Honestly, I'm hard pressed to think of a ball with that core in it that hasn't been good. They need to just keep the numbers the same and let the ball be what it is. No more tweaking of a good weightblock.

This seems to be like the gas mask core was/is for Hammer. Pretty much every ball I threw with the gas mask core was great for me. I mean, the numbers aren't that far off in 14lbs either (although I threw 15 with the Hammer). I know I'm only 2 balls in on the line - and one is (mostly) urethane, but I can already tell how good this core is in driving the ball. I might just have to grab the Black Ops too. It may just be because it's black, but I feel it could be like the Taboo Jet Black was. Maybe a tad weaker, but similar shape.

How would the Tactical Ops compare with a Honey Badger?  I assume it would handle more volume than the Honey Badger but is there enough difference to have both?

How would the Tactical Ops compare with a Honey Badger?  I assume it would handle more volume than the Honey Badger but is there enough difference to have both?

I would say it depends what weight you throw. I throw 14lbs and despite what some have claimed in the past, the Honey Badger is not the same in that weight. Really high RG, fairly low diff., and extremely low int. diff. The ball is basically all cover. It is a beast off friction, but it absolutely does not like oil at all. One of my weakest balls for sure.

I have not had much chance to actually compare them yet, but I did throw the HB for a few shots in practice on the Dragon. Not even close. I will try to get out this week and throw them both in practice during open bowling. I've seen some sites have the HB with a higher hook rating, but I don't see how. Even in 15 and 16. The Tactical Ops still has a stronger core and I'm assuming S72 is stronger than S71.

I did get to throw my Tactical Ops last night in normal league play. The claim was that the house shot had been fixed. It has been a hot mess all summer. Lots of hook in. OB out. Tighter window to hit the pocket than the PBA patterns. They supposedly added more oil and cleaned the machine. There was less OB, but it was still there near the gutter. Still plenty of hook in. I was able to play in around third arrow and left and get it out to 6-8 at the break point.

I had a good look until game two. That's when the carry down started. This older lady was throwing a 12lbs house ball all over the right side. Another guy was spinning shiny balls off the corner. All I had there was two shiny balls and my Shadow Ops. My son was not there to help break it down. The other guy on my team was throwing mostly shiny stuff straighter up. I definitely regretted not bringing anything with surface besides my urethane.

Which leads me back to what I previously said. I think I'm going to wait on the Eon for now and get the Covert Ops, as it appears it is on the way out. The site I usually order from has it on close out and other sites don't have it at all. I feel I could have just balled up into that last night to combat the carry down. I'm just going to lay it out pretty much the same and I should have a good 1-2 punch to handle a lot of conditions.