Kalibrgun Cricket II vs. Taipan Veteran
- Thread starter cmatera
- Start date
Honestly, I only have a Taipan Vet, but I know people with both. I think part of it comes to personal preference. Taipans seems to have a more cult following Kalibgrun based off what I have seen here on AGN. Eventually, I plan to own a Cricket II, or Argus 45, but I am sure another Taipan will be procured before a Kalibgrun.
Upvote 0
All the other old differences are the same. Taipan slightly better trigger, quieter from the factory (or is it if less power?), easier to insert mags, cannot double pellet. Cricket potentially more powerful. A common criticism of both WAS rear cocking. Just wondering if the forward cocking on the Cricket shifted the balance. I just bought a custom Cricket in the classifieds. My next gun will be a Taipan Veteran or Cricket (original or II), probably a .22 Standard/Long Veteran,or .22 Standard or Super Long from Charlie Frear.
Upvote 0
G
Guest
Guest
I have a .30 Cricket 2 and .177 standard, .25 standard, and .25 long Veterans. If I could have a Vet in .30 making 85 F.P.E. I would not have the Cricket. There is nothing wrong with the Cricket, the Vet just has a better and easier to adjust trigger, better mag system, better cocking and easier to work on if needed
Upvote 0
I did not see that. Thank you for letting me know. I guess we know how he feels, and his opinion is important to me. The Cricket I bought supposedly belonged to him at one time.
Looks like it's just Utah Airguns and Talon Tunes in North America.
Looks like it's just Utah Airguns and Talon Tunes in North America.
Upvote 0
I'd go Argus before Cricket II. But Taipans before Cricket II. The cocking feel on the Cricket II when going slow feels clunky. Cocking fast it's not bad at all. But not a fan of the fiddly mag insertion. Trigger was good to me. Accuracy great. Shot count and consistency very good.
However I cut my teeth on Taipans for my first bullpup and there's something about there simplicity and ruggedness and dependability that I keep coming back to. There just what I prefer.
The Argus though with forward cocking and self indexing mag I think would be better.
I was the one that mentioned that I was not sure Charlie would continue carrying them due to his email response to me asking about any Taipans in stock. A phone call could clear that up more but I didn't care who had them more or less if someone did.
However I cut my teeth on Taipans for my first bullpup and there's something about there simplicity and ruggedness and dependability that I keep coming back to. There just what I prefer.
The Argus though with forward cocking and self indexing mag I think would be better.
I was the one that mentioned that I was not sure Charlie would continue carrying them due to his email response to me asking about any Taipans in stock. A phone call could clear that up more but I didn't care who had them more or less if someone did.
Upvote 0
If you feel like a slightly prettier gun (own opinion) and forward cocking is worth 4-500 bucks then go for Cricket.
Upvote 0
Cricket has the best supply of parts in the US of the Eastern European guns. The main problem with these Eastern European guns is lack of parts in US and available dealers to service warranty/repairs.
Upvote 0
I fcked up my veteran long bad when I got the gun, bended the mag pin by brute force and shot out the entire shroud by removing the front cap and firing. Contacted utah airgun and they sent me all parts for free. So if you buy from them I wouldn't worry about taipan parts.
Upvote 0
Parts and service is always a concern. Even the best gun may need service and almost surely parts. I have a no buy policy a couple guns for that reason. RLairguns used to carry Taipan but does not to seem to anymore, and now Georgia Airguns seems to be leaving the fold. The service and parts window on the Taipan is getting smaller. The Argus 45 is nice, but it's a heavy little sucker, should be a good bench gun at 10# or a little more when fully dressed. I might just wait until my .25 Impact M3 shows up (any day now hopefully) and get a .22 barrel for it. At least there is some semblance of stateside service and parts.
Upvote 0
A little bit of a chicken or the egg theme going on there.
What's more important? A supply chain for replacement parts that aren't necessary, or a supply chain for replacement parts that will be needed OFTEN?
Upvote 0
I bought my Vet from R&L back in 2017. They really tried to talk me into a Cricket because he said that’s what they all were shooting. I said nah, I’ll just try a Vet and wasn’t disappointed. I do have a Cricket on order now in a different caliber. Nothing against a Vet in that caliber, just not into having two of the same guns.
Upvote 0
Having been in airguns since 1997, there is no such gun as the one that parts are not necessary, if you keep it for more than a couple years. If I'm going to own a gun and struggle for parts, I'll stick with my Artemis P 15's of which I have four-three that kill something almost every day and one for parts. At 5# and $550 they're no worse than guns I paid up to $3,000 for.
