Predator 314 2 is the nutz...........

genomachino

genomachino

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just need to share this with a few AZers.

I'm always trying to help players with their games and just got my head out of my butt and bought a 314 2 predator shaft.

As many of you know I sell a video that I claim will help cut your misses in half. And there players all over the place that don't even try to learn this even though there are 100's of testimonials all over the internet telling eveyone how much it has helped their games.

The problem is I listened to too many players saying how these laminated shafts would screw up my game and how much different they played and so forth and so forth.

These players were right though. It did screw up my game on a few types of shots. But it helped me make balls on all the other shots which was alot or most of them. it took all the work out of it. Didn't have to keep adjusting for the flex or squirt.

And they were right also. It did play different. It played much better and much more consistent.

I quit playing for about 7 years from 1999 to about 2007. I think this is when they came out with these shafts.

Since I started playing alot since Jan 2009 I thought it was just alot of hype. Plus I thought they were kind of expensive.

Granted, I played pretty good with an old wood shaft but here's what made me see the light.

I was in Fargo for a tourny about a month ago. I gambled on their 9 foot gabriel for about 10 hours. I was really fried. I was ready to just lay down and call it a night.

A young man that was watching was there and asked me something about perfect Aim. As everyone knows on the forum when it comes to that I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut.

As tired as I was i gave him about a 1 hour Perfect Aim lesson for free.

As we were finishing he told me how much he liked his predator shaft and how well it played. I asked him if I could try it. He said sure, I had just gave him a free lesson.

He told me to shoot right at the ball with no adjusting for any flex or squirt. I couldn't believe it. I made everything no matter what spin I put on the ball.

I was so tired from adjusting for everything with my old shaft that I was missing some shots I should have made towards the end.

I pretty much ran 4 or 5 racks with his cue and it was so simple. No figuring or adjusting. Just point and aim as Perfect as I could no matter what english I used and in the hole the ball went.

I was amazed. This is why these young guys are all shooting so straight.

Well Guess what? The playing field just got leveler. I bought one of these babies about a week ago and I'm about to get rid of all my other shafts.

Do yourself a favor and really try one of these laminated shafts for yourself. I don't know how the other ones play like but if it's like this,I recommend not even trying it. just buy one and put the rest of your old shaft in the closet.

Or better yet sell them on the internet to all these non believers.

I still can't believe it took me 2 years almost to wise up.

And no, I don't even have any stock in the company but I wish I did.

it's a winner all the way.............
 
Nice input, i myself just got a used Schon that comes with 314-2 that was just delivered this afternoon. Cant wait to try it tomorrow :D
 
I too am a believer brother!

It took me a long time to get used to a pred 314 after having played with a turned down meucci for to long during my formative years.But there is no way im going back to deflection.

I have hit with a 314-2,only a few balls but it seamed the same as a 314 but with more zing.

I have heard rumblings around the pool room that zero or low deflection shafts are bogus and I know many people went back to 1 piece maple.Others have tried low deflection and couldn,t make the adjustement.Also I have witnessed people picking up a pred shaft and shooting thier best pool ever from ball one.

I cannot say wich is better for any player but I think when you explain that you do not have to adjust for squirt when using side-spin it makes alot of sence.

I think that is great that you were able to learn from one of your students.
 
I hit the 314 2 for a while about a year ago. I didn't like the feel, felt dead to me. I had some trouble with speed control that definitely outweighed the decreased deflection/squirt. That would probably changed if I had the time to get used to the shaft. The Tiger Pro X however, was complete money straight out of the box. I make everything with that shaft, and have no issues with the feel of the shaft or speed control. I love the thing.

I'm with you on the low deflection shafts, I just ride a different horse.
 
well six months from now once the "new" factor wears off and your game is what it always has been...

you will look at your $200 piece of plywood in a new light....


or you could be like me... it took me until the ferrule shattered on a mid range draw shot miscue... and you really get to see how flimsy they are...


at that point you will want your old shafts back... don't toss them
 
just don't try breaking with it... or curving balls... or masse... or jumping... or extreme spin or speed....the shaft simply can't handle what "they" term as abuse and I term as the job of a pool cue...
 
Sorry you had trouble.............

softshot said:
just don't try breaking with it... or curving balls... or masse... or jumping... or extreme spin or speed....the shaft simply can't handle what "they" term as abuse and I term as the job of a pool cue...
Click to expand...

it sounds like they didn't stand behind it.

All I know is I shot a couple of shots with the old shaft and couldn't stand it. It was too much work compared to just aiming where I was shooting with no adjusting.

