Update: Re-drilled CODE X picture is added. The numbers are 2 1/2 pin-PAP, 6 3/8 MB-PAP and 1 1/2 pin buffer.

It has been a long time since I drilled a ball with a short pin and "backwards" drilling angle (CG and MB left of pin) and had it roll good, but the CODE X has turned out better than I could have imagined. It still corners well, but much more controllably than with my original strong drilling. 

And it has really worked good in practice on a house shot and in the recent PBA Regional in Marengo, Illinois, where the PBA CP3 42 lane pattern was used that basically is a house shot, with more than a 10-1 ratio.

I was able to stay to the right and play along the oil line and, most importantly, when I got it right into the dry it didn't jump high — something invaluable on wet-dry conditions.

I see my re-drilled CODE X being a regular part of my arsenal!

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The Storm CODE X is a ball that makes me wish I was 10 or 20 years younger: It is wickedly strong and I could really have taken advantage of its motion better when I had more ball speed.

Not that the CODE X hasn’t been good for me — I just think I’d get more use out of it with more ball speed.

The very first game I used my CODE X I rolled the first 10 strikes with it in a league session on the World Bowling Rome Sport pattern. I was playing fairly direct just to the right of 10-board at the arrows, and was most surprised by the push I had with such a strong ball on shots I got a little left.

My ball got stuck in the pit after the 10th strike and after about a 5-minute delay I rolled my 11th shot wide and left a 2-4-5, which I chopped for 286.

I had to move in the second game and the CODE X was burning too much in the track and I lost reaction. This is where more ball speed would have come in handy.

The CODE BLACK is one of my all-time favorite balls, and I am on my second one. As I said in my CODE BLACK review, to me it's the most angular asymmetric ball Storm/Roto Grip has ever made, and it either works or tells you to put it away, which is something I really appreciate. 

The CODE BLACK has never been a good ball for me on house shots as it’s simply too strong when it makes its move. Instead, it has been most effective on tougher shots where it gives me skid, flip and miss room right when no other ball can.

The CODE X features the same RAD4 core as the CODE BLACK, but with a solid R2S cover instead of a pearl R2S, or the hybrid R2S in the CODE RED, which for some reason was nothing special for me.

I chose my standard pin-up strong drilling for the CODE X, with the pin over the bridge and the mass bias kicked right at about a 60 to 75-degree angle. With my PAP numbers of 4 over and 5/8 up, the numbers X are 4 5/8 pin-PAP, 3 7/8 MB-PAP, and 2 5/8 buffer. No weight hole was needed as the CG was inside the pin-MB line and came out in the grip center.

The RG is 2.55 for 14 pounds (2.49 in 16 and 2.50 in 15), the differential is 0.056 for 14 (0.056 for 16 and 0.058 for 15), and the MB differential is 0.014 for 14 (0.022 for 16 and 0.020 for 15).

The result for the CODEs is a lot of torque: You can almost feel the ball revving up off your hand in a motion that is more “I want to flip” than “I want to roll early.”

This is a ball I cannot play down and in with — I’m always having to give it away at least a little bit, even in that first effort where I was playing fairly direct.

Like the CODE BLACK, The CODE X has not been a good house shot ball for me as it just reads the wet-dry too hard, but I’ve had a couple of experiences where I’ve been able to open up the lane on heavier oil shots where no other ball allowed me to do that.

As you might imagine, it's not a benchmark ball I use a lot. Instead, it's one of those balls that fits a key hole in my tournament arsenal. 

I’m curious how a control drilling like a 2-inch pin might do on the CODE X — perhaps providing more control but still with pop downlane.

The CODE X cover comes 3,000 Abalon, and I’ve taken it down to 1,500 with my Turbo Sandbagger and that makes it roll earlier but doesn’t appreciably reduce the motion when it makes its move.

I would recommend the CODE X for anyone who wants a strong ball with some wicked motion.

The only people it wouldn’t be good for are those who can’t handle such motion and don’t like to give the ball away from the pocket.