PCP, manual air pump?

[Rule3]

I have always wanted a PCP rifle, 177. I would rather not spend all the money on air bottle, scuba tank and have to get in recharged. Then there are the home compressor but again way to much money.

How hard is it to actually pump them up with the hand pumps.? I don't need a heart attack trying to pump one up. I am not 20 years old!

 

[Alex Clayton]

I bought my first one of these a while back, Sig, and it is way too much damn fun. The hand pump sucks big time. It's not really "Hard", it just for me takes too much damn fun out of it. Right after trying I ordered a compressor. Paid $300 for one. set it up, takes minuets to fill the bottle for the gun. Came with a water separator. After a while I liked the new gun so much I bought a nice separator and extension hose to make filling easier. Another $100. To me well worth it to not be standing there pumping away to top off the tank.
One advantage to having the compressor was Wife years ago bought a paintball marker. She promptly lost interest in it. Dug it back out and bought some "riot balls" for it to test out. Compressor of course fills it super fast and easy.
There are some great video's on tube showing how both the hand pump and compressors work. You can look at them and see which you want to spend the bucks on.

 

[jmorris]

A 2000 psi fill isn’t too bad but I can’t say it’s fun. I don’t see how a small person could manage a 3000 psi fill, with something like the Benjamin pump.

A gear motor, two heim joints and a little metal make it a piece of cake though.

 

[jmorris]

I should have included this handy link.

http://www.warpig.com/forums/fields/index/

It shows state by state fields and if they offer CO2, 3000 pis nitrogen or 4500 psi nitrogen fills. If one of them is near by you can get a SCBA tank and fill a rifle many times between trips to have it filled.

 

[cslinger]

The two factors are tank size and fill pressure. I have a Air Arms/CZ S200T. Fill pressure is about 190 bar max so just under 3000 PSI. The cylinder size is small at IIRC 122cc. Filling with my Hill hand pump is trivial.

Now increase that cylinder to a bottle or increase fill pressure to 4K or both and it would be untenable with a hand pump IMO. Also keep in mind shot count and how much you want to shoot in a given time frame. My 200Ts give me about 100 shots per fill. Maybe a little less or a little more but 80 to 100 good shots. My normal shooting routine rarely exceeds 50 shots so I fill once per session (after shooting). If I was filling 3,4,5 times a session it would start to get old.

So tank size, fill pressure, average shot count and your average shooting habits all are deciding factors.

 

[cslinger]

I have always wanted a PCP rifle, 177. I would rather not spend all the money on air bottle, scuba tank and have to get in recharged. Then there are the home compressor but again way to much money.

How hard is it to actually pump them up with the hand pumps.? I don't need a heart attack trying to pump one up. I am not 20 years old!

Also I should have mentioned I recently went through this very same thought process. I finally just dove in after at least a few years of thinking about the PCP route and with my wants centering around low power, accurate and high shot count the hand pump ended up being, like I said trivial. If you are looking at an AirForce Condor to shoot .45 caliber slugs 100 yards.........umm yeah.....get a bottle and or a compressor.

At the end of the day I think I am still a spring piston guy at heart. I love my two little S200T's but there is something about the recoil and self contained nature of a good spring piston gun that sort of does it for me.

Also think about if you are going to be a single PCP kind of guy or will you ultimately own several and possibly shoot several in a given day. While my S200Ts are no big deal to top off after a shooting session even if both are shot, if I were having to fill 5 guns of similar effort up it would definitely be a PITA.

 

[Rule3]

I have a cheap basic spring rifle Gamo and pistol.
Being a avid centerfire shooter an reloader, I want a repeater (a 10 shot) mag in a air rifle. To "tedious" to put in those little 177 pellets every time plus cock the gun. Ya, I am lazy!

 

[cslinger]

I have a cheap basic spring rifle Gamo and pistol.
Being a avid centerfire shooter an reloader, I want a repeater (a 10 shot) mag in a air rifle. To "tedious" to put in those little 177 pellets every time plus cock the gun. Ya, I am lazy!

I don't know specifically what you want out of an air rifle but if its more for fun then hunting or long range (100 yard+) shooting, my best advice is to not get caught up in the HIGH POWER mind set. We are all gun guys and have all been there but MOST of us want something to have fun with. Remember we have real guns to do real work so to speak. Now of course if you have real NEEDS such as pesting etc. then absolutely fill in the power level necessary, just don't fall into the velocity trap if you don't have to.

 

[jmohme]

Hand pump is ok if you have a small capacity air cylinder. 200cc or less would be a good number for hand pump.
The PCPs that use a bottle would be candidates for a compressor or tank.

My PCP I believe has a 180cc air cylinder. I shoot it every morning. Usually 50 shots. I pump it up later in the evening, or sooner if I decide I want to shoot again at lunch time.
By the time I get it up to 3600 psi, its starting to get my heart rate up, but still manageable.

Whenever I get to the point of upgrading to a higher end PCP, I will be adding a nitrogen tank to my welding gas inventory and filling with it.

 

[Rule3]

Hand pump is ok if you have a small capacity air cylinder. 200cc or less would be a good number for hand pump.
The PCPs that use a bottle would be candidates for a compressor or tank.

My PCP I believe has a 180cc air cylinder. I shoot it every morning. Usually 50 shots. I pump it up later in the evening, or sooner if I decide I want to shoot again at lunch time.
By the time I get it up to 3600 psi, its starting to get my heart rate up, but still manageable.

Whenever I get to the point of upgrading to a higher end PCP, I will be adding a nitrogen tank to my welding gas inventory and filling with it.

Maybe it would be "good" for me. Get in some cardio which I am supposed to be doing!