At the level I'm playing at I can't even think about going back.

That is too bad though. I'm sure the other laminated shafts play well also.

Jacoby has a hybrid that plays well I heard.

Good luck geno...............
 
Geno,

always a good thing if somebody takes a shaft/cue and it works immediatley well for him.
But in my opinion the 314² shafts have too much weight-differences.
Have had here 3 shafts for testing-
95 gr
105 gr
118 gr

and this sure doesn t sound like reproducable craftmenship and quality.

lg
Ingo
 
I agree...........

Ratta said:
Geno,

always a good thing if somebody takes a shaft/cue and it works immediatley well for him.
But in my opinion the 314² shafts have too much weight-differences.
Have had here 3 shafts for testing-
95 gr
105 gr
118 gr

and this sure doesn t sound like reproducable craftmenship and quality.

I've hardly missed a ball in a week. At least a makeable one.

lg
Ingo
Click to expand...

I've had alot of trouble in the past with the wood shafts. The more rings the heavier the wood. It can make a noticeable difference in the overall weight and balance.

But for right now I'm as happy as a fox in a chicken coup.
 
I had two 314 shafts that I bought at the same time,I never wieghed them but they played identicle to each-other and I was predissposed to bellieve that they might not.I sold one of the shafts and the one I have now is over 10 years old and has hit,who knows a million balls?also I used to break with it and did so for several years until I got tired of the abuse on my tip(s).My 314 still has the origional ferule allthought it has had some abuse,mostly due to my failed attempts to install my own tips.
 
1st gen shaft vs. 2nd

I bought a predator sneaky uniloc stainless steel joint cue with a LN 1st generation shaft with a Moori med tip on it. I bought it just to see what all the LD fuss was about having never played with anything LD. I'd like to know if there is much difference in the way the 1st and 2nd gen shafts play from someone that knows. I bought the cue with the 1st gen shaft because I heard they were made in the U.S.A. The 2nd gen is made in China? The shaft is 4.1 and dead straight. The butt has some dings and the whole cue together is right at 19oz.
 
314-2 shafts

I got tired of guessing how much to allow for deflection and I tried a 314-2 shaft and now that's all I play with. I tried an OB-1 shaft also and it played fine, but there's something about the predator that I like a little better. If I buy a new cue the first thing I do is get a predator 314-2 shaft for it. I'm sold on them and I completely understand your explanation in the OP.

James
 
Hi Gene. Not 100% sure if you know Mat Strong. But if you do, I had a conversation with him a while back about Predator shafts. He finally got one and pretty much summed it up perfect. To quote him, "It felt like I was cheating."
 
softshot said:
well six months from now once the "new" factor wears off and your game is what it always has been...

you will look at your $200 piece of plywood in a new light....


or you could be like me... it took me until the ferrule shattered on a mid range draw shot miscue... and you really get to see how flimsy they are...


at that point you will want your old shafts back... don't toss them
Click to expand...

I know that they had a recall on some shafts that they put out because of ferrule issues. I've had my 314x2 now for 3 years and have never had any issues with it. I can imagine that would really ruin your day though having that happen.
 
I play with something in between. Less deflection than regular maple but more than Predator and its a laminated shaft as well. I feel having a little bit of deflection helps on some shots that you need the cue ball to just get by an obstacle that you would need a slight masse stroke with a predator shaft
 
It's not the lamination....

genomachino said:
I just need to share this with a few AZers.

I'm always trying to help players with their games and just got my head out of my butt and bought a 314 2 predator shaft.

As many of you know I sell a video that I claim will help cut your misses in half. And there players all over the place that don't even try to learn this even though there are 100's of testimonials all over the internet telling eveyone how much it has helped their games.

The problem is I listened to too many players saying how these laminated shafts would screw up my game and how much different they played and so forth and so forth.

These players were right though. It did screw up my game on a few types of shots. But it helped me make balls on all the other shots which was alot or most of them. it took all the work out of it. Didn't have to keep adjusting for the flex or squirt.

And they were right also. It did play different. It played much better and much more consistent.

I quit playing for about 7 years from 1999 to about 2007. I think this is when they came out with these shafts.

Since I started playing alot since Jan 2009 I thought it was just alot of hype. Plus I thought they were kind of expensive.

Granted, I played pretty good with an old wood shaft but here's what made me see the light.

I was in Fargo for a tourny about a month ago. I gambled on their 9 foot gabriel for about 10 hours. I was really fried. I was ready to just lay down and call it a night.

