laverdt
Addicted to Softballfans
I ordered a dozen of the NSA Composite .52/275 softballs from Apex about a week and a half ago. I had the opportunity to use them in bp a 3 or 4 times now and also in a tournament. My overall summary is that this is a great ball for the new standards being put in place.
In bp I hit a mixture of .44/400 TA's, Sx, ZN, The OG Bullet from Apex, Evil Classic M .40/325 and the new .52/275 bullet. The new Bullet does not get the same distance as the old .44/400 NSA balls but the exit speed seems to be very similar. With that being said the distance wasn't a huge difference. On average the old .44/400 were beating the new bullet by about 10 feet. I like the smaller laces on the Apex balls a lot. The ball seems to cut through the air smoother than the other balls.
The two biggest differences from this Bullet to last years .44/400 ball is durability and the knuckling. First, the durability with these balls is no longer an issue. I know last year it seemed like all you had to do was hit the ball against the fence one time and it had a nice size tear in it. I have hit the .52/275 bullet with the new composite cover against the fence several times now and every single ball is still in perfect condition (not even a scuff). Secondly, the knuckling of the ball seems a lot more frequent with the .52/275. I am assuming this has to due with the higher COR because it hardly ever happened with the old .44/400 ball. I actually like the knuckling a lot because the only time I have seen it happen is on hard line drives. Makes it much more difficult for the OF to track it down.
In conclusion Apex came out with another great ball with even better durability!
In bp I hit a mixture of .44/400 TA's, Sx, ZN, The OG Bullet from Apex, Evil Classic M .40/325 and the new .52/275 bullet. The new Bullet does not get the same distance as the old .44/400 NSA balls but the exit speed seems to be very similar. With that being said the distance wasn't a huge difference. On average the old .44/400 were beating the new bullet by about 10 feet. I like the smaller laces on the Apex balls a lot. The ball seems to cut through the air smoother than the other balls.
The two biggest differences from this Bullet to last years .44/400 ball is durability and the knuckling. First, the durability with these balls is no longer an issue. I know last year it seemed like all you had to do was hit the ball against the fence one time and it had a nice size tear in it. I have hit the .52/275 bullet with the new composite cover against the fence several times now and every single ball is still in perfect condition (not even a scuff). Secondly, the knuckling of the ball seems a lot more frequent with the .52/275. I am assuming this has to due with the higher COR because it hardly ever happened with the old .44/400 ball. I actually like the knuckling a lot because the only time I have seen it happen is on hard line drives. Makes it much more difficult for the OF to track it down.
In conclusion Apex came out with another great ball with even better durability!
