Hmmm, OK, so I decided that for EBR this year I wouldn't shoot an FX or Daystate gun. Must be the contrarian or rebel in me. I decided, based on research with BC, that I was going to shoot the .25 caliber JSB 34 grain Heavy pellet, which has the best BC of any of the current pellets we are using, compared to the .30 JSB Exact 44.75 grain or the .22 JSB RD Monster 25.4 grain.
I bought a "used" .25 Cricket here on AGN, it did seem new and not shot hardly at all when I got it. (thanks @wiseguy ). When I shot it at first, it didn't have the normal Cricket accuracy I was used to. So I shot a tin of Mk2s through it, and things improved, but it wasn't an EBR contender. I had planned on tuning it to shoot the Heavies at 905 to 920, in that range, so when I had it apart to adjust the reg, radius and polish up the ports, and install the power plenum, I also JB Bore pasted the crap out of the barrel...
So, I put everything back together, and shot some over the chrony (Caldwell and FX Radar). It was shooting fast, and I ran the HST up to a maximum of around 930 FPS before it plateau'd out. Reduced speed to around 910 to 915 FPS. Happy with that, now lets take it out and check accuracy again. While I was waiting for the weekend, I received some JSB Heavy Mk1, I'd been told by more than one person that the Mk1 was better in the Cricket than the Mk2.
Weekend arrives and on Saturday afternoon, I shoot some at 50 yards, get it sighted in perfectly, and its putting 4 out of 5 pellets through the same hole, and the one not in the hole is touching the other slightly larger hole. OK, now we're talking. So I take the target back to 90 yards, (breezy day) and shoot to see what the holdover is and also to determine BC (.054). I shoot some groups, pretty windy, and was shooting quickly just to see ballpark what it looked like before I settled in for some "trophy" groups.
And that's when It happened...
I'm sitting at the picnic table at Michael G's horse ranch where I normally shoot, and Danny the Plumber drives up in his pickup truck. Danny is the guy that bought my .22 Renegade last year, and has become a pretty good shot with it. He asks what I'm doing, so I tell him about the Cricket and EBR. He looks it over, and says "show me what you got". I hadn't shot the dime size bull's-eye yet on the large 12" x 12" shoot-n-see target, so I hand him the binoculars and tell him to watch the red bulls-eye in the middle. And I proceed to put three in a row in that dime size bulls-eye. I already knew the holdover and the wind hold, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but he was floored.
And went back to his truck, pulled out a money bag, and proceeded to count off hundreds and told me to say "when". The gun has one of my older Hawke Sidewinder 6.5-20x42 scopes and a cheapie Green Blob bipod. Bottom line is he made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and now I don't have my .25 Cricket for EBR!
But wait! There's more to the story...
I tell this story to my buddy Derrick ( @zx10wall ), and he says he'd like me to shoot his .25 PT Cricket at EBR. I tell him you live in Texas and I live in Cali, but he says I'll just ship it to you. Damn!!! That's better than the shirt off his back! So it'll be here Wednesday. Now I've got some serious practicing to do.
I bought a "used" .25 Cricket here on AGN, it did seem new and not shot hardly at all when I got it. (thanks @wiseguy ). When I shot it at first, it didn't have the normal Cricket accuracy I was used to. So I shot a tin of Mk2s through it, and things improved, but it wasn't an EBR contender. I had planned on tuning it to shoot the Heavies at 905 to 920, in that range, so when I had it apart to adjust the reg, radius and polish up the ports, and install the power plenum, I also JB Bore pasted the crap out of the barrel...
So, I put everything back together, and shot some over the chrony (Caldwell and FX Radar). It was shooting fast, and I ran the HST up to a maximum of around 930 FPS before it plateau'd out. Reduced speed to around 910 to 915 FPS. Happy with that, now lets take it out and check accuracy again. While I was waiting for the weekend, I received some JSB Heavy Mk1, I'd been told by more than one person that the Mk1 was better in the Cricket than the Mk2.
Weekend arrives and on Saturday afternoon, I shoot some at 50 yards, get it sighted in perfectly, and its putting 4 out of 5 pellets through the same hole, and the one not in the hole is touching the other slightly larger hole. OK, now we're talking. So I take the target back to 90 yards, (breezy day) and shoot to see what the holdover is and also to determine BC (.054). I shoot some groups, pretty windy, and was shooting quickly just to see ballpark what it looked like before I settled in for some "trophy" groups.
And that's when It happened...
I'm sitting at the picnic table at Michael G's horse ranch where I normally shoot, and Danny the Plumber drives up in his pickup truck. Danny is the guy that bought my .22 Renegade last year, and has become a pretty good shot with it. He asks what I'm doing, so I tell him about the Cricket and EBR. He looks it over, and says "show me what you got". I hadn't shot the dime size bull's-eye yet on the large 12" x 12" shoot-n-see target, so I hand him the binoculars and tell him to watch the red bulls-eye in the middle. And I proceed to put three in a row in that dime size bulls-eye. I already knew the holdover and the wind hold, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but he was floored.
And went back to his truck, pulled out a money bag, and proceeded to count off hundreds and told me to say "when". The gun has one of my older Hawke Sidewinder 6.5-20x42 scopes and a cheapie Green Blob bipod. Bottom line is he made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and now I don't have my .25 Cricket for EBR!
But wait! There's more to the story...
I tell this story to my buddy Derrick ( @zx10wall ), and he says he'd like me to shoot his .25 PT Cricket at EBR. I tell him you live in Texas and I live in Cali, but he says I'll just ship it to you. Damn!!! That's better than the shirt off his back! So it'll be here Wednesday. Now I've got some serious practicing to do.
with a .22 Red Wolf HP. I sold the Red Wolf 
