Columbia 300 Stingray Bowling Ball

I bought one of these on ebay because it was cheap and I did not own an old school urethane ball. I used it sparingly for about a year but I was still caught up in the power ball craze and did not stop to think about using a non-reactive ball as my main piece. This summer I got into a slump and my reactive equipment only made it worse because I tried to do too many things with them and the power balls over/underreacted and/or magnified my mistakes. I went back to basics and pulled out the old pink stingray and low-and-behold, I concentrated on my mechanics more and the ball was smooth and responsive without being unpredictable and it helped me get back on track. I am in a travelling league and with this ball I can average well over 200 in all houses. Not bad for a 12 year old urethane ball.

It does exactly what it was intended to do, and that is plow thru oil!! I drilled the ball in a 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 stacked layout with a 1/2 oz side weght and a lil finger weight. The ball absolutely hooks and is very controllable. I bought this off of EBAY to replace my ROCK SOLID and have been very surprised to say the least. I have never owned a urethane ball before and have been extremely happy with it. I have bowled 2- 245+ games on it (70 pins above my average). Excellent ball especially for the money now.........picked it up and had inserts in for <$35.00 total!!! UPDATE- This ball is an oil SPONGE! It needs cleaned regularly. It is still as important in my aresenal as it ever was. Great ball COLUMBIA!!

This ball is a neat dry lane ball. Once you polish it, it gets through dry heads with ease, and the 2 piece core design will let you drill it to pop harder on the backend on the backend than three piece balls. Mine is drilled 4 1/2 x 4 with the pin above my middle finger. It goes long and arcs strongly to the pocket on dry lanes when all my reactive starts to hook to much or too strongly on the backend. In today's market it is similar to the Messenger Black. If you can find one cheap it can be a steal. Use it as a spare ball which if called upon can carry on dry conditions or on a late shift of a tourney..... oh yeah don't forget that it is a horrible Salmon Pink.

I found this ball on Ebay when I was looking for a ball to hook more than my Columbia Messenger (Titanium). It does just that, performing very well on every lane condition I have encountered, except a sport condition shot, which I'm now convinced will tame any hard-hooking ball known to man. On the same conditions where my Messenger would hook from the 3 board to the pocket, the Stingray would have to be thrown over the 10 board and swung out to the 3 in order to get to the pocket. I wouldn't recommend swinging this ball too much, though; it's more of a down and in ball. I haven't thrown it on dry conditions, but I can imagine that you wouldn't be able to get much skid out of it before it turned over. I bought it specifically to help out my weak game on oily conditions and it has answered the call to this point. NOTE - There is a ridiculous difference between the reaction of this ball when cleaned and sanded; once the ball absorbs oil and lane crud, there is a significant drop in

Don't be fooled by this balls color....this ball is all bussiness. In order to throw this ball in out of the box fininsh you MUST have some type of oil. For me I loft it out to the 3rd arrow out to the 2nd arrow and watch it come smashing into the pocket. At times carry does become an issue since this ball hits so hard. You really can't beat this ball you get the nice smooth reaction of a Urethane ball with all the hitting power of a resin ball. The perfect package. You can still find these NIB on Ebay also : )

Picked this up for a tournament shot option when my newer balls aren't scoring. It always takes a little while for me to rember just how to throw a urethane ball compared to the newer slide and snap balls. This ball is sanded for maximum grip in oil and it delivers. It starts turning the second it hits the alley. I have trouble adjusting my shot to match the ball until I remeber to throw out at about third arrow to the ten board and let it come right back into the pocket. They should have called this the "Big Banana". Funny thing was how many people commented how nice and steady the old urethane hammers and rhinos were, this ball is of the same vintage and is perhaps the finest example. Don't bring this out for a normal dry house shot, you will throw your arm off trying to keep it on the lane, also be careful how course you sand it, 400 grit is probably enough for everything but a flood.

Last of a dying breed, Made by Columbia 300, This was a ball before its time, certainly one of the best urethane balls ever manufactured by Columbia, Great tournament ball and sport condition ball as far as Wet/Dry's are concerned this ball has them numbered as well as Short oil patterns, this ball has those whipped as well, Only 2 things this ball has trouble with as far as I am concerned is too heavy oil and too little oil. Anything in the middle or remotely close however, watch out because, this ball hits like a mack truck.

This is another example that new coverstocks are not the best. I have found that many times the Urethane balls are always the better forgiving and carry on balls when the going gets tough. This ball is a perfect example of that. What a hard hitting ball this is! My brother originally had this ball and used it for his league play. He bowled his highest game ever with this beauty. I now have happy ownership of this fine ball. I am getting it all ready for lkeague play when the lanes are flooded. Another great ball thrown by the wayside in order to pursue new coverstocks.

Love the ball! Great hook in heavy/medium oil. Good control. Predictable roll. This boll bowled well right out of the box. I kept the factory sanded finish on it and it performed extremely well in oil. I used this ball to bowl my career high sanctioned 286 game. Great carry in the pocket. The ball rolls in a very predictable manner, rarely hooking out. It always hangs on in the backend. Some of the snapping characteristics of it caused people to ask me if it was a reactive ball. I would recommend this ball to anyone looking for powerful urethane.