Ball: Brunswick RattlerLayout:Pin 5†from PAP, above ring finger
CG on midline, ¾†to right of grip center
No XH
Initial Surface Preparation:Box finish
Purpose:To fill the medium/benchmark spot in the tournament bag. I have a Fury Pearl in this spot now, but it tends to wobble in the midlane, and the Octane cover wants to break down the lane condition too quickly. I’ve tried my Copperhead in this spot, but in box finish, it burns too quickly to make the turn down lane, and with polish, it tends to be too pushy in the midlane.
Why this ball?With an Activator cover and the Rocket core, and an advertised hook rating between those of the Copperhead and Swarm, this ball seemed like a natural as a bench piece.
Observations:I’ve thrown the Rattler twice in a second-shift league on at a center with fairly new Pro Anvilane, and I was surprised at just how clean the ball was through the front part of the lane, and how smooth the transition was between skid and hook. For one of those weeks, we drew a pair that broke down quickly, and I was able to bump left with the Rattler and still have that clean look in front, as well as enough recovery to generate carry angle.
I also got the chance to throw the Rattler in a tournament at a center with HPL in front and older wood in back. With this layout and surface preparation, it was a touch too pushy through the midlane and too abrupt at the break on the fresh. However, once the oil started to push, and the fronts started to go, the Rattler came into its own. I could ride the oil line to the pocket, and when I did leak one to the right, it didn‘t bounce off of the friction.
Most recently, I bowled a tournament with the Rattler on older Murrey synthetics, on a “Holiday tree†pattern to which an out-of-bounds had been added. Again, when the pattern was fresh, the Rattler wanted to push too far to read the dry, and on moving to where there was more friction, I got too strong of a reaction. So it stayed in the bag until the second block, when the track had started to break down some. The Rattler was then in its element, as the nature of the transition was such that a more direct angle to the pocket would yield better carry. So I kept my target near the track, moved it left as the transition continued, then made lateral moves until the transition slowed down, and I was able to keep the pocket and maintain carry.
Conclusions:The first few times I threw the Rattler, I made the mistake of cheating to the left when I lined up with it, as I thought I’d get a stronger Inferno-like reaction off of the break. Instead, the reaction that I got was more reminiscent of balls like the Zones from the late 1990s (the Sapphire solid and the Speed in particular), where the ball would clear the front part of the lane, and then pick up gradually yet continuously from the midlane through the pin deck. The other thing that I liked about these two Zones in particular was the way I could get my feet a little bit further right, keep the ball in the oil a little bit longer, and “stop†the ball at the pocket. I couldn’t do this with the Infernos because of how strong they tended to want to read the back, but I can do this with the Rattler.
While I strongly suspect that the Wild Ride will be the more popular of the two new releases, I believe that the Rattler will be the more useful of the two for most bowlers. It reads the lane consistently, reacts predictably, is forgiving with minor misses in my release, and still packs enough pop to carry corners.
NOTE: The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer and not of Brunswick Corporation.
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Ray Salas
Brunswick Amateur Staff
http://www.brunswickbowling.com
