This is by far the strongest ball I have ever thrown...and that is a lot of bowling balls.

I drilled my Columbia 300 Bedlam a week ago and am beyond impressed with it thus far. I did leave the ball in its original box finish to see exactly what it could do and I do not plan to alter that finish with the reaction I have seen. I am an avid Columbia fan as I love the smooth, hard midlane, easy to read backend bowling balls that are generally in their arsenal. The reaction of the Bedlam is unlike any Columbia ball that I have thrown and it is a welcome change and an overdue addition. The Bedlam will clear the fronts very easily, pick up very hard in the late midlane, and continue with the hardest backend that I have seen. The ball will seemingly continue all the way through the pin deck and really does seem to get back from anywhere. The carry is unbelievable as the amount of energy left within the ball on the back leaves nothing in its path. In comparison with other pearl Columbia balls that I have in my bag, the Bedlam has 4-5 extra feet of length and 5-6 more boards of backend than my Momentum and 3-4 feet of length and 2-3 more boards of backend than the Big Shot. The thing is, both of those balls are pretty angular in their own right but are not even in the same league as the Bedlam as far as angualrity goes. If you are a Columbia fan, or anybody for that matter, and have been looking for a ball with unmatched angularity, area, and carry I would suggest drilling a Bedlam.

The Bedlam is one of strongest backend balls i ever threw! I have 2 of them one is drilled 5 1/2 on the pin & mass bias is 45 degrees. This layout works great on longer patterns when needing more down the lane. Ball 2 is 4 1/2 from my ap mass bias is 45 as well this layout gives me a smoother ball reaction on heavier volumes of oil. Ball 2 follows my Full Swing on PBA patterns like the Shark,and Scorpion.On the Chameleon pattern it's the first ball out the bag. The Bedlam is the smoothest ball ive thrown coming off the breakpoint in a pearl cover. This is a must for every style! The pearl ball of the year hands down.               Lamont Greene C300 Regional Staffer!

I dont work in the pro shop so I cant give you all the details.The pin is next to the ring finger I'm a low rev player throwing between 14-16mph. Works best on med. oil conditions. The discription Columbia gives this ball is very true. It is def a tweeners dream. Very aggressive turn and snaps very hard into the pocket. One of the loudest sounds at the alley when this ball hits the pocket perfectly, the pins just explode. This will def be the first ball out of my bag for now on.

Columbia 300 Bedlam
Pin to CG Distance – 3”
Layout – Pin Over Ring Finger,  MB @ 50 degrees
Reaction – Long and Strong

Comments:

The Bedlam is really clean thru the front part of the lane, even when the heads start to break down.  It reads the late midlane and can cover a lot of territory in the back part of the lane.  Although the Bedlam can cover a lot of ground, it doesn’t “jerk” off the spot like other skid/flip balls I’ve had in the past.  I’ve used this ball in several different bowling centers around town with favorable results. I haven’t had a lot of success playing out with this ball on the fresh, even with a little more surface on the ball.  I’ve had much more success playing in, I believe that this is partly because of the drill, but mostly because the ball was designed to cover ground on the back part of the lane. In all the bowling centers I tried the Bedlam, it easily pushed to the right in all of them. The Bedlam is at it’s best for me when the fronts have broken down a bit and there’s a little swing room outside of breakpoint.  

If there is one small drawback with using a Bedlam and that is it’s a little oil sensitive.  It definitely needs a defined friction spot to throw to and doesn’t really handle carrydown very well.  Changing the surface to 1000 abralon w/polish made it a little less oil sensitive, but not significantly so.   The Bedlam has a slight susceptibility to over/under ball reaction, but less so than other bowling balls I’ve had in the past that cover this much ground in the back part of the lane.

So if you need a ball to get through the front part of the lane and recover on errant tosses to the right, this is the ball for you.