Air Venturi PCP Air Gun Hand Pump, 4500 PSI (Air Venturi MK4 with DryPack)

The Air Venturi MK4 hand pump by Hill is a GREAT quality hand pump IF you are ~absolutely~ confident that you will be sticking with hand pumping as THE method to charge your air guns long term. My thoughts on the pump follow a few words for those who are new to airguns.BACKGROUND PRIMER FOR NEWBIES TO AIR GUNS:If you are just getting into PCP rifles / air rifles, you need a method of charging them up. Getting started in airgunning can have fairly steep setup costs and much of these costs are related to how you decide charge your air gun. Using a hand pump is potentially the least expensive entry point with the portability and convenience to do it at home or in the field. Hand pumps are also fairly easy to service and rebuild, consisting of merely lubricating and replacing o-rings. Hand pumping comes with a caveat that if you wind up enjoying the airgunning sport and find yourself going through lots of pellets, you will need get comfortable with the idea that you're going to be spending a bit of time doing 20-30 pumps here and there to keep your guns topped off and in their respective optimal pressure ranges. Hand pumps require some strength, good joints, decent form so as to avoid stress injuries from repetitive motions, and most importantly, it requires patience, as it's a tedious act. For many people, hand pumping gets old VERY fast. For others, the price:convenience is just right.I'm frugal enough that I can't justify spending up to $1000 for a tank setup and/or a compressor, as I realize that I can top off all of my rifles in the time it would take me to drive out to get a tank filled. I can live with 50-60 pump sessions in between every couple hundred pellets. My larger caliber unregulated rifles need to be charged more often, but the fun of shooting keeps me invested in hand pumping.REVIEW:The first hand pump I ever bought was a Sun Optics / Benjamin / Air Force hand pump (same, just different branding). It was not cheap at $150. While I still have it as a backup, I've had to rebuild it TWICE in just a single year, even though I've babied it. The Benjamin is not particularly smooth, requires a bit of grunt, and it's limited to 3500 psi. My investment into the Benjamin pump with O-ring rebuild kits, dessicant kit, and maintenance, is now over $200 and it is still unreliable. It would have been more fiscally prudent if I had just bought one of those cheap no name $60-80 pumps knowing I'd have to repeatedly rebuild it, or just be one and done with a high quality pump like the Air Venturi/Hill that won't need to be rebuilt very often.The Air Venturi MK4 by Hill is a great hand pump. It is very well built, extremely smooth to operate, and pumping from 2500-3500 is EASY compared to the Benjamin. 0-1500 does seem to take longer, but it is effortless. The price being over $260 (kit with desiccant- a must) seems steep, but for the ease of operation and reliability, it is worth every penny. I would only recommend getting the Hill pump with the desiccant kit-- unless you want to introduce moisture to your expensive air rifle, it's better to be safe than sorry. The super cheap no name pumps don't usually have a desiccant option and when you add a desiccant kit to the Benjamin/Sun Optics/Air Force, it costs nearly as much as the Hill! With the Benjamin, I really felt that I overpaid for what is a cheap, unreliable pump. Trust me when I say not to waste your money on the "mid-priced" Benjamin. With the Hill, I feel I got my money's worth.PROS:+Reliability+Very rugged ABS plastic base has wide footing, making it easier to maintain good form.+4500 PSI fill, not difficult at all to operate at higher pressures compared with others+Extremely smooth and efficient compression and rebound stroke, fills faster than others at high pressures+Accurate reading gauge, quality microbore hose.+Easy to service, with English speaking support channels+Excellent value if sticking with hand pumping over other methodsCONS:-High price; a decent investment if you're not sure if you will stick with hand pumping air guns

I reserve the right to revisit and revise this review. This is the hand pump to have for pcp airguns and I eagerly await its arrival. HOWEVER I was not happy to have to order the foster fitting from some other over priced toadies who ship slow. I got like ten shots left in my FX Wildcat cylinder, the pump is two days away but the fitting is more than a week away. AAAARRRGGGHHHHH!Get a clue Hill.OK I'm back. Got the pump. Works great. Good workout taking my Wildcat from 150 bar to 230. But I'm 66, asthmatic and don't do much aerobically. Technique is important. Watch the youtube vids.I've also calmed down over the foster fitting I had to have and does not come with the pump. It SHOULD come with the pump and that's still ticks me off. But the foster fitting came sooner than they said it might. It was well packaged and sent priority mail. I'm happy now.

Purchased my first pcp air rifle ( Hatsan with removable air resivor, tank, also purchesed a spare removable air tank) Was not sure how I would fill , hand pump or scuba tank. I opt for the hand pump the trip to the closest fill station is 2 hours round trip and realy did not want to go through the hassle wanted to see how often I would be using the new rifle. The was a number of hand pumps to choose from, cost wise they where between $150 and $290, The Hill was the most expensive but I wanted good one that would last and if possibley the most effecient and easyest to operate. I am no youngster 65 retired in ok shape but not the best. I choose the Hill and dont regret it at all, not that I have used other hand pumps to make a any comparison against. This Hill pump is just good. I filled up both my tanks (255 cc capacity each) new in about 10 min each and around 100 pumps each. I took my time and realy did not strain myself and felt comfortable doing it. I shot 40 shots from each tank all good velocity and refilled each tank. The refill only took me 5 min about 42 pumps per tank, piece of cake. Realy does great on refills no time or effort. So why the 4 stars first the packaging was retail box and really took a beaten surprised pump wasnt damaged also box is to colorfull could see delivery 200 ft from my porch just asking for someone to steal. Finally price, not sure how the $150 pump would compare to the Hill, but at $290 pretty steep price , over 1/2 the price of the rifle I bought, $230 to $250 would be more in line with other pumps and still at this lower price range I feel still a little $ high Lower the price to $220 and I beat you couldnt keep enough pumps in stock.