Who does PCP?
- Thread starter mrblaine
- Start date
I used to dabble in pre charged pneumatics.
Got into air rifles as a kid with a Gamo whisper break barrel in .17 Cal. Went the pcp route after that with a Benjamin Discovery in .17 Cal. Then a Benjamin Marauder in .22 cal. Had that gun for a long while but ended up selling it and getting an Air Arms TX200 mklll underlever, as I liked the idea of being completely self reliant without the need for tanks or pumps. I was planning on going back to pcp with an Air Force Condor SS, but, ended up getting a job in Iowa (never go to iowa) and with nowhere to go shoot (or do anything) I never pulled the trigger on the Condor. Even now just thinking about them, I'd love to get back into it when I finally move out of Iowa in the next year or two.
Got into air rifles as a kid with a Gamo whisper break barrel in .17 Cal. Went the pcp route after that with a Benjamin Discovery in .17 Cal. Then a Benjamin Marauder in .22 cal. Had that gun for a long while but ended up selling it and getting an Air Arms TX200 mklll underlever, as I liked the idea of being completely self reliant without the need for tanks or pumps. I was planning on going back to pcp with an Air Force Condor SS, but, ended up getting a job in Iowa (never go to iowa) and with nowhere to go shoot (or do anything) I never pulled the trigger on the Condor. Even now just thinking about them, I'd love to get back into it when I finally move out of Iowa in the next year or two.
Wow, didn't even know what this was until I just googled it.
I'm probably wrong, but it seems like it's basically Airsoft guns with real bullets. Obviously that's an extremely crude comparison, but naturally I want to compare them to airsoft guns just because I have several friends who do that.
If I am totally far off, please correct me.
I'm probably wrong, but it seems like it's basically Airsoft guns with real bullets. Obviously that's an extremely crude comparison, but naturally I want to compare them to airsoft guns just because I have several friends who do that.
If I am totally far off, please correct me.
Crude, but not far off really. I'd say it'd be a better comparison to compare it to a true firearm, just much lower powered. Still fires a lead projectile with enough energy to take down small game, with a very select few able to take large game. Just powered by air, rather than gunpowder. They are a blast, and awesome to be able to shoot for days on a few dollars worth of lead and some air, especially with ammunition prices the way they are. Although, I do love to shoot my real guns just as much haha
OP
Come at it the other way. It is basically a real firearm with a high pressure air source. I have a couple of Marauders and the accuracy is phenomenal. I have a piece of landscaping planter set up at the back fence and I've set at a measured 35 yards away and hit 8 dimes in a row set up in a crack in the wood.
Very cool! I'll have to research more about them. I just think of my buddies airsoft guns that I've fired and how you fill them with air and then shoot them. I thought those airsoft guns were a joke, but holy hell... my buddy has a high powered airsoft sniper rifle and you can easily kill a squirrel with that thing.
OP
I had a small ground squirrel problem. I also have a laser range finder and the last one I killed with a single shot to the head was at 50 yards. I no longer have a ground squirrel problem.
OP
My guy is a PCP guru and makes parts for several of the top end folks. He also shoots bench rest so I get a lot of info from him and he sets my guns up for me. He heard I was looking for a .25 and sent me a link to an older Daystate Huntsman that he strongly urged me to consider. Had it been a current model and not out of production I would have.
I don't mind the tanks because I have a serious hook-up. I get the 45 minute 4500 psi SCBA carbon fiber tanks with regulators and hand-tite fittings for 175 each for my personal use. I'm about to pick up 3 more to go with the 3 that I already have.
So are these things shooting standard rounds with gun powder in them? Or is it just a bullet / projectile with no powder at all, only air propelling it out of the barrel?
Wow, sounds like an excellent guy to know, and quite the hookup for the tanks! This is killing me, all I wanna do is go out and pick up a new gun now! If I had the extra $$$ laying around, I probably would although I doubt the other folks in my apartment building would appreciate me shooting out the window into the parking lot...
Oh... well then stupid me. I used to have one of these air rifles all the time growing up. I must have killed hundreds pesty pigeons with it.
I just had no idea it was referred to as PCP. I just thought these were called "pellet guns".
PCP-pre charged pneumatic, is simply a type of pellet gun, or air rifle, that has a reservoir which is filled with highly pressurized air. There are many other types. Single stroke pneumatic, multi pump pneumatic. Some use a big ass spring, and I forget what they're called at the moment, but, it's simply the system the rifle gets it's power from
The kind I grew up with had had a lever on the front that you cranked open and then cranked down really hard. I suspect that means it was a large spring.
It's so long ago I don't remember specifics, but I know for certain it shot those pellets you posted in the photo above.
Yep, probably. Spring piston is what it's called. I had to Google it lol. Could have been a nitro piston, or a single stroke pneumatic as well.
OP
Same principle. Just think of it like the difference between your 4.0 with the charger on it and a stock 2.5L with an auto. They both get the job done, one of them just does it faster, further, typically quieter, and with a lot more accuracy.
PCP has a built in air chamber on the gun that you pre-charge with 3000 psi from a tank or pump. It then uses that reservoir to fire the pellets at high and consistent velocities until the charge drops to around 2000 psi and then you charge it up again.
You were probably shooting a break barrel springer.
That's why it reminds me of some of the high powered airsoft rifles. You have a air tank that you plug into the rifle to charge it with. It then uses the air in that reservoir to fire the rounds, until you eventually need to fill it up again.
So it's probably similar in some ways, but I'm sure there's plenty of differences.
The one I was shooing when I was a kid had a pump that looked (and functioned) like this:
To this day I'm shocked my parents gave that to me at such a young age with no supervision, living in the suburban neighborhood we lived in, haha.
I never hurt myself or anyone else, but they really must have trusted me.
