Which gas?

[emilianoksa]

I'm trying to get to grips with this and would be grateful for your advice.

My first gbb pistol was bought before I had taken up skirmishing so it had to be a two tone one - an Armorer Works hicapa with a blue slide. With it I also purchased the shops recommended gas: Puff Dino.

It appears to be quite a strong gas giving crisp blowback. This pistol can also take co2 mags.

Later I bought some Abbey Ultra gas which I have still not used.

It seems that manufacurers make three, sometimes four gases of different strengths. Nuprol versions are labelled 1,2,3 ans 4. No1 is for guns with plastic slides, sometimes called summer gas, and the other three are often referred to as green, red and black.

Abbey's equivalent consists of three gases: 144a, Ultra and Vertex.

I have no idea where Puff Dino would come on the spectrum

I now have two pistols: the AW hicapa and a WE G17.

Am I right in thinking I should use Abbey Ultra or Nuprol 2 (green) in the summer and Abbey Vertex or Nuprol 3 (red) in the winter? And under what circumstances should Nuprol black gas be used?

Is the Abbey maintenance gas a good product if guns are going to be stored for several months or a marketing gimmick?  Do any of you make use of it?

Is Nuprol considered a good alternative to Abbey?

 

[Adolf Hamster]

they're supposedly for different temperature ranges, and depending where you are in the country it'll depend.

generally i'll use black in winter and red in summer, but then up here summer is 20° tops, tbh i'd use black all year round but the shops stop stocking it in summer.

bearing in mind it's not exclusively taylored to the uk, so the range they offer covers everywhere from a swedish winter to a californian summer.

 

[emilianoksa]

Thanks.

So would Abbey Ultra be closer to Nuprol green or Nuprol red?

I suspect Puff Dino is more or less a red gas. It is able to cope with a gun with a heavy slide which is designed to run on co2 as well as airsoft gas.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Thanks.

So would Abbey Ultra be closer to Nuprol green or Nuprol red?

I suspect Puff Dino is more or less a red gas. It is able to cope with a gun with a heavy slide which is designed to run on co2 as well as airsoft gas.

tbh i've never really bothered with other brands, nuprol does the job for me so don't feel any particular reason to change.

 

[Wo1f]

The difference between abbey and other green gas is their lube I believe. Abbey use a non silicone based lube in their gas unlike everyone else... or at least they did when I used it.

Now I don’t complicate things with brands and colours. Propane all year until it gets so cold even that doesn’t work and then use MAPP. Cheaper and less fecking around.

only one I would avoid and have tested with a few people over multiple guns is ASG ultrair. It’s absolutely shite. Probably the 10% butane in it. WE scar H on ultrair shot 20ish rounds, from a 30rd mag. Same mag, same gun with nuprol red fired 90

 

[emilianoksa]

Thanks for the tip.

Had no idea it didn't contain silicone. That might explain why they have a separate maintenance gas which does have silicone in it.

Pillock that I am I believed I had bought Abbey gas, but it is in fact the ASG stuff you warn against.

I bought two cans of the boody stuff, not knowing any better. It seemed to be a popular brand.

From now on I'll use Nuprol.

Given the British weather would I be advised to go mainly for the red and only use the green when it's a hot day?

 

[Wo1f]

Abbey had no silicone but it had its own special lube inside of it, so it still lubricates the moving parts. Silicone oil bonds metal on metal over time. 

All green gas is just propane and silicone oil. Cheaper and cleaner to just buy an airsoft innovation adapter for £10 and buy propane. Especially if you shoot a lot of gas guns. 

 

[emilianoksa]

I've just been reading up on ASG Ultrair.

As you say, 90% propane, 10% butane, no lubricants.So it isn't what is commonly known as green gas at all.

Does this mean you are expected to add silicone?

See, this is what happens when you don't know what you're doing ie. throw money away. Not a lot, it's true, but even so.

I will not be using this stuff. I'll see if anyone at the Mill uses it and give it away.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

I've just been reading up on ASG Ultrair.

As you say, 90% propane, 10% butane, no lubricants.So it isn't what is commonly known as green gas at all.

Does this mean you are expected to add silicone?

See, this is what happens when you don't know what you're doing ie. throw money away. Not a lot, it's true, but even so.

I will not be using this stuff. I'll see if anyone at the Mill uses it and give it away.

it'll be fine, just be sure and pop a bit of silicon into your seals now and again, for the sake of a couple of bottles.

 

[emilianoksa]

Thanks for the reassurace Adolf, but this pisses me off.

It should be made plainer in the advertising and by the retailers that this is silicone free gas.

It's going, and when my Blasters have run out, I'll be buying G&G bbs in future.

 

[emilianoksa]

Abbey had no silicone but it had its own special lube inside of it, so it still lubricates the moving parts. Silicone oil bonds metal on metal over time. 

All green gas is just propane and silicone oil. Cheaper and cleaner to just buy an airsoft innovation adapter for £10 and buy propane. Especially if you shoot a lot of gas guns. 

So why do people drop it into trigger and hammer groups? Silicone that is?

I have never understood why it is so widely used as a metal to metal lubricant. Lots of people use nothing else.

Or are there different grades of silicone lubricant for different purposes. I know my Abbey silicone oil seems much thicker than the spray but some people use them as if they were equivalents.Are they really interchangeable for all applications?

 

[Wo1f]

So why do people drop it into trigger and hammer groups? Silicone that is?

I have never understood why it is so widely used as a metal to metal lubricant. Lots of people use nothing else.

Or are there different grades of silicone lubricant for different purposes. I know my Abbey silicone oil seems much thicker than the spray but some people use them as if they were equivalents.Are they really interchangeable for all applications?

I have no idea. I’ve seen someone at the mill take the slide off their pistol and drown the inside on silicone spray. Next game he’s wondering why his BB’s aren’t going very far because he’d soaked the hop rubber.

Silicone is good for your sealing components, plastic on plastic and metal on plastic. Metal on metal it can bind them over time. You may not notice it, but personally I wouldn’t use it. 

I keep things simple. I have some of the thick GHK silicone oil in the little bottle, a Wurth dry Teflon spray and propane. 

Propane runs the gun clean so I don’t need to worry about my hop and barrel so much and has great performance (and half the price)

ghk silicone oil is good for mag seals and piston cup/o-rings. A drop on the valve before filling and your mag is lubed for ages. 

Dry ptfe/ Teflon spray for the slide/ trigger group/ BCG, springs etc. It air dries and leaves a thin film on the surface so the second your gun cycles it doesn’t throw it around where it’s supposed to be. That and it’s designed to lubricate chains on motorcycles. If it’s capable of dealing with the metal on metal friction of a 200mph motorbike chain then it’s enough for a slide moving back and forward 2 inches

 

[emilianoksa]

Is your spray safe to use around plastic and rubber?

Obviously you wouldn't put it on plastic or rubber parts, but there will always be a bit of migration with lubricants and moving parts.

 

[Wo1f]

Is your spray safe to use around plastic and rubber?

Obviously you wouldn't put it on plastic or rubber parts, but there will always be a bit of migration with lubricants and moving parts.

Yes. To my knowledge it doesn’t deteriorate or corrode plastics/ rubbers. I use it on all my GBBR’s and pistols.

 

[emilianoksa]

Thanks.

 

[mcwimbo]

Metal to metal on gbb's i use graphite from a soft pencil. 

Or OX18 but that's not ideal on plastics and rubber. 

 

[emilianoksa]

Thanks for the suggestion of graphite.

That's a new one on me.