Using helium.

[Catamount]

Hi, new here.
Has the topic of using helium in PCP's been discussed here? Is the discussion in an archive? I know it's still controversial, and that the gas metering valve needs to be re-engineered to avoid losing the entire charge with one shot, and no doubt other problems I'm not aware of.

The only reason to attempt this is to get significantly higher FPS.\

Cat

 

[John "spysir" Blount]

Cat,
Try typing, helium in the "search" box on the main page, then maybe or not select a sub group, there is some info to read.

Helium ads power, cost, and noise ( yes it is a louder crack, sharper).

I've not never heard of any airgun valve needing to be re-worked to use helium, it WILL find ANY leak you have - maybe even if air does not leak-.

By some good clean fun at least as long as you live in the U.S.

John 

 

[guod123]

the guy in dive shop said Helium is 1/7 the weight of normal breathing air.

 

[zebra]

It's not controversial at all. Plenty of people use it but it's mainly an extreme big bore thing. Those guys use it to get 1600fpe from their 50 cal monsters when hunting bear, buffalo and dragons.

There is little to no use for the typical 177, 22 and 25 cal guns that most of us use here aside from a fun experiment to see what's possible.

 

[AZBOBCAT]

no need to push the small calibers any faster than air can. Now a 45 or 50 is a different story.

 

[zebra]

"AZBOBCAT"no need to push the small calibers any faster than air can. Now a 45 or 50 is a different story.

Exactly, or pay a lot more per shot as helium is a good bit more expensive than air.

I always enjoy reading about other people's helium experiments though. The sort of power that some people are able to achieve from an air gun will be surprising to most people.

That Mr Hollow Point guy managed to achieve 1700fpe+ with one of his larger calibers. From memory, the bullet was more than .8" caliber. It was like artillery.

The only potential application for small bores that I could think of was a design that used helium cartridges so they could be smaller than the air cartridges without losing power, or even disposable helium bullet.

 

[Percula]

With guns that shot pellets there is no sense in pushing the FPS up past what HPA can delver now. Remember these are drag stabilized projectiles and as you approach super sonic speeds you get buffeting. If I remember right super sonic speed is 1120fps, but buffeting is going to start at lower speeds, not sure exactly where and would venture a guess that it would vary based on the BC of the pellet. Also faster also means at some point leading your barrel, where now with the lower 700-900'ish speeds its not really a problem.

If I could find a good spin stabilized bullet/slug for my 30cal, I would consider helium. But so far the ones I've testing are far worse than pellets in terms of group size.