A related question: Why are darts designed with the heavy part in the
front and the feathers in the back?

Because the pointy end sticks in a dart board much easier than that
feathers. I used to play darts competitively and I think in all the
tournaments and leagues I played in I only saw one person using darts with
feathers. I rarely play much anymore but I've still got about five sets of
darts. Darts have gone high-tech. All but one of the sets I have use a
tungsten barrel. The shafts are mostly aluminum but I've got a few nylon
shafts. Feathers are no longer used and have been replaced with plastic or
foil "flights" that come in a variety of shapes and in every color or
graphic on them imaginable. I've got both plastic tip and steel tip darts.
The steel tip darts have a retractable tip and moves slightly on impact
which significantly decreases the number of darts which bounce off a wire.