buddy fill tank

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Robert S.

Member
Nov 12, 2023
22
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Carrollton Ga USA
I am just getting into the p c p air rifle scene. I have an old scuba tank that I could use as a buddy tank if I went on a hunting trip. But the problem is that it weights about 40 lb. and aim getting closer to 70 ever day )
Question is what do y'all use and can an empty nitrous tank be refilled with air?after it has be tested and restamped?
F X crown 3600/250 .25 cal

Also have a compressor but dont want to have to lug it around
thanks
 
Most scuba tanks have a 3000 psi maximum fill and the most common ones, AL80s, are huge tanks that don’t actually hold that much air. HP steel tanks are generally better, with about a 3500 max fill and usually a larger capacity, but they are usually pretty heavy. Then you have hydro and visual inspections, hydro every 5 years and visual every year. If you can fill them from your own compressor however then you might be ok, wink wink nod nod. LP steel tanks should just be avoided for airgunnjng.

A carbon fiber Scba tank is really what you want however and nobody uses those for scuba. They’re lightweight and can be charged up to 4500 psi which makes them perfect for airgunners.
 
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pan60 said:
same here
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I'm slowly making the switch over to air rifle and like most of you have determined the hand pump method is not a good long term solution. I've also figured out the steel and aluminum tanks also have very limited utility just due to PSI restrictions. I am going to try and source a decommissioned carbon fiber tank from a local fire department but I am curious if anyone knows the inspection date requirements for those to be filled, if any. I assume there is some restriction but I don't know if it would apply the same if I took them into a dive shop or a paintball place. Any help is appreciated.
 
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Dive shops are going to want to see a hydro test within the past five years, (stamped into the tank), and a visual test sticker within the past year.

The tanks themselves are legally good for 15 years. There is a process to have that extended, but only a few places seem to do it and it's not cheap.

I just fill my expired tanks myself. There's a guy on Craigslist here in the Seattle area selling old SCBA tanks for $50 each. I picked up 4 of them and he's currently got two for sale.
 
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Sawney Bean said:
Dive shops are going to want to see a hydro test within the past five years, (stamped into the tank), and a visual test sticker within the past year.

The tanks themselves are legally good for 15 years. There is a process to have that extended, but only a few places seem to do it and it's not cheap.

I just fill my expired tanks myself. There's a guy on Craigslist here in the Seattle area selling old SCBA tanks for $50 each. I picked up 4 of them and he's currently got two for sale.
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I have a carbon fiber s c b a 1 hr tank that just went out of date, cant get it checked. Got to change the filler valve and refill.
I have one of the yongheng compressors and knowing I will have to fill tank little at a time.
How long should I run compressor each time till filled
thanks
 
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Robert S. said:
I have a carbon fiber s c b a 1 hr tank that just went out of date, cant get it checked. Got to change the filler valve and refill.
I have one of the yongheng compressors and knowing I will have to fill tank little at a time.
How long should I run compressor each time till filled
thanks
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I filled mine with a GX CS4, so a way less powerful compressor than you have. I find it takes me about 6 hours to fill from empty. I'll run the compressor for half an hour with a timer set on my phone and a cut off pressure set on the tank, then I'll bleed the moisture off let it rest 15 minutes or so and do it again. At first I was measuring temperature by just dipping my finger in the coolant, but later when I had the cover off I noticed that the rest of the compressor got much hotter than the coolant does, so I started giving it longer and more frequent breaks. Once you've filled them from empty once though you shouldn't ever have to do it again until unless you want to inspect your tanks.
 
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Sawney Bean said:
Dive shops are going to want to see a hydro test within the past five years, (stamped into the tank), and a visual test sticker within the past year.

The tanks themselves are legally good for 15 years. There is a process to have that extended, but only a few places seem to do it and it's not cheap.

I just fill my expired tanks myself. There's a guy on Craigslist here in the Seattle area selling old SCBA tanks for $50 each. I picked up 4 of them and he's currently got two for sale.
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Got it! Thanks for that info.

Starting off, what are the recommendations for a primary air source? I'm leaning to that it may be best to buy a tank (which I will need at some point) and save for a good compressor down the road. With a +/-7l tank I could get enough bottle fills to push a 1,500 or so .22/.25 pellets, right? Am I doing that math correctly?

