Portable Pressure Tanks/ On-site Refilling

[Mrcrouse1]

What would you guys recomend for using to refill a 3" 2' chamber to about 40-50psi in the middle of nowhere. Would a small portable aircompressor or bike pump be good? What about CO2 tanks?
Thanks.

[psycix]

1-Bike pump, reliable, never drains and gives you some exercise.
2-Car battery + 12V air compressor, easy and can go on for a while.
3-CO2, quickest to fill, but expensive.
On top of that, CO2 is a heavy gas, yielding lower performance as your projectile velocity approaches the sound barrier. But that probably wont have much effect on 50 psi.

I would go with the bike pump or car battery. It depends on how lazy you are and on what you have available.

[Mrcrouse1]

Ok thanks. What about HPA though? How available is it, and what would prices be?

[psycix]

I think that HPA is just like CO2 in terms of usability.
An HPA tank is usually WAY more expensive then a CO2 tank.
Though I heard HPA tends to be cheaper on refills in the long run.

Availability is the major problem.


And if you need ALOT of air, look into scuba tanks.

[Mrcrouse1]

What about refilling scuba tanks though? Aren't they also filled to 1000s psi?

[ALIHISGREAT]

Scuba tanks are large tanks filled to like 4000-5000psi if i'm not mistaken...

you can get them filled at dive shops and you can do lots with them... lie fill up smaller paintball HPA bottles etc.

[john bunsenburner]

What you do is you buy a scuba tank and get it filled you also need a regulator, a hose and a quick connect(privided you sued that to fill). You are looking at a 400-500$ investment here(though it is just as possible you find a used tank form under 150$ and a reg for 100, it all depends). Any way if this a long term hobby for you then its definately worth the trouble. Or you could rent a tank like me(which is very useful for one or two times of use).

[ALIHISGREAT]

it all depends on budget i suppose... i think you could probably hook up some spare compressor tanks as storage tanks and travel with them....

[jimmy101]

You can also use propane as the compressed gas. A BBQ size propane tank holds a heck of a lot of compressed gas. It's probably cheaper than HPA or CO2.

Just don't smoke while firing the gun

[Big-E]

I use a compressor. I have three right now. two of them are 12 volt and get up to 250+ psi (gauges max out at 250).

I use a small jump-start box to power them in the outdoors. the refills go quickly too.

You can just get a 12v 7 or 8Ah sealed lead acid battery, or even a tool battery. I've run one of my little guys off an 18v battery pack from a cordless impact wrench and it pumps quick and lasts for a while too.

always an option!

I also use a shock pump. it is very reliable, but much slower process to fill a bigger chamber. for plinking or topping off a cylinder, it works nicely.

[Lokoyo]

Using a bike pump, it may take a 1:30 - 2:00 (minutes) to fill up to 40-50 psi. Depends on pump and how willing you are to fill it up.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I believe my chamber was approx. 74ci and it took like 40 seconds.

Also this was with jamming the nozzle of the bike pump into a pipe that happens to make a semi-snuggle fit and into a spring check valve.

[frankrede]

A good investment would be a portable gas powered compressor

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

A scuba tank has a built in regulator though i would definitely fit a pop-off valve to the chamber to avoid overpressurising.

I would go for a good bike pump personally, something like this is high quality, goes up to 160 psi, gives you a bit of exercise and can be bought for peanuts compared to the cost of purchasing and maintaining an HPA tank, not to mention it's much lighter to lug around.

[ramses]

you could also build a pump. If my numbers are correct, you could pump your chamber to 50psi in 12 strokes with a pump with the bore of 2", and a 20" stroke. the last stroke would require around 50lbs to push it down, and I am pretty sure you weigh that much.

you could do this, but with a 2" pvc tube instead of 3/4" copper.