Hammer Viral

[Shaneshu87]

i know it's a little late on the review since the release of the Viral, but it came out before christmas and i have 3 children lol. first off i don't talk bowling specs because everyone is different and my specs wont necessarily be your specs. i did drill mine pin above bridge with CG in my palm (same layout i had on my emerald vibe). This ball gave me exactly what i was looking for and desperately needed back in my bag. i was shocked by how smooth this ball is, even off the break point it wasn't very snappy. with my rev rate and speed i can play straight up the 10 board, and i can play this line all 3 games with only having to move about 3 boards all night! first night in league with this ball (didn't get any practice time with it) 215-279-245. great set! this was in a dryer house with wood lanes, on synthetic i actually had to move deeper and play 15-10.
pros: carbon fiber innards create some awesome carry, just as smooth as the Arson LFS, great for medium to light oil, does not over react if missed left
cons: even with my rev rate this ball tends to have weak recovery power if missed right, i feel like i have about 2-5 boards margin of error which requires very good accuracy.
all in all i give the Viral an 8/10.
http://www.hammerbowling.com/products/balls/viral

[Sourtower]

Glad to see you finally got the Viral. This is one of my favorite bowling balls. How's your newborn doing?

[Shaneshu87]

really good! she's growing like a weed! yes the viral put something back into my bag that i sorely needed. now if everything goes well tonight and i win enough in brackets i can get either red legend or bad intentions, leaning more to the red legend since the bad intentions is almost an exact copy of the Badass just with a different surface, which by the way i sold. the Badass just burned up to fast, i rejuvenated it and resurfaced it even taking it to 500 grit no polish and i still couldn't get the reaction i had when it was OOB. it was very over under and was very hard to determine it's break point. i am rather upset about that one, but the arson has stepped up pretty big to fill those shoes, only a matter of time till my first sanctioned 300/800. ive had a few 279's, a 296, and a 788 series with the arson lfs i have even debated on buying another one of these and changing the surface to 2000 to see how it matches up with drier lanes.

[Sourtower]

really good! she's growing like a weed! yes the viral put something back into my bag that i sorely needed. now if everything goes well tonight and i win enough in brackets i can get either red legend or bad intentions, leaning more to the red legend since the bad intentions is almost an exact copy of the Badass just with a different surface, which by the way i sold. the Badass just burned up to fast, i rejuvenated it and resurfaced it even taking it to 500 grit no polish and i still couldn't get the reaction i had when it was OOB. it was very over under and was very hard to determine it's break point. i am rather upset about that one, but the arson has stepped up pretty big to fill those shoes, only a matter of time till my first sanctioned 300/800. ive had a few 279's, a 296, and a 788 series with the arson lfs i have even debated on buying another one of these and changing the surface to 2000 to see how it matches up with drier lanes.

That's actually really good to know. I'll be in a summer league where at the end of the league you get to choose which Mid or High performance Hammer ball you want. I was highly considering the Bad Intentions, but I think I'll go with the Red Legend instead (unless of course I win this week lol). The Viral actually has helped tremendously on med-dry and dry lanes. I've been able to start with the Deadly Aim or Legend, transition down to the Assassin, and then finish strong with the Viral. Last week I had a 257 with the Viral as I watched everybody else on my pair of lanes struggle with nothing to transition down to after the oil dried up. I'm sure you'll get that 300/800 soon. By the sound of your progress, you're further along than I am. Keep me posted on what you think of the Red Legend.

[Shaneshu87]

won about $50 to go in the new ball fund, hopefully after league tonight i should be able to order the Red, provided i win in brackets lol