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Scuba tank my scuba tank what would I do without ye? And while there is a long glorious tradition of pumping air into air guns with muscle power nothing beats the simplicity, ease and convenience of air already pumped up and waiting. In the genteel days of air gunning it was likely the game keepers (or other servants) job to air up the guns. The high born were never out of breath.
Without the proper hired help to keep me shooting I needed to find a different solution. It came in the form of a steel dive cylinder of 100 cubic foot capacity. Not to say I haven't had many a weary turn at the hand pump. The air cylinder on an Air Force rifle is 490 cubic centimeters and from empty represents a lot of pumping. *Scuba divers may or not look at air gunners with contempt as we subvert the life sustaining miracle of taking breath underwater just to power our “toys”. Same holds true for the cousin of the dive tank, the SCBA units used by Fire Fighters and Emergency Service personnel. The adoption of these devices free us from the tyranny of manual labour! Without these adjuncts the desirability of Pre charged Pneumatic airguns is somewhat dimmed in my eye.
In the late nineteen thirties, an American, Dr Christian Lambertsen designed a device he called 'Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus' for the US military. It was part of the war effort, and became known by the acronym: 'SCUBA'. The English company Daystate claims to be the “very first Company to produce modern pre-charged pneumatics (PCP) with designs dating back to the early nineteen seventies. I cant help but believe the first use of scuba dive cylinders to fill up air guns happened soon after. You will kindly notice the use of “modern” above.
As I contemplate the joy of having thousands of shots waiting for me tightly packed inside my non diving scuba cylinder I think of the time I spent pumping up air guns. My conclusion? To completely enjoy the benefits of PCP air guns one needs either to embrace the “cylinder” or teach your servants to pump.
Rick Klages
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5 comments:
How many pumps will it take to fill a 490cc tank or a standard air rifle?
What pumps are available?
What do they cost?
Thanks Joe
Joe, if I remember correctly it was about 250 pumps on a Benjamin hand pump. I think the Hill is the best and should be your first choice. They are priced around $300. Others are cheaper but are not as rebuildable. I have gone the pump route and much prefer filling from a storage (scuba or scba) cylinder.
Rick
I cannot afford a tank yet is there a shot to pump stroke calculation.
Like for every shot = 2 pumps
Anon, Very efficient airguns like the Air Arms S 200 at 11 foot pounds energy approach 1 pump for 1 shot efficiency. Although I have never made scientific measurements it is not illogical to presume that 10M target rifles at 7 foot pounds energy level likely use less than one pump per shot. This is demonstrated with the success of guns like the Feinwerkbau (FWB) 603 which is a single stroke Pneumatic. The pump on the FWB is much smaller and lower pressure than the external high pressure pumps used to fill PCP guns. One thing is sure the more powerful the air rifle the more pumps per shot will be required.
Double check your cost of a scuba cylinder vs the pump. The best of the bunch is the Hill. A steel 100 cubic foot dive cylinder is about the same price. A usable regulator is something like seventy dollars. It's not much more and consider the savings in effort. More important in my mind is your access to filling locations.
Rick-K
Here is a thesis statement: The decline in use of pre charged airguns at the turn of the Twentieth Century is a result of the changing nature of domestic employment in Europe and America at that time. As the number of domestics employed in the home decreased the number of persons available to do the monotonous and physical labor associated with pumping pre charged air guns also was greatly diminished. Thus spring powered air guns overtook their pre charged cousins until the nineteen seventies when pre charged airguns experienced a renaissance related to the availability of economically obtainable high pressure air which is driving innovation in the hobby even today.
Prove it!
Rick-K
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