The great thing about shooting at sub-10 FPE ...

[spinj]

Is that from a 220 BAR to 75 BAR fill on my first-generation Cricket, shots continue to be regulated. Below is a 300-shot summary of such as stated:

And even stopping at this point there is still no sign of shots going off-the-reg. 


Below is the indicated air pressure on the Cricket after those 300 shots:

Ammo used are Crosman .22 Hollowpoints straight from the tin. With JSBs the extreme spread and standard deviation would be much lower. 


The power level is plenty enough for my short-range target practice at a maximum distance of 48 yards. 

 

[JimNM]

And.... You can reuse all the pellets

 

[CyberDyneSystems]

That's kind of insane! Wow!

 

[Guest]

I like the shot count and the paper is just as dead at 560fps as it is at 960fps.

Archery was like that for me... 20lb draw vs. 60lb draw and I could shoot a LOT MORE without needing shoulder surgery!

 

[spinj]

Even at 46 yards there is still enough power to take out a starling with a well-placed shot.

 

[dizzums]

its pretty useless to me, all i need is one mag'in the power zone' but it can be fun .. thats why i have a co2 lol ..

 

[nugria]

Hi All,

Huge shot count.

Quiet.

Low energy "bounces".

Can still break a paint ball on a golf tee

It is great.

Nugria

 

[davelarson]

I really enjoy shooting my FX Royal .177 on the low power setting using 7.33 pellets when hunting house flys on bait! Tons of accurate shots and really quiet too. Low power is a lot of fun. Sig, aka carboncreative shoots incredible groups at 100 yards with sub 12 foot pounds.

 

[spinj]

I agree. Long ago, I liked shooting at high power, but thereafter I went on a quest to improve my abilities and shoot with as much precision as I can—at low-power levels, as I had thought that it would allow me to focus more on technique. I’m glad I did that as I’m much better than I was back then. 


Anyway, I was able to get 370 shots in total to stay within a 30 FPS spread—with Crosman pellets—and per my Cricket’s gauge, shot 371 indicated it was no longer on-the-reg. Tank pressure was at around 35 BAR at that point as the picture below shows. I think 370 shots should be enough.

 

[Mike_Lenardon]

That's amazing. I just recently sold both my crosman Co2 rifles which were my low power shooters. My low power fun gun now is my modded 2240 pistol.

 

[Bigragu]

Yeah but look at that extreme spread! Way too much….kidding ha ha! Nice!! I like it. In a current trend of high horsepower gun it’s cool to see someone head the other end in the quest for accuracy, technique and shot count.



in a way, you got to see the best of that gun in another way, what it’s capable of

 

[spinj]

What I've come to realize for myself is that when my technique and form are on point and, most of all, consistent, it doesn't matter what pellet I use. Provided the pellets are a correct fit for the barrel and consistent in weight, whether they are lubed or unlubed, shot at 540 FPS, 740 FPS, 840 FPS, 940 FPS, or 1000 FPS, accuracy is the same for all. That said, I no longer hold on the idea that every barrel tends to have a preference for a certain pellet(s). These days I just choose a pellet that suits my intended purpose. I can say this with confidence because in the past I'd scratch my head as to why each of my rifles only shot better with one or some pellets that the others couldn't and vice versa. That has changed, and today all of my airguns shoot very well every pellet (provided they are snug in the barrel and consistent in weight) I purchase.

 

[qball]

Nice!!! More low power posts the better! Been in the 7-8 FPE zone for a while now. All my 177 guns shoot right around 7fpe or right around 600 FPS. Uber quiet, shot count, safe, accurate and still deadly on squirrels! All my last 20+ squirrels have been taken with 7-8 FPE including one out at 48 yards. For house sparrows out to 35 yards I shoot 4 FPE. 

 

[spinj]

Right on, Qball. I agree—shooting at low power is much safer, among other advantages, especially when shooting in the backyard. Lots of shots too and it prevents having to refill the rifle with air often; sometimes, I only fill to 90 BAR and can get over 100 consistent shots and my compressor doesn’t have to work very hard.

