Canadian Airgun Forum

PCP
The cheapest way to get the most out of a high powered airgun when it comes to filling the tank.
Mistakes made ? Very important for new guys.
List components you have now that you needed all along and did without..
This will help me and others to learn the language and make great decisions.
Regards.

The cheapest way is to get a PCP hand pump with a moisture filter. Keep it lubricated with silicone oil and pump slowly @ about 0.5 Hz and rest 10 mins to cool after every 50 strokes. To make this work for you, then choose a PCP with a small air cylinder 250cc is the maximum I will pump nowadays, and/or a low fill pressure. The Discovery and its later variants fill to 2000 psi which is very manageable. If you get one of the big bottle guns with a 450cc air tank, forget hand pumping. $200 - will last you 10 yrs+

Others will tel you about SCUBA tanks, and commercial nitrogen bottles, and HPA bottles that can be filled at SCUBA shops and paintball stores. IMO they are not the cheapest, but probably the next cheapest to hand pumping. $100/yr

And then there are the shoebox or compact compressors, which are the most convenient but also the most expensive option. $800 up front, 5 yr life then rebuild/replace.

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Iacio, ergo sum

My Nitrogen tank costs, with taxes and Hasmat Government fees, $130.00 per year for the rental.
Gas is another $120.00 per fill. I use the big 200pound tank of Nitrogen to fill a couple 4,500psi 77
cu. in.(I think) used carbon fiber tanks I bought few years back from a forum member. IIRC, the gauges
cost me around $500.00 for the 3 sets, one for the nitrogen tank and 2 filling gauge/hose sets for the
small tanks.
Turns out I only needed the one carbon fiber tank.
So - cheaper than doing a lot of shooting with a powder burner, but maybe not by much. Once set up, if
only using one nitrogen tank per year, it's still $250.00 per year just for nitrogen. The local paint-ball "club"
store charged $30.00 to fill a 60cu in scuba tank to 3,000psi because they charge the paint ball guys $10.00
for filling their little paint ball gun tanks. That sized scuba tank will only fill a 500cc rifle tank once to 3,000psi.
Every time after that, it's less than 3,000psi & goes down quickly.
Fun and Games!

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Best Wishes
Daryl

I too was looking for a cheap way to fill my pcp gears.. no luck.

I couldn't find any good deal local.. and ordering online was too tricky and expensive..

At the shooting range they have a hand pump that we can use... sorry but hand pump isn't for me. Pumping like that isn't fun..

So i decided to get a compressor.. i kept all the boxes in case i decide to return the compressor for a refund... but i decided to keep it. This thing works great. Not cheap, ($700+) but i think it well worth the price.

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Artemis pp750 .22 pcp pistol
Umarex Colt Peacemaker pellet revolver
Umarex Ace in the hole pellet revolver
Remington Express Hunter break barrel
KWA QRF mod 3 Airsoft
G&G SMC9 Airsoft
Amoeba Striker 1 Airsoft
KJW 1911 Airsoft

GX CS3 air compressor

Just remember, there's no such thing as free energy.
More convenient/comfort, more money spent. The sky is the limit.
Might be worth tuning your PCP more for efficiency if you're a high volume shooter. Hand pumps can be had for under $100, if you're comfortable with taking it apart and cleaning it up.