As we all know, one of the down sides to PCP's is the need to keep coming back for more air. Well, not so much any more. I ordered this Pigmee tank from Airhog last November. They have been having a heck of a time getting the parts to put them together, but this little beauty showed up yesterday. If I leave the truck with the air cylinder on the gun filled from the big Airhog, with this little beauty, I'll have enough air to shoot about 280 or so shots. Actually more If I don't mind not being able to fill to 3000 psi on the last fill or two. This is going in a small backpack along with an apple, a couple energy bars, a jug of Gatorade, a box of pellets, and I'm gone for the day. The squirrels and prairie dogs are going to hate this thing.

Heading over to the squirrel ranch soon and let this years games begin. Got to wring all this stuff out before leaving for Wyoming and the prairie dogs this summer. I figure these three tanks will give me enough air for between 3500, and 4000 shots in Wyoming. Way more than I'll ever need, but better to have more air and pellets than needed, than to run out of either one in the middle of a prairie dog shoot.

Man, spring is in the air, and lots of pellets will soon be too.

Man that thing is the Bee's knees. I will have to get me one of them. Did you name it yet?

I'm just going to call it Junior. It still blows my mind that I'm at 7000 feet in the mountains of Arizona, 500 miles from the ocean, and there is a dive shop here, and not only is there a dive shop here, but they fill to 4500 psi, and think my airguns are really cool. He charges $5 a fill.

My question is this, what kind of an adaper is required to fill a PCP, using something like a paintball fill system? They use a quick-release setup, and have a nipple on the side of the tank that just plugs in. If so, that would be much easier and cheaper around here. I'm not sure what a dive-shop would charge, but at one of the many paintball fields and shops around here, air refills cost $1.00 for all day at the field (5-10 fills with a 45cubic inch 4500 tank) or $1.00 per fill at an off-site shop. How could one go about accuiring the correct fittings to make an adaptor?

Thanks,
Jerry

BTW, I love those small tanks, I've used them on my paintball gear, and they weigh almost nothin! Cool deal!

Jerry, I'm not familiar with paintball, but maybe they use the foster fittings which is what I'm using on this particular set-up. This tank is 4 inches in diameter, 13 inches long with the valve assembly, holds 9.5 CUBIC FEET of air at 4500 psi, and weighs 4 pounds. I don't know how that relates to the paintball tanks.

Check with these folks. http://www.airhog.com/ They have all the fittings. Here are a few pics of how the pieces go together so that I can fill my guns from this rig. Hope this helps.

That appears to be the exact same connector assembly! Thats awesome! Thanks for the pictures, and the link, they make it much easier to understand. If I have one handy tonight, I'll post a pic of the painball setup. Looking at the picture, it shows its non-pressurized displacement at 68 cubic inches, which puts it right in the mix of paintball tanks. It might even be one, with a different valve assembly.

Paintball tanks range from 3000 to 4500 psi, and come in(most common) sizes of: 32, 45, 60, and 72 cubic inch sizes.

Thanks for the pics!

Jerry

Check out the Nitro Duck stuff, $$$, but the best out there. http://www.nitroduck.com/index2_(636)_296-0964.html

Heres a link on some of their fill stations: http://www.nitroduck.com/index2_(636)_296-0964.html

Jerry,

Your 45 cu inch tank wont be enough, we are using cu FOOT tanks. You may only be able to fill a PCP rifle 3 or 4 times with the equipment you are thinking of.

Cliffs, tank is 60 something cu INCH, but that is only for portablility. Most of us have pretty large tanks to make a fill at the scuba shop worth while.

Oh ok! Thnks Jon! I was referencing the small tank though. How many times can you fill that small one off of one of the large tanks? I think I need to be more clear next time I post!

Thanks,
Jerry

No problem at all Jerry.

I just didnt want you to go out and buy a really small paintball tank and be dissapointed.

AS to the fill part of your question. you could fill one of those small tanks quite a few times, but every time you fill the small tank to it's maximum you'll lose overall pressure each time.

For example your first fill from a large 4,500 psi tank would yield 4,500 psi in you small tank. But the secong time you may only be able to fill the small tank to 4,400 psi.

It will drop every time you fill, you see what I'm saying?

Jerry, Jon's absolutely correct. I will start out with all three tanks filled by the dive shop to 4500 psi. When the small tank is down to 3000 psi, which is the typical fill pressure of most of my guns, I will top it off from the big tanks. But each time I do that I will have less pressure available for the next time. Even with that, I will still be able to shoot several thousand rounds before they all have to be refilled.

Since I have two large tanks, I am also going to use a cascade system for filling the small one. I will go as high as big tank number one will supply, and then hook the small tank up to big tank number two and add what ever additional air I can get out of it. This is so I can take enough air with me so that I can take off and be gone all day if I want to. Having enough air with me for 275 to 300 shots is way more than enough for a days hunting, ground squirrels, or prairie dogs.

It occurs to me also, that I could possibly try to lease an air tank from a local welding supplier here in town. I was at the paintball shop today, Joe said he'd fill just the gun for $2.00, so thats ok I'd think.

The shop has a bunch of air tanks, he says get filled to 5000psi, I cant remember the volume of them, but theyre stationary and stand at about five feet tall, so theres quite a large volume there. I could just buy an adapter and fill off of that. My dad and I weld, and know the suppliers at the shop, so we could possibly work something out? I dont see how an air tank would be any different to lease than argon or CO2.

Thanks for the info though guys! If I can have a source to fill, I might have to take a closer look at this PCP stuff! All I'd need then is another job!

Jerry