Finally added a .177 Cricket Rifle to the herd ;-) 10/23/15

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CampFussell

CampFussell

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Apr 1, 2015
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Burgaw NC, United States
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I've been wanting a .177 Cricket rifle ever since I bought my .25 Cricket rifle back in January of 2014 and today I finally got my hands on one. This one has an Ernest Rowe tune and was told it likes the 8.44 gr JSB's. Previous owner say's its slinging them down range at 965 FPS? I haven't chronyed it yet.

Picked her up at the Post Office just after lunch break today and decided to burn a few vacation hours to enjoy the new toy.
Rushed home and robbed my MTC Genesis scope from another rifle and these are the first groups I shot shortly after zeroing.


I used the 1/4 inch colored dots in the second picture to give an idea of center to center distance on the groups. Most of them barely over .25 inches center to center.
Not bad for my first try with rifle benched on bags.


See if you can tell it apart from my .25 cal Cricket ;-) Hint...the .177 is in front



.177 cal



.25 cal


The two compared to the .22 FX 400



Think I'm gonna put a Sightron on her and see what she can do in Field Target Hunter division next year?
 
Jking
I took some measurements for ya.

The stock is the same length on both rifles at 29.75 inches from butt plate to end of forearm.
The .25 cal measures 37.125 inches from the butt plate to the end of the air tube. So the air tube is 2.75 inches longer
The .177 cal measures 34.375 inches from the butt plate to the end of the air tube.
The .25 cal is 45 inches over all length.
The .177 cal is 42 inches over all length.

The .25 Cal magazine holds 12
The .177 magazine holds 14

No problem shooting 4 mags on a fill with either rifle. Could probably shoot 5 mags or more with the .177?
 
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I stopped by Camp Fussell last night heading out to deer hunt. The grouping on that new Cricket is more impressive in person. Jimmy has a real shooter there!
I would have shot it but the damn mosquitos chased Jimmy inside and me away. Can't wait to try his new addition to the herd.....

I think he made a sweet deal getting that rifle.....
 
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Dutch asked me how I compared my Crickets to the FX 400 so here goes.I love my FX and wouldn’t trade it for the world, but yes the Cricket’s have lots of advantages over it. But first in favor of the FX.
The FX side lever action and the trigger might be a little smoother, but not by much. The safety mechanism on the FX is top notch. The Cricket’s safety is a nightmare. But I hardly ever use one to begin with, so it’s not that big an issue with me.Both rifles are dead nutz accurate. It’s a toss up there on any given day.
Love the picatinny rail on the Cricket and that you are able to mount the scope lower as opposed to the FX400.
I really like the magazines on the Cricket better than any airgun I’ve ever had. Really easy to load, and the mag will load from either side of the gun. The actuator for the repeater mechanism is a little tricky to learn to set properly, but way easier than fumbling with loading the FX 400 magazine.
In favor of the FX, one could say it's easier to repair or replace a faulty magazine than fix the magazine actuator mechanism on the Cricket rifle if it were to fail? I'll take my chances.
Also, because the FX magazine is mounted so high in the receiver block, you will have to mount your scope high to clear it?
Both rifles are extremely quiet. Toss up!
The Cricket just handles better and feels more balanced in my hands. It just barely edges the FX in that area.The FX is a dream to shoulder also.
I’m not fond of the looks of a bottle on a gun, so the air tube on the Crickets are a winner for me. Once you get used to the fill probe, you will begin to like it. Also I like the fact that the Cricket has some kind of restrictor valve in the fill port that will only let you fill so fast. It’s like an added safety factor to make sure you don’t over fill, but with the Cricket being able to hold a 300 bar fill, that isn’t likely to happen anyway.Yes the FX will win the shot count department as it should with a 400 cc bottle, but let’s face it I rarely fill either rifle much over 200 bar. I’m happy with 40 or 50 shots on a fill to begin with. Just not into filling them to the max and seeing how many shots I can get?

VarmitAir did a good evaluation of the Cricket rifle
http://varmintair.typepad.com/varmintairs_blog/2014/01/theres-a-cricket-in-the-house-and-shes-a-beauty.html

I'm not giving preference over Kalibrgun or FX as a whole. They both are a welcome addition to the herd at Camp Fussell.
And no......I'm not selling the 400 ;-)Jimmy

 
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