PCP Airgun Mechanical Questions

Happy New Year All and Greetings,

This is my first post on this forum.

Firstly an introduction…
I picked up a copy of Airgun World yesterday just because it caught my eye.
As a kid I owned a spring action air rifles and pistols of which I enjoyed using.
I also had a Sheridan Blue Streak multi stroke Rifle but never really got involved with its internal workings.

I was utterly amazed by the advancements in air gun technology specifically PCP.

Over the years I have built a home workshop that consists of the following main tools:

Denford StarMill (CNC Controlled) Employing EMC Running under RTAI Linux.
Denford StarTurn Lathe (CNC Controlled)

Boxford AUD Screw cutting Center Lathe (Late Model) http://www.lathes.co.uk/boxford/page2.html
Beaver Model A Milling Machine http://www.lathes.co.uk/beaver/page5.html

Granville Senior 3.5 Screw Cutting Lathe http://www.lathes.co.uk/granville/index.html

Chinese Import 7×12 Mini Lathe (This was my first one)

The Boxford AUD lathe and Beaver mill are my latest additions which I purchased in mid November. I built a rotary three phase converter to run them from single phase 240v which I have recently completed.

So I am thinking of putting the above mentioned tools to work on building my own PCP Air Rifle.

Looking through the Air World magazine and then google’n I came across this very informative forum.

So to the main question….

I am a little confused on the mechanism how the air from the bottle is regulated or stored in a measured way to allow constant shooting power. (for example is there a small reservoir?)

What mechanism is employed to load the the afore mentioned reservoir?

What methods does the firing mechanism employ to release the air when the trigger is pulled? (valve types etc)

What mechanism is used to ensure the rifle will stay within UK regulation (Regulators etc)

Sorry if these questions appear obvious to you veterans but for me this is an exciting brave new world.
Additionaly are there any books or other websites that go into the internal working of these guns that yuo know of?

Kind Regards,
SRG[/list]