{"id":1876,"date":"2012-08-24T12:05:32","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T16:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/?p=1876"},"modified":"2012-08-24T12:05:32","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T16:05:32","slug":"the-sound-of-cricketts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/the-sound-of-cricketts\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SOUND OF CRICKETTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you live in the country or anywhere near it, you know the sound of crickets.\u00a0 It\u2019s pleasant, and soothing.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s distinct from the soft \u201ccrack, crack\u201d of Cricketts, which I for one find pleasant and reassuring.<\/p>\n

The Crickett\u2122 is a scaled down .22 rifle designed for kids. A single-shot bolt action, it\u2019s today\u2019s answer to the Chipmunk rifle of a generation ago, made light and with a very short stock for children\u2019s arms.\u00a0 Military small arms expert Peter Kokalis said the Chipmunk was the most important rifle of its time, because it was designed to get The Next Generation into the safe appreciation of responsible firearms ownership.\u00a0 I have to concur.\u00a0 The Crickett carries on the tradition. It comes in plain grayish black, or camo for hunting, and even in pink, which my gun dealer friends tell me actually does appeal to little girls and those who buy guns for them.<\/p>\n

A week ago I was at the Enfield Outing Club<\/a> in Enfield, New Hampshire.\u00a0 In recent weeks, this extraordinarily civic-minded shooting club had hosted an Appleseed event and a shooting match to benefit Wounded Warriors, one of my favorite charities. They hold firearms safety courses for the public there on a regular basis. EOC exemplifies how a gun club can be a community asset.<\/p>\n

While I was there, Dickie Crate dropped by with his eight year old son Owen, both on bicycles.\u00a0 Crate is Chief of Police in Enfield, a solid professional much appreciated by both his officers and his citizens.\u00a0 He and Owen get by the club often, and Owen enjoys shooting his own Crickett rifle there.<\/p>\n

In talking with the grown-ups, Owen allowed that he\u2019d like to try a telescopic sight on his .22. One of those present was Russ Lary, who retired three years ago after many years as chief of police in neighboring Grantham.\u00a0 He and Chief Crate had a short discussion, and Russ left with young Owen\u2019s rifle.<\/p>\n

When he met Dickie and Owen on the range again a couple of days later, the rifle had been to Rody\u2019s Gun Shop in nearby Newport, one of my favorite places of its kind. Proprietors Bill and Henry Rodeschin had mounted one of Crickett\u2019s own four-power scopes, and bore-sighted it.\u00a0 They did an excellent job:\u00a0 Owen\u2019s first shots from a standing position centered spot on in the little \u201cX\u201d that Dickie and Russ had taped to the center of the target.\u00a0 Owen was one happy kid.<\/p>\n

The crickets may be relaxing, but Cricketts gladden this old shooter\u2019s heart\u2026and so do the fine young men and women who shoot them, and the responsible parents who buy Cricketts for them. Info is available at http:\/\/www.crickett.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Owen Crate gets the feel of his newly-scoped Crickett.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0From left: Chief Lary (ret.), Owen Crate with Crickett, and Chief Crate.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you live in the country or anywhere near it, you know the sound of crickets.\u00a0 It\u2019s pleasant, and soothing. That\u2019s distinct from the soft \u201ccrack, crack\u201d of Cricketts, which I for one find pleasant and reassuring. The Crickett\u2122 is a scaled down .22 rifle designed for kids. A single-shot bolt action, it\u2019s today\u2019s answer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-firearms"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}