Taming the Cricket .25 (silence is golden)
I like some of you have nosy neighbors. I love to shoot the Cricket .25 at long range from the backyard but I also need absolute silence. I had bought the Clauge 2 piece moderator and I found that I only gained (or lost for that manner) 2 db from the factory Cricket shroud. The problem I found was Neil’s LDC is very effective but the replacement shroud is 15 db louder when compared to the factory Cricket shroud. The idea I had was what if I replaced the Cricket shroud end cap with a UNF threaded cap. Then I would get the best of both worlds. So here is the photo essay of my completed project. Removing the end cap requires some heat. A heat gun wasn’t cutting it so a torch was required. When heating the shroud be careful not to heat past 1 inch toward the muzzle end. The last baffle sits 1 inch from the muzzle and the cap butts up to it. All the baffles are epoxied to the shroud.
Original Cricket .25
Factory Shroud
Cricket with Clauge 2 piece
New end cap with 1/2X20 UNF
Removing Factory End Cap (my friend is more patient than I, so he was given the torch)
Replacing New Cap with 2 part epoxy
Completed end Cap
Cricket with Clauge LDC
The end result is an extremely quiet system that is so quiet all you can hear is the ping. Now all that’s left is to de-ping the hammer and I will have a fully silent gun.
6 feet from the muzzle with pellet:
factory: 104
Clauge 2 piece 102
Clauge shroud (no LDC) 117 db
New system 84 db
All Replies
What is an RAI ?
Keyser it is a shame that you did not contact me about this before making the assumption that the shroud did not work, from the figures you posted and the figures given to me by other customers it is obvious there is a clipping problem with the shroud. I had some problems with the earlier shrouds because of not leaving enough clearance to compensate for the irregularities in the carbon fiber tube. My latest shrouds for the Crickets have the internals made out of a solid piece of aluminum with the chambers milled out and the threads cut so that the shroud screws onto the barrel like the factory shroud. I even tried making internals identical to the Cricket internals but they were not as quiet as the factory shroud, my conclusion was that the carbon fiber tube is not such a good sound insulator as the thicker aluminum. The new one piece internals have all but eliminated any clipping problems so if you wish to send back the original shroud to me I will gladly modify it and install the threaded internals for you.
Most of my customers have told me that the 2 piece shrouds are on a par with their Marauders so it sounds like you got one with an alignment problem. PM me if you do not have my details for returning it.
I urge customers to contact me first before just assuming the shroud or LDC does not work, my designs are proven to work, so when I see figures like the ones you posted then there is a definite problem. As with all makers I am constantly working to improve on my originals designs, the first ones were made as a matter of urgency because customers wanted something right away, but over time they have evolved and are much better now than the originals. I also think that the Cricket shrouds are very effective so I have been recommending customers just have me modify their original shroud and add a threaded end piece and thread protector to it. But there are always going to be those who want the carbon fiber 2 piece shrouds just for the looks and weight advantage. All the best, Neil.
Without cutting the Clauge open it looks like it’s missing the last two baffles when comparing it to the cricket shroud
OK, so how many baffles are there in that inefficient shroud?
There are not enough baffles. The carbon fiber shroud is mostly just a platform for the LDC to screw on.
Do you know the internals of your Carbon shroud which was less efficient than Cricket’s one? I really would like to know what the problem was – I do not want to commit the same mistake.
I don’t know what happens with my home made moderator. The hole is aligned and the moderator works when I remove 2 baffles. I have closely inspected each baffle to assure I am not getting a pellet strike. There is little to no air that escapes the can when all the baffles are in place. My theory is the pellet needs some “air ball” to stabilize the skirt or it takes off like a bottle rocket without the stick. I wish I had a slow mo camera set up so I could see for sure why the pellet dives. With the can in place it reminds me of shooting an over sped .177 where the projectile has become super-sonic and the pellet takes a squiggle fight. I have choreographed the gun and there is no significant change in FPS with the moderator in place.
That design below looks like a good one. You just gave me an idea. I am going to drill small vent holes in the moderator (like my Edgun) and give the air an escape. Maybe my moderator is creating too much back pressure and since there is no place for the air to escape it is creating turbulence. Back to the bench it seems.
Zero at 50 yards and then the pellet hit the ground at the distance of 15 yards? It is huuuge! Can you describe (or try to describe) what could happen?
I think about the following Carbon shroud for .22 Cricket:
* there should be: ‘spherical baffle’ rather than ‘spherical muzzle’.
Is it good? Do you have any suggestions?
P.S. I think that there is only one “baffle” with 4 holes – the first one. The holes are needed for the air to go back. Otherwise the volume before the muzzle would not be utilized.
I think it is the number of baffles as well as their shape and size. From my best measurements the Kalibrgun factory baffles vary in size and shape. Some of the baffles have a single hole and are cone shaped and other baffles have 4 smaller holes that are shaped like an impeller that seem to push air to the outside of the shroud. The noise from a PCP comes from the pressure/ speed of the air leaving the barrel. The best moderators are good at slowing down the exiting air. There is a point where in my experience there is too much restriction. I made a moderator with 8 baffles varying in size and shape. The when using this homemade moderator pellet would take a nose dive every shot. I could feel a lot of exiting air coming back to my face after each shot. I would zero the gun at 50 yards, screw the new moderator I made on and the pellet would strike the ground at about 15 yards. There was absolutely zero noise but the amount of restriction caused an untoward reaction to the pellet’s POI. Upon inspection I could not find any evidence of a pellet strike. In conclusion there seems to be a point of equilibrium when building a moderator where too much restriction will effect accuracy and consistency in the pellet’s fight. Hope this helped.
The more I inspected the factory shroud the more impressed I became with it.
What is the reason of inefficiency of Carbon-Carbon silencer? Seems that thinner part of Carbon-Carbon silencer has more volume than original Cricket silencer. It is weird it is louder. Maybe the number of baffles? What do you think? I am interested in that topic because I am planning to do a custom silencer.
There are several ways to quiet down the hammer slap. Inside tube de-pinger, add some outside insulation over the hammer housing/breech and add an RAI. If you do all those mods the hammer slap/ping all but disappears. :ugeekn:
Very nice and clean work!
I made a new end cap to the same measurements as the factory shroud end cap and just added a 1/2X20 thread. Then replaced the old cap with the one shown in the photos.
Awesome job Keyser.
That looks fantastic brother. Thanks for posting. I noticed my NC one piece shroud really didn’t do anything drastic, except make the gun a few inches longer.
I’m going outside to sand down my depinger right now. I made the same exact one Ernest did in his post with the same parts, just need to sand down and install it now. I’ll let you know how well it works for me.
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What is an RAI ?
http://talonairgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=28368&hilit=RAI#p281859
~ GKU