buying divers bottle from gun shop date on it

[rapidresponse1]

my mate has just bought the above its stamped so he only gets 4 years out of it not the usual 5,is that because its sat in the shop for 1 year

[Neil54]

That date is from when it was manufactured.
Then it's gets painted, filled, sent to the distributor, then to the gun shop.
Gun shop may get discount for buying in bulk.
So a year is not unreasonable really.

My local only buys 10 at a time to keep them " fresher" but sometimes the dates are the same on different orders.

[rapidresponse1]

ok thanks for that neil

[samwatsonnn]

Most bottles are made abroad and as Neil says by the time they are painted and shipped to UK they are usually at least a few months down. If you take in to account the importer fittings the UK heads etc a year is not massively out I would say. Last one I got was 9 months down on its test date so had just over 4 years left on it.

[Bellycrawler]

It's happened to me twice, a 12lt & 7lt new from a shop & it wasn't dusty old stock either.

[Jesim1]

Anything under 12 months is pretty reasonable, after that I'd be asking for a couple of free fills perhaps to off set the lost usage, but on the scale of things your not losing much, so be friendly and reasonable and you both get the sale

[Powderfinger]

Best to ask the shop to order a bottle for you when you want one. Do not accept a bottle that is a year into its life unless they give you a twenty per cent discount.

[rapidresponse1]

many thanks chaps

[Jesim1]

Best to ask the shop to order a bottle for you when you want one. Do not accept a bottle that is a year into its life unless they give you a twenty per cent discount.

Why would they give you a 20% discount???

All you have lost at the maximum is one year of test, and if a test is £40 then you could argue it's about £8s worth - nothing like 20% of the value of the item at around £200

[Powderfinger]

Why would they give you a 20% discount???

All you have lost at the maximum is one year of test, and if a test is £40 then you could argue it's about £8s worth - nothing like 20% of the value of the item at around £200

It should not be assumed that the bottle will pass the test. If it fails or if you cannot find anywhere to test it, then you have lost the use of that bottle one year earlier than if it had been sold with almost five years until test.
Testing is inconvenient because it involves two trips to a tester, will become increasingly expensive and might become more onerous in future. Many bottle owners do not bother with the hassle of tests and either stop using the bottle or sell it. Shorter lifespans when bought mean that bottles fetch less money when the initial owner tries to sell it. Initial buyers should ask for discount if the bottle is already a year old.
In any case, there is no need for shops to sell year old bottles at a new price. It does not take a year from a bottle being made until it reaches a shop in the UK. Two or three months, maybe. Therefore, buyers should ask shops to order a bottle for them so as to maximise the life of the bottle or to ask for a discount if it is an older bottle. A good shop will happily place an order or offer a discount.

[rapidresponse1]

well hes happy with it

[angrybear]

It should not be assumed that the bottle will pass the test. If it fails or if you cannot find anywhere to test it, then you have lost the use of that bottle one year earlier than if it had been sold with almost five years until test.
Testing is inconvenient because it involves two trips to a tester, will become increasingly expensive and might become more onerous in future. Many bottle owners do not bother with the hassle of tests and either stop using the bottle or sell it. Shorter lifespans when bought mean that bottles fetch less money when the initial owner tries to sell it. Initial buyers should ask for discount if the bottle is already a year old.
In any case, there is no need for shops to sell year old bottles at a new price. It does not take a year from a bottle being made until it reaches a shop in the UK. Two or three months, maybe. Therefore, buyers should ask shops to order a bottle for them so as to maximise the life of the bottle or to ask for a discount if it is an older bottle. A good shop will happily place an order or offer a discount.

I hardly know where to start, other than to say
No one from the factory, to distributer, to wholesaler, to retailer wants to be left with old obsolete stock so they're all going to sell their oldest on to the next stage of the supply chain.

As Jesim1 said above I doubt any shop would do more than offer a discount based on the cost of a retest.
Apart from food, & other perishables everything you buy "new" will have been made many months earlier.

[Halimede]

Even if one were to buy a carbon fibre bottle at £350 (it lasts for 15 years at the most) a year works out at about £23.50, isn't that nearer 6.6%? Not sure that you could expect a shop to pay for re-tests or traveling.

[grahamrob]

Do you still have to get the bottle tested by law if you are just filling it at home with a compressor?

[Jesim1]

Do you still have to get the bottle tested by law if you are just filling it at home with a compressor?

No, it's just good practise, but if your stuff is kept well and your confident in the condition then it's your call, but no one will fill an out of test cylinder commercially