L Style Shell Lock Punch Review

[Getagrip]

I bought the Shell Lock Punch a few months ago from Dartswarehous.com it had only just came out at the time and was over £30 delivered, I cant remember the exact price but I believe it was more than the current price which is now £30.93 and it also now comes with an extra 4 bags of rings, I only got one bag. Click here

I had not tried the Champagne style lock rings before but I had tried the standard slot ring L Flights and thought I would just go for this and give it a try.

The package was delivered surprisingly fast from New Zealand, only 3 or 4 days if I remember and it came with a little L Style enamel badge:

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There is so many flight punches available now that I thought this one should be special for such a premium price.

The attributes associated with the Shell Lock rings made it sound promising so I was eager to see if it lived up to this.

As you can see from the comparison pic below it is bigger than the Target slot punch:
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The punch itself is quite substantial and as well made as something like this can be I guess:

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To use the punch you open out your flight and then insert in the groove in the punch and press down firmly, very easy to do:
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After that you are left with a neatly cut shape to insert the shell lock ring in to:
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Then you just place over the top of your stems:
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I did find that some stems work better than others but was a little disappointed that the flights were not perfectly 90 degree although they are very close:
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The selling point for the system is that it keeps your flights secured, prevents robin hooding and keeps the flight at 90 degrees.

Will for me it lives up to two of those claims and almost the third claim but not quite.

I used the darts with the shell locked flights for a few hours and have used them for a few more since and not had any robin hoods or flights pop off, so its good in that respect.

The system overall works well enough but I think the price of the punch is a little excessive and would prefer to see it at the £15 mark.

Also the flights were not truly 90 degrees and the biggest issue for most is that the punch only seems to work with standard flights.

For that reason I am only going to award it 6 out of 10.

[Tormentor]

Great reveiw Grip -as always. Yea I think the price is a little too high also. It's a big hole that it punches!! I had thought about getting one some time back but I only use molded flights anymore. I didn't know it only worked on standard flights. Pretty neat idea but I will stick with my L-Style champagne flights.

[REBEL]

Great review again Grip - my question:#

Does that £30 piece of kit not do exactly the same job as the £7 Wizlock Punch?

I noticed when I had a Wizlock punch, the caps had the grooves too but didnt hold thicker flights at 90' either, but did exactly the same as that machine for a fraction of the cost.

Or am I missing something?

[DIRTY G]

Thanx Darren, Ive been looking at them, Does the flight fit into the grooves of the cap? In the pick it looks as though the hole is to big.

[USMC80]

nice review grip

[Getagrip]

if you check the video you will see a close up in HD of the caps and the flights in the slots.

I'm not sure if the Wizlock punch is the same but my guess is it probably is not.

I tried doing pear shape flights in the vid but it was not a good result.

[skyblueadam]

Only 18 minutes long to review a punch!!!

I'd prefer the normal strong rings punched

[Getagrip]

Only 18 minutes long to review a punch!!!

I'd prefer the normal strong rings punched

Oh yes!

you certainly get your moneys worth with El Grippo, no half measures here kidda!Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[azle]

The Wizlock is a bigger punch, I have tried the Wizlock with the Shell lock caps and there is a gap.

Azle

[Getagrip]

The Wizlock is a bigger punch, I have tried the Wizlock with the Shell lock caps and there is a gap.

Azle

Ah I didn't know, thanks for the info on that Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[jamie373]

Whizlock - holds flight securely, prevents robin hooding , doesn't hold flights at 90degrees
L style - holds flights securely,prevents robin hooding , doesn't hold flights at 90degrees

Huge price difference for no difference

[Jake71]

Good review and I usd the Lstyle punch as well.

I find it holds the flights almost perfect, much better than without (have you seen how people throw with flights all jacked up?).
The robin hood issue is eliminated and that was my biggest reason for getting it.

I dont mind a bent stem or broken stem, messed up flight... i missed out on some scoring!!!

It was a bit on the expensive side for the punch but it will last the rest of my life.

[Getagrip]

Thanks Jake Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[Regulatori]

Great review. Two things that help with get more consistent angles.

Make sure to really fold the flight multiple times before inserting the cap.

Sometimes the punch will not do a perfect cut on the line. A trick you can do is take an open (already folded open) flight and draw a tiny line along the center seam. It just needs to be one one side and only a few mm long...I use a fine tip gel pen.

When punching the flight, hold the punch upside down with the bottom cover off. Then when you insert the flight, line up that seam right down the middle of that exposed hole before punching.

I've noticed that sometimes if I don't have the flight perfectly lined up, it will punch it just slightly off center...but it's enough to make one flight wing sit a little crooked when inserting the cap.

[Getagrip]

Thanks Jeff! Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.