Research Really Pays Off, And Not Rushing Saves £££'s!!

[WoodsmanJim 160]

Just thought of share abit about my adventures into the 'dark side' of airgunning, buying a PCP! Haha!

 

I recently aquired an Air Arms S410 Classic, kind of by accident. My mum (yes, my mum!) wanted one so when I saw one for sale in here for a decent price and local to me I went to see it. Well, after holding and shouldering it there was no way I was letting my mum have it! Trouble is I had no PCP charging kit as I've only ever used springers. Now I used to dive as a hobby years ago so had an old, scabby, well out of test 232bar 12L cylinder knocking about which was half the battle, but even still it looked like it was going to cost me best part of 160 quid to have it reccomisioned, buy a valve and hose and AA fill adapter etc... Now to me that's a lot of dosh!

 

So here my tip: take your time and shop around, even in unexpected places there's bargains to be had! I watched eBay for a few weeks and saw most things go for too much money. I was just getting tempted to hammer the overdraft and 'buy it now' on a new set up when a DIN adapter and hose came up and I waited to just see what happened. A few days later and one cheeky last minute bid it was mine for the princely sum of £16! Lovely.

 

The AA fill adapters are only cheap new anyway so I ordered one of them for £13 at the same time.

 

Now here the real kicker, after my local dive shop wanted £45 to test my cylinder +£15 to shot blast inside it and another £15 to paint it (both of which it was definitely going to need) I scoured the internet to find somewhere that must be able to do it for less. I found such a place: CTS (Cylinder Testing Services) in Liverpool. They're not far from me at all and all they do is test all kinds of cylinders for all kinds of industries. They're not a dive business. A 12l test costs £15, shot blast for £5 and paint them for £5! I rang to check the website wasn't wrong! It wasn't and after a 1 week turnaround I collected my cylinder today. It looks brand new, and the best thing is that even though it has a sub aqua neck valve, because I said its only for airguns they agreed to out a 5yr test on it and have simply not put the IDEST blue sticker on it! So I can't use it for diving but I can have it filled for guns! Top chaps, I highly recommended them!

 

So the moral of the story is if your not in a rush for your kit and you look outside the box a bit you can save serious money.

 

So here's my shiny charging kit that cost me the grand total of £54!!

 

 

 

Well chuffed.

 

Jim

[davyt63 1,845]

Hi Jim

A good result!

You must have Scottish blood lol, don't forget to put a pressure gauge on as well

[andy97 209]

Hi Jim

A good result!

You must have Scottish blood lol, don't forget to put a pressure gauge on as well

was just thinking that myself about the gauge

[WoodsmanJim 160]

Thanks for the advice guys. However I figured I could get away without a gauge on the bottle. Ther's one in the gun which will mean I can make sure I'm not over filling it. I just won't know how much is left in the bottle, but after a few usage and fill cycles I'll know how on average many fills I get from 232 bar and just have it refilled when its getting close. Or I just use it till it won't fill the gun anymore and then refill it. If I could be bothered to do the maths it's reasonably easy to work out how many decants could be done before equalisation occurs, but as the actual figure will depend on a few other conditions it's a bit pointless. I'll just suck it and see. Not ideal but not really a problem either.

 

Jim

[davyt63 1,845]

If I was you Jim, I would not rely on the rifles gauge.put one on the bottle

[neil82 1,066]

had a few s400`s, if you`re going to rely on the gun gauge DO NOT fill over 170bar

[WoodsmanJim 160]

would a gauge on the bottle not just show me how much pressure is in the bottle, not what's in the gun?

 

Jim

 

*edit* ok, i just consulted youtube! Clearly I'm approaching this from an ex-divers point if view and not an airgun point of view!! will read up some more.....

 

Jim

Edited October 4, 2013 by WoodsmanJim

[SimonC_Here 36]

Just a little point, I can't see in the photos but it might be there on the other side, do you have a bleed valve on there?

[WoodsmanJim 160]

no, there no bleed valve. I think I'm beginning to see why the hose assembly was only £16! hmmm. Is a bleed valve absolutely necessary from a safety or damaging my gun point of view? or does it just make it easier to disconnect?

 

To be honest, from my diving days we used to decant from larger cylinders into pony cylinders or DSMB mini cylinders directly using the A-clamp neck valves with hose and no bleed valve as I remember. Had no issues either.

 

Jim

[Marksman 934]

the bleed valve is there to save you risk of injury as removing the filler with 200bar still behind it isnt a good idea.
Same for using the gauge on the gun mate, the AA are fitted with a safety device in the cylinder which will cause it to expand. cause a leak and render the cylinder dead, grab yourself a DIN fitting gauge setup with bleed valve and save yourself a lot of aggro

 

Darryl

[j j m 6,527]

well done bud

[SimonC_Here 36]

There is the gauge and valves you need just come up for sale on airgunforum for £40.

[WoodsmanJim 160]

Cheers for the heads up! I missed it though as I was working this evening and only just saw your post. Thanks for trying though!

 

Jim