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Author Topic: Agent  (Read 24477 times)

admin

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Agent
« on: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM »
Ball NPS Score: Not Available
Your Objective: Infiltrate a hostile environment and blend in with the natives without being discovered. Use the Agentâ„¢ device to systematically eliminate them by conquering the ever dangerous and challenging medium-heavy oil conditions.

The AGENT Device: A Reactorâ„¢ pearl reactive coverstock that houses the EMCâ„¢ (Enhanced Motion Control) weight block. Specific functions are to produce smooth glide through the heads, generate heavy mid-lane roll, and finish with a strong arcing backend.

The Agency is depending on you - DO NOT FAIL.


AGENTâ„¢ Technical Specifications
Coverstock Reactorâ„¢ Pearl Reactive
Weight Block EMCâ„¢ Enhanced Motion Control
Ball Color Royal / Violet / Bronze
Ball Finish 1500-grit Polish
Radius of Gyration 2.47 (Low)
Differential .055 (High)
Durometer 74-76 Rex D-scale
Flare Potential 5" - 6" (High)
Fragrance Orange
Weights 10 - 16 lbs.

 

travis20

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Re: Agent
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2006, 11:26:42 AM »
i was at a proam this weekend and watched randy pederson throw the agent. this ball is amazing!!! when the ball hits the break point it takes a hard 90 degree left turn. i asked randy to rate the balls as far as aggressiveness. he  said probably
1st agent
2nd pyro
3rd paradigm
4th fired up

CZ

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Re: Agent
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2006, 10:34:58 AM »
Ball Specs: 15.4lbs, 3.2 oz, 3.75" pin
Bowler Specs: 18 mph, 450 RPMs.  I like to play 20 out to 5 on most house shots.
Drilling Layout: Modified 5x3.  Pin falls about 1/2 inch above ring finger, CG 2 Inches right from center of grip.  Weight hole on axis to bring it to 1/2 ox side.  

First Impressions; Suprised.  This ball is supposed to arc off the breakpoint, but I have a ball that is more angular than my Fired Up.  Good length with a remarkable backend.  

Later in the game; This ball seems to dislike carrydown.  The reaction became inconsistant as the shot carried down, but I was still basically in my comfort zone for the night, however, the big backend I was seeing became hard to predict with the lanes drying out later in the night.  

Strengths: Backend, good read, hit good, consistant reaction (through two games) with a strong backend
Weaknesses: Hard to control backend (at times), lost reaction with carried down backends

Overall: A great skid/flip ball to use on shots you are not used to, or just use it on a house shot a little deeper than you are used to.
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Thats just my opinion, I could be wrong

thunder

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Re: Agent
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2006, 12:59:40 PM »
I haven't drilled mine yet but I can tell that one of the best bowlers in the midwest loves this ball....
The pattern was #4 and was no cake walk....Carter made it look easy...


Storm's Jeff Carter put on a striking clinic with the new Agent at the PBA's Willowbrook Lanes Midwestern regional in Willowbrook, IL. In qualifying action Carter shot games of 265-267-280-300-227-260-279 and 235. The 2113 eight game total is believed to be a midwest region record for qualifying.

Thunder

jonah300

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Re: Agent
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2006, 09:57:45 PM »
i have never reviewed a ball...but i will tell u this...i came to miami to visit a fiend of mine...i bought 2 bowling balls the pyro and the road hawg ...i did not get the agent because people told me it was too agressive
Today on the alley they put the usbc nationals shot...y shot 910 in for games with my 2 balls...and then i ask a friend of mine if i could throw his agent...i got a 290 and it seemed that i was bowling on a house shot...amazing midlane and so smooth but strong in th backend...i am gonna try to get one before i live to my country

Noy

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Re: Agent
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2006, 04:13:30 AM »
14lbs
Drilled according to Pattern #3 in drilling instructions.

Im a lefty with average ball speek and low-medium revs.  5-Step approach, bowling up the 10-15 board, down and into the pocket.

When I first used this ball in OOB condition, it was great..hooked a lot more than my Doom at 600 grit which is drilled Label Leverage.  Yet, I was yearning for more coverage on the boards and an earlier reaction.  I took a green scotchbrite to it and now this baby hooks and reacts like a dream.  A lot of people have mentioned its quirky reaction on the backend but having magical results after knocking the finish off.

UPDATE!!!

After about 2.5 months using this ball, I don't think its as great a ball as its cracked up to be.  I've found it to be very picky with its dry spots although it does take surface adjustments well.  On a fresh THS, this ball will do wonders.  Broken down shots, forget about it.  I had to sand this ball up to 1000 abralon with reacta shine polish for it to wake up for me.  Good ball, but not great ball.

