Air Cylinder Recharge

ihasagun · Post by **ihasagun** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:39 pm

I'm about to get a Steyr LP10 as my first air pistol and I have been researching how to recharge it, so I am aware of the options to use a hand pump with a dehumidifier filter or get an air bottle from a scuba shop. Steyr also lists the option to use an air compressor, and I do have an air compressor, but I do not think it produces dehumidified compressed air. Is there an attachment I can use with the air compressor that will dehumidify the air?

Also, how do you recharge a CO2 cylinder?

David M · Post by **David M** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:54 pm

The air compressor is a special high pressure compressor used for filling scuba tanks (200-300 bar).
CO2 is filled from a hired liquid supply bottle.

ihasagun · Post by **ihasagun** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:09 pm

OK, that makes sense. Anyone try the $650 shoebox?

http://shoeboxcompressor.com/?gclid=CIe ... 7AodD28A6w

j-team · Post by **j-team** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:13 pm

ihasagun wrote:OK, that makes sense. Anyone try the $650 shoebox?

http://shoeboxcompressor.com/?gclid=CIe ... 7AodD28A6w

a waste of time, read the specs, they take ages to fill a cylinder.

Just get a SCUBA bottle. A bit expensive to start with but you will have clean dry air and virtually instant re-fills without all the huffing and puffing of using a hand pump.

honeybadger · Post by **honeybadger** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 3:15 am

Get a scuba tank.

ihasagun · Post by **ihasagun** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 7:58 am

How many air cylinder refills do you get from a 300 bar tank before needing to get a high pressure refill on the tank?

rmca · Post by **rmca** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:56 am

Steyr cylinders are rated for 200 bar. Do not fill them to 300 bar.

You get plenty of refills per tank, even on the smaller ones, but that depends on the volume of the tank, not the pressure (200 vs 300), since it should have a max 200 bar for a safe refill.

The pressure will drop as you fill, but you can still get around 80 shots with a 150 bar on the cylinder.

Hop this helps

TerryKuz · Post by **TerryKuz** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 4:16 pm

An 80 cubit foot SCBA tank will fill a match air rifle for approximately 10,000 rounds with full cylinders. After 10,000 rounds the scba will have as much pressure as a scuba tank. The scba is about 700 bucks, and most folk get an annual fill for 20 bucks or so. The scba is good for 15 years, so that makes it super inexpensive in my opinion. I lucked into a scba compressor so I am set for life. Even with the cost of the compressor it is much cheaper than rimfire. Generally firehalls will fill the cylinder for a 20 buck donation.

C. Perkins · Post by **C. Perkins** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 6:58 pm

I would prefer and use a hand pump.
It is relatively cheap.
An empty cylinder to full 200 BAR is about 80 pumps(this is from memory cause they do not go empty).
After using a full charge of 200 BAR shooting a 60 shot match plus sighters it only takes me 30 pumps to refill to 200 BAR.
This is with an LP1 with full length cylinders.

Just my .02 cents

Clarence

ihasagun · Post by **ihasagun** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:28 pm

After reading up some more, I think I see what the options are. The SCBA is tempting, but I will have to see if there is somewhere to get it filled around here. There is a paint ball center not far away, and the interweb says to check those guys out for SCBA refills. So I will try and do that this weekend. Also, I see there are some smaller SCBA tanks, as in 90 cubic inches, that cost a lot less than $700. I might get a couple of those and be set for travel if it comes down to it. But for ease of use, the 200 Bar scuba tank looks promising.

Rover · Post by **Rover** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 11:22 pm

Buy a SSP. Save money and headaches.

j-team · Post by **j-team** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 11:52 pm

Rover wrote:Buy a SSP. Save money and headaches.

Finally, I was beginning to worry that something had happen to you!

rmca · Post by **rmca** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 3:00 am

ihasagun wrote:Also, I see there are some smaller SCBA tanks, as in 90 cubic inches, that cost a lot less than $700. I might get a couple of those and be set for travel if it comes down to it.

If by travel you mean airplanes, forget it. Both the tank and the cylinders have to be empty to go on an airplane. It kind of defeats the purpose...

Buy yourself a pump. It's cheaper and you can always fill your cylinders to 200 bar. It´s also a lot lighter than a scuba tank, and in the future if you do get a tank, it's a great backup solution.

Hope this helps

Rover · Post by **Rover** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 5:42 pm

Some think a pump is cheaper, but they are kind of expensive. You can go down to your local dive shop and get a full used SCUBA tank for much less....and you don't have to pump your ass off!

And J-Team, you too can avail yourself of the wisdom of the ages.

rmca · Post by **rmca** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 5:56 pm

Good luck getting a full tank on an airplane ;)

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 6:24 pm

Jeez, might as well try bringing a 2 litre soda onto a plane. They'll have you cuffed and strip searched just for showing up at an airport with a full tank. Okay, maybe not. But seriously Rover, is pumping so difficult? Seems slightly inconsistent with your diehard belief in the muscle powered SSP. Isn't a pump just an extension of the SSP? Turning labour into pellet-driving high pressure air is almost quaintly old fashioned, whether it's with a cocking lever on a Pardini K58 or a Gehmann FX pump handle. It's that newfangled scuba air you've got to worry about. That technology is the devil's work.

Full disclosure; I once filled a cylinder for my K10 from a tank. I was curious what it was like, and it was just sitting there at a match all shiny and tempting... I couldn't help myself! But never again. My pump got jealous. I'm almost certain it was giving me the evil eye that night when I got home.

Rover · Post by **Rover** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 8:12 pm

I'm not saying a pump is hard work. I'm saying a SCUBA tank is cheaper and easier. Are you saying you got the heebie-jeebies filling from a tank ONE time?

As far as traveling on a plane with this stuff....WHY? You can fill your cylinders at any match you might want to fly to, although that's not a concern with a SSP. (heh, heh, heh)

jliston48 · Post by **jliston48** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 8:15 am

I bought a used LP10 about a year ago. After 6 months, a cylinder developed a leak. I spoke to a Steyr agent. He asked if the cylinder had been filled from a pump or SCUBA tank. I filled it from a tank but knew nothing of its history. He said that, in his experience, most of the cylinders that have had problems had been filled from hand pumps. With SCUBA tanks, the air is guaranteed to be clean and dry - besides, it is so quick and convenient and still very cheap in the long term.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 10:15 am

I have used a hand pump for over a decade with no problems whatsoever.

David Levene · Post by **David Levene** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 10:26 am

jliston48 wrote:He said that, in his experience, most of the cylinders that have had problems had been filled from hand pumps.

That was particularly obvious with the old "pip-indicator" cylinders.

They had a series of spring washers controlling the pip. Here in the UK it was obvious when the cylinder had been filled by pump, even if only a few times. The washers turned a lovely shade of rust (eventually failing).