Good modern hand pumps for our PCP rifles and pistols? Or, cheap air compressor?

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sidpost

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Aug 1, 2019
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Tx, United States
I'm starting to look again at hand pumps for my PCP rifles and a pistol I'm looking to buy. Hill and FX seem to have updated their hand pumps. Where are things with affordable compressors these days?

Before I dive into the hand pumps again, I'm trying to figure out the air compressor situation. Where are the sweet spots for air compressors in terms of price and performance? Scuba/SCBA and other tanks aren't an option for me where I live so, a hand pump or compressor on solar/battery is where I'm at today.

I have some older air hog PCP rifles and I'm looking to get a 10M pistol so, hand pumping the pistol doesn't concern me but, big bottles on an air hog rifle does.



TIA, Sid
 
Depends. Typically I hand pump my Brocock Atomic XR to 250 bar max fill. It's a small reservoir and I shoot maybe 15-20 shots before refilling. The pumping is pretty easy (for a hand pump). BTW, I am 78 years old! I also typically pump my Weihrauch HW44. The most number of strokes might be 30-35 strokes for the Atomic with it's larger reservoir.

Now, I would never consider hand pumping my Avenger to 4300psi or even my FX Maverick or Wildcat. I typically shoot lots with them, drawing them down to near reg pressure and the volume of the tank is large.

So, depending on the collection and how many shots you typically look for between fillings, you might end up with both. I personally own a Hill pump with moisture removing bottle, an Omega Trailcharger and two "dive" tanks (74 and 98 cf). I use all of these in my shooting. So I don't see this as an either or situation. Just my opinion.
 
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I have two hand pumps, one a Benjamin my kids bought me and another a higher pressure Chinese unit I bought after getting my Avenger. Both work fine but the Chinese one is much cheaper and goes to higher pressure. Later I bought a Yong Heng and then after that I bought a used SCBA tank and valve set. Mostly I fill the bottle with the compressor and the guns with the bottle. The compressor is noisy, the bottle is very quiet. But occasionally I hand pump my Prod. Doesn't take long. The bottle can also go with me to the range (hand pump can too). Some people apparently like using a pump that can run off 12V so they can skip the bottle. I would prefer not to listen to a noisy pump every time I need a fill but it is another option.

As long as you are physically OK, I think starting with a pump is a great idea. I like having mine as a backup. After that it's a choice between a tank somebody fills for you, a 12/120V pump (that probably won't fill a bottle), or a 120V compressor with a bottle you fill yourself. The hand pump is the only inexpensive option.
 
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I went through same analysis as you. I went with a cheap portable compressor for about $285. So far, I have 95 fills and get about 60 shots per fill on my Avenger 22. Each fill takes about 6 minutes so I have about 9.5 hours of run time. Folks on this forum say you can only expect about 20 hours of run time from these portable compressors. I feel if I get anywhere close to 20 hours of run time, then that is ok since that would be about 12,000 pellets for $285 (2.4 cents per pellet). Agree that it is a bit noisy for the 6 minutes of fill time.
 
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I hand pumped until the old injuries complained about it then I bought the Yong Heng.

I actually bought a small buddy tank before I got the compressor. 

When I added up what it cost me to fill for a year it was an easy thing to buy a small compressor. It paid for itself in just over a year.

The Yong Heng is about the best little compressor you are going to get for under $1500 and it only costs $300.

Water cooled and oil in the crankcase so it will last for a few years anyway.



https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/a-dedicated-yong-heng-subforum/#post-1127767


 
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Had a lot of hand pumps. Had the correctly colored Lemon Hill (very 1st model), FX, Hill.

NO reason to spend such money now for a simple hand pump. A $50 G$ clone type is outstanding. Pop on over to the https://www.airgunnation.com/forum/accessories/air-tanks-pumps-compressors-filters/ section and I'm sure someone knows the latest really good model.

I personally know this one to be excellent: https://www.vevor.com/pcp-pump-c_11108/vevor-high-pressure-hand-pump-4-stage-6000psi-air-pump-tire-ball-pcp-pump-ect-p_010877357527?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PLA-ALL%E9%AB%98-US-All-sku-ECPC-202111222-WHJ&msclkid=138218b47c021aeb9e197aeb0afef8ca&utm_content=Ad%20group%20%231

Admittedly due to health I do own an Altaros but still use the Vevor-6 yeras old) a bit and I suppose just due to the true need for more backup -ya sure- bought an on sale for $24 shipped handpump that assembled finger tight only did pass a 4,500psi test.

John 


 
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In the same boat but I absolutely positively 110% refuse to buy something for 400 dollars or more that I know for 110% sure isn’t going to last and will break. Most of the pcp community seems fine with 400 dollar disposable commodities but not me. Hand pumping and will get a bottle soon. Yes have to spend 10 bucks to fill and 40-50 every 3 years for testing but it’s going to last 15 years. I don’t have to wonder if it will break in 15 months, 15 days or 15 minutes. 
 
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