1.75" Canister or ball shells - what's better?

[MontanaMike]

Last year I shot mostly Excals and Commander-in-Chief from wfboom. I plan to use C-i-C again this year but is there another good alternative that I should try? I've looked at alot of videos but it's hard to tell if the 1.75" ball shells are better than canisters. What do you experienced pyros have to say?

[PyroManiacs]

Canisters, no doubt are better.

[ThorsThunder]

Cans for sure, ball shells are only good for a nice round break but have so much less comp than cans its not even close. The question is do you want loud big breaking shells, or round breaks?

[MontanaMike]

I'm just looking for a good variety. Have never used any ball shells since we started firing electronically...only canisters, so I'm thinking of mixing it up a little.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I have used mostly ball shells in my finale in the past. Usually "Spirit of Liberty" from WF Boom's sister company. They make an impressive finale when you send them all up at the same time.

Having said that, I prefer the cans when I'm shooting more slowly, for the reasons mentioned above. This year I'm going to be using nothing but cans for the finale just to compare/contrast with prior years.

[primetime347]

Canister shells all day long. I like Supernova, Hellcat, and Smoke n Mirrors are my favorite. I still buy wholesale ball shells to fill in gaps in my shows and for the kids to play with. ;)

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I still buy wholesale ball shells to fill in gaps in my shows and for the kids to play with. ;)

Lol... Huh??!

[fatcat]

For what it is worth, I have mixed canister and round shells in racks as both a starting and ending a show "sky puke" and the crowd seems to love it. But then again this is a neighborhood show and folks are just having a good time and are definitely not "pyro critics". Since they are observing for free, I will keep on doing it that way. If they want something better , then they can hire a 1.3 operator. LOL Bottom line, do what you want forget the critics

[countryboy7978]

If you ask me, I'll take ball shells over canisters any day. Canisters do have more composition by virtue of their larger internal volume, they tend to be louder in both launch and break but the sloppy breaks are a big reason i choose balls. There are lots of good ball shells available in legit 1.4 that will rival cans.
Winda Depth Alone is amazing, FOA Bullet Bombs/Bad Bombs are good for the money, of you can find older stock of beihai shells like Iron Revenger or the many rewraps you will not be disappointed. Phantom has a wasped ball kit called Dream Team that performs very well and their are a few newer Beihai/Kylin balls that are good bang for the buck.

[Rocketshooter]

General rule of thumb. Canisters are louder and sloppier. Balls shells are quieter buy symmetric. I use both for the above effects. As CB7978 states however, there are some really nice ball shells available. Kneppys Top Power shells as an example. Also, there are many egg shaped shells as well that hit harder but still have cleaner effects.

[shake the cove]

like the cans better but the kids like to tie 2,3 or 4 together for the ball shells:eek: but are limited by the length of the visco on each. They like it when the effect ( willow peony etc) are labeled on the shells so they can create their own display. Hey they have to start somewhere.

[pimpdaddee28]

If you just want a good display, ball shells are the way to go since the breaks are more symmetrical/organized. If you want to catch people's attention, canister shells are the way to go since they're louder. Plus, they're a better option for a finale, but it's always better to have a mixture of both ball shells and cans because you can't go wrong with either option.

[Kenny East]

My shows have both cans and balls. Cheap ball shells for filler/ finale... Quality ball shells used for presentation, like pattern shells, or mine to break shells... Also you really can't find double or triple break cans... Usually try to stay away from the triples or larger, the breaks/effects are quite smaller in those shells

[TexasPyro110]

I personally prefer canister shells to ball shells. Canisters have sloppy, but big breaks that are extremely loud. Ball shells, however have nice symmetrical breaks, but usually are a lot quieter. Fixin' to Fire shells by Shogun is a nice in between if you haven't already tried them. The only downside to these shells is that they are not labeled for effect. Hope I could help I'm sure your show will look great with either. It's really just your preference.

Fixin' to Fire Shells -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH-OvDElyls

[chriskrc]

I personally prefer canister shells to ball shells. Canisters have sloppy, but big breaks that are extremely loud. Ball shells, however have nice symmetrical breaks, but usually are a lot quieter. Fixin' to Fire shells by Shogun is a nice in between if you haven't already tried them. The only downside to these shells is that they are not labeled for effect. Hope I could help I'm sure your show will look great with either. It's really just your preference.

Fixin' to Fire Shells -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH-OvDElyls

Gotta say those were some pretty nice shells. I will say I prefer cans to ball shells but there are nice ball shells out there.

[PyroManiacs]

Fixin' to Fire seem to have a real nice break height too.

[Icooclast]

as already said on here, cans are my preference, so i agree there. they are usually louder, but not a perfectly round break. but ball shells will usually give you a perfectly round break. some enthousists prefer that to cans. and imo you were using the best shells there are: world class's excals. still haven't had any shells that were louder.