HFC Desert Eagle - What gas?

[Wisey]

I recently purchased a HFC Desert Eagle, my first GBB, I believe it is a clone of the TM but I'm not sure. I've got one cylinder of HFC 134a of which I seem to have used a fair bit just test firing. I haven't skirmished it yet, so I'm not sure how gas thirsty it will be. I was thinking I would switch to propane with one of those airsoft innovations adaptors if I used a lot of gas, to save money.

 

Anyway, my question is, I've been poking about on the internet and there doesn't seem to be a recommended gas for it. I've read things saying they (well, the TM one) is not designed to take the pressure of Green Gas or Propane and breaks down. Others (for example www.justpistols.co.uk) run it fine on propane, some even to have claimed they have put thousands of rounds through it on green or propane with no problems. What do you guys think about this?

 

 

 

Cheers,

[Curious]

Most guns with the exception of WA's (and even they do fine most of the time) run just fine with green gas, however, it has to be said that it does wear out parts quicker - especially the slide, which is more prone to cracks/split.

 

I had the TM desert eagle, worked just great on propane, but I had another where the previous owner had cracked the slide from green gas use.

 

I would use green and just replace the parts if/when they need replacing - its a whole lot more fun!

[Wisey]

Cheers Curious! Haha, I'll see how thirsty it is and if I feel I need more power I'll probably switch to propane

[BigAl]

Run it on propane it is built like a tank and kicks like a mule on green, best fun gbb out their! The slide will take some damaging as it's metal on the inside with a plastic shell around it, the metal subframe takes the stress.

[Beta]

I own a TM desert eagle and it runs beautifully on propane, however years back a friend bought the HFC clone and managed to break off a bit of the plastic slide before blowing out a valve in the magazine. Even when it was working well it would still jam and dump propane into the user's face every once in a while. Not to get you too worried, his was most likely a lemon.

 

It should be alright on propane as long as you take care to keep it well lubricated and make sure to drop a bit of silicon oil into the propane adapter every few fills. You might want to get TM-brand magazines when you feel you need spares as you'll likely get more life out of them than the HFC ones and they shouldn't be any more expensive.

[Wisey]

Thanks for all the input so far! It's been a learning curve for me.

 

I went to a game on Sunday and the 134a just wouldn't fire a shot. I knew it wouldn't work properly, but I thought I'd get a couple of shots off before the value froze open and it did puff the magic dragon on me, I think I got it to blow back once when the mag had been filled up the night before and it came straight out of my warm car.

 

I filled the mag up (about two 7 second bursts of gas) earlier inside to try it out and shot out of my back door with the gun still in the warmth of my house, must have got less than 5 shots out of it before she ran out. Am I doing something stupid here or does this sound about right? When I first got it and was testing it inside I could empty a mag and a bit on the one gas fill.

[Beta]

First guess I would say there may be something wrong with your loading nozzle, but before you start trying to fix anything you should try filling it from another can of gas, Yours may be running low and that could be the only reason it's acting up like this. Two 7 second bursts really shouldn't be necessary from a reasonably full can of gas.

[Wisey]

Okay, just tried it again. Did the same again, and only 5 shots. Must have been doing something wrong, 'cause I tried again straight afterwards only with maybe a 10-15 second burst, I pressed the nozzle into the magazine a lot harder (through frustration if nothing else, although it didn't seem to go in any farther), when I pulled the nozzle out something let out a spray of gas for half a second (as if a valve or something got stuck open) of course then the mag lasted 50+ shots dry firing.

 

On a separate note, I can't of had much more than 15 mags out of this gas and it feels like it is about 1/3 full of liquid now. I did spray my hand with gas a couple of times when I failed to put the nozzle in properly, however.

[FireKnife]

In the cold run on Green and Ultra, only when it gets to the (one) hot day skirmish then maybe consider only 134a.

 

If you want to use it on the off chance your main gun fails then put green in it and it will be fine, if you plan to use it at every game then Ultra to reduce the likelyhood of a breakage.

 

As for the issue, tru a higher power gas or try that your mag isn't having a leak problem, if you have another mag to test with (TM one will be fine) then see what happens.

 

'FireKnife'