New Cricket .25…Taking the Next Step
I decided recently to “bump things up a notch,” and buy a Kalibre Cricket in .25. For the first time I have gotten lucky with an airgun purchase. The Marauder was a bit anemic out of the box and it took adding a hopped up valve to fix that and the Condor has had accuracy issues which, I am in the process of fixing..so all good there. Don’t get me wrong; both are great guns.
But the Cricket arrived after work yesterday, and out of the box…all I can say is, I’m VERY impressed! Solid as a rock…beautiful clean lines…all black tactical look. I think had Borat been here, he might have said: “Great Success…She’s a Nice.”
I cleaned the barrel first thing, (it was filthy), then set it up with the Aeon 6-24X50 that I bought as well. It was chrony’d and checked for accuracy before leaving the retailer and here are their numbers, with JSB 25.4:
969.4; 969.7; 970.1; 970.1; 971.9; 972.7; 970.1; 972.5; 969.5; 974.1
After the set up, I threw a target up at 30 yards. Shot the first shot…right on the bull…held my breath, thinking…please, please, please be a good one and the second shot was right in there too. One flyer or I might have pulled it, then it settled down into grouping like a Mofo-D! :8:
I quickly shot the remaining 5-shot groups (JSB EK’s) before losing the light.
First shots right out of the box….(not sure why I only shot the 3rd bulls-eye once….must have gotten overly excited)
This is looking to be a real “shooter”….good power and accurate…oh, and the trigger? For the first time I understand what people are talking about when they use phrases “crisp” and “breaks like a glass rod.” Not touching the factory setting…works for me. Wonder how this gun will be once broken in. Couldn’t be happier.
For the remainder of the evening I sat on the couch, with it in my lap just looking at it….LOL.
KPinNC
All Replies
I would use a 17 rod.
it is a sectioned steel 22 rod on my .25. but I do not suggest sectioned unless you can make sure it is straight. I use steel cleaning rods because anything softer can pick up other hardened metals and gauge the full length of your barrel repeatedly until the shard is worn down or finally breaks free. where as steel rods will just push it out of the way so that the patch can pick the shard up. or you could use a couple of cleaning pellets before hand to ensure the bore is clear of all debris before using a coated or aluminum rod.
Chad, what rod did you use? I’m thinking I might do this on my .22… I’ve got about 800 or so shots thru it and the groups are starting to spread out a bit. On my .25, after 1500 rounds it has not lost any accuracy, and when I cleaned the barrel a month or so ago, it wasn’t really that dirty. Earnest polished it when he did my tune up.
nope just a cleaner barrel for longer :biggrinn:
Chad2, what were your results? Did you see a tightening of your groups after lapping?
KPinNC
I got some lapping compounds off of ebay I used a 22 cal brush wrapped with paper towel on my .25 cricket and did about 10 strokes on each 14 micron past then 10 micron past then 7 micron past.
Makes perfect sense..thanks!
The crown is the most critical spot in the barrel. If you make 30 or 40 strokes with a patch and push it out or pull it out of the crown, it will “polish” the exit hole essentially and bell-mouth it making the exit of the pellet looser and sloppy, opening up your groups… been a bunch of powder burners ruined from this very thing just by cleaning and allowing the rod to rub the outer edge of the crown… folks can’t understand why their accuracy went to crap after cleaning the barrel… It can be corrected by recrowning. Best not to damage the crown in the first place… protect it! It is especially true with these pellet gun barrels that are choked… max choke is at the crown.
Ha! This Thread really has no particular topic …its basically, “hey look at me and my cool new gun”….so not a problem to stray a bit…uh, 7ft + Gar, shot in the street??!! What’s wrong with that?? NOTHIN’ that’s WHAT!!! :biggrinn: I’m all for seeing that! Not to worry about a hijack….
Thanks for the input on lapping…what happens if you go past the crown? I wouldn’t think that a fine abrasive would do that much damage? :confusedn:
I’ll wait and see…it might not need it…plus I’m too new to this gun to go tearing into it…though I’m tempted…it ain’t no Marauder 😉
Now on with the stories…
KPinNC
Earnest tuned my .25 so I’m not sure what springs actually came with the gun, but I got springs back with it… I bought a HST adjuster from him for my .22 and it came with 3 springs. My .22 is shooting so well that I haven’t touched it yet. I too am of the mindset that if it ain’t broke…
I’ve got about 800 or so rounds thru my .22 and will likely just clean the barrel before much more shooting and see if it continues to group and hold zero/poi after a few post cleaning shots…
As far as lapping the barrel, you probably can “polish” it easily enough, which is what that describes in your post. The key to a good polishing job is to never let your patch broach the crown of the barrel and do not use any harsh solvents after you polish it. just dry patch it, then light lubrication with something like Balistol or synthetic motor oil (such as Mobil 1). What you are wanting to do is reducing leading. If you use harsh solvents, you will be removing the polish deposits and oil deposits in the micro pores of the barrel internal surface, thus providing a place for lead to deposit.
And thanks for getting your thread back on subject… sorry about the hi-jack! :winkn: :whistle:
All I can say is I’m glad I never swam in the Trinity River…sheesh! Good stories, good pictures!
And on another note…. I’m reading stuff about the Cricket on the TAG like crazy. Trying to learn as much as I can
Two quick questions.
1. Were there extra springs in the box when you got the gun? Was it the same spring or a lighter one? Mine didn’t come with any but I’m seeing that some do.
2. Are any of you guys lapping your barrels? I’m not going to do anything til I see what she does after break in. I’m getting pretty good results and I’m of the mind if it ain’t broke…..
If I do lap, I thought about using Greg Davis’ MRod .22 method over on the Yellow:
“If you are hand lapping JB bore paste can do more damage than good, Try some mothers metal polish smeared well into a paper towel use a .177 bronze bore brush to retain the pre-treated strip of towel that’s wrapped around the brush sufficiently to be a snug fit in the bore, Stroke slowly not allowing your patch to exit either end. Six or seven passes then unroll from brush push a cleaning pad thru and resume treatment. Usually twenty-five-thirty strokes is sufficient.”
Comments anyone? What proceedure do you use or could you post a link to a good lapping proceedure? Tussen Tak
OMG Slick that’s one BIG fish. I can’t imagine what it felt like bringing that huge fish to shore.
Yes, they are tough birds. Do you guys have Rio’s or Easterns? Where I hunt is actually on the Rio Grande so obviously, we have Rios… and lots of them… We are allowed 4 per season… spring or fall. Anytime deer season is open, turkey is also open, even youth seasons, plus we have a spring season that starts this weekend and goes thru the first weekend in May… Turkey hunting is actually my favorite and in the spring… love calling them in. Just like hunting elk during the rut… only with that, the turkeys weigh 800 or more pounds… :8:
Those do a real job on their poor heads. We have archery deer and turkey that overlap in the fall and my son shot a gobbler in the chest with a Rage that basically gutted it completely. The thing took off and flew about 25 yards with no insides. 😆
Ours starts Saturday! I won’t be going until after Easter… Going for #31 with my bow… Love those Guillotines! Make for some fantastic videos.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Thanks Chad. I have that string trimmer string cleaning do-jigger with the different colored discs that I clean my barrel with and it works well for cleaning. I guess I could use that to clean it before roding it. I also thought about tying a patch in the middle of a string like braided fishing line and just use that to pull the polish back and forth. This .22 shoots lights out, but the barrel does seem to get dirty quickly for some reason and then the groups open up. I’m thinking a good polish would reduce this.