any of them were still with Durro except possibly Baker and Piper? Bristow famously went to Harrows,Batten joined a young "Milky Bar Kid" Deller at Winmau and George also ended up there eventually.

There was a store in Portland Maine (Skillful Vending) that was a massive distributer of Durro stuff. I used to go there all the time, back in the late 90's and help out. Did some deliveries for them as they also did vending and had a big showroom.
They ended up sponsoring me after i had a big weekend with 3 wins at a state championship. One of the 1st things they gave me was a Durro scarf. I wore it with pride. Eventually I ended up doing quite a bit of stuff with Durro and even had my wife shoot mixed doubles with Rod Harrington at Witch City 1999. Part of a Durro thing. They lost 1st round. lol
Makes me wonder what they might have in storage though. That place was a Durro mecca. Durro everything!!!

Winmau wrote:

There was a store in Portland Maine (Skillful Vending) that was a massive distributer of Durro stuff. I used to go there all the time, back in the late 90's and help out. Did some deliveries for them as they also did vending and had a big showroom.
They ended up sponsoring me after i had a big weekend with 3 wins at a state championship. One of the 1st things they gave me was a Durro scarf. I wore it with pride. Eventually I ended up doing quite a bit of stuff with Durro and even had my wife shoot mixed doubles with Rod Harrington at Witch City 1999. Part of a Durro thing. They lost 1st round. lol
Makes me wonder what they might have in storage though. That place was a Durro mecca. Durro everything!!!

Nice one! Quick get in touch with them and ask if they have any stuff left in storage! Would this be the place? Link below:

http://www.skillfulvending.com/index2.html

It's the old site supposed to be working on a new one apparently? Anyway get down there ASAP and raid the old stockroom!

Yeah. That's the place.

I'm sure the boss has stuff laying around somewhere.

6 hours away though.

Indeed you will make a fortune on selling it on Ebay if they do have anything left.

Bobby George has certainly gone through some barrel changes in his years, I wonder how many he actually used. His latest by Winmau are a lot different than some of his early barrels.

Hello

Recently I bought a set of 22g Eric Bristow Durro Darts of ebay. They look like the real deal but the barrels look brand new and un played with which i find hard to believe as the darts are over 30 years old.

https://picasaweb.google.com/111744430243441321010/October262012#5803390559946213042

https://picasaweb.google.com/111744430243441321010/October262012#5803390613175580722

any help would be appreciated

thank you

Links don't work.

Oh... Welcome to the site.

Please feel free to ask any questions.

Seeing that address, I used to live a couple of roads away from Durro - if I knew then what I know now I would have gone round there and picked up a few samples from them lol. I just went on google maps and here is a pic of their building as it is now - looks huge lol:

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understacker501 wrote:

Hello

Recently I bought a set of 22g Eric Bristow Durro Darts of ebay. They look like the real deal but the barrels look brand new and un played with which i find hard to believe as the darts are over 30 years old.

https://picasaweb.google.com/111744430243441321010/October262012#5803390559946213042

https://picasaweb.google.com/111744430243441321010/October262012#5803390613175580722

any help would be appreciated

thank you

who did you buy them off on Ebay, because there is a couple of sellers on there who are dodgy and pass off any darts as Durros?

welcome to the forum too!

Quote :

Hello

Recently I bought a set of 22g Eric Bristow Durro Darts of ebay. They look like the real deal but the barrels look brand new and un played with which i find hard to believe as the darts are over 30 years old.

https://picasaweb.google.com/111744430243441321010/October262012#5803390559946213042

https://picasaweb.google.com/111744430243441321010/October262012#5803390613175580722

any help would be appreciated

thank you

As Winmau and getagrip have said, those links don't work...

getagrip...would be interested to know those dodgy sellers? Please PM if you don't think it is appropriate to name on here cheers.

mc1958 - Durro moved about a bit and had various names over the years including Durro Flights,Durro Sports etc although they did mainly stop in the London area. Nobody could really see then that their products would become highly collectable years later. Bet there's a few people (myself included) who now wish they had gone round old stockists asking if there was any old stock stashed in the stockroom!

understacker 501 -get some links that work or use the green tv screen img button at the top to host some pics of those darts and we can all give an honest opinion. If the barrels are not oxidised at least a bit then that might be a sign of replica rather than original. However, the seller could of had them cleaned either professionally or done them himself to remove the dirt and oxidisation. Oh and, welcome to the forum!

Ok i have got some new links

the barrels do have sign of being oxidised

here are the links to the Durro darts

https://2img.net/h/i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/UnderStacker501/Bristow%20Durro/bristow-durroall.jpg


https://2img.net/h/i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/UnderStacker501/Bristow%20Durro/bristow-durrocloseup.jpg

hopefully you can see these pictures

thanks

Wow! They appear to be brand new. Perfect condition.

understacker501 wrote:

Ok i have got some new links

the barrels do have sign of being oxidised

here are the links to the Durro darts

https://2img.net/h/i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/UnderStacker501/Bristow%20Durro/bristow-durroall.jpg


https://2img.net/h/i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/UnderStacker501/Bristow%20Durro/bristow-durrocloseup.jpg

hopefully you can see these pictures

thanks

Yes they look genuine to me. Are these the ones that finished auction on Sunday night just gone? Was watching them myself but already have 4 sets of Durro Bristow so wasn't breaking the bank for yet more however nice! Good set tbh as those came with the original wallet,point guard,stems and flights too if i recall? Would of had black fluted finger grip nylon shafts and white/purpley blue D logo flights when originally purchased. Though Bristow generally used the CC reseal flights you have pictured usually in that colour (they did loads of colours and shapes) and silver or occasionally red aluminium fluted stems. Think the nylon shafts provided and the ali ones Bristow used were actually made by Tru-Lon. They are still going but in a scaled down operation from the old days and are based in Luton. Tru-Lon Still manufacture the Durro pear and standard red/white/blue logo flights you see on Ebay.

Excellent pics anyway and a good purchase. They do have some oxidisation as you say which can easily be removed with a good clean. Seller obviously has kept them in good condition and not used them every day for years like many folks! Might not have come cheap but to be fair badly battered barrel sets only without all the original accessories usually fetch £60 to £80+ in the classic 16 ring pattern. You can pick up knurled sets for much less but personally never liked that pattern on the Durro.

yes they were the set that finished on sunday

i paid enough for them as you will know from watching the auction. thanks for that info. they didnt come with the fluted stems , just some normal black nylon stems but all the other original stuff.i dont plan on using them as they are in far to nice condition.

I may be wrong as just going off one look at the Ebay photo's of the set you bought - however i am sure they are the same as the ones in the bottom picture in which case they are original.

The first photo shows a comparison shot of 2 Tru-lon aluminium shafts. Top one is an original fluted style one from the early 80's that Bristow favoured and the bottom is a modern version that is typical of all brands. You will notice that the older shaft has a straighter tail and no shaping around where the flight is inserted.

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This second pic shows a set of 16 ring Durro Bristow with 3 different stems top to bottom; aluminium original, modern black nylon Deflectagrip in the middle and bottom is an original finger grip type as supplied with the Durro Bristow darts - note the ridges just above the thread area that inserts into the barrel rather than the smooth modern style. Bit clearer if you click on the see image full size link just above photo:

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