Anyone with experience using a hand pump to top off a PCP? Perhaps from 1500 PSI to 3000? Does it get hard to pump before you even get to 600 on the pump gauge? TIA

Mine does not get difficult until I get past 2000 psi.

Your pump may need a rebuild.

George

My AirForce pump requires a downward push of 200 pounds (measured on a bathroom scale) to achieve 3,000 psi in order to top off a Benjamin Marauder pistol.

My 12 year old can only get to about 1000 and that is tough for him. I have to put all my weight (170) on mine from about 2500 and up. I use the benjamin pump when hand pumping.

Matthew

save your energy- buy a $100 used scuba tank if there is a dive shop near you. pumps are a joke unless you shoot very little and you gun only needs a 2000psi refill. all my PCP's fill to 3200-3600psi. doable with a hand pump- if you want to rebuild the seals every few hours and take a half hour to fill each gun. i much prefer my Bauer 4500psi compressor. it fills my bank of 300 bar SCBA firemen's bottles in a matter of minutes.

Don't have the money for the carbon fiber tank much less the compressor. Would be nice though.

a used 80 cubic ft 3000psi aluminum scuba tank can be found on Craig's list or a local dive shop for about $100. as long as the hydro is current, most dive shops will refill to 10% over- 3300psi- for under $10. a Benjamin Marauder or Discovery can be refilled at least 15-20 times before the tank pressure drops below 2000psi and needs refilling. this amounts to at least 400-500 shot. the reason i went to 4500psi CF bottles and my own compressor is because all of my PCP's require a 3500 psi fill and i am a high volume shooter. a decent hand pump( Hill, Axxor) costs over $300 and still takes a lot of time/effort.

I bought a nice Hill pump when I had my Marauder, but I must say the workout was a bit more than I wanted on a regular basis. Then again, I bought the outfit just after having had a couple of lumber fusions, so my results were skewed. Marauder is a great platform.

I use an FX 4 stage pump and regularly pump to 200Bar, and it's not at all much problem. I can usually get 50Bar for 50 strokes of the pump, give or take and when you switch the pump into 4 stage mode, it gets a bit easier to pump and higher pressures. People make a lot out of the work it takes. It actually takes me about 5-8 minutes to pump my Walther cylinder from 100Bar to 200Bar. That's going too fast and can cause the pump to overheat. So, if you do 3 or 4 minutes, then rest and do 3 or 4 more minutes, you're there and no sweat or overheating the cylinder or pump.
A scuba or scba tank is a nice way to go, but getting them filled is a hassle unless a dive shop is close by. With a pump, you've got hpa any time you want it.