Being new to the world of gas-propelled airsoft guns, I'm having a little trouble telling one gas from another. Firstly, green gas is hfc22, which in turn is basically propane, right?
Next, there are other "colored" gases, right? I've heard of red gas, but I don't know what it is.
And what of TOP gas, and HFC134a? What're these?
and on a related note, the WE 4.3 w/ aluminum slide, what gases can I use on it? HSA only mentions TOP.
Being new to the world of gas-propelled airsoft guns, I'm having a little trouble telling one gas from another. Firstly, green gas is hfc22, which in turn is basically propane, right?
Next, there are other "colored" gases, right? I've heard of red gas, but I don't know what it is.
And what of TOP gas, and HFC134a? What're these?
and on a related note, the WE 4.3 w/ aluminum slide, what gases can I use on it? HSA only mentions TOP.
/please to be nominating this post for a sticky?
134a is low powered gas for guns with plastic slides (most Japanese guns). 134a is the propellant used in those compressed air cans, I believe. If the gun (not in this case obviously) only uses 134a, you can buy a duster adapter to save some cash.
HFC22 and TOP gas are roughly the same, IIRC TOP gas is a tad bit higher pressure, and there's not much of a difference between the two.
Red gas is the highest pressure commercial "airsoft" gas...most pistols won't take it...usually only gas rifles.
I would recommend HFC22 for the WE. TOP is slightly more expensive and it usually does not make a difference. Another thing to look into is a propane adaptor (I don't recall where they sell these), which would allow you to use off-the-shelf propane canisters, allowing you to save quite a bit of cash. (Make sure that it's 100% propane and not the butane mix knockoffs) Those canisters are also a hell of a lot safer than the HFC22 cans.
See now my head is really beginning to spin, thanks to checking out Wikipedia.
134a is a commonly-used gas, but is affected by the cold more than Green Gas (which is propane and a polysiloxane lubricant apparently).
Red Gas is HFC22, sometimes advertised wrongly as "Ultra" or "Xtreme :roll:" Green Gas. That is apparently a misnomer as Red uses a different proellant than Green (i.e. not propane). HFC 22 is a freon commonly used for rooftop and window AC units.
Fun facts: HFC 22 has an ozone depletion potential of 0.05, one of the lowest in its class. Yay!
HFC134, which replaced old-school airsoft propellant R-12, has no ozone depletion potential. Woo!
EDIT: thanks lou, that chart is a lot of help! Hope you don't mind if I post the img here (uploaded to my own photobucket account of course):
Addendum: Does this mean, then, that for the WE, I could just use green gas? (I will look into Red as well though, Rei.)
I ate at this awesome mexican restuarant the other night... had no problems identifying the power of THAT gas!
You knew this thread would get fart jokes. Admit it.
Oh, and I just recently purchased one of those new SIIS guns based on Western Arms "Magna blowback" that has a plastic slide, but claims it can take TOP gas out of the box. I use propane usually, which I thought was the same as Green and TOP. Is that correct, or is propane truely that much more powerful. The PSI difference on that chart is 17 - would I be endangering my brand new gun running that in a "TOP Gas" rated gun?
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"Call me a killjoy, but because this sport is not to my tastes, I don't think anyone else should be allowed to enjoy it either" - Marge Simpson
Heh, I was wondering about that. I figured the chart was probably made in Japan, with the usual attention to translation detail... is there such a thing as Propene?
__________________
"Call me a killjoy, but because this sport is not to my tastes, I don't think anyone else should be allowed to enjoy it either" - Marge Simpson
Ok, so I'm good to run propane in this gun. As far as I know of, I'm one of the first people to buy this gun, so I'll probably do a full review of it for here and on Arnies.
__________________
"Call me a killjoy, but because this sport is not to my tastes, I don't think anyone else should be allowed to enjoy it either" - Marge Simpson
Addendum: Does this mean, then, that for the WE, I could just use green gas? (I will look into Red as well though, Rei.)
Yes, you could use green gas. However, a good rule to go by when thinking about red gas is that if the gun doesn't explicitly state that it can take it, don't use it. I wouldn't recommend red gas for a pistol anyway, since it usually pushes you into the high 300, low 400 FPS range, sort of defeating the purpose of the pistol as a secondary to begin with.
:P 
