A newbie needs help!
My Condor SS leaves Pyramydair today. I had originally ordered the 4500 PSI, 90 cu in Air Venturi carbon fiber tank and fill station.
After doing a bunch of research yesterday I have concluded that this tank is too small and I do not want to be running to the paint ball store to refill it every couple of days. I am considering sending the $300 Air Ventui back to Pyramydair and using the money to buy something more “pratical”.
I have the dilemma of having to make the decision of whether to buy a larger 4500 psi tank, or go with a scuba tank. I still may have a filling problem with the 4500 psi tank.
So, here are my questions.
Who is using a 4500 psi tank. These are pricier!
How are you filling it and are you filling it to 4500 psi
Do you have your own compressor like the Shoebox?
Do you fill your rifle up to 3000 psi
At what level do you refill your rifle??? 2000 psi?
Scuba tanks
Who is using Scuba tanks
I assume you are filling these to 3000 psi
Are you doing this with your own compressor or taking it to a dive shop?
What level do you fill your rifle. It appears from my reading that you will at most get 2900 psi
This system does not seem to give your gun maximum performance due to lower pressure.
I have not considered the hand air pump or using nitrogen.
So what would you do if you were me and just starting??? Due to initial expense and ease of filling would you go with a scuba system or would you go the more expensive Carbon fiber tank route.
Thanks.
All Replies
I am a financial advisor. It does not take me too long to do the math. Even with gas and the cost of the fill I would have to fill at least 30 or more times to cover the cost of a shoe box. I need to see how much I actually need. I will revisit the costs in 6 months.
See? With your own compressor, and you doing the maintenance Yuri never have to worry about driving out, possibly dropping off and having to drive all the way back… at around $.05/hr you fill your own tanks… not a sermon, just a thought. :biggrinn:
You are right Doug. I did have to drop off the tank because they could not find their fitting. Came back 4 hours later for pickup. I was ready to pay $15 because that is what some companies had quoted me. Shoot straight!
I dunno, five bucks sounds about right. Ya never know though, some places its just a matter of catching the right personal at the right time. I gotta guy that always tops my tanks off for free because I never seem to drop em down too far so they dont take hardly much air…. Otherwise I pay five bucks.
It is, always cool to show your appreciation for service with a useful gratuity and/or some positive feedback to the management about what a great personality and how well your contact represents their business, how your experience will bring you back. Be sure to be vaque and dont make it sound like they are giving away service is the only thing.
I am sure it was a mistake at the paintball store. The local dive shop quoted me eight dollars but they only go up to 4000psi. And…to get that it has to be on the day they recharge their bank of tanks.
I do not know what my usage is going to be. If it is as little as once a month or every 6 weeks then I think I will continue to use the paint ball store. I saw on Yellow Forum someone talking about an Omega compressor that may be coming down in price. Thanks for your input.
Not at all!! You know, if you can get a hold of Roachcreek (not sure of his geographical situation right now), He can tell you the basics of cascading two tanks together. That way, you have the freedom to get some used SCBA tanks, and a reg from Joe (airtanksforsale.com) that will allow you to hook them together- you should end up w/more air than two single tanks- I don’t know how the math adds up, but they’re both smarter than me, so I’ll believe them!! Just another thought if you have local areas that will fill tanks cheap.
Thanks Caboose. You hit the nail on the head. It is a matter of economics. I believe that you shoot more than I do. The shoebox makes sense in you case. I went to a local paintball store on Saturday. They filled my 4500 psi tank for a little less than $5. I was surprised but did not argue with the price. I left a dollar tip…..do you think it was too much?? LOL
I went with a 97 cu ft 4500 psi tank with two gauges, filled by my shoebox… If I refill at 2000 psi from 3000 psi that tank will fill the gun around 35 times or some such… I like the set up, though it is pricey! It saves you from having to drive around, and the set up is easy. Plus, the shoebox can fill your big tank, a smaller field tank, or it can directly fill your gun. The 97 cu ft tank w/the armor, legs and carrying handle weights about 12 lbs, not too heavy at all! I got it from Joe Brancato (AirtanksForSale) ready to use. I did the math, and for me and with the volume of shooting I do, the whole set up pays for itself in little over a year, what with gas to drive to the fill shop, the cost to fill and such.
Gary,
I’ve only shot my condor with the air that came with it, everybody I call is afraid to touch my luxfer tank.
Monday I’ll call a couple of nearby paintball places, if that falls through I’m going the shoebox route.
It’s kind of good though because I have gotten incredibly busy and wouldn’t have time to shoot at the moment.
