you have pritty much come to the right place.....there isnt a guide as such, best place is prob on here as pritty much all the tournie players use air these days and the tech minded amongst us are a great source of info.
ok in brief here we go:
as you kinow abit about hpa from your scuba back ground i wont over simplify it......
basically we use 2 pressures 3000psi and 4500psi for filling our bottles, which we fill by decanting air from dive cylinders usually (or at tournies from a specialised fill rig - such as hpac)
bottles are tested much the same as dive bottles, every 3 or 5 years depending on the type of bottle....bottles must carry eather a HSE test stamp or the new CE stamp.
IT IS ILLIGAL TO FILL A DOT TEST BOTTLE
people will say, 'ah its ok as long as you fill it yourself' as far as i am concered that is bull sh** we have a test standard for a reason.
regs: regs basically come in two sorts, fixed out put and adjustable. pritty much self explanitary and both work very well, in general most fixed output regs screw straight into the same asa you use with co2 bottles and output slightly lower pressures than co2 making them ideal for someone wanting a no nonsence change from co2 to air. adjustable regs generally cost more but can be fine tuned to run your marker at a more concistant pressure....although most people still use an inline reg with them anyway.....its all a matter of choice, they both work as well.
every reg i have had comes with a manual of some kind, the angel air one is very good.
if you have any questions just fire away and eather myself or somoone else will try and answer.
have a look at
www.hpac.co.uk these are the guys that supply the air to most tournies....and very good they are too
hope that helps some
oh yeah and dont forget to look at 2nd hand gear too, saves a fourtune on new prices....with the campaign cup pritty much marking the end of the playing season in a couple of weeks there will be a fair bit of kit about afterwards