 

[Rule3]

I don't know specifically what you want out of an air rifle but if its more for fun then hunting or long range (100 yard+) shooting, my best advice is to not get caught up in the HIGH POWER mind set. We are all gun guys and have all been there but MOST of us want something to have fun with. Remember we have real guns to do real work so to speak. Now of course if you have real NEEDS such as pesting etc. then absolutely fill in the power level necessary, just don't fall into the velocity trap if you don't have to.

I am target shooter, so I am not on a "power trip" LOL
Just prefer a 10 rd mag repeater

 

[Alex Clayton]

I have a cheap basic spring rifle Gamo and pistol.
Being a avid centerfire shooter an reloader, I want a repeater (a 10 shot) mag in a air rifle. To "tedious" to put in those little 177 pellets every time plus cock the gun. Ya, I am lazy!

Look at the Sig. They are quite well made for how cheap they are. They "feel" like a normal AR weight wise. 20 round mag that is super easy to load. After I bought one and set up to shoot indoors it was just too much fun. Made me think I should have done it a lot sooner.

 

[whughett]

During the Pandemic lock down and self imposed isolation I started with an inexpensive pump pistol in .17 then proceeded to add steel receiver, stock and 14” barrel picatinny rail and red dot sight. By the time I’d finished I’d been better off with a break barrel or PCP. I was still looking at the PCP’s into this year but the topic of this thread was always the fly in the ointment.

 

[HJ857]

Personally I don't go to a shooting range to get a cardio workout. You could though by setting out just a few knockdown targets and sprinting or jogging out to reset them every 10 minutes or so.

My rifle has a low volume tank but does take 4350 psi and I never even bothered considering a hand pump, I picked up a basic air cooled 12 volt compressor at the same time as the rifle, a bit more than I wanted to spend but I have never regretted it. It came with a converter for use with standard AC current as well.

Oh yeah, high power may not the primary consideration, but it's nice to have the option. Most importantly a rifle that gives you the ability to adjust the power is going to give you the best flexibility. You never know what pellet and at what weight and what velocity your rifle is going to perform best at.

 

[jmohme]

Oh yeah, high power may not the primary consideration, but it's nice to have the option. Most importantly a rifle that gives you the ability to adjust the power is going to give you the best flexibility. You never know what pellet and at what weight and what velocity your rifle is going to perform best at.

High power is actually quite nice unless you only plan on shoot 15 or 20 yards.
My back yard range reaches out to 100 yards and my PCP is more than capable of good groups at that distance.

 

[Rule3]

Look at the Sig. They are quite well made for how cheap they are. They "feel" like a normal AR weight wise. 20 round mag that is super easy to load. After I bought one and set up to shoot indoors it was just too much fun. Made me think I should have done it a lot sooner.

Don't those use CO2 cartridges?? My old Crossman uses those, I would rather not deal with those.

 

[jmohme]

Don't those use CO2 cartridges?? My old Crossman uses those, I would rather not deal with those.

This one is PCP, not co2.
I know nothing about it, so can't tell you if it is a good gun or not, but it is a good price for a PCP.

 

[cslinger]

At least one of the SIGs is a PCP gun.
I have no experience with them. I have heard they are loud and some can have a flyer issue with accuracy.

 

[DavidSfhsss]

Say Rule3, You might want to check out the New Air Vemturi Avenger, a Regulated PCP for only $299.00 ! It's loaded with features and very accurate !!

When I bought my Hammerly several years ago I also ordered an Air Force 2 stage hand pump.
The trick to using it is to go slow, 'It's Not bicycle tire Pump', while standing on the V shaped arms, pull the pump handle up slowly and pause at the top of the stroke and then push all the way down and pause again, then repeat the process.
At ten downward I starting to hear air being forced into the rifle's cylinder. It seemes it takes about 50 strokes to reach 200 Bar.

Hope this helps.

 

[jmorris]

You might want to check out the New Air Vemturi Avenger, a Regulated PCP for only $299.00

Happen to have a link?

 

[sscoyote]

I'm 130 lbs on a heavy day, and use my hand pump all the time to pump up a benj. prod and talonp 25 to 3000. At first it was a pain but i guess i've gotten used to it.

 

[jmohme]

Happen to have a link?

Here is a link to the pump he referred to, but there are lots of other options for hand pumps.

https://www.pyramydair.com/product/...rforce-rifles-incl-hose-adapter-pumps-up?a=81

My Umarex Origin (very good entry level gun BTW) came with a hand pump that works fine, but I wanted one with a folding stand so that I could lay it flat in the second section of my rifle case, so I bought a cheap $50 pump on Amazon and alternate between them.
Both also came with enough spare parts to stamped steel wrenches to rebuild them.

 

[jmohme]

Say Rule3, You might want to check out the New Air Vemturi Avenger, a Regulated PCP for only $299.00 ! It's loaded with features and very accurate !!

When I was first looking into PCPs I looked at both the Avenger and the Origin. Basically the same gun but the Avenger is regulated whereas the Origin uses a gas piston in the air chamber to keep the pressure somewhat constant.
I think the biggest thing that made me go with the Origin was that the stock felt more substantial. The Avenger stock just seemed to toy like. If the wood stock Avenger was available at that time, I probably would have gone with it.
Both are amazing guns for the price.

My next PCP is going to be the FX Dreamline Lite or Tact. I cant wait!

 

[Rule3]

OK, to switch topic slightly what are the advantages or disadvantage of .177, 22 or 25 calibers??

I am not hunting anything. More just plink and target.

I am not into calculation of power factors , knockdown power or wound tracks as in center-fire stuff.

 

[jmorris]

Here is a link to the pump he referred to, but there are lots of other options for hand pumps.

Was referring to the, “New Air Vemturi Avenger, a Regulated PCP for only $299.00” rifle.