Inflammable Gas for Gas Guns

[Baz JJ]

It always seems a bit strange to me that we use an inflammable gas like Propane to power our gas guns but its not ignited to do its job of propelling little round plastic balls.

 

Do we really need a flammable gas as propellant ?

 

We already use CO2 - why isnt compressed air used more commonly ?

[jcheeseright]

propane is used because it's commonly available and has the right boiling point for what we need, I'm sure there's probably a CFC free mix of gases that's non-flammable that could do the job but airsoft is such a small market that there's really no point in any chemical company researching and then manufacturing it.

 

HPA doesn't get used commonly because the tanks are A: Expensive B: Bulky (when compared to a gas-in-mag system) and C: require regular testing.

[M_P]

Cost as well I imagine. Propane is probably cheaper than alternatives.

[Mr Monkey Nuts]

The amount of propane that gets released is barely enough to ignite once it hits atmosphere, and there is nothing in the gun likely to be hot enough to cause ignition inside the barrel.

 

in short, Propane is a very flamable gas as it's atmospheric volume will expand to 240 times it liquid volume. Its also fairly safe as in open air the gas can dissipate quite quickly. It becomes quite hazardous when you enclose or prevent the gas from dissipating into the air, which we don't do.

 

I honestly don't know the volume of a Gas Mag, but its not a huge amount when you look at the reservoirs, (It takes <1 second to vent my whole m4 mag), combined with the valve only releasing a tiny amount at a time, the amount of gas you are releasing at any one time is minimal.

 

I did an experiment of lighting my propane once, it was very unspectacular.

[Ian_Gere]

I think it would be quite nice if gas guns did ignite their propellant at the muzzle - maybe something like a turbofan with lighter flints set in it, enclosed in a circular bearing type race but with a rough track, hidden inside the flash hider*, obviously with a hole through the centre for the BB to pass through. When it spins sparks would exit the muzzle with the propane and as it mixes with air, ignite - instant muzzle flash.

 

*It would need to be hidden inside pistols and the slides would need to be redesigned to pass back over a wider assembly than just the barrel to allow GBB, but not impossible to do.

 

Ignited clouds of propane do not set fire to things unless they are highly flammable, unlike the flame from cordite for eg.

 

A tiny battery powered heater built into mags to maintain operating temp in the cold and muzzle flash - I'd be converted to GBBR's instantly.

[straffham]

The oeiginal means of powering gas guns back in the day was inert Freon gas (HFC134?) as used in fridges, car air conditioning etc, no risk of fire but unfortunately it was found to destroy the Earth's Ozone layer and was quite low powered to boot, hence the change to 134a, replaced in turn now by 144a, as well as green gas and propane.

In the late 80s there was a company making cheap "guntanks", which consisted of a small tank with a stirrup pump which was connected to the standard fill valve on the magazine by unscrewing the gas valve. The tank was then pumped up by hand, clipped onto your belt or slung on your back and off you go. Power seemed reasonable, you just pumped it up again after 50 shots or so. So free power once you had the tank (which was about £15 iirc). I'm kind of surprised no one has developed the idea further, esp as external hpa is now becoming popular again.

[SuicidalBarrelRoll]

I think it would be quite nice if gas guns did ignite their propellant at the muzzle - maybe something like a turbofan with lighter flints set in it, enclosed in a circular bearing type race but with a rough track, hidden inside the flash hider*, obviously with a hole through the centre for the BB to pass through. When it spins sparks would exit the muzzle with the propane and as it mixes with air, ignite - instant muzzle flash.

 

*It would need to be hidden inside pistols and the slides would need to be redesigned to pass back over a wider assembly than just the barrel to allow GBB, but not impossible to do.

 

Ignited clouds of propane do not set fire to things unless they are highly flammable, unlike the flame from cordite for eg.

 

A tiny battery powered heater built into mags to maintain operating temp in the cold and muzzle flash - I'd be converted to GBBR's instantly.

About a year ago I Googled that... http://blutube.policeone.com/ling-videos/935703800001-airsoft-taser-training-danger-of-flame-up/

[Ian_Gere]

About a year ago I Googled that... http://blutube.policeone.com/ling-videos/935703800001-airsoft-taser-training-danger-of-flame-up/

gotta respect anyone who can try to arrest somebody wearing yellow booties