EDgun Matador R3 versus Kalibr Cricket, my comparison….
Hi guys,
Warning for those who don’t like images:
This is going to be a thread with lots of graphics….. 😉
As promised, I’ll try to share with you my personal opinion and findings while comparing these beauties:
As some of you may know, I have two Matador Std R3s and I have one Cricket (with access to another one). All are cal.22……
My wait for my Matadors should be well documented on this very forum…..
The Crickets were a part of a group buy masterminded from Europe somewhere. The Crickets were shipped in parts to Norway and reassembled by my good blueprinting friend Egon Olsen. In the process he had to remove a “restrictor” screw that had been put into the guns before shipment. Most probably because of Power limitation rules at origin….
The Crickets arrived with no documents whatsoever. No instructions, – no nothing. I don’t think this is standard procedure though…..
The Cricket weighs less than the R3, – and is approx 5 cm shorter. Not a lot, – but overall it makes the Cricket even easier to handle than the already tiny R3….
The side by side comparison was done from my modest little shooting table at my summerhouse:
– and the shooting range is here, – with my target set up at 46mts:
Why 46 mts ? Simply because I could not pull my shooting stand further back right now. A huge tree has fallen during winter, and all the branches have taken up my space… 👿
First problem: How to fill the f…. Cricket ?
The fillprobe nut is so tiny that a standard foster coupling gasket will not seal. The entire probe is small, – and you fear you may break it while trying to tighten it:
The above (sorry for the image quality) is a comparison between ED’s, Cricket’s and Falcon’s fill probes. You can probably see what I mean….
As I could not make a standard Fostergasket fit, Egon had to make special gaskets that we fitted into the Foster coupling itself. Not an ideal solution, – and I have no clue how long it will last…….. 🙄
On the fill probe: Matador 1, Cricket 0 points.
Air filling:
I honestly dont like any of the solutions that these two manufacturers have chosen………..
The Cricket people have come up with the worst. To expose the hole for the fillprobe, – you have to slide forward the tip of the reservoir. But that stupid tip is retained by a spring, – and slides back with a smack once you let go:
If you’re not careful when taking the fillprobe back out, the tip will spring back and ruin the fill probe O-rings faster than I can say my name….
While filling, the “tip” rests on the previously mentioned small nut. And there’s not a lot clearance. So a bigger nut (for those with lathe skills), – is not going to help you much. A thicker nut might…….
In short: A very stupid filling system, – BUT once you know how to operate it and care is taken, – at least it covers the hole when filling is over.
The Matador does not come with anything to cover the filling hole at all:
I use tape right now, – but a plug of some sort would be good….. 😉
My preferred system would be that of Falcon:
The tip of the reservoir has been turned into a curled “collar” that you rotate to expose the hole. Simple, easy and effective. And few moving parts that may break or go astray……….
Now, I have no idea how much air I can fill into the Cricket, – and the gun gauge certainly does not help much:
I trust the gauge on my fillkit, – and 3000 psi is roughly on the border between green and yellow…….
Points for airfill procedure: Matador 1, Cricket 0. In my opinion….. 😉
Cheers from Trygve 😀
To be continued……….. 😀
(if you so desire…… 😳 )
All Replies
Well just some additional information about it. The loading tray is not cylinder, it is cone shape, it means that when the probe with two O-rings is moving back and forward, the O-rings don’t touch the tray itself, and at the very end of the movement, they touch it for few last mm. of the movement. So, if everything goes well, those O-rings can stay working for tens thousand shots and more.
Let’s move on. From stock to action………. 😉
The R3 is equipped with a 47cm long specially designed LW-barrel. Made if I am not mistaken, – to ED’s own spesifications. It’s not easy to see as it has been fully shrouded. You need to take the gun apart to see the barrel…….
The Cricket is having a 45 cm long CZ-barrel, – parts of which are being exposed. It ends somewhere just in front of the stock inside it’s oversized shroud/moderator which by the way is easy to remove. The barrel end is threaded. Meaning that the barrel would probably accept another type of moderator. (I have not measured the threads).
Now the loading process:
The R3 is as easy to load as it gets:
The “Loading tray” will accept anything in terms of pellets, – including the “Polymags”. And you can load the R3 in complete darkness with your girlfriend on her knees in front of you doing her thing. And you may even load her with gloves on. The R3 I mean…
But it does take som effort to cock the thing. Was it OldGoat (Tedd) who had measured the cocking effort needed ? If I remember correctly, he said the R3s were heavier to cock than the 2.5s.
The R3 is definately not the smoothest bolt action rifle I’ve had. It’s nowhere near my Rapid for instance. Not only does it require some force to pull the bolt back, – but the bolt does not slide as smoothly as I would have wanted it to. Maybe some polishing of inners would help…
And being old as I am, – I must admit that I feel it in my hand after continuous shooting of some 250 pellets. Good exercise may be ????
Sliding the bolt forward is easier. It also reveals that the R3 has two O-rings on the rod:
As these O-rings travel with the rod in and out, – they will break in the end. But as I understand it, – they are very easy to replace…… 😉
The Cricket has no O-rings on the visible part of the rod. Instead the O-rings have been put inside the breech. How easily they can be replaced I don’t know as of now. What I do know is that anything that travels through them and into the barrel itself shall have to be very smoothly surfaced. Pellets with torn/uneven skirts may be a challenge in this respect.
