Bowler Ratings

PATTERN ST TW CR

Oily: 9.5 9.5 9.5

Medium: 9 9 9

Dry: NA NA NA

Sport: 8 8 8

Bowler ratings are from 1 to 10 in order of Stroker (ST), Tweener (TW), Cranker (CR)

General Info

Brand: Hammer

Name: Black Widow Red Legend Solid

Reviewed: July 2015

COVERSTOCK SPECS

Name: Juiced

Type: Reactive Solid

Box Finish: 500 / 2000 Abralon

Color: Bright Red Solid

CORE SPECS

Name: Gas Mask

Type: Asymmetrical

RG: 2.50

Diff: 0.058

Int. Diff: 0.016

The Black Widow Legend line grows with the release of the Red Legend Solid. This ball uses the wildly successful Gas Mask core that it shares with the previous two in the line, the Black Widow Legend and the Black Widow Red Legend. The big change with this ball is the coverstock, with this release having a solid reactive shell. The red Juiced coverstock is finished with a 2000 Abralon pad.

The Red Legend Solid gave us enough grip for our testers to have their best reactions on our heavy oil pattern. In general, balls that are very angular downlane typically have our testers playing close together at the arrows, but with varying breakpoints downlane. Sanded big-hooking balls usually require us to have much different laydown spots, but with similar breakpoints downlane. The Red Legend Solid gave us a little bit of both, as all three testers were about five boards different with both their laydown points and breakpoints. Stroker played the most direct line, crossing between the second and third arrows and getting his ball to the ten board downlane. Tweener was crossing between the third and fourth arrows, getting it a few boards right of the rangefinder downlane. Cranker was farther left with his feet and going around the other two testers at the breakpoint. All three bowlers saw plenty of total hook and a big move at the dry downlane. With their feet and eyes in the proper places, it was hard for any of them to miss the pocket on this pattern.

Moving to the medium pattern, we still had a good reaction with the box finish. Each tester needed to move more left with their feet and make sure to project the ball right off their hands. Even as it got later in the session, none of the testers needed to make any adjustments to the surface, as none of them saw the Red Legend Solid burn up early or hook too much, provided that they stayed far enough left.

The box finish was again best on our sport pattern and all three testers felt like they had much more room than they usually have on this condition. This ball’s strong cover helped provide easy traction, giving them miss room both right and left of their targets on this tougher lane condition.

Performance Ratings

NAME VALUE COMMENTS

Torque 7.5

This will be the smoothest of the three Legend releases. While less angular than the previous two, this one still manages to provide lots of downlane motion, especially for a ball with a sanded solid coverstock.

Length 12

The 2000 Abralon box finish of the Red Legend Solid will be plenty textured to create hook on heavy volumes of oil. While providing a strong amount of total motion, this finish is not rough enough to take away from big downlane recovery.

Back End 17

We saw a lot of recovery at the back of the lane, even with the sanded box finish. As long as we got around the ball at the release, we could still circle the lane rather easily.

Total Hook 56

The Red Legend Solid will provide more total hook than the previous two Legends because of the differences in coverstock and box finish. Our reaction on the medium pattern was almost as good as what we saw on the heavy test pattern.

Strengths

This release is a sanded solid reactive ball that still retains plenty of energy for the breakpoint and back end. Most everyone needs a ball in their arsenal that offer this much total hook and this much recovery downlane.

Weaknesses

The only thing that slowed down the Red Legend Solid was our short pattern, due to the combination of hook and back end that this ball provides. There are plenty of other Hammer options to cover these types of conditions.

Overall Summary

The Red Legend Solid is the perfect addition to Hammer’s Black Widow Legend lineup. While providing more total hook, the Red Solid still retains plenty of energy downlane, making it very useful on a wide variety of oil patterns.