TargetTalk

This is my first air pistol.

I have so many questions, is there a sticky for PCP for Dummies?

How do I fill it?
Can I go to a local scuba store and ask them to fill the cylinders with my adapter?
Is there a tank I can buy that's not the size you see on Jacques Cousteau's back?
What kind of regulator would I need on top of "my tank"?
Tell me about pellets, I see there are two diameters and then different weights, how do I know which one is better for my gun?

I am a voracious reader and youtube watcher, but kind of looking for basic beginner answers at this point.

Thanks!

Go to local Dive Shop. Tell them to sell you a used 80 to 100 SCUBA tank (yes, like Cousteau) and fitting to fit your adapter. If they don't have the adapter, get one (used?) from Pilk.

Yes, there IS a sort of manual for dummies. See the very top right of this page.

The pellets need to be flat nose .177 size. After that, the best can ONLY be determined by personal testing, but I recommend shooting RWS Basic for your first few years. You can buy these (sometimes) from Neal Stepp at ISS. Buy at least two sleeves (10,000 pellets) shipped Priority Mail.
You may as well order some targets from him at the same time. Phone him.

BTW You shoulda bought the Walther LPM1 JimE is selling and saved yourself all this headache.

Don't shoot your eye out.

The regulator is on the gun, you don't need one on the tank. You just need to have a 200 bar DIN valve, or most likely a DIN adapter for a K valve. The brass adapter that you have is a 200 Bar DIN male. You need a yoke that is a 200 bar DIN female.A little bit if super lube synthetic grease on the threads helps to keep the aluminum from galling.

You can buy a smaller tank, but you have to fill it more. An 80 CF will keep you shooting for months.

Rover wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 7:05 am Go to local Dive Shop. Tell them to sell you a used 80 to 100 SCUBA tank (yes, like Cousteau) and fitting to fit your adapter. If they don't have the adapter, get one (used?) from Pilk.
<snip>

Get an 80 with a "K" valve. It will last a very long time for personal use, and they are a lot easier to lug around than a 100.

To go from the K valve to your fill adapter, you will need some extra hardware. You can get a simple "yoke" to 232 Bar DIN adapter from the dive shop, or you can go all out and get a fill setup with a bleed valve and a high quality gauge:

https://www.bestfittings.co.uk/shop/air ... ton-bleed/

https://www.bestfittings.co.uk/shop/fil ... -bsp-male/

While you are at it, you can get a Steyr fill adapter that works better with the bleed valve (saves wear & tear on the threads):

https://www.bestfittings.co.uk/shop/fil ... l-adaptor/

I asked the same question a while back. Here is the tread.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=61404

Ok, I agree with Rover on so many things....

80 foot scuba tank, yes. I have a smaller tank and visit my dive shop a lot. The tank looks large, but your choice is a big tank or many dive shop visits. I budget 30 dollars a year for the regulatory tank maintenance. Dont worry about that, its easy.

HOBBY PELLETS will shoot perfectly well in all the PCP guns out there.

Neil Stepps reputation is stellar.

And my little tidbits........ Shoot it a lot before you mess with the trigger adjustments. If you start chasing the trigger before you understand WHY it is doing what it is doing and how you can get the feel you want, it will be a long trip.

Buy quality targets. Most of us shoot Kruger's. Cheaper targets will leave you unhappy or require a backer to get round holes.

Lastly, these guns are very difficult to shoot well until your individual light bulb turns on. Give yourself the time to get there, we all shot like shit and nearly lost our minds until that happened. These guns all have different personalities and it will take a while for you and it to communicate, and when that happens, it's suddenly magic......

Have fun

here is a basic orientation video to 10m air pistol: https://youtu.be/a8FapV7KpdE

spektr wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 9:58 am <snip>
Buy quality targets. Most of us shoot Kruger's. Cheaper targets will leave you unhappy or require a backer to get round holes.
<snip>

If you are in the US, getting Kruger targets has become more difficult. You can order them from Germany, but the shipping cost will be nasty. Cibles in Canada used to have a very good equivalent (which may actually have been printed for them by Kruger), but they now actually sell Krugers:

http://www.targets.ca/products/targets- ... ccessories

Neal Stepp at ISS sells some very nice targets at a reasonable price.

Hi Mike,
We are more or less in the same situation. As an ultra newbie, I will try my luck with W LP500.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=63984

Good luck.
emre

Gwhite wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 8:18 am

Rover wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 7:05 am Go to local Dive Shop. Tell them to sell you a used 80 to 100 SCUBA tank (yes, like Cousteau) and fitting to fit your adapter. If they don't have the adapter, get one (used?) from Pilk.
<snip>

Get an 80 with a "K" valve. It will last a very long time for personal use, and they are a lot easier to lug around than a 100.

