Hey AGN:
I got into PCP's about 15-20yrs ago (it was so long ago that I don't remember the exact year) and have spent many thousands of dollars buying every rifle and accessory I've ever wanted...but never committed to buying perhaps the most important piece of equipment for this hobby: a compressor.
I'm a seasonal airgunner that's mostly only active from October through February and spend the rest of the year golfing. I don't punch a lot paper and I don't sit behind my guns for hours doing full shot strings trying to figure out shot counts, extreme spreads & standard deviations. In most years, I'll probably only go through about 3-5 tanks of air and 1-2 tins of pellets.
Early on, I got several SCBA tanks and bought a 12 tank fill card from a local dive shop way back when they were only charging about $4-$5 per 4500psi fill. I've only used 3 of those 12 fills all this time because of my infrequent use, it seemed like every other time I went to that dive shop to fill the tanks, they'd require a new visual inspection or full on hydro - which ranged from $35-$75 depending on what was needed. This felt like a lot to pay for use little as I was filling the tanks.
Several years ago, local airgunning buddy jack.k got the deal of a lifetime on a top-tier Alkin compressor and that poor man has been filling my tanks for me out of the goodness of his heart ever since! On a number of occasions, I started to do the research on compressors and it seemed like you really only had two choices: 1) buy a cheap $300 Chinese junker and accept the fact that you'll be replacing them every once in awhile or 2) spend $3,000-$4,000 (or more) for a top tier unit (all of the mid-tier stuff all seemed very unremarkable and randomly unreliable). None of those options were very appealing to me so I never made the commitment and, instead, made the 40 minute each way a few times a year to bogart some air from Jack.
Truth be told, the other reasons I put off getting a compressor were concerns about: how complex they'd be to use, how much maintenance they'd require and, probably most importantly, that I'd do something stupid and blow myself up! Since COVID, I'd had a lot more time to really start tweaking my rifles and have gotten to know them at a much deeper level than ever before. That involves a lot more air than I'd typically used in the past. As luck would have it, I arranged to pick up a rifle from local Bay Area seller who also happened to be selling his Omega Air Charger compressor as well.
I did the research and it turns out that this is one of the mid-tier compressors that has generally received very good reviews over time. It's far from the fastest option out there but most everyone raved about their reliability year after year. So I ended up picking up the Air Charger along with the rifle and am so glad that I did. I'm not going to lie - I still thought I was going to blow myself up the first time I used it but it turns out that it's very easy to use and can top off my 60 minute SCBA tank from 3000psi to 4500psi in about 25 minutes!
I've used it 4 times now and honestly don't know what the hell took me so long to get one! The freedom of not having to rely on someone else to get air is incredibly liberating! I can shoot, tune and test for leaks on my rifles all day long now and not have to worry about dropping my tanks off somewhere and waiting days to get them back filled! In hindsight, I was pretty stupid for not getting a compressor sooner; I won't be bothering Jack with air requests anymore but I'm sure I'll still manufacture enough issues requiring his assistance that I'll still see him regularly
Morale of this story: if you're going to be PCP'ing with any consistency at all, do yourself a favor and get a compressor! Which one you get and how much you spend, that's entirely up to you but no halfway serious PCP'er should be without one!
I got into PCP's about 15-20yrs ago (it was so long ago that I don't remember the exact year) and have spent many thousands of dollars buying every rifle and accessory I've ever wanted...but never committed to buying perhaps the most important piece of equipment for this hobby: a compressor.
I'm a seasonal airgunner that's mostly only active from October through February and spend the rest of the year golfing. I don't punch a lot paper and I don't sit behind my guns for hours doing full shot strings trying to figure out shot counts, extreme spreads & standard deviations. In most years, I'll probably only go through about 3-5 tanks of air and 1-2 tins of pellets.
Early on, I got several SCBA tanks and bought a 12 tank fill card from a local dive shop way back when they were only charging about $4-$5 per 4500psi fill. I've only used 3 of those 12 fills all this time because of my infrequent use, it seemed like every other time I went to that dive shop to fill the tanks, they'd require a new visual inspection or full on hydro - which ranged from $35-$75 depending on what was needed. This felt like a lot to pay for use little as I was filling the tanks.
Several years ago, local airgunning buddy jack.k got the deal of a lifetime on a top-tier Alkin compressor and that poor man has been filling my tanks for me out of the goodness of his heart ever since! On a number of occasions, I started to do the research on compressors and it seemed like you really only had two choices: 1) buy a cheap $300 Chinese junker and accept the fact that you'll be replacing them every once in awhile or 2) spend $3,000-$4,000 (or more) for a top tier unit (all of the mid-tier stuff all seemed very unremarkable and randomly unreliable). None of those options were very appealing to me so I never made the commitment and, instead, made the 40 minute each way a few times a year to bogart some air from Jack.
Truth be told, the other reasons I put off getting a compressor were concerns about: how complex they'd be to use, how much maintenance they'd require and, probably most importantly, that I'd do something stupid and blow myself up! Since COVID, I'd had a lot more time to really start tweaking my rifles and have gotten to know them at a much deeper level than ever before. That involves a lot more air than I'd typically used in the past. As luck would have it, I arranged to pick up a rifle from local Bay Area seller who also happened to be selling his Omega Air Charger compressor as well.
I did the research and it turns out that this is one of the mid-tier compressors that has generally received very good reviews over time. It's far from the fastest option out there but most everyone raved about their reliability year after year. So I ended up picking up the Air Charger along with the rifle and am so glad that I did. I'm not going to lie - I still thought I was going to blow myself up the first time I used it but it turns out that it's very easy to use and can top off my 60 minute SCBA tank from 3000psi to 4500psi in about 25 minutes!
I've used it 4 times now and honestly don't know what the hell took me so long to get one! The freedom of not having to rely on someone else to get air is incredibly liberating! I can shoot, tune and test for leaks on my rifles all day long now and not have to worry about dropping my tanks off somewhere and waiting days to get them back filled! In hindsight, I was pretty stupid for not getting a compressor sooner; I won't be bothering Jack with air requests anymore but I'm sure I'll still manufacture enough issues requiring his assistance that I'll still see him regularly
Morale of this story: if you're going to be PCP'ing with any consistency at all, do yourself a favor and get a compressor! Which one you get and how much you spend, that's entirely up to you but no halfway serious PCP'er should be without one!
