Don’t Buy a Scuba Tank off of Craigslist
I’m in a world of hurt.
Paid US $175 for a 100 cf steel tank with a DIN valve. The dive shop told me that there were two cracks in the threads and that the tank is no good.
Only buy tanks from a dive shop or brand new. Carbon fiber tanks can only be hydro tested 3 times before becoming useless. It will cost 1/4 of the price to get the thing hydro-tested, inspected, and filled.
Here is the cost of choosing to go pcp:
Talon $415
HP Tank $145
Nikon Scope $135
Bipod $60
Shroud $66
DIN adaptor $70
100 cf tank $175
Inspections $40
Grand Total $1106
It may be as much as an AR-15, but being able to drop a starling in a residential area without causing a stir makes it all worth it.
Opinion: Air rifles are so much more fun than firearms. This is coming from a guy who has shot every small arm in the US Army vault, including the MK 19 grenade launcher.
Anyways, what was I saying…oh yeah…beware of buying used SCUBA tanks.
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No, that was not me, I have no videos out there that I know of, but I worry that there may be one I do not know of and Tron will post it and claim it was WOK.
I think that in some states the laws may be written so that it could be used in Muzzle loading season, or in general rifle season where they allow archery and Muzzleloaders in lue of centerfire rifle.
You may get pinched for it, here in Oregon, we have a backwards thinking game commission, they have been forced into new regulations by civil disobedience. Ie it used to be guns were strictly forbidden on your person during archery season, a hunter with a CCW permit, got arrested for carrying a handgun, took them to court under the 2nd ammndment right to carry a lawful handgun and won the case, it changed state law.
Airguns that are used as muzzleloaders will slip by our law here.
In another incident earlier, a guy went hunting with his Mac 10, same thing happened, but then they passed a new law saying machineguns were forbidden, thank God!
So read your state regs.
Now private game ranches are a different matter, the regs usually do not apply.
ROachcreek
Good deal Deadly Accountant , glad that worked out for you.
Dam Roach that is one hell of a wall mural. Cool stuff man
Agreed Wok. Only time and experience will cure his illness.
Roach, was that your video on youtube where you’re shooting arrows/ bolts out of your gun?
Can you assasina…I mean hunt with it, and if so in what season?
By the way, thats sweet!
Glad to hear the tank is good to go.
That was a close one. That dick head kid should not have said anything if he did not know what he was talking about.
Deadly Accountant,
Good for you on the tank.
I have a bolt on all three of my AF Rifles, subsonnic makes them.
I first tried it on the Airarcher, the heavier spring of the Airarcher combined with the weak sear latching of the AF design, was wreaking havoc on my arthritic thumbs and pulling out that little stud on the breech.
I liked the bolt conversion so much I had sub put them on all my AF rifles.
Your on the money same basic idea I use. I find that I do not need to fill both tanks every month and my guy charges $4 a fill so my average is probably $4 a month and no more pumping! I also fill alot more often just because the air is there! I have no problem pumping with a hand pump. My problem was not that I could not pump it. I am 6’2″ and 245lbs. The pump gets hot and you have to wait! pump 30 more times it starts to get hot and you wait! give me a pump I can pump 100 times straight and I probably never would have bought scuba tanks. I do not have an hour to fill my gun from empty. (20 minutes pumping and 40 minutes waiting for pump to cool)
He examined the tank right there using a special light, and then a mallet for resonance. He said the tank was in excellent condition! Darn that other guy! That’s the last time I take a tank to a 24 year old with one year of experience.
Roach, Do you have a bolt-lever on one of your AF guns?
Better safe then sorry for him, and you.
I just got back from the larger SCUBA shop. The owner told me that if the tank was condemned he would strip the threads out to make it unusable right then and there.
He examined the tank right there using a special light, and then a mallet for resonance. He said the tank was in excellent condition! Darn that other guy! That’s the last time I take a tank to a 24 year old with one year of experience.
Roach, Do you have a bolt-lever on one of your AF guns?
I highly recommend buy used from a scuba shop. You should be able to get a good price and a decent product.
This is the route I went, I know of no where to get the SCBA filled. If I shoot alot it will run $10.00 a month to fill both at the scuba shop I purchased them from.
They know what I use them for and that seems to help with how full they run them.
I checked on Craigslist, but I could not come up with that loving feeling purchasing them off the list, and you have no recourse if you have a problem, I do at my scuba shop.
The nitrogen tanks are the best way to go, I suppose, but some find the rental costs and fill costs in their area to prohibitive.
I went thru 3 worthless AF pumps in as many months. I got my money back thru AF and Airgun Depoe, both were good to deal with. I will buy a used pump in the future for backup, and learn how to service it, but you can bet your ass it will be a Hill.
Roachcreek
Paid US $175 for a 100 cf steel tank with a DIN valve. The dive shop told me that there were two cracks in the threads and that the tank is no good.
Only buy tanks from a dive shop or brand new. Carbon fiber tanks can only be hydro tested 3 times before becoming useless. It will cost 1/4 of the price to get the thing hdro-tested, inspected, and filled.
Here is the cost of choosing to go pcp:
Talon $415
HP Tank $145
Nikon Scope $135
Bipod $60
Shroud $66
DIN adaptor $70
100 cf tank $175
Inspections $40
Grand Total $1106
It may be as much as an AR-15, but being able to drop a starling in a residential area without causing a stir makes it all worth it.
Opinion: Air rifles are so much more fun than firearms. This is coming from a guy who has shot every small arm in the US Army vault, including the MK 19 grenade launcher.
Anyways, what was I saying…oh yeah…beware of buying used SCUBA tanks.
A handpump is only $200 so you would have saved $230 and a bunch of run around messing with the tank… 😕
That $230 could have gone to another barrel and a bunch of ammo… 😆
I bought two new 3000 psi tanks from my local scuba dealer. ($149 each) I asked him to call me with any used 3500 psi steel tanks he may get in.
I am perfectly happy with 2500 psi fills which gives me alot of fills for $4 to refill a tank. I would say a 3000 psi tank and a pump would be a good compromise.
Well, the young guy who examined the threads said that he couldn’t call them cracks for sure –they were two blotchy dark areas. He basically told me to get a second opinion because he has only owned the dive shop for one year.
They are not visible to the naked eye, and cracks are not characteristic of steel tanks. Cast aluminum tanks are known for cracking as time passes. I think it will be worth a second opinion from a more experienced diver.
It may just be tool stop marks which are often misidentified as cracks, so here is for hoping.
I have bought 4 scuba tanks off of craigslist….all of them out of hydro and I told both sellers that I was gonna pull the valves off and do an on spot visual ….and they both said it was fine by them…so next time see if they would mind you unscrewing the valve and looking inside with a flash light….just my .02 Greg
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Hey RC that broad head in that pic looks really devestating were could i get something like that.