Filling options

[Bladebum]

Just some questions from a lowly springer guy   Buddy of mine just picked up a maurader and is looking for best and possibly inexpensive ways, other than a pump, to charge the gun? Good sources for tanks, regulators etc? How many fills can you expect on X size tanks? Once upon a time I owned a discovery but I was a pumper so never looked into the other options.  School me everyone!

[VaporTrail]

Best bet is to get an inexpensive Chinese pump for a back up and then look into some of the smaller cheaper compressors. Look up some of the Yong Heng compressors (try to make sure they're legitimate Yong Hengs), Tuxing (spelling?) and possibly even the Hatsan Spark. Some of these compressors will require a separate cooling set up, so you can factor that in. As for the pump, I'd recommend that when he gets it in to check for function and then use it every now and again just to make sure that it'll still perform when he needs it.

As for fills, it would depend on the size and pressure of the tank as well as the size of the air tube that the gun uses. Here's a couple of links that you can use to calculate fills:

https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/Tanks/FillCalc.html

https://www.crosman.com/discover/airguns/pcp-resources/fill-calculator

[Doug Wall]

There are two way other than a hand pump.
 One is a compressor. While the price of the YH compressors is attractive, keep in mind that you should spend another $80 or more, to put a proper desiccant filter on it. I have a Nomad II that I have added a smaller desiccant filter to, that works well for me, but this is not inexpensive.
 The other is a tank. With a tank, you need to figure out where to get it filled, and unless you also have a compressor, the tank will need to be DOT certified. That leaves out the cheap expired tanks on Ebay, and the lower priced CE certified tanks.

[csitas]

Hey guys , I see Amazon has the 45 dollar hand pumps now. You don't have to ebay. Mine is water filled to help keep it cool . Still going strong after 2.5 years. I can remember when these first came  out , with the water inside ," The world was going to burn . " I'm here to say ,   it didn't

[Nomadic Pirate]

Hey guys , I see Amazon has the 45 dollar hand pumps now. You don't have to ebay. Mine is water filled to help keep it cool . Still going strong after 2.5 years. I can remember when these first came  out , with the water inside ," The world was going to burn . " I'm here to say ,   it didn't

Hahahaha

[E30_S50]

I use a yong heng and fill the biggest size available carbon tank. Then I fill my guns from the tank. Works well.

I also recently got one of the Chinese handpumps from Amazon and that works quite well, too (on guns with smaller reservoir).  It's quite a chore to pump up my Hatsan bully with 500cc...but it's perfect for my rex-p.

The other option, my first pcp was the nova freedom with the integrated pump.  The concept is awesome and the gun shoots super accurate...but the pumps just continued to fail and I've gotten fed up with rebuilding the pump. I even got a replacement gun and had the same issues.

[PoolDoc]

My cheap Chinese pump is the only pcp item that has needed NOTHING still have the spare O rings ect that came with the unit. A great item for the money. Before buying a compressor I used it exclusively to fill my guns. It can be a workout but gets the job done. 

[Bladebum]

Appreciate all the replys! From the recommendations here and seeing as it's not super expensive for the Chinese lines, I told him to buy a hand pump and compressor. Then later on he can acquire a tank.  Not a bad deal for around $300 to have two solid filling options.