Hi Guppy
Air...good choice, it's easier to use and it doesn't freeze up but it is bloody expensive for the initial outlay.
Yes you'll need a dive cylinder, if you're seriously planning to run 4500psi you'll need a 300 bar cylinder and I've no idea how much they go for. If you're looking at 3000 psi you can get a 232 bar tank.
Have a look on
yell for Diving Shops in your area.
You're probably looking £150-£250 depending on size.
If you are looking at using the full 4500 psi check that your local dive shop can fill to that pressure. The place up here I get my tanks filled at only fills 232 bar. Could be a waste.
Fills cost around £3-4 again depending where you go (232 fill 12L cylinder)
You'll also need a fill rig for the type of bottle you're using, Planet sell them at £42.50 +VAT for either the 232 or the 300bar types, (not interchangeable fittings). Finally you'll need a fill connector that fits the nipple type on your bottle, (though I suspect it'll come with the rig)
Number of fills, well depends on the pressure and the tank size and the output pressure of your reg. My Max-Flo is set for ~450 psi so the tank can go fairly low before that becomes an issue.
It was recommended to me to split another tank with a team mate and use one tank to fill initially, (full fill) and as that drops off use it to bulk fill all the bottles and top up the tanks with the other (full) bottle
We've got 4-6 good workable 1.9 3000psi fills off 1 tank.
Bottle tests I think are 3 years for breathing air, but they did tell me for non-breathing use they let it slide to 5, but that may well be bollocks.
Another good item is a carry handle of some type, or a trolley. These bottles are quite heavy, especially if carrying them a long way at the end of a long days paintballing. I've seen golf trolleys adapted and I'm thinking of trying that myself. Try to avoid carrying the bottle by the valve. It's convenient but not very good for the valve, (personal experience
)
Safety advice; use it sensibly and ignore the guy in the letters section of PGI declaring it dangerous. People have been doing it for years, airgunners fill bottles the same way.
Just get someone who knows, show you how its done and double check all your fittings before opening a valve on the tank. If you're used to filling CO2 it's not that different, just the bottle goes warm not cold
and it's a much higher pressure.
Still a steel bottle exploding at 800-ish psi will kill you just as effectively as one at 4500.
Other than that, get someone else you know to move onto air at the same time and split costs like rigs. Get them to buy a bottle and life gets easier and cheaper.
enjoy air, and the lack of time spent messing with cold old CO2
HTH
t3