I'm looking into a new or used FX and they seem to be pretty efficient.
 
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Well, I'm getting 60+ shots in either my .22 and .25 Mavericks with a mix of pellets and slugs, the smaller tank on the .22, and I've got a 70CF tank, that's about 10ish refills so a tad short of your 1500, 4500 psi to 3000 psi. I use to have to go to the dive shop once a month until the gal there decided I couldn't, guess she didn't like guns. So I bought a Tuxing 032, not into the Young Heng repair club, into the Tuxing repair club instead.

So IMHO a 70CF tank is a good size and bang for the buck I do like Mavericks but it's taken a bit to get them to where I wanted them. One was a used and beaten to death , that started out as a .25 sniper but I changed to a .22 compact. The other is a new .25 VP. If you like a touch of tinkering, they're it, without having to go totally nuts with a M3. Both of mine are good to 1 minute of squirrel at 125 yards. Enjoy the Rabbit Hole® Lots of good people down here.
 
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Who would fill the tank if you got one? That would determine what tank you could use.

Biggest thing is to get a non expired DOT tank if you are going to pay someone to fill it. If you can fill it or if a buddy is okay filling a expired or non dot tank then cheapest route would be a used scba tank, that you can find as cheap as $100 shipped on ebay. Some shops will refill the tank you buy from them for free or at a lower rate so if you have a shop nearby that would be a smart move.

Or you can get compressor and direct fill until you can get a tank to fill with it. If you go this route get at least a compressor that is rated to fill a tank. The GX cs4 is supposed to do that and is kinda portable. Check the compressor section to see how reliable those are.



Allen
 
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Health Service has it right. I have 5-45 min, 5-60 min and 1 Omega88 CF bottle/ s.
a tuxing TD 30 and a GX CS4 portable. I keep the bottles full with the tuxing and use them at home.the portable will fill your guns repeatedly for days on end on the road.. never have to go get the tank filled. inevitably, after every shooting session you're going to have to go get your tanks filled. it's a hassle, time consuming and semi expensive. that's why you have your own compressor and if you have the GX CS4, you won't need the tuxing or bottles, it's just going to fit your needs. you need to read here and watch You Tube and get your own mindset. Some may differ but it has been working perfectly for months. You can also fill your buddies gun if necessary. REMEMBER, friendship is great but it won't pay for compressors.
 
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Sawney Bean said:
Dive shops are going to want to see a hydro test within the past five years, (stamped into the tank), and a visual test sticker within the past year.

The tanks themselves are legally good for 15 years. There is a process to have that extended, but only a few places seem to do it and it's not cheap.

I just fill my expired tanks myself. There's a guy on Craigslist here in the Seattle area selling old SCBA tanks for $50 each. I picked up 4 of them and he's currently got two for sale.
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I have two carbon fiber that are out of date.(never have been checked} Took to a shop to get regulators replace with a dim valve. They would not do it said the tanks were to old and they would not trust them. Said he thought he had something that could be checked and would let me know.
Question have you ever heard of an outdated tank exploding? and how do you hold a c f tank to remove the old valve?
This tank stuff is about to get under my skin,
 
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I haven't managed to remove the valves on my CF tanks. They're stuck on there like death and I'll need some sort of strap wrench to grip the tank to get them loose. I tried using my woodworkers vice, but they would slip and I didn't want to risk doing any damage to the tank by clamping them in super tight.

The big risk of tanks exploding was with aluminum tanks from around 40 years ago. They had a bunch that were made from the wrong alloy and a lot of shops refuse to fill those. Divers are also infamous for overfilling their tanks, (they want that extra bit of dive time), so the fact that very few ever seem to actually explode says something about their safety.

I haven't heard anything about CF tanks exploding and Europe allows the use of CF tanks for 30 years.
 
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Healthservices said:
The great thing so far that I've read about the carbonfiber tanks is they help contain issues with leaks in the internal aluminum housing. All that carbonfiber contains any leaks to the point air that escapes basically seeps out thru the webbing.

Allen
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I would also suspect that it helps contain any shrapnel in the event that a tank did explode. Carbon fiber just isn't going to go flying off and cause the same damage as aluminum or steel.
 
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