I've got a Fired Up and a T-Road Pearl but was thinking about adding the Sure Fire to the line up.

The FU and T-RP are both great medium oil balls.  

I have the FU drilled pin over ring stacked (about 5x4 for me) and it goes fairly long but makes a strong, jumpy move off the dry when polished and a strong, gradual move with the shine knocked off.

My T-RP is drilled pin under ring with the CG kicked out slightly (about 4.5x4 for me).  With this drilling it reads a little earlier than the FU but the reaction isn't much differnt in comparison to the FU in both the polished and "shine knocked off" conditions.

So, that brings me to my question...how/where would the Sure Fire fit in the grand scheme of things with these two balls?  I see that it has a "hybrid" cover instead of being a true pearl.  Would it be smoother off the break than both of these balls?  Would it be as long as the FU or would it read earlier like the T-RP?  

TIA!


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That which doesn't kill you will only make you stronger, that which doesn't make you stronger is a waste of time!




Edited on 12/26/2007 2:41 PM

SURE FIRE reviews from Storm staffer Jeff Richgels:

 Anyone who likes the Fire line of balls is going to like the SURE FIRE, which puts the R2S hybrid cover on the SPIT FIRE core. The box finish is 4,000 Abralon.

      I drilled my SURE FIRE with the pin in my  ring   finger hole with a very strong drilling (CG kicked right),  with a small weight hole 5 1/8 inches right on my grip center line.
Drilling out the pin typically provides a more even roll in a ball.

      I tried it today on a fresh house pattern at a center that uses a VERY thin oil so it is a very hooking condition for a fresh pattern with a concentration in the middle.

      I took along my SPIT FIRE and DIABLO for comparison. Both are drilled pin over the bridge about 75 degrees. The SPIT is shiny. The DIABLO is 2,000 Abralon with some oil soak.

      The SURE FIRE was stronger in the midlane and with a more even arc than the SPIT or DIABLO, which is logical considering the stronger coverstock. I had no problem stringing strikes once I got into the oil and let it go a little to the right. It was VERY heavy rolling through the pins, whereas the SPIT and DIABLO tend to scatter the pins more, giving more action but also more ringing 10s and solid 9s. However, if I really let the SURE FIRE go far right to the dry it would roll back for a weak 10.

      The R2S covers have been very tweakable so I anticipate being able to dull it up or shine it up as necessary.

      The strong but controlled move should work very well on some of the tougher PBA conditions where a sharper move like the SPECIAL or SHIFT does not work so well. I think it also will work great on fresh house conditions with very dry back-ends.

      I will post more information after I am able to use the SURE FIRE on more conditions.

Update on the SURE FIRE from Storm staffer Jeff Richgels

I won my 29th PBA regional title over the weekend (Setp. 15-16) and would not have done it without the SURE FIRE. We bowled in a nearly new center in Herrin, IL, that has AMF synthetics. The pattern was Viper with the lowest volume PBA uses.

Combining those two factors resulted in what would be expected: a pattern that hooked from the outside but with little or no hold area. The problem to solve was that a shiny ball was too erratic and tough to control while too much surface would not get down the lane and had zero hold. Not surprisingly, scores were very low with the cash cut being minus 31 and the finals cut being minus 14.

I went through nine balls in Saturday’s qualifying, eventually returning to what I had started with - the old VERTIGO I have used quite often this regional season with the pin in my track above and left of my middle finger and the CG in my grip center - rallying with 654 the last three games to get to minus 9 to make the cut. That VERTIGO gives me a controlled aggressive look with the weak pin taming down a strong ball and strong layout.

I never brought my SURE FIRE in from the car because I figured it would hook too early for the low volume but decided to give it a try on Sunday since there had been more skid than I expected. And it gave me a great look just rolling it straight up outside 5 to start and getting to swinging from just outside 10 at the arrows to a break point around 5 by the end of the semifinals. My SURE FIRE has the ring finger drilling out the pin and the CG kicked right - about a 60 degree drilling. The over/under (2-pin/3-6-10) reaction I had on Saturday with my shiny SPIT FIRE and FIRED UP was totally eliminated by the box finish R2S cover (4000 ab) of the SURE FIRE. I went 243-248-206-217 and then 174 trying a couple things. I didn’t have hold area but I had great recovery on shots I missed to the right on.

My Round of 8 match was on an end pair that had a very different reaction from the rest of the house and I ended up lucking out a 3-2 win with the VERTIGO, but the SURE FIRE was perfect from outside 5 in both the semi and title matches, which I won 259-179 and 204-155.

The SURE FIRE definitely makes a strong controlled, rolling move that is very different from the SPECIAL or SECRET. It seems closest to the T-ROAD SOLID but I think it gets down the lane better and is easier to control than that ball. The SURE FIRE keeps the pins very low.