Greetings once again bowlers. Hammer’s new No Mercy Beat’n will be today’s topic of discussion.
The No Mercy Beat’n boasts the same HART (Hammer Aggressive Reaction Technology) core as the original No Mercy. Wrapped in Hammer’s new Violent Hook Reactive coverstock, it is designed to provide a cleaner skid through the front of the lane with a sharper back end movement than the original No Mercy.
It is my finding that Hammer is producing many of the new Beat’n bowling balls with the lower track, right handed bowler in mind. By that, I mean that if you take a quarter scale and draw a straight line from the pin through the cg, more often than not the HART mark will lie on the left side of that line. This makes it easier to layout a No Mercy Beat’n with a medium to weaker pin placement (imperative for energy retention when drilling for higher rev players) while still getting the HART mark two or three rings deep into the players track.
The No Mercy Beat’n test ball we received came with a 2 ¾ inch pin and 3 ounces of top weight. I drilled the middle finger hole through the pin and placed the cg about ¾ of an inch to the left of my center line. This turned out to be a 5 ½ x 5 ¼ layout (pin and cg from pap, respectively) The HART marking wound up 2 inches left of my thumb hole, in the third oil ring of my track.
Our first test was the typical Hi-Roc house shot: 40 feet in length with a heavier concentration from 10 to 10, tapered to the gutter. I lined my feet up around 23 and started the ball inside the oil line crossing 12-13 at the arrows and bumping the dry between the 36-40 foot mark. Even with the box finish, the longer pin distance (5 ½” from pap) combined with the Violent Hook Reactive coverstock helped ease the Beat’n down the lane significantly further than the original No Mercy. Consequently, the back end movement was more angular. Carry percentage was very high on the fresh house condition for at least three games worth of bowling. Once I burned a little spot in the heads, a small move to the left with feet and target was all it took to regain skid in the front and pop in the back end.
The second shot we tested the Beat’n on was Karl Wolf’s modified Viper pattern. This pattern was 37 feet in length with very fresh back ends, and no real defined area to play. Initially, I tried staying up the back of it and rolling it very firmly around 11-12, very straight with lots of speed. There was very little margin for error as the hang to the right was abundant and the freshness of the back end made the pattern seem VERY short when I got it left of target. Although the Beat’n hit very hard when I found the pocket, it wasn’t the best place on the lane to play. Instinctively, I took a large step left. Sliding around 35 and looking to cross the arrows at 21-22, I was able to rotate my hand around the ball and create a little more “push” through the front. I was very impressed with the energy retention of the Beat’n and how hard it turned the corner, sometimes getting out as wide as the 5 board at the 40 foot mark and still crashing through racks with no sign of rolling out (or hooking out, whichever you prefer.) It created a nice little area at the break point and allowed me to find the pocket and carry strikes on a high percentage of my shots. And all this without ever altering the box finish.
I’ve drilled a few No Mercy Beat’n bowling balls for some lower rev customers this year as well. Stronger pin placements (3 ½ to 4 inches from bowlers pap) succeed in obtaining quick revs and a strong move to the pocket for the “rev challenged” players and those with higher ball speeds.
Over all, I believe the No Mercy Beat’n does exactly what Hammer designed it to do. The new Violent Hook Reactive cover provides a cleaner skid through the front part of the lane with a sharper back end move while the HART core still provides fast revs in the mid-lane for a consistent read. Yet another solid performer by Hammer.
Mybowler.com would like to express it’s gratitude and thanks to Joe Farley and Brian Graham at Hammer for providing the test equipment and Karl Wolf and Hi-Roc Lanes in Saratoga Springs, NY for use of the facilities.