In our first article we took a look at what’s required to get the Air Venturi G4 hand pump up and going for the Hatsan ATP-2 Tactical Carbine / Pistol. But what if you have more than one PCP airgun? For most of us, opening up the “bag” on PCP airgunning is a lot like opening a bag of Lays potato chips, you can’t eat just one.
The struggle comes in when we want to use one fill system for multiple airguns. Why is this a problem? Well, each manufacture is going to have a different way to connect your high pressure fill system to their high powered air rifles. Fortunately, there’s a very easy solution to this problem and that’s what we are going to address in part 2 of this series.
Fittings giving you a fit?Why can’t we all just get along?
As I mentioned in Part 1, the Air Venturi G4 hand pump comes equipped with a standard 1/8 BSPP fitting on the end of the fill hose. This is more than adequate if you are filling only one PCP air rifle or pistol. If you have more than one that you want to fill, the probability that it will require something different from the first, is pretty high.
Our Hatsan ATP-2, along with all other Hatsan products all use the same fill probe. But I have more than just Hatsan airguns. Let’s say I wanted top off my Benjamin Discovery. Now we have a problem.
This will NOT connect to my Discovery!Who the heck is Foster anyway?
The Benjamin line of airguns is a superior line of airguns for several reasons. They deliver great value, power and accuracy, and they demonstrated the foresight to equip all their PCP products with a Foster Quick Disconnect fitting. This is like a mini version of what you’d use on your small shop or home compressor. It means that you can have a single fill system that works on any airgun equipped with the same standard Foster quick disconnect fitting.
Quick is Slick!
Fortunately for us, there is an easy way to make our Air Venturi G4 pump Foster Quick Disconnect compatible, and better yet, a way to convert any standard 1/8 BSPP fitting to work with the quick disconnect setup. The first thing you’ll need to get is the Foster Female Quick Disconnect fitting. This is the end that you’ll connect to the fill hose on your hand pump. You’ll need to use the same procedure outlined in Part 1. Use Teflon tape along with wrenches to make sure that you have a tight fit and no leaks.
As it sits now I’m able to connect my G4 pump directly to my Discovery to top it off. I’m also able to connect it to any other similarly equipped PCP air rifle or pistol. But now what about my other airguns?
G4 Pump can now fill my Discovery, but not my AT-P2. Not yet anyway.One size fits all.
Here’s where things get fun. Because most fittings are setup for the 1/8 BSPP connector, they are all ready to be setup with a Foster Male Quick Disconnect fitting. I’ve attached one here to my Hatsan fill probe and now I can easily switch back and forth between filling my Benjamin Products and my Hatsan products.
Fill Probe equipped with quick disconnect fittingsAnd the fun does not stop there. Here are just a few of the fittings that I’m modified to work with a foster connector. You have the Air Arms fitting and an older Air Force fitting. Some companies have adapted specialty fittings to work directly with the Foster quick disconnect system. The Walther Dominator series of airguns uses a DIN connector. That’s quite a stretch to get connected to the average hand pump. As a solution, Air Venturi has the Air Venturi Female DIN adapter that has a foster connector machined right into the fitting. Air Force also has a new fill connector using the same concept.
Left to right: Hatsan Probe, Air Arms S510, Walther Dominator, & Air Force fittingsAs you can see, with some creative thinking you can make just about anything connect properly to your preferred fill system. While I’ve used the Air Venturi G4 hand pump for this series, the principle exists across the board. The important thing to remember is that High Pressure Air is no joke and needs to be taken seriously. If you take your time, use proper tools and give it the respect it deserves, you’ll be able to create an effective and safe filling system for all your PCP airgun products.
