I received a new Georgia Airguns/Charlie Frear tuned .22 Cricket II Long air rifle this week. First of all, Charlie is a great communicator and as honest as they come. His personal efforts made this a really fun experience.
I tested two of the pellets Charlie tested. The AA (JSB) 18.0 Gr and the JSB Jumbo Monster Heavy 25.39 Gr. According to my Labradar unit, the 18's shot just under 900 FPS and the 25.39s right at 750. Both shot nice groups at 18 yards, with the 25.39s having the edge in terms of group size, but I opted to stay with the 18s just because the trajectory is so much flatter.
After shooting on the 18 yard indoor range for set-up, I moved outside and shot it at 50 and 85 yards with the AA 18 gr pellets. The 85 yard groups opened up to nice core of +/- an inch with a flyer or two in each 10 shot group pushing the overall group to about 1.5" The 50 yard groups were phenominal. I posted one typical group below for you to see.
Once I became use to the cocking stroke, the rifle performed flawlessly. I had trouble at first because I didn't realize one had to push it through the resistance at the end - not at all like my super smooth Daystate, FX, AA, RAW, and other side levers. The result was an incomplete index which ended up with a double load jam in a few cases. But once I became use to it, the rifle performed flawlessly.
This rifle would be a dream to squirrel hunt with. Light weight, short, quiet, plenty of shot capacity, and super accurate.