Why No Foot Pumps for PCP's?

[Metalmaniac]

My first PCP was an Airforce Condor with a 500 cc tank. The gun was new with an empty tank. With a hill MK 3 pump I filled it from 0 to 3000psi . It took 700 pumps! 7 sets of 100 strokes . I am a physical guy. Me and the pump had to cool down in between sets. I love to shoot targets mostly , some varmint hunting. This enticed me to buy a RWS 54 until I could get a compressor.
If you target shoot after hand pumping your rifle. Your heart rate is elevated.
Your hands are a little shaky . That is counter productive to shooting accuracy.

 

[BackStop]

The average age at AGN is 56 years. Me? I'm 70. I can still hand pump my Condor but ... clearly the way you are whining about our complaining documents your youth...

62 here and not in as good of shape as I should be. However, hand pumping is a non-issue for me.

Oh, and I do usually weigh in at 200 pounds... sometimes less by 20 or so.

 

[BackStop]

All this stroking talk is getting me excited, BRB

Yep... you're weird.

 

[BackStop]

My first PCP was an Airforce Condor with a 500 cc tank. The gun was new with an empty tank. With a hill MK 3 pump I filled it from 0 to 3000psi . It took 700 pumps! 7 sets of 100 strokes . I am a physical guy. Me and the pump had to cool down in between sets. I love to shoot targets mostly , some varmint hunting. This enticed me to buy a RWS 54 until I could get a compressor.
If you target shoot after hand pumping your rifle. Your heart rate is elevated.
Your hands are a little shaky . That is counter productive to shooting accuracy.

Since I only have to pump about 30+ times to top off my gun(s), I only need a few moments to get the heart rate back down and the hands steadier, but I completely understand what you are talking about.

As I think I have said more than once, there are lots of reasons someone might NEED a compressor, but the majority of airgun shooters simply don't. JMHO

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

Yep... you're weird.

Thank you!

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

My first PCP was an Airforce Condor with a 500 cc tank. The gun was new with an empty tank. With a hill MK 3 pump I filled it from 0 to 3000psi . It took 700 pumps! 7 sets of 100 strokes . I am a physical guy. Me and the pump had to cool down in between sets. I love to shoot targets mostly , some varmint hunting. This enticed me to buy a RWS 54 until I could get a compressor.
If you target shoot after hand pumping your rifle. Your heart rate is elevated.
Your hands are a little shaky . That is counter productive to shooting accuracy.

Yeah but you do not fill a 500cc bottle every session

Get a PCP with the same power of the 54 and you'll probably get a good 100 ( most likely more just giving a pessimistic count ) shots before needing to top off.

 

[BurntDog]

i saw a guy on youtube make a rig out of wood and levers he hooked to a bicycle chain and drove the pump action by peddling heheh ..

Didn't I see him on Gilligan's Island? Lol

 

[Trucker3573]

Found an interesting factoid in a Hatsan hand pump manual

https://hatsanairgunsusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/4_Stage_Hand_Pump_Manual.pdf

The advertised pump is indicated as requiring a 170 pound handle force at 3,000 psi. Another article I read on Airgun Depot (sorry can't find it now...) recommends minimum weight of 200 pounds for stability. I weigh 210 and when hand pumping to 3,000 psi I feel like I'm about to come off my feet. I hate pumping...

Sorry but just my opinion that all that is ridiculous. I pump well beyond 3k all the time weighing 185 lbs. No way there is 170 lbs of force required at 3k. I don’t like to do a ton of pumps at once so I routinely will fill my avenger from like 2800 to 3800. It isn’t that bad. I guess it’s all subjective but the subject of hand pumping difficulty has always perplexed me since getting into pcp.

 

[badger5th]

Sorry but just my opinion that all that is ridiculous. I pump well beyond 3k all the time weighing 185 lbs. No way there is 170 lbs of force required at 3k. I don’t like to do a ton of pumps at once so I routinely will fill my avenger from like 2800 to 3800. It isn’t that bad. I guess it’s all subjective but the subject of hand pumping difficulty has always perplexed me since getting into pcp.

