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
Thanks Shamu. I ordered the 106 Luxfer from Randy today. I have a dive shop 10 minutes from the house that will fill to 4000. Still looking for a shop or company that will do 4350.
I think I will start out shooting my Condor on 4 on the adjustment wheel and fill to 3000. I will be on the chrono and will post my findings at these levels. My rifle will be delivered tomorrow.
If you can get 4500 fills at a local shop I really recommend going this route. I bought a 3000 psi scuba tank at first and then a 3500 psi tank which was really heavy, both were 80 cf. Sold them both and bought the 106 luxfer from Randy with the fill apparatus and then also bought a 66 cf scba tank on ebay that had some years left and recent hydro and bought the fill apparatus from Joe B. Just had both filled again yesterday to 4500 and it cost me $14 bucks total which will last me for quite a long time. I use the luxfer mostly in my basement range as it is a bit heavy and take the carbon fiber tank on the road. I fill my Condor to 3000 and also shoot my Extreme 45 at around 3500.
Thanks for the ideas. I knew this was going to be an adventure!
Hi Gary
I’m new also. I bought a Condor SS and SCUBA tanks a few months ago.
I bought two 100 cubic foot SCUBA tanks, that fill to 3,500 lb/sq in. from a local dive shop that was going out of business. I got two, in great shape, for $300 total. You can find such bargains on Ebay. I live near several dive shops and can get both tanks topped off for less than $10 total. The way I use them, the two tanks supply well over 1,000 shots. Pellets are costing much more than tank fills.
Airguns Of Arizona has an online Tank Fill Calculator that estimates how many times we can fill an airgun from a SCUBA tank.
http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/Tanks/FillCalc.html
If you are not familiar with SCUBA, or similar, tanks, do some reading before you purchase anything. You would need a fill adapter to interface the tank to the Condor. The fill adapters cost around $100. There are several types of tank valves needing different types of fill adapters. In particular, be alert to 5 thread vs. 7 thread DIN fittings. A 5 thread DIN adapter will not work with a 7 thread DIN tank valve.
Sometimes, I go further than just filling the Condor to 2,800 lb. After one of the SCUBA tanks gets down to 2,800 lb, I leave it connected the Condor using a fill adapter with a long hose. Then I shoot that tank down to 2,000 lb. While one tank is on it’s way down to 2,000 lb, the other is held in reserve to fill to 2,800lb when needed. That makes the two tanks last several weeks.
A big advantage to using SCUBA or similar tanks is that they are easier to take on the road than a compressor. I put my tanks in the back of the SUV and head out for a weekend of shooting. I’ve never come close to running low on air.
Tuko
Thanks Rick. I will look at their site. I talked to Joe at airguntanks and he was informative. I will check with the safety supply people here tomorrow. My gun is supposed to be here on Friday….Cant wait.
Hi gary,
I’m also a newb and am ordering a pcp setup at the moment with R&L airguns (Great People!).
I am purchasing Randy’s 106 cu.ft. tank setup which is a great price of $565 and will fill the beefed up condor .25 that I’m getting from him also around 25 times or so.
Some people recommend not getting a scuba tank due to the number of fills is greatly reduced since it can only go to 3000 psi.
Your name mentions Houston and there should be plenty of safety equipment businesses that should be able to refill the tank. Call around and check with them. Any of them that handle scba tanks can fill to 4500 psi.
As a side note, the new product coming out is going to be a 5400# scba tank, now that will increase fills dramatically :8:
I almost bought the smaller tank also, not noticing the cu in and cu ft, I was so glad Randy pointed that out to me because I was only looking at the numbers.
Rick
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I also picked up one of those 4500psi 90cu in tanks from Pyramyd a few weeks back. My local paintball hobby shop will fill it up to 4500psi for $5.00. I haven’t gone through an entire fill yet (I generally use my Hill MK3 to fill up my rifles before going out), but I think I’m on par to get around 10 fills or so on my Condor. The entire tank fits inside a Condor Tactical sling bag so for me it was more about portability than the number of fills the tank will put out.
Keep us posted on what you end up going with. It’s always good to hear what rigs others are using.
Cheers!