I had a bad experience with a .25 Cricket rifle a couple of years ago that I couldn't get to shoot well and the retailer was not able to fix it so they refunded me. I was a little put out because I otherwise liked so much about the rifle. When a deal came up on the classifieds last week for a .22 I decided I wanted to try another one and jumped on it.
I love it. It's super quiet, super accurate, has a great trigger and feels ergonomic. I love that it has a built in regulator so that you can't fill it too fast or too much. The engineering of the fill system seems very well done and gives you a certain confidence that I like. The trigger is awesome. A nice two stage very light and predictable breaking second stage that seems to be around a pound if I had to guess, maybe less. It has a great shot count, I can get 4, 14 shot magazines in a row with no change in POI and then I fill again. The moderator does it's job well. I had it off to clean the barrel and took a shot with it naked and the gun is LOUD. Kudos to whomever designed the moderator.
The safety is kind of a joke, the probe or bolt that you slide back and forth will slide out of either side fairly easily and you have to be conscientious not to push it too far one way or the other or it won't "click" into it's slot for safe or fire. Also, as everyone knows, the magazine is a bit fiddly, but once you get used to it, it's not that bad. Neither of these nit picks are deal breakers for me as they're pretty minor things to deal with, especially in light of how much the gun has going for it. It's very very accurate, and I haven't had as much time to play with it as I would like, but so far I think I can say that the FX Royale .25 I had still edges it out slightly. I could put multiple groups in a row under a dime at 50 yards with that gun and I haven't quite got there yet with this cricket. I'm going to keep trying though.
Some pics of the gun and some groups at 50 yards just shot a few hours ago.
I love it. It's super quiet, super accurate, has a great trigger and feels ergonomic. I love that it has a built in regulator so that you can't fill it too fast or too much. The engineering of the fill system seems very well done and gives you a certain confidence that I like. The trigger is awesome. A nice two stage very light and predictable breaking second stage that seems to be around a pound if I had to guess, maybe less. It has a great shot count, I can get 4, 14 shot magazines in a row with no change in POI and then I fill again. The moderator does it's job well. I had it off to clean the barrel and took a shot with it naked and the gun is LOUD. Kudos to whomever designed the moderator.
The safety is kind of a joke, the probe or bolt that you slide back and forth will slide out of either side fairly easily and you have to be conscientious not to push it too far one way or the other or it won't "click" into it's slot for safe or fire. Also, as everyone knows, the magazine is a bit fiddly, but once you get used to it, it's not that bad. Neither of these nit picks are deal breakers for me as they're pretty minor things to deal with, especially in light of how much the gun has going for it. It's very very accurate, and I haven't had as much time to play with it as I would like, but so far I think I can say that the FX Royale .25 I had still edges it out slightly. I could put multiple groups in a row under a dime at 50 yards with that gun and I haven't quite got there yet with this cricket. I'm going to keep trying though.
Some pics of the gun and some groups at 50 yards just shot a few hours ago.