After knocking the finish off, this ball found its way to the pocket every time.  I bowled on a THS my first time out after sanding and I was impressed.  Brooklyn or Flush, this thing hit hard.  Only time I left pins was when I hooked straight into the head pin and even after that I only had 1 pin leaves...one split the entire night.  I love this ball and it seems that a lot of the pro's are starting to love it too.  Get one, knock the shine off if you need to, you'll never regret it...
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Bowling Since March 2006

Arsenal:
Doom Raw Hammer
House Ball (spares)
Average: 130-160

See my bowling scores online here:
http://www.allbowling.com/journal/public.php?uid=2038&leagueid=808
Turkey Adobo (Me and my friends' bowling site)
http://turkeyadobo.multiply.com

Jeff Carter

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Re: Agent
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2006, 02:34:26 PM »
I am going to try and do more in this part of the site. I am a member of Storms pro staff so i will be reviewing balls on not only house patterns, but what i see during regional and national tour competition.

First let me say that this is the best ball that we've had since the original X-Factor. I didnt think there was a ball that could make me put the Fired-up and Pyro down, but i havnt touched a ball that didnt have the Agent logo on it for the last 3 regionals

Agent #1 - 5 1/2" pin over the middle finger, CG kicked about 45 degrees, extra hole 2" about  axis ( only to make it legal ). Surface prep was a light burgundy pad in the track area and heavier burgundy pad ( the other direction ) on the back flares only

Agent #2 - 5 1/2" pin under the middle finger, CG kicked about 45 degrees,
extra hole 2" past my axis. Surface prep is box finish

PBA pattern 2 - used Agent #2 in Raytown, Mo on guardian. Didnt expect this ball to come into play on the short pattern on a "highly fricticious" surface but it did. Was able to get the ball through the heads fairly easy from just left of the track area and still was able to get the ball to store enough energy to continue through the pins

PBA pattern 1 - used Agent #2 in Madison, Wi on pro-anvilane. Again a somewhat shorter pattern with light volume of oil and this ball never saw the bag. Used it from game one of Qualifying all the way through match play.

PBA pattern 5 - drilled Agent #1 specifically for the regional in Willowbrook, Il. Started with Agent #1 and had games of 265,267,280,300 and 227. Made a ball change to Agent #2 to finish with 260,279 and 235. Ended up 3rd for the weekend

If you notice both layouts are similar to each other and this is my favorite layout. I dont stray from this very much since i do more with surface prep than anything else. The midlane roll of the Agent is whats the key to the success of this ball. Our stuff is know for its "long and left" reaction, but this ball is the best of both worlds, earlier midlane roll and strong/continuous backend reaction
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Bowl up a Storm,
Jeff Carter

H Man

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Re: Agent
« Reply #7 on: May 21, 2006, 02:09:41 PM »
I'm a lefty with med speed-high revs. Drilled an Agent up week ago, pin left of ring finger, CG stacked. out of the box shot 300. Ball reads the mid lane better the my Paradigm w/ the same drilling. Once the ball makes it's move it never stops. I have thrown 3 sets with it 780, 652 and 743. I foyu need a agressive pearl get it.
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Sshhhhhh........ This is the calm b4 the STORM!!!!!!!

Los300

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Re: Agent
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2006, 02:53:50 PM »
Recently picked up an Agent after reading some very positive reviews on it and have not been disappointed. The ball picks up heavy in the mid-lane but has seemingly no quit on the back leading to tremendous hit and carry.One intersting thing is that the backend is so strong but controllable, a rarity for a strong pearl reactive. The one thing that you cannot do with this ball is miss in. With the unbelievable pick-up the ball has it makes it very hard for it to fade when pulled. If you are to make any mistake with the ball make sure it is outside. The ball may be too much for scorched backends but is ideal for some carrydown. Basically, if you are looking for one of those very strong pearl reactives that you can actually read while going down the lane, pick up an Agent.
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www.stormbowling.com
www.juniorbowling.comhttp://

cool_kevin1029

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Re: Agent
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2006, 02:10:24 PM »
I purchased my agent last week a few days before a Junior tournament that was contended for on five different tough patterns.  My Agent is drilled with the pin over the fingers and the CG just off the axis line.  It was drilled to go a little longer and recover a little harder then usual.

The opening round of competition was a tight 41ft pattern that had a massive volume of oil.  I was watching other competitors on my own pair struggling to get their balls to check at all and I was able to swing the ball from 12 and use a break point at 8 without a problem at all.  In fact, the only problem I had was leaving 9 pins on this pattern.  I left 11 in six games but I was not complaining at all since I was averaging 204 and the majority of the field was averaging closer to 180.

The second round of competition was a fairly similar pattern to the first round but was about 4 feet longer.  I played a fairly similar line to the block prior and averaged 198 which was about 15 pins higher then the majority of the field.

The third round was a drastically different pattern from the first two and it wound up being a 33 foot pattern that was fairly light on the volume.  After three balls of practice the agent was put in the bag and I proceeded to use my XXXL the entire block averaging 191 with a plastic ball instead of fighting the pattern with my more reactive equipment.

After the third block of six games the field was cut to the top 16 competitors and we proceeded into round robin match play.

The first block of eight match play games was contested on a 50 foot pattern.  I am not sure of the exact specs on the pattern but I do know that it was 50 feet long and extremely tight.  THe agent came back out of my bag this block and playing very straight up 8 I was able to control the pocket all block and averaged 208 for the block going 6-2 in my matches.

