Best Fittings Connectors

Keep It Simple

First up, the ‘Anti-Roll Kit,’ a product you’ve only got to use a few times and you really appreciate it. How something so simple can solve a problem we’ve all experienced on many car drives is beyond me but not it seems ‘BF.’ As the name implies, the Anti-Roll Kit is designed to stop your air cylinder rolling around in the boot of your car while on your way to a shoot or going for a refill at the local diving centre. This ingenious yet odd looking device consists of two semi rigid foam (polypropylene) cylindrical ‘rods’ and one or two pairs of wide and strong ‘mate up’ Velcro straps. These are looped around and stitched back on themselves where they secure to the rods – each set being the same for each rod. When adjusted to the correct width appropriate to the bottle being transported, it nestles in-between as snug as a bug (going nowhere) in a rug!

Little Chargers

Next we have the much talked about 400cc and 500cc mini-charging cylinders, plus the mini-cylinder gauge assembly required for rifles without on-board air pressure gauges. These are without doubt another necessity that we should always have handy, especially as most popular PCP hunting rifles still use the ‘piggy back’ design of barrel over a fixed air reservoir.

This means that if you run low on air, you either need to top up the rifle’s air reservoir or you have to cut the session short.  Often this happens on red letter days when you’re sniping rabbits that just don’t seem to care you’re dropping their mates and you get through air fast, or - more commonly - in your haste to get out you forgot to check the air status of your air rifle’s reservoir. I’ll admit to being as big a culprit as any, so in the relatively short time I’ve been testing the Best Fitting’s 400cc and 500cc mini-charging cylinders I’ve actually purchased mine, and I don’t know how I’ve managed without it before.

The 400cc unit can be filled to 230-bar and the 500cc has a recommended 250-bar fill. The mini-cylinder charges directly from a 232 / 300-BAR DIN cylinder by mating it up to the host bottle’s DIN connection and tighten using the large knurled edged hand-wheel. Charging the smaller bottle is very much the same as charging a ‘buddy bottle.’ However, as this is in actuality a charging bottle itself, you need to fully open the top valve of the mini-cylinder first. The pressure gauge on the main larger charging bottle will now rise to the same pressure       that’s retained in the mini-cylinder. Now slowly open the main cylinder control valve. The air will start to fill the mini cylinder being charged up, watch the large bottles air gauge until it arrives at the desired pressure for that size of mini-cylinder. When filled, close the main bottle valve, then close the mini-cylinder valve. Unscrew the bleed screw from the larger bottle and this releases the air between valve heads. Once the short air blast is dispelled, you can then disconnect the now filled mini-cylinder from its host by unscrewing the hand wheel.

To use a popular rifle as a ‘benchmark’ guide they’ll give an Air Arms S410K or similar specification PCP, two full re-fills and one partial fill. We’ve seen similar smaller ‘charging bottles’ on the market in the past but even so they didn’t work half as well or as efficiently as the BF mini-cylinders.

Under Pressure

Both sizes of mini-cylinder come supplied with a fitting for charging guns with on-board pressure gauges but it never does any harm to double check for safe compressed air charging. For a superb set-up that will cope in almost every eventuality the unit needed is the Best Fittings ‘Mini Charging Cylinder Pressure Gauge Assembly.’ This was designed for you to top up a rifle in the field or club from a bottle that doesn’t have an on-board air gauge.

As an all in one unit, ready fitted and ready to be attached to any mini-cylinder it has a main inlet valve, bleed valve, small high quality air gauge and 100mm of micro-bore hose, ready to fit with your 1/8” BSP filling adaptor. If only taking the one PCP out, then use a bonded washer and screw in your rifles fill adaptor, but if a few of you are out with rifles that have different filling adaptors you can use the Best Fittings ‘Quick Coupler Set’.

And There’s More…

Also worth mentioning are the Best Fittings ‘Pressure Test/Dust Plugs’ manufactured from high grade stainless steel available for attaching to 1/8 BSP standard fill line, ¼ BSP for any standard cylinder using a ‘buddy bottle’ adaptor outlet and of course there’s one for the quick coupler set. Another simple accessory I found very useful is the 3L Cylinder Boot - made of a very high grade rubber it allows the bottle to stand upright and helps to protect against ‘dings and dents.

PRICES:
Anti-Roll Kit - single strap £10.50 or double strap £15
Mini-Charging Cylinders -  400cc (£105) and 500cc (£110)
Mini Cylinder Pressure Gauge Assemble - £22.50
Pressure Test/Dust Plug - £3.50
3L Cylinder Boot - £9