VarmintAir's Airgun Hunting Blog

Hydro? - I Don't Need No Stinkin' Hydro...............Yet

I have two 88 cubic foot 4500 psi tanks, and just remembered, that April was the last month I could get one of them filled before it needed a fresh hydro test.  I forgot to do that, but that's okay, because I have a couple of guns that run on less than 3000 psi fills.

The tank is currently down to 3100 psi.  The good news is, my Marauder pistol runs on 2650 psi fills, and my Discovery rifle, runs on 2000 psi fills, so I'm just going to designate this tank for use with those two guns until it's down to 2000 psi, and then I'll jump through the hoops to get it hydro tested. 

My other tank still has about a year left on it before it needs to go in for hydro testing, so I'll designate that one for use only with my guns that run on 3000 psi fills.

So why not just run everything off of the tank with the current hydro, and get the other one in to be tested?  Because I just don't want to mess with it right now.  I'm having way too much fun hunting ground squirrels with my P-Rod, and I can still use the air left in the expired tank to fill the P-Rod dozens of times.  That equals a lot of shooting, and a bunch of ground squirrels that will now have something in common with this tank.  They'll all be expired.  Sorry couldn't resist.

And not only that, but I don't want to waste $5 bucks worth of air, when that $5 bucks could go for a Subway foot long sandwich.  Have I got my priorities straight or what? LOL.

When the tank gets down to 2650 psi left in it, I'll just switch to shooting my Discovery rifle, that runs on 2000 psi fills, and just keep on keeping on.  This winter, when there aren't a whole lot of hunting opportunities around here, I'll get it in for a fresh hydro test. 

In the meantime, let's go squirrel hunting.

 

  

California Ground Squirrels - Here We Come - Traveling Compact and Light - With The Marauder PCP Pistol

My first trip to California this year isn't going to be specifically to hunt ground squirrels.  Instead, it's going to be so that the wife and I can be present at the birth of our first grandchild, a boy.  We've been told, that he is going to be delivered via c-section on the 15th, and that mom and baby will spend a couple of days in the hospital after the delivery.

More than likely, on one of the days that we are there, I'll have some time to slip away for a few hours of ground squirrel hunting.

Normally, on a dedicated multiple day ground squirrel hunt, I would be taking at least three rifles, my 88 cubic foot AirHog carbon fiber tank, portable target frame, and portable shooting stand, along with my range bag, and other assorted goodies. 

This time, in the interest of keeping everything compact and convenient, I'm only going to take my Marauder Pistol, range bag with binoculars, range finder, non-lead ammo, magazines, and AirHog Pigmee tank.   The bag also contains an assortment of other items that I like to have along on my hunts.  The thing I like about it is, I only have this one bag to grab, and I know I have all of the small bits and pieces in one place, that I use when hunting.

AirHog Pigmee tank, with Dead Head mounted, showing 3800 psi.

I popped my Mac1 Dead Head onto the end of the Pigmee tank's fill hose, opened the main valve, and got a reading of 3800 psi remaining in the tank.  I fill the Marauder Pistol to 2600 psi, so I used one of the online fill calculators to determine, that with 3800 psi in my Pigmee, I'll be able to fill the Marauder pistol 19 times.  

I get 24 shots on a fill, so that's over 450 shots before the Pigmee needs to be refilled. No problem, I will not get anywhere near that many shot opportunities, while hunting for a few hours.

With the 14.5 grain, PCP-2's, my Marauder Pistol is generating 13.4 fpe at the muzzle, which is plenty of power to cleanly take ground squirrels out to 60+ yards.

The weather here locally is warming up a bunch over the next few days. Hopefully, most of the snow will melt off, and I'll be able to get out and get her sighted in at 40 yards.  I also want to shoot her at 50, and 60 yards, at some steel soup cans.  I'm curious to see the penetration of the DYNAMIC tin pellets at those ranges. 

I'm really looking forward to meeting our new grandson for the first time, and I'm also looking forward to putting my new Marauder pistol through her paces, while hunting with it for the first time.

This is going to be a very exciting trip in many ways. 

 

 

Dead Head - I Think I'll Check and See How Much Air Is Left - In My AirHog - Carbon Fiber Tank

Mac1, "Dead Head."   

Back in January, I wrote a blog story about carbon fiber tanks, hoses, fittings, and adapters.  That story got into the equipment, and some of the various pieces of gear involved with filling PCP (Pre-Charged Pneumatic) airguns.    

One other small piece of equipment, that I didn't mention in the previous story, but is very useful, is an item called a "Dead Head."  This is a small fitting with a male Foster on one end, and a plug on the other. (See above picture) It essentially seals the end of the fill hose, where either a fill adapter, or an airgun like the Marauder would normally connect.

(Shown below) "Dead Head" ready to snap onto the end of the fill hose. The main valve is closed, and the gauge reads zero.

(Shown below) "Dead Head" snapped onto the end of the fill hose.

Normally, when filling your PCP, the gauge on the tank is reading the pressure in the gun as you fill it. If we replace the PCP on the end of the fill hose, with a "Dead Head" and open the main valve,  the gauge will now be reading the pressure in the hose.  

