My boys do a lot of shooting. They started out with a Cricket. It was fine for a trip or two the range. I quickly found that they were a pain to load for my fat fingers, the boys also struggled at times to get them loaded. The next issue was the cocking of the bolt. They are hard to cock, for a kid almost impossible for them to get it done while keeping the muzzle pointed in the right direction. The Cricket quickly went down the road.
That's why I didn't go with the Cricket. My understanding is once that bolt was cocked, you had to hold it and ride it down by pulling the trigger, like the hammer on some lever guns. I ended up going with the Savage, great little gun.