To go from the K valve to your fill adapter, you will need some extra hardware. You can get a simple "yoke" to 232 Bar DIN adapter from the dive shop, or you can go all out and get a fill setup with a bleed valve and a high quality gauge:

https://www.bestfittings.co.uk/shop/air ... ton-bleed/

https://www.bestfittings.co.uk/shop/fil ... -bsp-male/

While you are at it, you can get a Steyr fill adapter that works better with the bleed valve (saves wear & tear on the threads):

https://www.bestfittings.co.uk/shop/fil ... l-adaptor/

Dear Mr. gwhite,

I am quite confused by the fittings. Seems I can wander into a decent scuba store and get an 80CF tank with a K valve, but that the brass fitting that comes with my gun will not fit onto that K valve. Is that correct?

The second link you posted will convert the K valve thread to the fitting that came with my gun? (the 232 bar DIN one)?

The first link will do the same thing but has a gauge to show how full my tank is?

Can you explain what the Steyr fill adaptor does exactly?

And can I buy this stuff in USA vs ordering from UK?

(I am one state south of you, if phone works better, I'll send you my mobile number)

Thanks again.

The adapter yoke is on the left. The fill adapter is brass in the middle, and cylinder is on the right.

Attach it all to your tank. Open the valve. Close valve and unscrew.

Below that is optional inline guage and bleed valve from Best Fittings.

An alternative to the tank you may want to consider is a hand pump ($50-$250)

MikeMargolis wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 4:34 pm
Dear Mr. gwhite,

I am quite confused by the fittings. Seems I can wander into a decent scuba store and get an 80CF tank with a K valve, but that the brass fitting that comes with my gun will not fit onto that K valve. Is that correct?

The second link you posted will convert the K valve thread to the fitting that came with my gun? (the 232 bar DIN one)?

The first link will do the same thing but has a gauge to show how full my tank is?

Can you explain what the Steyr fill adaptor does exactly?

And can I buy this stuff in USA vs ordering from UK?

(I am one state south of you, if phone works better, I'll send you my mobile number)

Thanks again.

The fitting that goes on the K-valve is called a Yoke. You can get one that will directly go to your brass fill adapter.

The advantage of the fancy version from Best Fittings is two fold: 1) the gauge is far for accurate that the ones on your cylinders, and 2) the bleed valve allows you to drop the pressure on the threads sooner.

With Steyrs fill adapter, when you screw it onto a cylinder, it mechanically opens the valve. When the cylinder is full, you shut off the scuba tank, and then have to unscrew the cylinder with things under pressure. With the bleed valve, you can unscrew only about 1 turn, dumb the pressure, and then it's easy to unscrew the rest of the way.

The fancy fill adapter from BestFittings has a hole drilled in the end so it doesn't open the valve mechanically. It opens the cylinder valve by virtue of having higher pressure on the outside than inside. When the cylinder is full, you shut off the tank, hit the bleed valve, and unscrew the cylinder with no wear on the threads.

Gwhite wrote: ↑Thu May 27, 2021 6:41 am

The fitting that goes on the K-valve is called a Yoke. You can get one that will directly go to your brass fill adapter.

The advantage of the fancy version from Best Fittings is two fold: 1) the gauge is far for accurate that the ones on your cylinders, and 2) the bleed valve allows you to drop the pressure on the threads sooner.

With Steyrs fill adapter, when you screw it onto a cylinder, it mechanically opens the valve. When the cylinder is full, you shut off the scuba tank, and then have to unscrew the cylinder with things under pressure. With the bleed valve, you can unscrew only about 1 turn, dumb the pressure, and then it's easy to unscrew the rest of the way.

The fancy fill adapter from BestFittings has a hole drilled in the end so it doesn't open the valve mechanically. It opens the cylinder valve by virtue of having higher pressure on the outside than inside. When the cylinder is full, you shut off the tank, hit the bleed valve, and unscrew the cylinder with no wear on the threads.

Perfect, understood, thanks again.

Hope to see you on the firing line...

RE: The yokes: the "fancy" one can be problematic. We had a couple on the "community" air at the range. It didn't take long before one was fucked up and no one owned up to that. Some cylinders don't close while using the (unnecessary) bleed feature, so the cylinder was drained before you got it off the tank. Also, there is only ONE thing the gauge tells you that you need to know: when to fill the tank, and that is easily determined when you can't get 100 shots from a cylinder.

Last question for a while, as I bought a used tank and fittings from BestFittings, and will need some time to get all that here; the tank needs to be hydro'd.

The two cylinders that came with the gun are registering 150 each. I understand that they get filled to 200, but is 150 enough for me to go shoot my new gun tonight?

(I mean, I am gonna try anyway, but may not spend much time sighting it in)

They will shoot quite well down to ~ 80 bar or less if you gauges aren't too far off.

From a fill-pressure of 150 bars, down to some 70 bars may give you 75 - 80 shots at 150 m/s. (Just based on my experience.)

Gauges are generally unreliable. Fill your cylinders and go shoot. You should get well over 100 shots before the gun stops working. When you start getting less than 100 (maybe 80, enough to complete a match), refill your SCUBA tank.