Since the proper high pressure hose for this application, is rated for much higher operating pressures than a PCP's air tube, or even the 4500 psi in a full 4500 psi carbon fiber tank, we can now open the valve on the 4500 psi carbon fiber tank all of the way, it will fill the hose to the highest pressure left in the tank, and the gauge will indicate that pressure. You now know how much air pressure is left in your tank.

To safely remove the "Dead Head" from the fill hose, the hose must first be bled of the high pressure air that was left in it, when the main control valve was closed.  That is done by using the bleed valve that is located next to the main control valve.  It is now safe to remove the "Dead Head" from the end of the fill hose. 

(Shown below) "Dead Head" on the end of the hose, with the main valve opened all of the way, and the gauge reading the remaining tank pressure of 3300 psi.

The remaining pressure left in your carbon fiber tank, is very useful information to have at your finger tips. Nothing like getting into a lengthy pellet testing project for example, only to discover that all you have left air wise, is a couple of full pressure fills remaining in your tank.

As can be seen in the picture above, this tank's remaining pressure is down to 3300 psi.  Since I fill most of my guns to 3000 psi, or there about,  it's getting close to the time, to go and see my friendly neighborhood Dive Shop for a fresh 4500 psi fill.

I purchased my "Dead Head" from Mac1 Airguns for $14, a real bargain. It gives me a convenient, inexpensive way to quickly check the remaining air pressure in my carbon fiber tanks.

 

 

AirHog SCUBA Adapter - Just Trying To Stay On The Good Side Of My Local Dive Shop

AirHog SCUBA adapter, $58.

I live 500 miles from the Pacific Ocean, and 7000 feet up in the mountains of Northern Arizona, yet I have a Dive Shop just minutes from my house, and the best part is, the owner will fill my 88 cubic foot carbon fiber tanks to 4500 psi for only $6 a fill.  That to me, is a bargain.

One of the things that has always bothered me though, is the fact that he really isn't set up to do this with no pain, no strain.  He doesn't have the proper fittings, and always has to cobble things together to fill my tanks. He does it in his back room, so I've never seen him do it, but I hear him mumbling under his breath as cabinets and drawers are opening and closing to the sound of high pressure air escaping everywhere. He always gets it done, but I keep thinking that one of these times he is going to say, "you know what, for $6 five or six times a year, this just isn't worth the hassle to me."  That would be a real downer.

I was cruising around the AirHog site the other day, and what do I see? A SCUBA adapter that goes from the DIN fitting that my tank takes, to the SCUBA block that his equipment is set up to use.  YEAH BABY!!!  

I'm on the phone in a heartbeat, to get one on the way.  The adapter has probably been available forever, but for some reason I just never noticed it.

I'm almost ready for a refill on one of my tanks, and can hardly wait to walk into the shop and say, "hey Chuck look at what I found."  I'm sure he'll be as thrilled as I am. He is literally the only show in town for HPA, he is also one heck of a nice guy, and I don't want to lose him as a resource.

In the overall scheme of things, I don't add much of anything to his bottom line, so I'm thinking that the less hassle he has filling my tanks, the better.  Sometimes, it's the little things that make a big difference in relationships.  

Below are a couple of pictures of my tank set up.  The first shows the tank with the DIN/male foster fitting, that stays screwed into the tank for day to day use. That fitting gets used every time I fill one of my guns. The second shows the tank with the SCUBA adapter installed, to make it easier for the dive shop to fill the tank.

Tank set up for day to day use.

DIN to male Foster, replaced with DIN to SCUBA block.

No more feeling kind of guilty whenever I go to get a refill.  This should make things easier and faster for the  dive shop owner.  I'm thinking easier and faster is a good thing. 

       

 

PCP Airguns - So What Are These Carbon Fiber Tanks, Hoses, Fittings, And Adapters All About?

Below, is a picture of a pair of AirHog 88 cubic foot carbon fiber, 4500 psi tanks, and the portable, 9.5 cubic foot carbon fiber, 4500 psi AirHog Pigmee tank.  The Pigmee tank is no longer available. I believe it has been replaced by a larger version. PCP airguns run on high pressure air, and these tanks are what I use to supply HPA to my PCP's.

Those of us who have been playing with PCP, (Pre-Charged Pneumatic) airguns for a long time, take a lot of the things we've learned along the way, very much for granted.

Like how to use carbon fiber high pressure air tanks, hoses, fittings, and adapters. This really hit home with me the past year or so.  I've gotten quite a few friends into shooting the Benjamin Discovery, or Marauder PCP rifles, and invariably, I get a lot of blank stares when we get into tanks, hoses and adapters.

I thought I would put this blog story together, so that folks who have little, or no knowledge of these items, might get a better idea as to what we are talking about.  It's not really as involved, or time consuming as some folks would have you believe.  This is going to be a picture intensive story because as they say, "a picture is worth a 1000 words."

Above is the AirHog 88 cubic foot, 4500 psi carbon fiber tank, complete with the valve, and gauge assembly.  The large black knob at 6 o'clock, controls the main valve, and this is the one you use to control the air flowing into your gun.  The gauge will indicate the air pressure in the gun as it is filling. 

