Quick session with the cricket
This morning I went out for a quick paper punching session before the harsh South African sun gets high in sky.
I filled my Kalibrgun Cricket .25 to 220bar, cleaned the barrel with surgical spirits and got ready to send some lead.
The wind was quite strong blowing about 12-16km/h. I used shooting bags in the prone position. Not the most comfortable way, but it is stable and that matters most.
I shot three, 5 shot groups at 50m. All with JSB king 25gr straight out of the tin. I dont hunt much further than this, becuse I rarely have a stable platform. I mostly hunt out of the seated position, out of hand, or off some homemade shooting sticks.
The wind varied quite a bit, but I kept the same POA the whole time. Unforunatly I pulled one of the shots, but otherwise I am pretty happy with these 3 groups.
I would like to see what kind of groups you guys are getting.
Cheers from the other side of the world
David
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Gunzilla ? Are you Gay ??
Before my barrels were lapped by Ernest, my patches would come out black and with lead particles covering the patches. Now after lapping I’ll shoot a tin “500” pellets between cleaning and patches come out with just a small dark stain with hardly ever any lead particles. That’s using my patchworm with Gunzilla solvent.
A clean ( ish ) barrel is the key for accuracy. Think about it : Every time you force a chunk of lead thru a bore it’ll leave traces behind. Those layers add up pretty fast. You also loose the sharp edges of the rifling since those are covered up in lead.
So – now you have two things you don’t want : A tighter bore and that with dull edges for the rifling.
Thank God we have the Smooth Twist since it adresses both flaws at once ….. NOT !
I will test this later, shoot a group or two, then plink for like 50 shots and then a new group to see what happens to accuracy. Until I find the best “shot count before cleaning”
A half a clip – at the most.
Cricket I have immediately accuracy back. I do not need any warm up pellets. My barrel shoot best when is clean 🙄
So how is the accuracy directly after cleaning? How much lead in does it need?
I will test this later, shoot a group or two, then plink for like 50 shots and then a new group to see what happens to accuracy. Until I find the best “shot count before cleaning”
I think it is not too much effort to clean after every use. If you have a nice cleaning kit and it causes beautiful accuracy it is worth the 5 minutes of cleaning.
I have not been cleaning after every session, but I will start once I get the patchworm
My cricket barrel .22 is need to clean every 60-100 pellets otherwise accuracy suffer. I got some idea what about buy a new barrel and tried if will be better? :biggrinn:
Yes Ville, I did order one from their website. There is no dealer in africa so it will take two weeks to get here.
If you clean after each session, do you only use a couple of patches?
I would say it is the key to get perfect groups. Some barrels are pickier than other. My first FX Royal in .22 never needed a cleaning and i never noticed any change if i cleaned it. This was my first PCP. When i started to compete i noticed cleaning is key and then i also bought some other guns (Daystate AW MCT, EdGun, Crickets,) and noticed that a clean every 50-100 pellet is just what it needs to shoot real tight.
My .25 Cricket needed cleaning every 100-125 shots . The .177 Compact wasn’t as demanding but i cleaned it after every session. The Vulcan too goes longer between cleanings but i always clean all my Guns after a session of shooting them.
You really should try the Patchworm.
I have been using a cleaning rod with VFG felts to clean the barrel, because every time I use a home-made pull through it either breaks or something else.
Although the cleaning rod with the felts work well, it is a pain in the neck to remove the stock and breech every time.
Is it normal to have to clean your barrel very regularly to keep the groups tight?
Doorns, you’ll love the patchworm even if we’re idiots……
No excuses !! 😉
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I did try to plish my bore a couple of months ago, but I had NO IDEA when I had polished enough (because I did not use JB bore paste like you guys recommended, I used VFG bore paste. I did not know how the abraisivness of these two compared) . So I may or my not have polished my bore successfully. But my guess is not, because my accuracy slowly degrades after about 60 shots.