Upvote 0
Fair enough, I'll concede and change my stance to: guns for which repair parts will RARELY be needed versus guns for which repair parts will OFTEN be needed.
Personally not sure which gives me more peace of mind. But will state that airguns are my de-stress, my happy place. Fighting leaks and broken parts and perpetually waiting on my next shipment of repair parts to get the gun functioning again does not sound like my kind of fun.
To clarify and get back on-topic, I don't think that perpetual problems and seeking out repair parts are a problem with Kalibrgun or Taipan.
Personally not sure which gives me more peace of mind. But will state that airguns are my de-stress, my happy place. Fighting leaks and broken parts and perpetually waiting on my next shipment of repair parts to get the gun functioning again does not sound like my kind of fun.
To clarify and get back on-topic, I don't think that perpetual problems and seeking out repair parts are a problem with Kalibrgun or Taipan.
Upvote 0
Not to me either. I can work on airguns, but at 65 years old would rather have someone like Charlie Frear or Ken Hicks do it. I have owned a lot of airguns over the years including the following FX guns: Ultimate, Verminator Extreme MKII, Streamline, Warcat (custom Wildcat), Wildcat, and Impacts in MKII and soon MK3. I sent the Verminator in for an unnecessary re-seal prior to selling it as a safety precaution. Never had a part or service on any of the others-none. That has been MY experience. $500 for a full barrel kit with liner or $150 for a liner + probe is not too bad. I usually keep 8 or 10 airguns on hand to make sure I have 8 or 9 that are good to go.
Upvote 0
I think your stressing about something that doesn't need to be stressed about. Taipan has been around for 4-5 years now for sure if not longer and I've yet to hear anyone complaining of failures and not being able to get parts. You were the one asking about the 2 but seems like you made your mind up already.
R&L doesn't sell higher end Airguns anymore so that's a reason why they don't carry them. Charlie at Georgia Airguns never said he wasn't going to carry them any longer but said he was all out and in his email response it didn't sound like he had anymore on the way. He might have but wanted to sell me a Cricket instead as that's what he imports.
Here's what I will say about the Cricket II. It was a nice gun. It shot like a Cricket should. However the only difference I found on the gun that I could remember was it's forward cocking lever and a cocking indicator. Is that worth $500 over your average Cricket? I don't think so. The Argus I think is worth the money being very similar priced to the Cricket II but a total redesign with better features. The Cricket II is a $1550-1600 gun at best I'd say.
I've owned many bullpups Taipans Veterans in every caliber and size, Cricket Compact .22, Cricket II Standard .22, AGT Uragan .22 and .30 and Edgun R5M Standard .22 and .177 and a R5M Long .22 and R5 Super Long .30. The Uragan is a better gun than the Cricket II as well as the R5Ms. I prefer the Taipan over the Cricket II also as I've had a lot of experience with them and they just work well and are more simplified. While it is a nice gun it's just not as nice as the others to me. I think there overpriced for what you get at there street price when new. But like said I think the Argus would be more comparable to the R5Ms and would be a better choice.
R&L doesn't sell higher end Airguns anymore so that's a reason why they don't carry them. Charlie at Georgia Airguns never said he wasn't going to carry them any longer but said he was all out and in his email response it didn't sound like he had anymore on the way. He might have but wanted to sell me a Cricket instead as that's what he imports.
Here's what I will say about the Cricket II. It was a nice gun. It shot like a Cricket should. However the only difference I found on the gun that I could remember was it's forward cocking lever and a cocking indicator. Is that worth $500 over your average Cricket? I don't think so. The Argus I think is worth the money being very similar priced to the Cricket II but a total redesign with better features. The Cricket II is a $1550-1600 gun at best I'd say.
I've owned many bullpups Taipans Veterans in every caliber and size, Cricket Compact .22, Cricket II Standard .22, AGT Uragan .22 and .30 and Edgun R5M Standard .22 and .177 and a R5M Long .22 and R5 Super Long .30. The Uragan is a better gun than the Cricket II as well as the R5Ms. I prefer the Taipan over the Cricket II also as I've had a lot of experience with them and they just work well and are more simplified. While it is a nice gun it's just not as nice as the others to me. I think there overpriced for what you get at there street price when new. But like said I think the Argus would be more comparable to the R5Ms and would be a better choice.
Upvote 0
Interested, I called Utah Airguns. They said they used to stock Taipan parts, but don't any longer; because, they can't get them.
Upvote 0