Kalibrgun Cricket II WB .22 has arrived!

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And the cheekpiece is screwed down.

Nice little improvement.
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Yes, the cheekpiece is very well designed - especially considering what's on my .25 which I assume is probably an older model. I had a couple of close calls when I got my .25 where I went to grab the gun by the cheeckpiece only to have it slip off and (ALMOST) drop the gun! This design was only held on by a little natural clamping action. The plus side of this older style is that it's not as angular as the nice wooden one on the Cricket II and feels a bit more comfortable...

Check them out:

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nice gun but a didnt like the mag loading system but donny has that notched out or does the knew model have it already
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Yup. The mag loading system is essentially the same as it has always been on the cricket. The best thing you can say about it is that you do get used to it. Did you happen to catch this video? It's something to aspire to!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWvoCEL97y8

And like the magazine loading, the indexing lever is also something you just get used to. But in the beginning it DOES seem like you need three hands to make it work! 
 
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Grats! Very pretty wood on yours.

I've got the old model, and again a .25 and tuned by Charlie Frears. It's heavy, but the pistol grip and overall balance make it the easiest rifle to carry I've ever had, including the power-burners I and my Dad and friends had back in the way-old days. Superb balance and shoulder-ability(is that a thing?).

I like the forward cocking lever on yours. Let us know how you find it in action.

P.S.: I continue to love the stock design letting you carry extra magazines. I have five in total now, and am thrilled I can preload so many pellets and be ready to go without fumbling for so darn many shots -- 70 I think? -- without even worrying about carrying pellet tins or pouches or whatever.
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I'm thinking that if you LIKED the original Cricket .25 as a walk-a-round gun, you would LOVE the new .22 Cricket II since it's a full six-inches shorter than the .25. I have only just begun to test it but it feels even more shoulder-able than the larger framed .25! 

One of the things I'm really working on is becoming a better off-hand shooter. Check out this thread I started here on GTA about "getting my lazy butt off the bench" (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=178362.0).  I can't wait to see how this feels to shoot off-hand compared to my RWS 34. The Cricket II at about 27 inches is a FULL 18 inches shorter than the 34!
 
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Happy Friday folks! It's been a busy week and I have only put a few magazines through the Cricket II so far but I'll do a brain dump of initial impressions and observations here. I fully expect to spend some "quality time" with it over the weekend and will dive into more thorough accuracy and chrony testing!

  • It’s GREAT that the fill probe came with a quick connect. What other sellers do that on a new gun? Charlie also includes a crown saver pull-through cleaner, several mags and orings.
  • The pressure gauge only has markings for 100, 200, 300, and 350 bar. I do miss having finer markings on the gauge.
  • The gun's air cylinder fills much more quickly than my .25. I think the .25 has some flow restrictor where the newer Cricket II doesn't
  • I was initially bummed that Kalibrgun does not include a picatinny rail for a bipod, but even a short rail would take up too much room on the fore-end of the gun. I'll likely be adding a swivel stud for a bipod. The wood is plenty beefy up front for one.
  • I had first used the Sightmark Citadel scope (and rings) on my Brocock HP. I literally took it mounts and all and dropped it on the Cricket II. There was a substantial difference in elevation (shot high on the Cricket II) but the windage was VERY close between the pic rails on the two guns. 
  • The cocking mechanism has a LOT of lubrication on it. I'm imagining it'll be a dust magnet. I'm going to keep an eye on this... My thoughts are to keep it as-is for a tin or two of pellets and then eventually start cleaning some of this off.
  • When I was examining the shroud and snugging it down again I found that the barrel rotated (perhaps due to the excess lubrication noted above?) and I had to re-index the barrel to make sure the transfer ports lined up properly. This process is the same as my .25 cricket which involves removing a screw that goes vertically into the scope rail and then using a long smaller diameter threaded screw to go down and find a detent in the barrel. The side plate had to be removed to access the barrel clamping screws. All-in-all simple enough. 
  • I'm still finding myself reaching to the back of the gun to cock it! Old habits die hard... 
  • The gun is backyard friendly and makes a pretty distinctive "ping" sound like my .25 when firing.
  • Inserting the magazine into the receiver is becoming easier already. I realize how much I like this style magazine vs. the Brocock magazine.
  • The trigger is quite good but has a different feel from my .25 cricket. It's like the 1st stage is just a bit heavier than the .25 which makes the 2nd stage slightly less distinct. I have not even removed the stock so I don't know if the trigger linkage is the same as the older models or not.
  • The stock is VERY comfortable and has a great feel. The fore-end is broad (almost chunky feeling) but it's nicely contoured and the grip checkering is just right.



✌️
 
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@mcoulter, how is the sidelever cocking. Is it smooth? Does it take much effort? This was debated from an early video. Thank you in advance for the insight.
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Hey @zx10wall I gave a quick description of the cocking here but this is definitely worth exploring more because I have seen that video you're referring to... And (spoiler alert) it's WAY better than how it looked in that vid. I'll see if I can do a video of the cocking mechanism of my gun this weekend. 

