.22 Cricket mini Carbine Power Tune

I think Charlie did more porting and shaping than I did. He’s the Cricket Master, I’m just the Grasshopper. So I didn’t mess with the breech transfer port and didn’t enlarge the barrel port. But, got pretty much the same results by adding the plenum. It works good with the DonnyFL Tanto since the plenum makes the air tube a little longer than the shroud. But the Tanto is small enough diameter to fit, and the gun is truly mouse fart quiet. And since we both got the plenum for under $40, it didn’t cost much to try it out. I’m not sure what the results would be adding the plenum to your Charlie Freer tuned gun? You should try it and see, leave all other settings the same and install the plenum. Super easy and takes very little time. 

Mike
 
Tempting, but I don’t want to mess with the warranty. Charlie has one of the best customer service out there, but if I mess with this one, it may null any warranty he provides. 

Did you shoot it without the plenum first? I would be really curious to know if there’s a difference or not. Charlie basically was saying the barrel is not long enough to take advantage of the added air volume in the plenum. 

Another thought if you think that porting can be better is to hire it done by Charlie, Ernest, or anyone else that can do it better than it is now. If you think it’s worth it. 

Either way, that is an awesome job, congrats! I still have not been able to get out and do some long range shooting like I want. 
 
Merry Christmas, guys!!!

Brian in MI

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I think the addition of the plenum will help. Just look at the examples of two of my tunes; .22 Cricket Pup/17.7” barrel & .22 Cricket Carbine/21.26” barrel.

All tunes get new o’rings throughout, the lead, crown & bore polished as well as any needed adjustments to actuation system for the magazine. Rebuild and polished internals of the regulator. Lube where needed & properly rated hammer spring is also a must.

The pup has an added plenum. It received a radiused firing-valve with lighter valve-return spring & reg was adjusted to 150 bar. The action and barrel ports were not touched. The gun produces 44.7 FPE for 32 shots on a fill. 

The carbine has no added plenum. It received a radiused firing-valve with lighter valve-return spring & reg was adjusted to 136 bar. All ports were opened up. The gun produces 44.2 FPE for 32 shots on a fill. 

The plenum definitely is helping the pup above. It has a considerably shorter barrel but has overcome that with tuning. It is actually very efficient considering what it is and the power it’s producing. The carbine is no slouch either 😉. Both are super accurate with the 25.39 .22 RD Monsters at loooong distances to 100 yards. 
 
@zx10wall Yes, I was following your progress on that gun since Fuss sent it your way (I’m assuming you are talking of his). Perhaps one day I will have the time, knowledge, and nads to tear into one like you guys. In the meantime I’m just trying to learn as much as possible. Either way, my range is 30 yards in the burbs, so that’s too much power for me right now. Great job! 
 
@zx10wall Yes, I was following your progress on that gun since Fuss sent it your way (I’m assuming you are talking of his). Perhaps one day I will have the time, knowledge, and nads to tear into one like you guys. In the meantime I’m just trying to learn as much as possible. Either way, my range is 30 yards in the burbs, so that’s too much power for me right now. Great job!

Yes, Fuss’s bullpup is the one I was referring to. Thank you man. 
 
I've been thinking about this since I bought the power plenum in July, and finally decided to try and "power tune" the .22 Cricket mini Carbine to shoot the JSB .22 RD Monsters at a good speed, preferably at 875 FPS if at all possible, while still retaining a minimum of 35 shots per fill to 250 bar. The gun is currently a 30 FPE gun, 55 shots on reg. per 250 bar fill, and I'd be going up to 42 to 43 FPE. What I want to get is "standard" .25 "JSB King" performance from a small, light, super accurate and easy to shoot gun like the Cricket mini. I had considered the Wildcat Compact in .25, but the FX really only shoots one pellet well and with the CZ hammer forged barrel, the Cricket will leave the door open to other "heavy" .22 caliber pellets. So, the overall plan is this:

1. Add additional "power plenum", purchased from Ernest a while ago on eBay. Not sure if I'll drill and tap for a reg. pressure gage yet.

2. Replace valve spring with longer, lighter spring and adjust as per Ernest's video.

3. Replace hammer spring with stronger spring. I have three different Cricket sized hammer springs that I can experiment with.

4. Replace the plastic HST adjuster with a metal one.

5. Port and polish the air inlet to the valve (small holes will be polished and holes chamfered, not enlarged much).

6. Enlarge valve port by enlarging it in an "oval" shape by 0.5mm on each side, and chamfer port edges.

7. Enlarge barrel port in the same manner as the valve port.

8. Add Huma reg. to replace the Cricket reg. I don't think the Huma is any better than the Cricket, but it is much easier to adjust, especially without a reg. tester. If I had a reg. tester I would use the Cricket reg. after polishing the Belleville washers as per Ernest's video. Without a reg. tester it would involve too much in and out to get it just right. With the Huma I can at least adjust per the label and be "close", since in my experience with other Huma regs. the label in bar has always been pretty close to reg. set pressure.

Finally, once assembled, and reg. set to 145 to 150 bar to start, tune the gun using reg. pressure and HST as discussed in numerous posts on this forum. From what I gather from Jimmy's .22 pup power tuned by Derek, the CZ barrel "should" be accurate with the RD Monsters. Yes, its 2 inches shorter than the pup, but other than that the same. Since Derek got around 885 FPS with his tune, I feel that I can get around 860, but my goal is 875, and still get a good number of shots (35) from a 250 bar fill.

We'll see how it goes. I have most of the parts now, but still need the Huma to start the tune. More to follow...

Mike

i would like to power tune my cricket, where can i buy the parts ?
thank you =)