Posted by: jim saubier
08/16/2001, 20:03:01
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Sounds like some interesting projects. I do have some load information on all of the .14's. I have Eichelberger's manual. Shoot me an e-mail and I will look it up. Russ Lucas may also be of some help, since he is our .14 caliber resident expert.
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Posted by: D. Epperson ®
08/17/2001, 00:40:01
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Thanks. And thanks for the forum. I've seen you post in some of the other forums I frequent as well, butthis one seems to be geared a bit closer to what I'm doing. My current best load is 2.5gr of 231 behind the 35gr V-Max which chronoed an average of 1850fps. I realize that this is a rather sedate speed my the standards you guys are used to, but it is from a 22LR action after all. I'm hoping to push the 20gr 17's to around 2200 and see what I can do with it. I came up with the idea before I ever managed to hear of anyone else doing it. As such I went ahead and named it the 22 epperson Cricket. If there is another name associated with a 25ACP to 22 caliber wildcat, I'd love to know about it. As well as conversions to 5mm/20 cal, 19, 17,...the 14 Flea was the only other one I knew the name of.
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Posted by: jim saubier
08/17/2001, 06:28:54
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I have heard of hte epperson cricket. Bet that it is quiet. Glad you like the board and I look forward to hearing more about your wildcats.
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Posted by: Hubie
08/21/2001, 08:45:50
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Mr. Epperson-I've been very interested in your Cricket ever since I heard of it. If it's not too much trouble, could you email me some details? hatkin@lcc.net
Thanks, Hubert
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Posted by: D. Epperson ®
08/21/2001, 20:08:24
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I don't mind at all. But since I've chambered 3 rifles for it (OK I've only managed to fire the 10/22 version twice, but it's chambered) and tryed several different loads (2.5gr 231 powder behind the 35gr V-Max chronoed best at 1850fps from the 22" barrel of the converted ($45) M-1969 Romainian Trainer) in the 4-5 years I've been playing aroound with this project. I would be at a loss as to where to begin as to which "details" you might be interested in.
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Posted by: Hubie
08/26/2001, 06:00:34
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1)How accurate is it? or put another way, what do you feel is the potential accuracy?
2)Did you make the reamer? Or did one of the reamer outfits make it up for you?
3)How do you handle extraction? Did you make a new bolt for the Romainian? (I have one of these, so it's a candidate.. 
4)How did you manage reloading dies?
Thanks for your time..
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Posted by: D. Epperson ®
08/26/2001, 11:42:00
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1)How accurate is it? or put another way, what do you feel is the potential accuracy? The accuracy of the Cricket is on the level of the best accuracy I was able to get with rimfire ammo before the conversion. That is right around the 1" at 50 yards level. For this rifle platform, I think this is good. Particularly since we are then comparing Federal 900A with a round travlelin 700 to 800 FPS faster. It is a lot better than what was seen with the Winchester Supreme Target ammo, which turned in a dissappointing 2 to 3" "pattern" at 50 yards. Another factor was that this was shot with a 4X scope, and the romainian is no benchrest gun by any stretch. 2)Did you make the reamer? Or did one of the reamer outfits make it up for you? I made the reamer drawings. And Pacific Precision is in possesion of them. As for the reamer that chambered this gun, I had a local machine shop in Batesville AR. make it. The original trial testing was done in a different rifle which had been chambered using 3 separate standard machine reamers. 3)How do you handle extraction? Did you make a new bolt for the Romainian? (I have one of these, so it's a candidate.. I made a new bolt front piece, and used a Ruger 10/22 extractor. I purposfully left out any means for ejection however. I din't want to be hunting all over the range for these little cases. The link below is to my Yahoo Briefcase where I have several Cricket related pictures stored. Including a few of the bolt. http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/d_epp/lst?.dir=/Cricket&.order=&.view=l&.src=bc&.done=http%3a//briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/d_epp/lst%3f.dir=/Cricket%26.src=bc%26.view=l
4)How did you manage reloading dies? Thanks for your time.. These I made myself from 7/8-14 bolts and cap screws . The seater stem I had made from injection molding machine stems and EDMded to the same shape as the 35gr V-max. This stem "Floats" down to a point that I can seat the bullet in the seater stem while it is outside the die and the bullet is "held" in position as it is raised into the seating position. Makes for easier handling of these tiny components. Fred Zeglin at Z-Hat.com could help with dies. 
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Posted by: jim saubier
08/27/2001, 08:15:10
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That is neat stuff. Did you fit a 10/22 with this set up, did you use the same barrel attachment method as on the 10/22 or did you do something different. Did you use a standard 10/22 or 10/22 mag for the longer clip for feeding purposes? Thanks for sharing the pics and stuff, that is really neat.
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Posted by: D. Epperson ®
08/27/2001, 10:04:30
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The 22 Cricket is a budget wildcat project. Unless absolutely required everything is standard. This included the 10/22 barrel. Since the Cricket OAL is the same as the 22LR, the mag did not need to be any longer, but the feed lips and the rotor did need to be modified for the larger diameter. The magazine is the standard 10/22, but the rotor had to be adapted for the new 9 round max capacity.
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Posted by: Hubie
08/30/2001, 07:47:04
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Thanks very much for the info, and especially the pics! Frankly, I find this a facinating project...
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Posted by: jim saubier
08/31/2001, 10:08:08
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Me too. This is not Wildcatting 101, I really like the projects that push the envelope on new ideas. Plus the fact that everything was done on the smaller platforms and with reasonable amount of money spent. Neat stuff - keep it coming.
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Posted by: D. Epperson ®
08/31/2001, 14:58:05
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Jim. In this case, wildcatting the Cricket IS sort of like Wildcatting 101. At least Fred Zeglin thought so. He requested, and I sent him, some formed cases, some fired cases and some loaded rounds as well as some that had apparently been loded too hot (blown primers expanded rims), for him to use as visual aids in HIS Wildcatting 101 class. As for the reasonable amount of $$. LOL I have between $45 and $60 invested in each of my 3 platform rifles. I made my own dies, the bolts I made them from cost around $6 each. The reamer I had made by a local (at the time) machine shop for a favor, so no money there. Before that reamer was made I was using "scrap" chucking reamers in 3 separate steps, again no money there. I did all machining myself, after hours on company machine tools during slack time, again no money. I've spent around $50 total for 3 different 17cal "take off" barrels to use in the future. I also charged about $30 in a 3/4"-20 Tap and Die to this project, for a switch barrel option.
As you can readily see, I have less invested in this "home study" course than some of you have spent in a single scope.
Ok, speaking of scopes, I have a simple 4x Simmons mounted on this thing. I did spend around $25 for a set of Weaver rings to fit the 8mm Rail on the Romainian.
I've come close to spending as much in bullets and powder for loading the rounds as I have for the rifles.
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