Bottle information.

[PLEDGEY 496]

I've always used a stirrup pump to fill my AA s410. Lately I've been using it more and more and some nights it's been a pain in the ass. It keeps me fit but I'm leaning towards a bottle. I tell me self I'll only use it on the odd occasion but in reality if I get one the pump will just be a dust gatherer. Any ways, I know jack shit about bottles. What sizes do they come in and how many fills would a .22 get. Cheers  :-)

[Mark_mjs93 164]

6 minutes ago, PLEDGEY said:

I've always used a stirrup pump to fill my AA s410. Lately I've been using it more and more and some nights it's been a pain in the ass. It keeps me fit but I'm leaning towards a bottle. I tell me self I'll only use it on the odd occasion but in reality if I get one the pump will just be a dust gatherer. Any ways, I know jack shit about bottles. What sizes do they come in and how many fills would a .22 get. Cheers  :-)

Hey pledgey, depends on the gun more than anything. something with a buddy bottle will probably eat less fills than a usual cylinder gun, dependant on size etc. Bottles come in all sizes, I’ve seen em as a little as 1ltr. They tend to come in 3L 5L 7L 12L formats. I’ve got a 5L and I’m just about to take on a 12L following the death of a family member. Assuming it’s a 300bar bottle, a 5L bottle will usually give you 12 full fills. Basically meaning that if you ran your gun down to like 50bar then it will fill it back up to 200bar 12 times. 

Thats a 5L bottle. The main benefits are they are clean dry air, less chance of crud build up in the cylinder of your gun and as you said. Less effort. Downside? DAMN THEY CAN BE EXPENSIVE! my 5L hydrotrch bottle ran me £199 that included the whip though and then dependant where you go charging the bottle will cost you something in the region of £5-£10 dependant on where you go. You also have to get them tested every couple of years. If they get ‘out of test’ no one will touch it until it is tested. This is entirely for safety sake though and frankly carrying around a cylinder with that much pressure, I wouldn’t fancy a fault going Unfound, you know? So if you buy a bottle used make sure it is in test (usually this is stamped or written somewhere near the top of the bottle). 

Depending on what type of shooting you are doing and also how often you shoot, this would dictate the size of the bottle you go for. The 12L I’m about to take on will stay at home as it’s too big to lug around really. The 5L is a nice size to chuck in the boot when I’m going out shooting as I can give the gun a quick top up if I start to run low. 

Also, I find bottles far better for when you are doing maintenance on your guns at home. A pump can be a real bitch to get that initial burst of pressure into the gun to seat the seals, the bottle is great as it’s a quick twist of the handle and bam. Done. 

In general you will find the pump goes out the window when you join the bottle brigade. The speed an ease of a bottle is brilliant but you will find the size you need dictated by the shooting you do and the gun. Calibre doesn’t really affect the number of fills you get so much as the size of your gun cylinder. 

If you need any more help feel free to PM me ??

[PLEDGEY 496]

On 28/01/2018 at 22:11, Mark_mjs93 said:

Hey pledgey, depends on the gun more than anything. something with a buddy bottle will probably eat less fills than a usual cylinder gun, dependant on size etc. Bottles come in all sizes, I’ve seen em as a little as 1ltr. They tend to come in 3L 5L 7L 12L formats. I’ve got a 5L and I’m just about to take on a 12L following the death of a family member. Assuming it’s a 300bar bottle, a 5L bottle will usually give you 12 full fills. Basically meaning that if you ran your gun down to like 50bar then it will fill it back up to 200bar 12 times. 

Thats a 5L bottle. The main benefits are they are clean dry air, less chance of crud build up in the cylinder of your gun and as you said. Less effort. Downside? DAMN THEY CAN BE EXPENSIVE! my 5L hydrotrch bottle ran me £199 that included the whip though and then dependant where you go charging the bottle will cost you something in the region of £5-£10 dependant on where you go. You also have to get them tested every couple of years. If they get ‘out of test’ no one will touch it until it is tested. This is entirely for safety sake though and frankly carrying around a cylinder with that much pressure, I wouldn’t fancy a fault going Unfound, you know? So if you buy a bottle used make sure it is in test (usually this is stamped or written somewhere near the top of the bottle). 

Depending on what type of shooting you are doing and also how often you shoot, this would dictate the size of the bottle you go for. The 12L I’m about to take on will stay at home as it’s too big to lug around really. The 5L is a nice size to chuck in the boot when I’m going out shooting as I can give the gun a quick top up if I start to run low. 

Also, I find bottles far better for when you are doing maintenance on your guns at home. A pump can be a real bitch to get that initial burst of pressure into the gun to seat the seals, the bottle is great as it’s a quick twist of the handle and bam. Done. 

In general you will find the pump goes out the window when you join the bottle brigade. The speed an ease of a bottle is brilliant but you will find the size you need dictated by the shooting you do and the gun. Calibre doesn’t really affect the number of fills you get so much as the size of your gun cylinder. 

If you need any more help feel free to PM me ??

Cheers for that, lots of good info. I like the idea of clean air. When ever I use the pump I always let the release off nice and quick and sometimes you can see a kind of misting come out.

[Mark_mjs93 164]

1 minute ago, PLEDGEY said:

Cheers for that, lots of good info. I like the idea of clean air. When ever I use the pump I always let the release off nice and quick and sometimes you can see a kind of misting come out.

Yeah that misting is the moisture that you are drawing from the air with the pump. You are also putting some of that into your gun so when you make the change to bottle you will only be putting in dry air meaning less chance of internal corrosion etc. 

 

In short the argument for bottles vs pumps is the same as PCP vs Springer. Both have pros and cons. I’m firmly in the bottle camp. 

 

[PLEDGEY 496]

Just now, Mark_mjs93 said:

Yeah that misting is the moisture that you are drawing from the air with the pump. You are also putting some of that into your gun so when you make the change to bottle you will only be putting in dry air meaning less chance of internal corrosion etc. 

 

In short the argument for bottles vs pumps is the same as PCP vs Springer. Both have pros and cons. I’m firmly in the bottle camp. 

 

I got given an 'Air Products' bottle that had had oxygen in it. It's completely empty now. I can't see why I couldn't get it retested and refilled with 'diving gas'. Just need a regulator and hose then.

[Mark_mjs93 164]

10 minutes ago, PLEDGEY said:

I got given an 'Air Products' bottle that had had oxygen in it. It's completely empty now. I can't see why I couldn't get it retested and refilled with 'diving gas'. Just need a regulator and hose then.

Personally I can’t see a problem with this. Do you know what size it is? The only issue I can think is that if it was a gas holding bottle (oxygen) and it is branded ‘air products’ they could own the bottle and this could cause issues? Like calor or BOC bottles you know? Not sure. 

Regading the regulator, if the bottle is all above board and okay to use then I’d pick a valve/regulator with a non A clamp style fitting if that makes sense? It’s personal preference really but I find that the screw in type valves/regulators are more readily used nowadays and less prone to leaks than the A clamp style (to my knowledge at least). 

http://www.hydrotech.co.uk/

this is the brand of bottle I have. I also find that ‘bestfittings’ website do well priced fittings for bottles and guns. Might be worth picking up a whip assembly from them.