The smaller silver knob at 9 o'clock, is the bleed valve.  After the gun is filled, and you have closed the main valve using the black knob, you need to bleed the high pressure air that remains in the hose, that goes from the tank to the guns fill port.  Turning that silver knob will open the bleed valve and let the air left in the hose escape.  The gauge will drop to zero.  You can now safely remove the fill adapter from the gun.  

Below is a picture of a DIN fitting, with male Foster fitting on the end, waiting to be installed on the tank.

We need some way to get the air from the tank to the various types of guns.  There is no industry standard for fill adapters, connectors, probes, or fittings.  It seems that every manufacturer has a different idea of what works. To help simplify the situation, I've taken the following approach.

Instead of an individual DIN fitting, hose, and adapter for every individual gun, I've gone with one DIN fitting with a male Foster fitting on the end.  (pictured above) This screws into the valve assembly on the tank, and looks like the picture below.

Next, I have one three foot section of micro-bore hose, with a female Foster connector on each end.  It is pictured below with an Air Arms fill adapter on the left, and an FX fill probe on the right.  Notice that both the FX probe, and AA adapter have male Foster fittings screwed on to their ends.  I put those on, they do not come that way from the factory.

The female Foster connector on the end of the hose, is all that I need to fill my Discovery, and Marauders.  Those three pieces, female Foster, FX probe, and AA fill adapter, are all that I need to fill all of my different PCP's.

To fill a gun, I start by snapping the female Foster connector on one end of the hose, to the male foster on the tank.  As shown below.

First up, I'll show how to put air into a Benjamin Discovery.  There is no probe or adapter needed.  The female Foster on the end of the hose just snaps onto the male Foster fitting on the end of the Discovery's air tube like this.  (see pictures below) Make sure the female Foster connectors are securely attached to the male fittings.  If they aren't, and you open the main valve, they will pop off and may flip around and possibly hit you.  Not good.  Also, make sure that any gun you are filling is not loaded.

I VERY SLOOOOWWWLY, fill the Discovery to 2000 psi, shut off the main valve, open the bleed valve using the silver knob, and when the air is vented from the line, I simply remove the female Foster connector from the gun, replace the cover on the Discovery's male Foster fitting, and I'm ready to hunt.  You want to fill slowly, so that you do not over heat the seals, and damage your gun.

Next we'll fill my FX 2000 using the FX fill probe shown below.

The first thing I do, is to snap the FX fill probe onto the end of the hose using the female Foster connector. When connected, it looks like the photo below.

Next, I insert the probe into the fill port on the rifle.

I open the main control valve, and VERY SLOOOOWWWLY, bring the gun up to 3000 psi. The Discovery runs on a 2000 psi fill, but the FX 2000 runs on a 3000 psi fill.  When the gun is filled, I close the main valve, and just like with the Discovery, I open the bleed valve to let the HPA out of the hose, so that I can safely remove the fill probe from the gun.  With the probe removed, I'm all done, and ready to shoot.  This takes a whole lot longer to describe than to actually do.

How about one more?  Let's fill my AA 410CRBSL carbine.

I've popped the FX fill probe off of the end of the hose, and the hose is now ready to receive the AA 410 fill adapter, as seen above.  I simply snap the male fitting on the AA fill adapter, onto the end of the hose, using the female Foster connector, and connect the fill adapter to the rifles fill port, as shown in the photo below.

I use the same routine as I did with the FX 2000.  I slowly fill the gun to 3000 psi, close the main valve, bleed the hose using the bleed valve, remove the fill adapter, replace the cover on the air cylinder, and I'm ready to hunt.  Nothing to it.

When I'm finished shooting, I simply disconnect the hose from the tank DIN/male Foster fitting, remove the probe, or fill adapter from the other end, and put everything away. 

I have a Dillon gun rug, that I store the hose and adapters in.  The hose gets coiled up and goes into the main compartment.  The probe, or fill adapter goes into the pocket on the side.   Gun rug shown below.

That's it folks.  Nothing much to using a carbon fiber tank.  It takes me a minute or less to put the hose on the tank, and connect a probe or adapter to the other end.  If I'm shooting my Discovery, or one of my Marauders, I don't even have to do that.

Lots of words and pictures to show how to do something that only takes a minute or two, to actually accomplish.

I get a kick out of the lame excuse, that the reason some guys don't get involved in shooting PCP's, is because there's just too much stuff to deal with.  Nonsense, it involves a tank, a hose, and a few fittings or adapters. Way less stuff than when going fishing.

"Yeah but, you have to stop and get the carbon fiber tank filled."  Yep, you're right about that, and I have to stop and get gas, and go to the laundry, and get groceries, and get the car serviced, and go by the hardware store, eat dinner, and lots of other things in this life. 

Getting my 4500 psi tanks filled a few times a year, is more than worth the small amount of time involved, especially considering the great pleasure I get from hunting with my PCP's.

If you would like more info about the AirHog carbon fiber tanks, they can be reached at, 505-281-4242, or 888-871-1722.