The second block of match play was an extremely flat pattern with a high volume of oil that was put out to 38 feet I believe.  Again the agent turned put to the my ball of choice and I moved back to my 12 to 8 swing line from the opening block with a bit slower ball speed and averaged 207 going 8-0 in match play.  

At this point the field was cut to the top 5 and I was sitting in 2nd place.  The top five competed in a step ladder final and I finished 3rd.

Overall this I threw this ball for 33 games in this tournament averaging 205 on a very tough set of conditions and finished in 3rd place.

I would give this ball a 10 out of 10 in anyone who can repeat shots hands.  If you are sporadic and can't repeat shots I would steer clear of this ball.  It is a monster on the lanes and carries like a dream but you must repeat shots.

-Kevin

Bluff

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Re: Agent
« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2006, 02:54:44 PM »
15lb 2-3 pin top 3.12oz.
Drilled up 4 1/2 x4 nothing fancy but this ball is weird! smell kind of like the Hospital! It had a backend like none of my other balls. out of box finish bowling on some juicy lane I can go down the 8th and it makes a nice arc/flip I don't know to the pocket. The Carried on this ball was very nice. 1st game of use 237, 157 , 171 2nd and 3rd was Human error miss easy spares. miss the cut by a mile. So 2nd day retry 1st game 131, mix balls pyro, delta, vapor , wow what a start! Lane was much dryer on the 5th out was goner. So 2nd game I stick with the Agent and shot 237, 247 both good for 2 sidepot and cover the ball nicely ! also made the Cut I can't wait to try it on THS and see what it can do! Will update on THS
On THS this ball shouldn't be allow !!! 279,279,169 dam ten pins!

Once again thanks too all the one who help paid for this ball !!
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Honestly I got a lot of balls. No NOT BOWLING BALLS!

Michael

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Re: Agent
« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2006, 04:38:09 PM »
I punched the agent up 3, 3/8 by 3, 3/8 (pin and cg were lined up below and to the right of my ring finger) and left the box surface on it.  This is an excellent ball for league conditions.  It holds when there is oil and when you sneak it right it doesn't over react.  Left a few ten pins with it, but that is pretty common.  Hits great just as the passion and paradigm do.  I would recommend this ball for just about any player because it is a fairly forgiving ball.  I threw it on a sport condition some and I did not like the way it rolled when it saw oil, it tended to skid too far.  All in all this is another great ball from storm.

Good Luck and Good Bowling,
Michael

Pat Patterson

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Re: Agent
« Reply #12 on: June 16, 2006, 04:19:17 AM »
Got mine drilled today (June 14th, 2006) by Mike Miller at Ten Pins and More in Rio Rancho, NM. I got it when it first came out, but due to the pending verdict on my knee waited until today to drill it.

Before drilling ball was 15lbs. 5 oz. with 3.40 oz of TW and a 3.0" Pin. Ball was drilled 4x4 with a balance hole placed 30 degrees out from the Center of Grip and 6" out(it sits about 3-4" right of my ring finger), and the Pin is 1/2" right of ring finger. Ball has excellent midlane recovery and it's alot more aggressive on the backend on my typical house pattern(38" buffed to 45" synthetic)it is currently about 2 boards stronger then my Original Paradigm(4" pin above fingers and Polished) During the 1st 6 games of practice on this shot I averaged 234 with and average 1st ball count of 9.5.

Overall, another excellent ball from Storm, I will post another review later on after the cover tames down a bit or after some coverstock experimenting.


Hope this review is useful.

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Pat Patterson
Pat Patterson

htotheizzo3561

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Re: Agent
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2006, 12:30:09 PM »
Drilled the Agent pin above and inbetween fingers cg straight up.  3-4 inch pin and 3 oz top.  

This ball is phenominal!  Its super strong from any angle, but its controllable at the same time.  Clears the heads and reads the midlane great.  There is a touch of skid flip on flatter conditions, but its not like other storm balls that go left turn at the break-point.

I got this ball after seeing Jeff Carter destroy the house at the Willowbrook Regional.  Quoting him, "this is the best all-around ball from storm since the x-factor"
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Yo Yo Yo Mo Fo

TheAxeEffect415

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Re: Agent
« Reply #14 on: July 26, 2006, 07:19:32 PM »
Well just coming back from a car injury and not having any equipment I punched an Agent up. I was very skeptical about punching the ball up since the Paradigm went 60 feet for me I thought this ball wasn't going to be any different. But seeing they brought back the Motion control weight block that was featured in the El Nino Gold and El nino 200 etc I always had excellent success with this set up I did it. ball was drilled pin up from ring finger cg kicked with small weight hold to take some side weight out. This ball really shines for you regular league patterns. Very angular ball. I was very surprised how much the ball continues and doesn't stop on the back end. Very forgiving ball. When lanes the lanes broke down I had to bag it. On a oily sport pattern I struggled with it. Ball seemed to go pretty long. But all in all for the average league bowler you will love this ball. You can play multiple angles with it and get real deep. A great ball by storm looking forward to the Double agent coming out soon.
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Know your worth... Expect nothing less
Jessie P.
Member of the Track Legion
Know your worth.... Expect nothing less.