FWIW, I have had a few PCPs with side levers; FX Royale, Hatsan AT44, Kral BigMax and AA S510. My best comparison between the Cricket II and those guns is that the final pull on the Cricket is more than the Royale or S510 but equally as smooth. It's just that most of the internal movements seem to happen in the very end (last 1/2 inch or so) of the lever action pull.
 
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Is there a safety on there somewhere?

That is a good looking gun! Kalibr makes good stuff. I love my carbine...



Justin
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Yup, it's the collar right in front of the cocking lever. I'm still scratching my head about the placement of the red mark on it though. I'll go double check this, but I swear it's backwards... the safety is OFF when the red line is hidden. Anyways, the most important thing is that the safety is NOT automatic
1f44d.svg
 
1f44d.svg
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LMAO! I don't know who designs the safeties for Kalibr, but they should be taken out and thrashed accordingly. The safety on my carbine worked backwards...when it worked...from any other safety I was familiar with. Complete and utter POS. It pissed me off, so I designed and machined my own. It works like a charm.

Justin
 
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She sure is pretty!!! Very nice looking wood! How is the cocking lever?
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Hi Blackpaw, thanks! Yes, it's quite a nice stock! The cocking is very smooth and has a "two-stage" feel. The side lever comes back to just shy of 90 degrees (first stage) and then you feel the force of the actual cocking mechanism and indexing of the magazine. That last part is still very smooth but it's clear that Kalibrgun designed it to take mechanical advantage of that position of the lever. It's firm, but still the cocking action can be done with one finger.
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This is good. Thank you. 
 
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I always wanted to get the cricket rifle. I think it is one of the best looking air rifles made. And it seems like it works well too. I wonder why it isn't more popular.
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I love mine, but here are some reasons IMO/FWIW:

1. Main one probably - gotta take your hand well away from the trigger and back to cock it. Cocking messes up your sight picture more than with standard rifles.

2. Fussy magazine loading process. You get used to it fast, but it's still weird and again you have to move your hands/the rifle around a lot to do it.

3. Fairly heavy. Though I think the bullpup design putting so much of the weight back by your shoulder makes it feel literally several pounds lighter.

4a. Little novelty factor, as until just now, they had stuck with the same design for years and years. And even now, the changes arguably aren't truly major or wide-ranging. Lots of people love getting the very latest.

4b. Once you have a cricket, you're kinda done with them unless you're a gotta-have-em-all guy. Compare to something like Crosman, or especially to FX, where you could easily have a half dozen guns or more before thinking you've truly sampled their line.

I'm seeing a lot for sale here lately, and for very good prices. Keep an eye out in the classifieds.
 
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Today definitely didn't go as planned. I was really hoping to start a new thread here that would be a deep dive into some chrony work and efficiency testing. I had brought the gun outside early to acclimate to today's 37f degree temperatures and right at the end of my first magazine I pull the trigger and ....

>>>>> POOOOM! <<<<<<< 

(Insert the sound of the inner barrel o-ring blowing out.)

CRAP.

Well, I had been meaning to take the barrel off but this was not my ideal time. Oh well. I bring it inside and take of the side plate to expose the barrel clamping screws and I see this... the cocking link separated. This was causing the probe to not seal as it should (and sound like a blown inner o-ring):

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To make a long(ish) story short, it wasn't a hard thing to fix, but I took my time, took lots of photo and some video, got it back together, adjusted it properly and the gun is shooting well again today. 

Either the grub screws backed out a little bit and allowed the linkage to come apart, or the linkage wasn't inserted quite far enough and grub screws were not seated in that little groove in the linkage arm. 

Here's the flip side of today ----> HOLY COW, IS THIS GUN ACCURATE!

Here are a couple of closeups of 50-yard / 5-shot groups. These were with JSB 18s.



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And here's the full target (such as it is). The top row are groups shot just before the linkage separated (which was what I originally interpreted as the barrel o-ring going). 

In fact, I think that top right group was opening up as the linkage was coming apart. You can see my note on the bottom row where I thought the breech seal blew. The yellow, green and purple stickers were all 5-shot groups with the gun sounding good and strong again. 



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So all's well that ends well :)


 
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Matt, I greatly appreciate all of your up front and honest review work. As far as the linkage, I can't say for sure what caused it to come loose other than the grub screws weren't properly aligned or tightened. I can assure you of this, I will be double checking every Cricket bullpup to make sure that does not happen again. I think this is a small glitch in the learning process of making a modified cocking system work reliably. 

I will be sending you two tuned and polished magazines to see if you think they make for an easier cocking stroke over the untouched magazines. These magazines will have the detents ramped and polished along with the center bore being polished, I have found it to make a noticeable difference here, I value your evaluation.

Thanks

Charlie Frear, Georgia Airguns
 
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