SpudFiles

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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).

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....

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

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.

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.

A good investment would be a portable gas powered compressor

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.

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.