Tiny little Crickett

B

BrittB

New member
Picked up a new in the box Youth model Crickett 22 today for a $100. I picked it up for my grandson to be his first rifle and figured it would be a smarter idea to make him think about what he's doing rather than handing him a 10/22 that spits out a bunch in a row without much thought.

The only thing I need to do is replace the stock, it's pink! I'd like to order a different color like black or maybe a laminated stock and a scope mount from Keystone who makes the Crickett. Has anyone ordered anything from Keystone before? Are they on the ball or is it a struggle to get anything from them. Also, how are these rifles in the long run? If my son ever has a daughter, it would be nice to put the pink stock back on.
 
I started to reply that a new stock might cost as much as the rifle did, but then I checked their website. $35/45 seems more than reasonable, assuming reasonable shipping charges. I do like the looks of the laminated stock, albeit in some of the tamer color schemes.

Sorry, but I can't offer you any experiences with their customer service.

Not sure if I would mount a scope for a young child just learning to shoot. There's the advantage of an easy to teach sight picture, but there's also something to be said for learning the proper use of iron sights first. IIRC, some models even have aperture sights, which can be awesome, far better than the standard post and notch arrangement.

As for durability, I know several folks who have bought them for kids. I think every one of them has lasted long enough that the kid outgrew the small size of the gun long before they could ever wear it out.
 
my experience

About 10 yrs ago I bought a very nice Crickett for bamaboy which gave eject/extract problems. I called the Crickett folks up in PA and they sent a pick up order to UPS and UPS was at the door before the sunset that very day.

In short order, say 2 weeks, the rifle returned and ran fine. It also came back w/ a Crickett soft case as a bonus, no charge. BAsed on that sole experience, they did right by us.

The little rifle is still on the job, in its soft case in the back of the car, where it rests w/ 100 rds of ammo. It is still used for fun, plinking and dispatching pests, is more accurate than I am. Bamaboy outgrew it long ago (he's bigger than me now, age 16) but still a handy useful .22.
 
I bought a Crickett rifle for my mother several years ago. She's a tiny woman and the rifle seemed to fit her just fine. She uses it for vermin control around her place.

She wanted a scope, so I ordered a mount from the company. It came in several days after I ordered it, no problem at all.
 
Both our boys got Chipmunks the day they were born. Great rifles, as are the Crickets.

They really are the only true scale, child sized guns around, that actually fit little kids, allowing them to learn to shoot properly.

Our boys "fired" thousands of rounds in practice on the living room floor learning to shoot, and when they fired their first "live" rounds at age 4, most all of them were right on target at 10 yards fired offhand. From that day on, I was in a rapid decline into the ammo poor house. :)
 
A half a box of black Rit dye, a container of boiling water, and five minutes will change the pink to black. I just dyed a set of Flat Dark Earth furniture black. It dyes DEEP.
 
I got a Crickett for my son when he was about a year old.
I got it real cheap (I think $50) because it had a pink stock too.
I took the action out and spray painted the stock with Krylon in black.
It worked out great... looks new.
 
My daugter wanted a pink rifle, but the stock had to be wood. So I ordered the Pink laminated rifle from Bud's. I got it for the same price they were selling the synthetic one for here local. The transfer fee did cost more than the taxes would have been, but I have a happy daughter.

pinkrifle.jpg
 
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