Cricket Mag fix?

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Crusher

Crusher

Member
Mar 6, 2018
1,418
61
Irving Texas, United States
I have an issue with the Cricket mag that has me just stumped. This mag worked just fine. Then I removed the barrel and tank to re-o'ring eveything. I single loaded everything to get her all tuned up. But for some reason now, the mag doesn't fit. 

I'll show pics in a minute. It isn't the locator pin, it is back. It isn't the probe, it is back. It isn't the pin at the bottom because it hangs before it gets there. It isn't the barrel because I even have it recessed a little just to check and make sure it wasn't hitting the mag.

Does anyone have any idea why it would do this? It was smooth as butter before.

1548708112_1774733695c4f69108b21a9.55403190_2019-01-28 14.31.31.jpg
1548708113_7730824885c4f6911b51739.69133742_2019-01-28 14.31.45.jpg
1548708114_18955946115c4f6912e08b96.98026713_2019-01-28 14.31.59.jpg




The marks on the breech of the barrel and on the back of the slot are where I took some fine sandpaper to a couple of places I thought might be rough enough to make it hang. 

I swear it feels like this slot got smaller. I even tried two neew loaders I just got in the mail. They are too tight too.



Any ideas what is going on?



Crusher




 
And now I'm getting a grinding when I cock it. It used to be butter smooth as well. I took off the side pate and put some graphite grease in there on the places it looks like it rubs and it did smooth out a little. I can't understand why it would go from completely smooth to grinding. Maybe something is bent?

Also, I have to pull back on the lever until it stops and crank a little farther to get the mag to rotate completely. I'm thinking that might be because the mag is tight. So far, I can't understand what happened. I know the mag didn't suddenly get fatter.

I'll go check the thickness and see what I get. That IS mm, right? And btw, my new mags don't fit at all.



Crusher
 
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Yo Crusher, just looked at my .25 Cricket and the plate that the locator pin comes out of is perfectly 100% flush with the inside of the breech. Maybe it's the way the light is hitting that plate in your pic, but it doesn't look flush at the top to me. The bottom appears to be very close to flush. Could you maybe have a small piece of metal filing behind it not allowing the plate to fit flush???
 
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Was looking on YouTube at a video entitled "Kalibrgun Cricket receiver disassembly" where a guy takes the whole receiver apart and explains the workings of each part. The rear plate that your locator pin, magazine index and pellet probe come out of is all held in place with a cap screw … I don't see how anything in there could cause a problem with the clearances of the magazine. Maybe Charlie Frear could give you his opinion as to what changed when you disassembled it.
 
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Crusher, hate to keep putting in my 2 cents worth but I was looking at another video by Ernest Rowe and he showed something that would exactly account for what has happened to your Cricket. In his video entitled "Kalibrgun Cricket Regulator Removal, Disassembly, Adjustment and function" at 3:15 of the video he says that there are 2 large allen head set screws. One goes in at an angle and the other one goes in straight when you re-assembly the gun. I think he said that you have to tighten the one that goes in straight before the slanted one because it is slanted in such a way that it puts pressure on the gun and will force the whole breech assembly forward if you tighten them in the wrong order. When you disassemble it, it makes no difference which comes out first … only when you reassemble it.

That sounds an awful lot like what you are experiencing . 
 
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I think I solved the issue. First of all, I didn't take the cocking mechanism apart previous to the problem. So I had no clue something could have changed. But it did.

You, SoCal and C'Cut are right on. Good eye on spotting that the locator pin assembly was not flush. So I took that entire cocking assembly apart. I polished all the right surfaces including the pin slots where they felt rough. Also, that little part the has the mag advancer on it was doing the same as his. It was rubbing on the side plate. So I polished the sides of it and ran the washer on some 1000 grit paper and polished it up a bit. It works beautifully and made the cocking action butter smooth. Very nice with no roughness or catching feeling. Just all one smooth movement. Way better than it was.



So, the answer to the problem was that somehow, that little cap screw (actually just an allen bolt) had somehow worked its way loose. That let the block assembly shift forward, causing the lip you see in my pictures. When I reassembled the cocking mechanism, I made certain the alignment was correct and tightened that little bolt down snug.

Now the mag just slips right in. And even better, now that the locator pin is butter smooth and doesn't hang anymore, when I slide the mag in, the pin springs into place. Very nice. no more wiggling the mag back and forth trying to find center so the pin will locate.

Thanks guys for taking the time to help me. I appreciate it.



Crusher


 
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