The name “cricket” brings to mind small noisy insects and, depending on your age, a classic Disney character. The Czech Republic manufacturer KalibrGun may have intended a connection to either of those things when they named their awesome bullpup air rifles, or, maybe not. Nevertheless, their handy and compact pellet launchers are accurate and well-designed, plus of high-quality old-world craftsmanship.
The Cricket is the flagship model and KalibrGun has stuck with a good thing in the bullpup configuration. More recent models have improved by relocating the cocking lever to mid-receiver. However, all manufacturers must innovate and come up with a new product to stay relevant. KalibrGun’s latest model capitalizes on the popularity of tactically designed (tacticool?) guns.
The Cricket II Tactical models are offered in barrel lengths of 17.7-inch and 23.6-inch. The shorter version comes in .177 and .22 calibers. The longer version comes in .22, .25 and .30 calibers. My sample is the long-barreled version in .22 and has an overall length of 34 inches. It weighs 8.5 pounds, which is on the heavy side, especially when adding optics, but it does balance well in the hands even so. I selected a Meopta Optika 6 2.5-15x44mm second focal plane scope to mount on the platform, bringing the package to just over 10 pounds.
The receiver is made from aluminum and finished in a matte black. Two laminated wood pieces comprise the vertical grip and buttstock. My sample sported a dual color orange and grey laminate that really stands out in a crowd. Solid wood and other laminate colors are offered, of course. The vertical grip also has a nice laser-cut checkering to promote a good purchase. Having fairly large hands I found the grip filling. Those with small hands may find it a bit too large and search for a potential aftermarket option. A thick, dense rubber buttpad that is adjustable vertically. A 500cc carbon fiber wrapped bottle resides in front, under the barrel/shroud with a large, easily readable manometer marked in bars. Maximum pressure listed in the full color instruction manual is 300 bar. Since the manual covers several models, there is a mention of red, yellow and green fields that don’t exist on this manometer. Additionally, no instructions are given on adjusting the trigger, yet the specs show it can be changed between 2 and 10 newtons (approximately 7 to 36 ounces). Speaking of the trigger, it is a curved, wide, smooth-faced plastic job that is single-stage and averaged a pull of one pound, 4.1 ounces. It is housed inside a generous open-bottomed trigger guard and just above the trigger is a red safety button that blocks the trigger. Pushing the button to the left unblocks it.
Two 14-shot rotary metal magazines ship with the gun along with the brass fill probe and extra O-rings for resealing. The two magazines can be stored in the wooden buttstock and are held in place by ball bearing detents. An 8.5-inch picatinny rail sits on top of the receiver with an additional 4-inch accessory picatinny rail on the bottom. The barrel has a sound dampening shroud and the muzzle is threaded to allow additional suppression to be added, although this gun is pretty quiet in .22. Adding a DonnyFL Koi suppressor took the noise down to a mouse fart, but of course, added length. Still, it made for a nice-looking package.
Features on this gun include a swappable cocking lever, now relatively common on air rifles, making the Cricket II Tactical model truly ambidextrous; and MCL, the Magazine Control Lever. This lever allows manual indexing of the magazine in addition to loading and unloading of the magazine. There is also a red-tipped cocking indicator that projects out of the back of the rifle. Pet peeves about the Cricket are the lack of a hold-open or bolt stop after the last round is fired and the magazines cannot handle longer pellets such as the Predator Polymags. Also, a soft padded surface on the cheekrest area included for the price would have been a nice touch. Cheekrest options are available from the AofA website.
KalibrGun offers a 12-month warranty, however, AofA extends that to three years. MSRPs are: $1695 for the shorter (45) model and $1795 for the longer (60) version.
More about how it shot will be in Part II, but in the meantime, you can reach out to the knowledgeable folks at AofA for any questions or to talk about the other fine models in the KalibrGun lineup.
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