Some folks might think that 8 FPE isn’t enough to humanely dispatch, say, a pigeon. But after discovering 8 FPE bending the first half-inch of a straightened wire hanger propped up at 30 yards, I believe a pellet at that power connecting with a pigeon’s noggin’ is a guaranteed head smasher. 

 

[qball]

Right on, Qball. I agree—shooting at low power is much safer, among other advantages, especially when shooting in the backyard. Lots of shots too and it prevents having to refill the rifle with air often; sometimes, I only fill to 90 BAR and can get over 100 consistent shots and my compressor doesn’t have to work very hard.

Some folks might think that 8 FPE isn’t enough to humanely dispatch, say, a pigeon. But after discovering 8 FPE bending the first half-inch of a straightened wire hanger propped up at 30 yards, I believe a pellet at that power connecting with a pigeon’s noggin’ is a guaranteed head smasher.

People get all worked up on power and minimum power this and that. That does nothing but create misconceptions and dangerous situations because accidents do happen! I get full pass through with vitals shots on 2lb fox squirrels at 25 yards with Hades shooting 600FPS or barely 7FPE. Shot a squirrel in the head at 48 yards with 7.5 FPE and dropped like a log……still full pass through! I shot a fat squirrel through the vital at 25 yards and the pellet still buried itself fully into my wooden fence at 35 yards, I was a little shocked and probably tune my guns down even more. 

In Suburban back yards anything above 7 FPE is down right dangerous and over kill. Even with 7fpe I always make sure there is back stop because it still get pass through even on big fox squirrels. 

 

[nugria]

Hi All,

When shooting at low power (7-8 fpe), does anyone drop the set regulator pressure? I've seen 60 bar as a low end on .22 and about 90 bar on .177 but it appears that the Cricket was doing pretty well below 60 bar in the .22 category.

I've a low power HW100 .177 set to 80 bar that works quite well.

Thoughts on dedicated low power airguns?

Nugria

 

[spinj]

Hi All,

When shooting at low power (7-8 fpe), does anyone drop the set regulator pressure? I've seen 60 bar as a low end on .22 and about 90 bar on .177 but it appears that the Cricket was doing pretty well below 60 bar in the .22 category.

I've a low power HW100 .177 set to 80 bar that works quite well.

Thoughts on dedicated low power airguns?

Nugria

Yes, it is necessary to decrease the working pressure and, in addition, set the hammer spring and valve spring to the correct tension in order for continuous regulation of air throughout the working fill range until velocity decreases. Decreasing the valve return spring tension is better than using a stronger hammer spring or excessively increasing its tension because it doesn't stress out the components during shot cycles. The good thing about the Cricket is all that are necessary to achieve low-power, regulated shots are adjustable and that the gun comes with provisions to allow for replacement parts: the valve spring rate or a weaker/stronger spring, hammer spring rate or a weaker/stronger spring, and regulator working pressure---the Cricket's regulator is already very good and doesn't need to be swapped for an aftermarket one. 

 

[spinj]

I would also like to add---something I've found that adds to the prolonged consistency and accuracy of shots is keeping the barrel lightly but constantly lubed (and also cleaned). The easy way I do this is by shooting pellets lubed with Break Free CLP, which is a great lead remover and lubricant. When shooting dry pellets, over time, lead is smeared and builds up on the bore surface, which in turn affects velocity as well as accuracy (and further constricts the barrel choke). Therefore, each pellet lubed and ejected with Break Free CLP maintains the bore's initial state. Don't depend on what may feel like a light coating of lube from the factory on pellets from JSB, Crosman, or H&N. It indeed may be a type of lube, but it is not a combination of a cleaning agent, lubricant, and protectant (hence, CLP) like Break Free is.

 

[spinj]

More importantly, I eliminated one Belleville washer from the regulator piston and put in its place a flat washer and accordingly adjusted the delrin seat. This is crucial as the Cricket's (and most high-power regulated PCPs) regulator works best at high power because the Belleville washers are very close to maximum compression---close to being flattened. The flat washer essentially functions as a shim and transforms the stock regulator to a true sub-12 FPE regulator, allowing the remaining Belleville washers to still be at almost their maximum-compression state in order to retain shot-to-shot consistency.

Whereas the stock Belleville washer stack was like this: (())(())(())

The current stack is like this: (())(())(((|