Columbia 300 Pure Madness Review (4K) | Bowlers Paradise

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Just in time for nationals season, Columbia 300 brings us the all new Pure Madness. Following up on the surprisingly discontinued Madness, this one features the same fast spinning and mildly asymmetric Craze core, but this time is wrapped the the HK22 version of their ERT solid coverstock finished to 2000 grit out of the box.

For the layout I went with a middle of the road 5x4.25x3 2LS layout. Being that the design intent seems similar to that of the Absolute power from storm, I went with the same layout that I had on that one. I tend to like the less asymmetric balls personally, so my hope was to have the pure madness capture some of the magic the absolute had while taming down the midlane read a bit.

AND ON THE LANES…I got some of what I had hoped for, but not everything. The Pure Madness is significantly more cover dominant than I had expected, so on the good shots, the roll is true and the ball carries really well. But on the shots that weren’t so good, the cover strength either burned the ball up or just got tied up in carry down. If I threw it slow, that helped, and once some oil soaked into the cover it livened up a bit, but the performance was not what I expected.

However, I don’t actually see that as a bad thing, because what the Pure Madness really gives us is a true slow response HK22 ball with a solid cover. To date, there haven’t been many of those as most of the HK22 attention has gone to the pearls which has improved their performance tremendously. Now the brands of brunswick can translate that into their solid covers and create even more great shapes like this one.

On the list of downsides for the pure madness, Even though I think its a great step in the right direction for Columbia 300, that step is geared towards a pretty specific type of player with the pure madness. This one will be pretty versatile and good for a lot of different styles, but I think the gap between those who like this ball and those who love it will be very wide, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Before we do, I’d consider pairing this one with a Piranha Powercor and a Brunswick Endeavor for a pretty basic but highly versatile 3 ball arsenal. The Pure Madness would be the strongest and slowest off the spot, and the Endeavor would be just about the exact opposite of that. That leaves the Piranha in the middle to cover that gap and with how versatile that piece can be, I think that set of 3 options would treat many bowlers really well.

Jumping to our crossbrand comparisons, let’s start with the aforementioned Absolute Power. Here you can see how the Absolute power is much more core dominant, being cleaner through the front part of the lane, but revving up strong in the midlane. The Pure Madness is much more cover dominant and that’s pretty clearly in their unique shapes.

Then I took a peek at the Evoke from Motiv and I see two things. One, the cover on the Evoke is slightly stronger and didn’t shine up as fast as the Pure Madness. Two, the shape feels more like a symmetrical piece being rounder in the midlane and off the spot. That’s not a good or bad thing, but if you want more continuation through the pins, the Evoke has a slight edge.

But with that, here’s my recommendations on types of bowlers that I think would match up well with this piece. The first is female bowlers. I think this ball was specifically designed with the female bowler in mind because everytime I backed off my ball speed and rev rate, the performance improved. Having a soft hand at the bottom is what good female bowlers are good at, and this Pure Madness will reward them for having it.

The second type of bowler I think would match up well with the Pure Madness are bowlers with a medium amount of axis tilt. While this encapsulates most bowlers, this is more of a warning for those with high or low tilt. I see the Pure Madness struggling to match up with non-traditional ball rolls, but excelling with the traditional bowler.

The Pure Madness from Columbia 300 is a great step forward for solid hk22 releases, and in the right hands, will help you take the next step up in your average.

00:00 - The Columbia 300 Pure Madness
00:51 - Bowling
02:36 - Crossbrand Comparisons
03:16 - Recommendations
03:57 - SUBSCRIBE

[b.r.fowler]

There is a typo on the Pure Madness’ differential: it’s 0.048, not 0.058.

[thebigeasy]

Right on Ben! Another awesome review. Appreciate your thoroughness and honestly in your reviews they really help with making choices. Thanks.

[MichaelScience]

Bought this one and immediately shined the cover a good bit with a 4000 grit pad on a drill attachment. It was absolute money in league this week and I'm excited to see how long it stays in the bag.

[jpoconnell]

Looking forward to the Archetype Hybrid review!

[andrewweltlich]

I haven't thrown this one yet, but I've thrown the original Madness quite a bit. The original is an overlooked gem that more people should try out.

[miguelm]

Hey Ben, great video. I was wondering, when you throw other balls for comparison, like the Evoke in this video, is it possible to put the details of it above the graphic that shows the numbers of the Pure Madness? I think that could be helpful for some folks. At least for me it would be.

Loved seeing the Pure Madness in action

[MrShadowbquick]

Are you guys gonna do the 900 Global Sublime? :). I love your reviews and I’d want to see your take on that ball

[James-lkmr]

I was thinking of getting one of these. Im just not sure. Im okd school style. Up the back of the ball mostly, speed dominate. Currently using pin down Mindset, and a pin up Jackel ghost. Not sure rev rate never check but did have someone's opinion saying probably 350ish. Dont know for sure. Been bowling since Earl and Roth were the tops.

[ralphblackburn]

Are you guys with bowlers supply in york pa?

[aaronbailey]

How’s the pure madness compare to the outer limits hybrid or dark web hybrid

[robertbryant]

All these ball reviews confuse me. Everyone tells me I bowl all wrong being 60 and bowling what the call a hockey stick style. Really like my motiv fatal venom. But want a new ball any ideals what to get.

[bigd]

Sounds like the dv8 collision. Burns up too early and flattens out