So I took the boy's cricket rifle to the range today to get his new scope dialed in and see how well it works at 25 yards. In particular, I wanted to see both how much the scope changes the shooting experience as well as just how accurate the rifle can be.
In addition, I wanted to try out a box of CB Short ammo which I had recently acquired as an alternative to getting a suppressor to deal with vermin, etc. For those who have not seen CB short rounds, or even heard of them (like me before last week), they look like this side by side with a .22lr:
Basically, the CB is a .22 short with no charge. The primer fires with just enough power to drive the round down range at 700 FPS with less sound and power. At least, that is the idea as presented to me.
So after doing some pistol work at the range (see other AAR), it was time to have some fun with the cricket before blazing away with the AR (my favorite past time!).
Here is the cricket with the stock and new scope:
For those who have not had the experience, a cricket is a first rifle for kids. It is single shot, bolt action, with a separate cocking mechanism at the rear of the bolt that must be pulled back before each shot. It shoots slow intentionally and gets kids focussed on shooting and not blasting.
The funny thing though, is that for a rifle with a creepy trigger, and a thin 16" barrel, and no weight, and rudimentary sights, the Cricket is wicked accurate. I was impressed by what it could do with iron sights that were no more than stamped metal, so I was actually excited that my son chose glass over red dot.
Then it took 10 minutes to dial in!
8 of those minutes were spent dialing out to the full extent of the scope's abilities just trying to get on paper. 1 Minute was spend realizing that I mis-mounted the scope, and 1 more was spent doing an actual dial. Then I was at this point:
That's a very good group of 5 shots at 25 yards! One more IMC adjustment for both elevation and windage and it was time to start doing one inch squares!
At Appleseed, the one inch square is the measure of accuracy. At 25 yards, it is the measure of 4 MOA shooting which anyone not using a bench rest should be quite proud of. It is hard to do. Let me add, it is even harder to do when you have to load by hand, operate and bolt, cock by hand, and then get back into position. Man oh man!
But then your next group is like this:
That is better than I had expected, even with $29 quality chinese optics!
So I decided to see how the CB Shorts would do. I really had high hopes for them as a varmint solution and possibly an even kinder way for the small ones to do their shooting. Sadly I was dissapointed.
First was the experience of the round. Loading the shorter round into the small chamber of the Cricket would seem to be easier until you actually do it. It is harder because you have to get two fingers in the small receiver before getting the nose of the round in the chamber itself. Frankly, it was very hard - definitely too hard for a child.
Second, the sound was not that reduced, not really. Perhaps NFA days have simply spoiled me, but the difference was not that great from regular subsonic.
Third, the smell is aweful and slaps back into your face with enough force that it felt like getting peppered. I am a shooter that does not like really acrid smells shoved up my nose and this was that. No thanks.
Fourth, and the real nail in the coffin, accuracy. I aimed at one spot and the rounds did this:
Not so good, not so bad, but not so good. And with that, I switched back over for some fun with regular ammo.
I taped up some dimes to see if I could punch through them with .22lr. I bent one because I winged it, but all the ones I hit dead center were sent flying so far I never found them:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sC5dtyXJnA]YouTube - coinbounce[/ame]
Then I continued with the squares and took a very boring video of 5 shots to give you and idea of speed and of accuracy:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk5wbSV4zNw]YouTube - crkdiag[/ame]
(Target is the box at the middle of the screen. Note, of the 5 shots, 4 are touching each other!)
Here's the funny thing, I had 90 minutes of rifle time and I brought all my AR gear and the Bushy to have the real fun with post-Cricket. The joke? I never took out the AR! The Cricket was way too much fun!
I was even late getting back home because 90 minutes was not enough...
All that remains are sling mounts and it's very own web sling and those 3-4 MOA groups will be 2 MOA in a heartbeat. Who knows, the boy might even get his rifle back!
In addition, I wanted to try out a box of CB Short ammo which I had recently acquired as an alternative to getting a suppressor to deal with vermin, etc. For those who have not seen CB short rounds, or even heard of them (like me before last week), they look like this side by side with a .22lr:
Basically, the CB is a .22 short with no charge. The primer fires with just enough power to drive the round down range at 700 FPS with less sound and power. At least, that is the idea as presented to me.
So after doing some pistol work at the range (see other AAR), it was time to have some fun with the cricket before blazing away with the AR (my favorite past time!).
Here is the cricket with the stock and new scope:
For those who have not had the experience, a cricket is a first rifle for kids. It is single shot, bolt action, with a separate cocking mechanism at the rear of the bolt that must be pulled back before each shot. It shoots slow intentionally and gets kids focussed on shooting and not blasting.
The funny thing though, is that for a rifle with a creepy trigger, and a thin 16" barrel, and no weight, and rudimentary sights, the Cricket is wicked accurate. I was impressed by what it could do with iron sights that were no more than stamped metal, so I was actually excited that my son chose glass over red dot.
Then it took 10 minutes to dial in!
8 of those minutes were spent dialing out to the full extent of the scope's abilities just trying to get on paper. 1 Minute was spend realizing that I mis-mounted the scope, and 1 more was spent doing an actual dial. Then I was at this point:
That's a very good group of 5 shots at 25 yards! One more IMC adjustment for both elevation and windage and it was time to start doing one inch squares!
At Appleseed, the one inch square is the measure of accuracy. At 25 yards, it is the measure of 4 MOA shooting which anyone not using a bench rest should be quite proud of. It is hard to do. Let me add, it is even harder to do when you have to load by hand, operate and bolt, cock by hand, and then get back into position. Man oh man!
But then your next group is like this:
That is better than I had expected, even with $29 quality chinese optics!
So I decided to see how the CB Shorts would do. I really had high hopes for them as a varmint solution and possibly an even kinder way for the small ones to do their shooting. Sadly I was dissapointed.
First was the experience of the round. Loading the shorter round into the small chamber of the Cricket would seem to be easier until you actually do it. It is harder because you have to get two fingers in the small receiver before getting the nose of the round in the chamber itself. Frankly, it was very hard - definitely too hard for a child.
Second, the sound was not that reduced, not really. Perhaps NFA days have simply spoiled me, but the difference was not that great from regular subsonic.
Third, the smell is aweful and slaps back into your face with enough force that it felt like getting peppered. I am a shooter that does not like really acrid smells shoved up my nose and this was that. No thanks.
Fourth, and the real nail in the coffin, accuracy. I aimed at one spot and the rounds did this:
Not so good, not so bad, but not so good. And with that, I switched back over for some fun with regular ammo.
I taped up some dimes to see if I could punch through them with .22lr. I bent one because I winged it, but all the ones I hit dead center were sent flying so far I never found them:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sC5dtyXJnA]YouTube - coinbounce[/ame]
Then I continued with the squares and took a very boring video of 5 shots to give you and idea of speed and of accuracy:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk5wbSV4zNw]YouTube - crkdiag[/ame]
(Target is the box at the middle of the screen. Note, of the 5 shots, 4 are touching each other!)
Here's the funny thing, I had 90 minutes of rifle time and I brought all my AR gear and the Bushy to have the real fun with post-Cricket. The joke? I never took out the AR! The Cricket was way too much fun!
I was even late getting back home because 90 minutes was not enough...
All that remains are sling mounts and it's very own web sling and those 3-4 MOA groups will be 2 MOA in a heartbeat. Who knows, the boy might even get his rifle back!