Thanks knifemaker. Mine is a. 22. Yesterday i built my backyard shooting bench and backdrop for my 25 yard range. Time to start playing. Hey Rick…..how is your new. 25?
Wait till you try that .257 at 200 yards! You won’t believe it! 😀
Knife
Thats kinda the point I was sorta making…. I believe that many guys go into this all twisted and confused about numbers and stuff. When they should intially just be shooting the thing and kerp on shooting it until they get a good seat of the pants idea of how its shooting and when its not shooting so good. If its still hitting the target and not grouping too large keep shooting! Avg. Deviation of the velocity doesnt matter… as long as you hitting where ya aim it. Better to get trigger time and have fun than to complicate things up. Now after you have had a month or so of fun and maybe some of the novelty has worn off, you will be a bit saavy as to what shortcomings YOU FEEL within your application and now start tinkering, tuning, modding and buying all the goodies.
You got alot of shots off that one fill and at 20yrds your not noticing any lack of performance. Wait until ya take it to 60 yrds and you will marvel at how little the performance changes, these guns are really awesome and alot of fun! About 70 and groups open up but still you can keep em all scoring on the paper! I couldnt believe how well it grouped at 75 when I first got it!
You did very well with that 4500 tank and it will serve you very well as long as tou can readily get it filled. Congrats and enjoy!
Thanks Doug for your imput. I went with the 4500 psi tank. Yesterday I filled my SS. 22 to 3000. Shooting an 18.13 grain diablo match exact my first 10 shots dropped the pressure to 2650. The second 10 dropped pressure to 2300 and the third group of 10 dropped pressure to 2000. i am shooting 20 yards with my power wheel set on 3. Accuracy has not changed. Today i am going to chrono the next 10 shots to check velocity. i will keep shooting until accuracy falls off. Then refill and chrono with a full tank.
In my limited experience this is what I did…. I bought two scuba tanks used off of private parties found on Craigslist. One was aluminum 80 cu ft rated for 3000psi
This tank cost me $40.00 and needed to be hydro’d for another $30.00 , that same night I purchased it another party I had called earlier with a change of heart and was now ready to accept my counter offer that I had proposed and I bought his two year old and just like new steel 80cu ft 3500 psi tank. Got it for $75.00
My stock Condor actually shoots best around 2700 but just outta excessiveness I always fill to the max, given ‘er all she’s got! First off I fill at my local retail sporting goods big mall type of store. They charge only 5 bucks a fill. Their compressor has good days and better days on a good day they can get me a solid 3400psi on the steel and they wont overfill the aluminum past its rated 3000….
I will shoot my bone stock Condor down to about 1900 and thats alot of pellets like about 40 shots! At 1900 I will fill with the aluminum tank to max then I top it up the rest of the way with the steel tank which puts my fill gauge on my spinlock pegged into the red. I can shoot alot of pellets at a reduced velocity before the velocity climbs up substantially at around 2900 where it shoots very consistient for alotta shots down to about 2000 where I notice velocity starts dropping enough to notice the difference. With these two tanks and shooting every afternoon just plinking or informal paper punching at 70 yrds , I refill the tanks about every other week. I know that this isnt very scientific and this was using a stock Condor in .177 …….. yes I know that this isnt optimum controlled conditions but this rifle isn’t so particular that you intially need to get so frustrated over every detail. Best off just get alot of shooting and playing with this gun system getting to know it and feel it out first. Then you will have a better idea of what you really need to further purchase. If you can find a cheap beater scuba tank to just go out and get shooting, then you can better essay what your needs really are before comitting to bigger better more permanent capital expense. What I would never do , is buy a hand pump!
Now that I have modified and shoot .257 my 3000 tank and 3500 tank arent cutting it so swell and 4500 is going to be next investment however even though I have paintball stores present, they wont cant be filling a 80 or 100 cu ft tank… 80cuinch yes for same price I pay for cu ft via scuba…. I need bulk air for cu ft not cu inch and dont know where to fill unless I buy shoebox.
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Bingo!
Now whadya doing online so much …… ya should be outside shooting! Heh come to think of it ….. whadda I’m doin’ online???? Need to get some shooting going on too! Hmmm just waiting for more bullets and a chrony to arrive. I gotta start looking into bigger air too. With the .257 I feel like more is going to be better with bigger air, more air, higher pressure, beefier spring to really open up that Dayotat valve. Get the air and some casting gear and I will be all set!!! Maybe, then again 308 or maybe 7mm? Ya know 7BR was successful powderburner in the Rem.XP hmm?????
Gary , you will know when ya got it…. when it makes you feel good. :7: :4: :8: