PCP Questions

Hi Mintie,

Good explination of your home compressor set up.

I agree with you 100% about being able to fill a 300bar rifle up to 300 bar. There are a lot of shots between 300 and 220 bar, so why not use them.
I used to have a 300bar 10L scuba tank, which I brought over to NZ when I immigrated, and then found out it cant be filled by a dive shop in NZ or Aus because there is a specific H&S system here. Quite frustrating.

300 bar scuba tanks are avalible to purchase here, and as JawbFrog pointed out, they need a special DIN valve rated to 300bar, which I would have had to order seperatly when I looked into buying a 300bar tank here. The only problem I found when I phoned around is that there is only 1 dive shop on North Island (that I am aware of) that will fill a scuba tank to 300bar, and they are in Auckland (and I'm not).

I considered a home compressor, but the costs and maintence, and buckets of water with pumps to cool it etc, seemed like more hassel then I wanted. My rifles take 200bar and 230bar, so I got a one man decompression chamber (14L steel scuba tank) for 400 bucks, my hamilton dive shot pumps it to about 210 (should be 230 but they too lazy to let it cool and then do the last 20 bar) and that much air lasts me months.

If I had a 300 bar rifle things would be different i guess

Fingers crosman, I'll let you know how I get on, in 5-6 weeks, 🙄

Pauly5 wrote: [QUOTE=Mintie] Slightly off subject, but Mintie, how do you disconnect the line and retain the pressure in the air dryer so you can fill another gun? Did you get one of those EDgun ezifill things?

Haven't come up with a way to do that yet, the compressor doesn't have enough grunt to start while there is pressure in front of it so I don't think it would work anyway. Topping up all the PCP's while filling the bottle and using the bottles valve to stop having to purge the filter is the most efficient way I came up with.

Kris wrote: My Daughter shoots there on a Monday nights, I've asked about pistols at Saxons but was told that the range isn't "Certified" for pistols. But count me in on any pistol shoots, I'm in Atawhai Kris

Mintie wrote: KiwiTR6 - How long ago was that permit refused? They eased up on the permit approvals for them about 8 months ago, I recently imported 2 Evanix Rex pistols (.25 and .30) and had no questions asked.

Pete - The compressor cost was under $1000 to get to my door, plus about $60 for some oil and I ended up spending a little more on some extra cooling gear. that was 4 years ago and it has been more or less maintenance free since then. I run it through a drying filter and all my PCP's have been clean inside when I am doing seals etc so I am happy the air quality is good. 

I know nothing about home compressors, other than that they give trouble and need servicing and oil and filters… 😂😂😂😂
Being an ex scuba diver I know a lot about tanks. I have 3 pcp rifles and I’d say I shoot quite a bit, so I went for a second hand 14L steel tank (the biggest you can get), which cost me $400. What does a home compressor cost?

I shoot 3 or 4 nights a week and get the tank topped up when it gets down to 180 bar, which is about every 3 or 4 months. The dive shop in Hamilton charges me 5 or 10$ to top it up, depending on who’s on the till.
$30 sounds like a complete fill. remember that divers suck it empty (down to about 50 bar), when I take it in it just needs a top up from 180 back to 210.

The thing that worries me the most about home compressors is moisture getting pumped into your rifle.
Maybe it’s a problem, maybe it’s not… I don’t know.
But the reason commercial compressors at the dive shop cost 50k is because they dry the air before pumping it into the tank, so the tank dosent rust from the inside. That’s why they need to be inspected annually.

How many of us send our pcp tanks/bottles in to get inspected every now and then…???
I guess if your rifle has a fancy carbon fiber bottle it’s not a problem.

Kris, if you are only intending to pump a small cylinder on a pistol, a hand pump might actually be an option. What pressure does it require?
I used to hand pump my HW100 rifle to 200bar…. Those last few pumps to get up to 200 were almost impossible 😂

How long does a home compressor take to fill a rifle from 100 to 200 or 220bar? 20min?
My dive tank takes about 30 seconds.
If I go away for a weekend (like the upcoming forum social weekend) I just put it on the back seat of my truck and I could fill everyone’s rifles, twice a day, every day.
A home compressor would run your car battery flat in 20min, or cost u a bit in petrol to keep ideling for a few hours 😉

Pros and cons to each, I guess u just need to find the one that fits you.