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PCPs Pump or Bottle?


Farmer-of-the-Futre
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Im looking to get my first PCP (proberbly BSA Ultra Single shot .22) and there seems to be so much debate on the two main ways of filling! I am the sort of shooter that goes out most days in summer looking for bunnies and woodies, i also do some target shooting but only for zeroing so once my gun is zeroed i will be doing the odd shot here and there. So pump or bottle!? if i were to get a bottle i don't know where i could get it filled as there is no diving shops in my area (i havnt seen where else you can get them filled) I think it would be better for me to get a pump as i will just be topping up most of the time and i dont mind some manual work for some good shooting :P If i am to get a pump which one and where from? Sorry for the long write up! Think i will go for the pump :)

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Thanks Jack, i just had a thought, we have got a few of those orange gas tanks for bird scarers. not sure what they are filled with but could i get one filled up? not sure what pressure and capacity they are so you might not be able to let me know but its just a thought... and i will ask in my gun shop when i go to see if they have any Ultras :yes:

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I got a second hand FX pump for £50, I top it up after every outing so it's not hard work to use.

 

If you get a tank it has to be the correct type, and it needs to be properly tested every 5 years as, quite rightly, no one will fill it for you.

Edited by FalconFN
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I just perchased a BSA Ultra .22 for £200 incl scope a footpump and gun case,the gun is an absolute brileant gun shoots pellet on pellet all the time fansticly accurate,unfortunately the foot pump packed up,but I purchased a replacement Nearly new FX 3 stage pump for £60,I find the pump very easy to use and takes less than a minute to fill,I get easily 30 full power shots on one fill.Fit the Ultra with a Weihrauch silencer and it will be wisper quiete.

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use a hills pump for my rapid, works fine for me BUT i dont use it that much.

can be hard work getting up to pressure, my misses cant use it.

the girl over the road was over last time i was filling it and she could lift herself off

the ground and didn't have enough weight to pump it when it got near to pressure.

 

the pump is a bit of work, pump heats up when your using it so have to fill a bit at a time.

if you use it and overheat you'll knacker the pump seals and get warm/moist air in your rifle.

 

i would sugest if your thinking of getting a pump, get one that you can get refurb kits etc for....like a hills

cant comment on other manufacturers, but when i bought mine the hills one was pretty much regarded

as the best one. also there are hills ones badged as bsa.

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Well im pretty sure ill go for a pump but ive got to start looking for a second hand one now before i get my gun, otherwise i wont be able to use it! im sure someone in the shope must have one to try out their guns so they will fill it the first time :D

If you've got a gun shop nearby you can take it in for a fill if you need to, my local shop charges £1 so it's quite pricey but a good backup.

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It's a shame no one has made a cheap(ish) motorised pump. I mean how much would it cost to add a motor to a hand pump?

the reason you use a dive bottle and have it filled is a diving air compressor removes most of the moisture (breathing air) so you get less in your air receiver less chance of it rusting from the inside out :good:

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Just to add my 5 cents, Having had pump and bottle, I would say that if you can find a way of managing it, I'd get the bottle.

Clean dry air from a dive centre I feel, runs less risk of having moisture in it than a manual pump that costs 120 quid.

My 7 litre 300 bar bottle didn't cost much more than a pump and costs £2.50 to fill. Probably £3 by now - not had to go for a while.

When I'm full on hunting most days (especially dusk in the summer) I'll need to fill it twice a year, on a slower year once does it.

 

Cheers

 

Duncan

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There's alot of people that say air in a tank is dry, is this realy the case? The dive bottle is filled by a compressor that sucks in air from the atmosphere, as does a pump, so what makes the atmospheric air near a dive shop less humid than the air in my house? If the compressors have de-humidifiers built in then surely the dry-paks on pumps do the same job. Or is there something I'm missing?

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Hand pump or cylinder.

 

Good points for a hand pump, providing you have a solid surface you can refill rifle anywhere.

Bad points it`s hard work, they need the filters changing a couple of times a year at least, which will be more than getting a cylinder re filled, (depending how much you use it of course).

 

Good points for a divers cylinder, takes seconds to fill rifle, then you have another 60 shots depending on rifle.

The air is filterd and moisture free, so no rusting of internal parts over a period.

You will be able to find them sehond hand just make certain it has a current certificate, that`s it`s the 300 bar type, don`t buy an aluminuim one.

 

You couldn`t add an electric pump to the hand pump to do the hard work.

You can`t just use any air cylinder, they need to be rated at 300bar, you can get lower pressures, standard diving cylinder 230bar but you get far less fills from the lower pressure.

 

A good hand pump will cost you close on, even more than a second hand cylinder, so shop around.

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Went to the gun shop this morning, the Ultra they had was a tactical stock and i would like wood, and the beech stock would take it up another £70 and a silencer and cylinder would be over £500! Its my birthday monday so i dont want to have to wait a long time to buy a gun and i am paying for most of it so i have decided i will proberbly thing about it this time next year and prehaps get a .22 rifle. Thanks for all the help i think if i do get one i will go for the cylinder :)

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There's alot of people that say air in a tank is dry, is this realy the case? The dive bottle is filled by a compressor that sucks in air from the atmosphere, as does a pump, so what makes the atmospheric air near a dive shop less humid than the air in my house? If the compressors have de-humidifiers built in then surely the dry-paks on pumps do the same job. Or is there something I'm missing?

 

 

Falcon...the hand pumps cost about £100-200, a decent "compressor" (Charging Center) at your Dive shop costs circa £10,000......yes, the air is better!

 

ATB!

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As Dekers says the compressors used in dive bottle filling are nothing like a hand pump used to fill a pcp rifle. The air needs to be dry because of the risk of moisture freezing in the regulator. The consequences of this would not be good. I believe another issue is the accelerated corrosion of the dive cylinders if they contain moisture under pressure. If you can stretch to it a bottle is the way to go, but if not I would get a Hill pump because at least with those you have the option to repair it and renew the drying components.

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Went to the gun shop this morning, the Ultra they had was a tactical stock and i would like wood, and the beech stock would take it up another £70 and a silencer and cylinder would be over £500! Its my birthday monday so i dont want to have to wait a long time to buy a gun and i am paying for most of it so i have decided i will proberbly thing about it this time next year and prehaps get a .22 rifle. Thanks for all the help i think if i do get one i will go for the cylinder :)

 

Have a look at the Brocock Concept Britush built, excellent quality and accuracy around £360, a quality Rifle.

Also depending on what you are using if for would seriously consider getting a .177 cal better accuracy over a distance, (flatter trajectory of the pellet).

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