A young man that was watching was there and asked me something about perfect Aim. As everyone knows on the forum when it comes to that I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut.

As tired as I was i gave him about a 1 hour Perfect Aim lesson for free.

As we were finishing he told me how much he liked his predator shaft and how well it played. I asked him if I could try it. He said sure, I had just gave him a free lesson.

He told me to shoot right at the ball with no adjusting for any flex or squirt. I couldn't believe it. I made everything no matter what spin I put on the ball.

I was so tired from adjusting for everything with my old shaft that I was missing some shots I should have made towards the end.

I pretty much ran 4 or 5 racks with his cue and it was so simple. No figuring or adjusting. Just point and aim as Perfect as I could no matter what english I used and in the hole the ball went.

I was amazed. This is why these young guys are all shooting so straight.

Well Guess what? The playing field just got leveler. I bought one of these babies about a week ago and I'm about to get rid of all my other shafts.

Do yourself a favor and really try one of these laminated shafts for yourself. I don't know how the other ones play like but if it's like this,I recommend not even trying it. just buy one and put the rest of your old shaft in the closet.

Or better yet sell them on the internet to all these non believers.

I still can't believe it took me 2 years almost to wise up.

And no, I don't even have any stock in the company but I wish I did.

it's a winner all the way.............
Click to expand...

Geno, the lamination makes for a more consistent shaft, but it's the low end mass that provides the reduced squirt.

The predator LD shafts use a drilled out foam cored end of the shaft with a smaller ferule that reduces end mass.

The problem that most people who dislike the feel of the hit is that it feels hollow (since it is) it gives very little feed back.

some of the other LD shafts are less like this. People I've talked to like the hit of the OB1 and I like the hit of the mcdermott I-2 shaft.

They all use the same principle of low end mass to decrease squirt. I'm designing an LD laminated shaft that I'm hoping will overcome this as well and provide consistency and better feel. We'll see how it goes.

Jaden
 
genomachino said:
I just need to share this with a few AZers.

I'm always trying to help players with their games and just got my head out of my butt and bought a 314 2 predator shaft.

As many of you know I sell a video that I claim will help cut your misses in half. And there players all over the place that don't even try to learn this even though there are 100's of testimonials all over the internet telling eveyone how much it has helped their games.

The problem is I listened to too many players saying how these laminated shafts would screw up my game and how much different they played and so forth and so forth.

These players were right though. It did screw up my game on a few types of shots. But it helped me make balls on all the other shots which was alot or most of them. it took all the work out of it. Didn't have to keep adjusting for the flex or squirt.

And they were right also. It did play different. It played much better and much more consistent.

I quit playing for about 7 years from 1999 to about 2007. I think this is when they came out with these shafts.

Since I started playing alot since Jan 2009 I thought it was just alot of hype. Plus I thought they were kind of expensive.

Granted, I played pretty good with an old wood shaft but here's what made me see the light.

I was in Fargo for a tourny about a month ago. I gambled on their 9 foot gabriel for about 10 hours. I was really fried. I was ready to just lay down and call it a night.

A young man that was watching was there and asked me something about perfect Aim. As everyone knows on the forum when it comes to that I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut.

As tired as I was i gave him about a 1 hour Perfect Aim lesson for free.

As we were finishing he told me how much he liked his predator shaft and how well it played. I asked him if I could try it. He said sure, I had just gave him a free lesson.

He told me to shoot right at the ball with no adjusting for any flex or squirt. I couldn't believe it. I made everything no matter what spin I put on the ball.

I was so tired from adjusting for everything with my old shaft that I was missing some shots I should have made towards the end.

I pretty much ran 4 or 5 racks with his cue and it was so simple. No figuring or adjusting. Just point and aim as Perfect as I could no matter what english I used and in the hole the ball went.

I was amazed. This is why these young guys are all shooting so straight.

Well Guess what? The playing field just got leveler. I bought one of these babies about a week ago and I'm about to get rid of all my other shafts.

Do yourself a favor and really try one of these laminated shafts for yourself. I don't know how the other ones play like but if it's like this,I recommend not even trying it. just buy one and put the rest of your old shaft in the closet.

Or better yet sell them on the internet to all these non believers.

I still can't believe it took me 2 years almost to wise up.

And no, I don't even have any stock in the company but I wish I did.

it's a winner all the way.............
Click to expand...

I agree with you and i cant believe more people dont play with them.
I know you can used to the original shaft of the cue but there's still the
guessing involved .I have used ob-1 and 2 but i think the 314 is better.
(314 less adjusting)
 
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