1" pin, 2 oz top, 15#4. Final statics are: 11/16 side, 3/8 top. Another perfect Doug Sterner fit; all I had to do was wipe off the dust and throw it.
Bought it in the fire sale on EBay only because it was cheap. Don't know about its longevity, but if you need a good-rolling light-load particle ball, don't hesitate.
Laid out in Ebonite's symmetrical core #5 drilling - pin below the ring, mass bias near the VAL. I have an old V2 that works great in this layout, only with a weight hole to move the bowtie, where this one needed none. I wanted a fresh oil ball that would lay off a little on the backend. I wanted something that would go a few frames longer on a fairly wet synthetic house with big backends where the transition has always killed me.
I have never used a pin-down layout I didn't like, would own nothing except these if it weren't for flare-safety. No matter what the numbers, whether I flare over the fingers or not seems core-specific. I had no problems with Predator Jungle Green, so it might be flare safe for other people as well.
This is a super first ball on medium to middling wet fresh league shot. I also got to spend some time on PBA 'C' with it, and thought it was entirely too much ball to play in the middle. Can handle some carrydown, but unless you square up, the backend seems to be a too soft to handle big carrydown. It will be forgiving in transition, but you will probably need to put it up after that.
I want to work the words "clean", "smooth" and "strong" into every sentence. I did not get a really angular backend. It wanted to lay off on the backend. This is a hook-stop drilling, made to do just that, so no surprise there. For me, it's earlier and something less on the backend than the V2.
Best thing about it, hands down, is the effortless revs. I have never owned anything that revs up so well off my hand, earlier than the V2 solid, the Hammer Blades. In this regard, it reminds me the look of the love-em/hate-em Diesel Particles with more length.
The cover is maybe the slightest bit underpowered for this core. But it's good this way - if you put it in a stronger shell you couldn't get it long enough. This one needs some head oil, but given that it is pretty clean. When you lay it out, think in terms of something you'll feed from wet to dry.
Versatility: 9.0. You have to give it great marks here. Covers the whole range of mediums up into the heavy mediums. Revs and an appropriate drilling could let it reach into oiler range. A good bowler would have no trouble with it on nearly anything with heads.
Control: 8.5. Good rev and roll characteristics make it hard to blow through the breakpoint. This layout was easy to handle everywhere.
Hit and Carry: 8.0. Early revs in this layout sometimes left it without a lot of punch on the backend.
