Traditions Firearms Crackshot Takedown .22 LR Blued Rifle

For an inexpensive...

For an inexpensive rifle, the little crackshot has some good things going for it. The stock fit is good for me and lines my eye up with the scope well, and the narrow grip feels nice in my hands (I wear L or XL gloves). The trigger is a bit creepy, but it breaks around 3.75 lb. which isn't bad. It's compact to begin with (I measured 32" overall length), and the option to break it down in half without tools may appeal to some. The included scope I got is shorter than the one pictured here. It's on par with the $30-40 4x options you can find out there; meaning it's fine for plinking and rabbit/squirrel hunting, but it's a bit fussy about eye relief. With the scope and a 1" nylon sling I added, my gun weighs 4.8 pounds. This makes it very nice for carrying around, but it is harder for me to keep steady while shooting. I wish the forend was a bit longer. As it is, I can't extend my arm as far as I normally would. The safety seems unnecessary on this type of gun, which is already hard to accidentally discharge. Finally, the gun seems picky about ammo. I tried about 15 different types including CCI Blazer, CB shorts, Standard Velocity, MiniMag HP, MiniMag RN, Stinger, and Velocitor; Remington Thunderbolt, Viper, and CBee22; Federal bulk HP and American Eagle HP; Aguila Supermaximum; and maybe one or two others I'm forgetting. My gun really liked Remington CBee22. If you don't know, this is low velocity (780 fps on my chono) stuff that's not real common. Next best was CCI standard velocity, which gave groups about 50% bigger than I get with my CZ 452. Third was probably CCI Blazer, which gave groups maybe twice as big as I get from the CZ. Overall, it's a fun, handy gun. I don't shoot it as well as some of my other guns, but it fills a unique niche for a low price.