The Cricket is designed as a side lever multishot, – and it comes with two 14 shots mags made of alloy and anodized black. The mags are 10 mm thick and look a bit like the HW-100 mags:
The mag does accept Polymags but the pellets rattle around in there, and the mag will not index with these pellets in place. However you may load one Polymag in the mag and use the rifle in single shot mode (!!!).
Below are three images of the mag/loading mechanism:
The side lever action is not anywhere near the HW-100 in smoothness. The latter you may flip back by a touch of a finger, – not so with the Cricket. It actually takes some effort to pull it back fully in order to cock the gun and index the mag. The bolt travels more freely than in the R3 though.
The little black knob/handle on the side is more important than it looks. It has three different positions. In the upper position, it is being used to control the axle around which the mag rotates. Pull the knob bacwards and it withdraws this axle and the mag falls out if you’re not careful. The mag release is a flimsy business until you get to know it. The mag can be inserted from all angles once the axle and probe have been withdrawn. It may also fall out in all the same directions. You need to practise a bit to get this under control….
The two lower posistions for the knob separates singleshot from multishot…..
In the above picture, – the singelshot mode has been activated. The bolt is in the rear position. What you see is part of the axle and the tip of the probe. You may now insert a pellet in the mag and put it in place. The mag will not index.
Complicated single shot I agree, – but it works. And I have no doubts that out there somewhere there are singleshot trays available for the Cricket.
Now the lower forward knob position:
Just above the axle in the image, there is a little steel “knife” or blade appearing. This is the indexing-pin. Once the mag has been properly inserted, this pin will rotate (index) the mag. The indexing is being activated by the side lever as you pull it fully back to cock the gun.
Here with mag in place and multishot mode:
And now I need a drink……. 😉
Commenst/questions anybody ?
😀
Just some thoughts, friend!
We’ll get there Kazzz, – but not tonight……. 😉
Zoco, maybe a good idea to let see how the barrel is connect, how to adjust speed, how to change probe o-rings, …
Just some thoughts, friend!
so far that spring loaded fill cap and cheap gauge face has kind of killed it for me 😉
You cannot say it for sure unless Trygve will stop torture us with giving information as we say in Russia one tea spoon per hour, and will finish his review to show the real picture of the comparison, or you buy Cricket yourself 🙂
no doubt Ed
even tho they are more usable, the safety mechs on the Tokarev rifle and Simonov carbine are mere trigger block affairs and prone to ADs if the trigger is worked to being overly light.
Agree Zoo is posting up some great info here
just about bought that Cricket that was on the Yellow a while back
from what I am seeing so far I am pleased I waited for my R3 instead 😉
Ok great! Sorry for interrupting :popcorn:
Sure it will be some day, but this thread is about a little different things 🙂 Let’s wait for new part of Trygve’s thoughts, I am interested….
Nice thread Zoco!
Ed, is there still a magazine assembly for the Edgun in the works?
To me, personally I do not trust on the safty on the weapon unless it block either hammer or sear, all the safty that block only trigger are quite dangerous things, you expect the gun is safe, but only trigger is safe and while fallen it can shoot. One of my friends had such an experience with Fabard powder gun, he was moving along in the forest, expecting some birds to shoot, the gun was cocked and on safty, when he reached some glade, he decided to set his bagpack strait, he carefully put his Fabarm on the stone and began to take off his bag pack, being lucky he put a gun the way when the barrels were directed between his legs, it shot and a good cone of small shots flew between his legs. When he disassemble the gun lately he found that the safty was broken, some manufacturing defect 🙂 I never put my guns on the safty especially if I have to move among other people.
“The Russians seem to be of the opinion that safety catches are for “chicken”. ” 😆 😆 😆
there has always been some commentary from us in the West regarding this
take for example the safety used on either the Mosin Nagant rifles or even the AK/AKM series
not the most ergonomic or usable of designs when it comes to their safety mechanics
Even the Poles had only a grip safety on their Radom 9mm pistols
One of my cousins who fought in the Great Patrotic War, {WWII} commented that he just left the bolt on his Nagant slightly ajar in combat as the safety was worse than useless in combat
I still remember my Grandfather scolding me that a safety was for children, a man knows when his finger should be on the trigger and when it should not
there is a great deal of difference in attitude historically on these matters between eastern and western cultures in my experience 😉
Thanks ED, – I will…….. 😉
Also I realize that this forum is being read by a lot of people who neither have seen a Matador R3 nor a Cricket in their entire life. Therefore what may be seen as obvious to some, – may not be that obvious to others….. 😉
So my friends, – skip reading if you already know….
To the rest of you: Stay tuned. There’s a lot more to come…..
😀
Funny thing but both stock for Kricket and Matador were made at the same place, Russian company GunStock Dream 🙂 Stock can differ due to the wood the company had at the moment of making stocks.
Keep going on, Trygve, that is very interesting to read!
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Question…and no, I’m not trying to nit pick things here or cause any problems…just an observation…It looks like the bolt and knob are pitted with rust…or is it just a little dirty? Everything else looks wicked clean/new, so I didn’t know what was up with the bolt knob and handle…