Fair enough regarding the article. I just know I feel like I'm about to come off my feet when I get up to 3000 PSI and I'm 210 lbs. Straight arms pushing down, bend my knees on the bottom few inches of the compression stroke to transfer my body weight. At 3800 PSI I think I'd be coming off my feet like the early 30's Disney cartoon of the guys pumping a handcar...

 

[CyberDyneSystems]

Just weld a tractor seat to your handles,. and then do squats!
EDIT: WAIT! Now I am picturing a handpump under a see-saw, and it doesn't seem like a bad idea at all


Also,

 

[CyberDyneSystems]

 

[Plink Floyd]

Some pretty clever contraptions there, now I'm wondering if theres water cooled hand pumps.

 

[Redtick12]

How about hooking a pump to a stationary bike so you could use two legs. You could start a spin class and get people to pay you to come pump up your tanks.

 

[MrP]

Sorry but just my opinion that all that is ridiculous. I pump well beyond 3k all the time weighing 185 lbs. No way there is 170 lbs of force required at 3k. I don’t like to do a ton of pumps at once so I routinely will fill my avenger from like 2800 to 3800. It isn’t that bad. I guess it’s all subjective but the subject of hand pumping difficulty has always perplexed me since getting into pcp.

I have three hand pumps, one is MUCH harder to push down at 3500 psi than the others so it may be that the different experiences reflect different pumps.

Also helps to pump on a surface like concrete slab that has no give at all.

 

[Trucker3573]

Fair enough regarding the article. I just know I feel like I'm about to come off my feet when I get up to 3000 PSI and I'm 210 lbs. Straight arms pushing down, bend my knees on the bottom few inches of the compression stroke to transfer my body weight. At 3800 PSI I think I'd be coming off my feet like the early 30's Disney cartoon of the guys pumping a handcar...

Only suggestion would be try a 50 dollar China pump.

 

[Removed]

The problem with stirrup pumps is they put out very little volume. Most of them are three stage with the higher end ones being 4 stage I believe. Going with a shorter stroke that you would need with a foot pump would put out even less volume and each stage would be even smaller. Depending on the volume you need to fill it would take forever to build pressure and even then you would probably need to drive over the damn thing with a truck just to get one stroke.

 

[OldSpook]

Any of you "engineers" ever seen a "Shoebox" pump? Small, compact, and efficient. Needs to be fed with a 120 PSI shop compressor. Start there and your foot pump doesn't seem so unlikely.

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

Fair enough regarding the article. I just know I feel like I'm about to come off my feet when I get up to 3000 PSI and I'm 210 lbs. Straight arms pushing down, bend my knees on the bottom few inches of the compression stroke to transfer my body weight. At 3800 PSI I think I'd be coming off my feet like the early 30's Disney cartoon of the guys pumping a handcar...

Sorry but you doing something way wrong, I'm 145 pounds and even at 3600 psi i have zero problems, and I mean zero.

 

[BackStop]

Fair enough regarding the article. I just know I feel like I'm about to come off my feet when I get up to 3000 PSI and I'm 210 lbs. Straight arms pushing down, bend my knees on the bottom few inches of the compression stroke to transfer my body weight. At 3800 PSI I think I'd be coming off my feet like the early 30's Disney cartoon of the guys pumping a handcar...

Then you are doing it wrong. It really is as simple as that. 4500psi is easily possible with a hand pump, but if you are not using the correct technique, it can be hard.

 

[badger5th]

Then you are doing it wrong. It really is as simple as that. 4500psi is easily possible with a hand pump, but if you are not using the correct technique, it can be hard.

OK, I did an experiment. Braced the base of my hand pump under a heavy book case. Stood on a bathroom scale and pumped. I weigh 210 lbs. At 3,000 psi my scale weight was dropping to around 70-80 lbs at the bottom couple of inches of the stroke. I know there's a delay in the data readout on the scale but it sure looks like a 130-140 lb peak pumping effort to 3,000 psi.