air effcieny

You should get 750-800 out of the 12oz and 1000-1200 out of a 20oz.

Would an expansion chamber reduce the number of shots one should get from a tank?  

So from a A5, with expansion chamber, and a 20oz tank, I should still be getting around 1000 shots per tank?

Adding to the answer on the expansion chamber question:  It can approve CO2 efficiency in certain circumstances.  If the player is firing at a slow and steady rate, the extra expansion room allows the CO2 to fully expand before entering the valve.  This means that the propellant potential of the CO2 is being fully utilized.  Once the player starts firing rapidly in many cases they will be using CO2 gas at a rate faster than the liquid CO2 in the tank can transform into a gas.  Eventually, they will start using CO2 that isn't fully expanded.  This is inherently less efficient.  The difference here is that if the marker has set unfired for a while, there is a larger volume of fully expanded gas to utilize before the not so expanded gas (or liquid) makes its way to the valve. The ambient temperature effects this process because it controls how fast the CO2 will evaporate into a gas.  The type of marker itself is also a factor as differences in both valves and velocity adjustment devices determine both/either the actual amount of gas released with each shot and the rate of release.

Short version:  An expansion chamber can in certain conditions allow more shots per tank of CO2 but the variables such as rate of fire, temperature and marker type make it impossible to provide an exact answer of how much.

Edited Note:  The factors I listed are the major issues, not the only issues to consider.  (As an example, even the size of the tank and the ratio of liquid to gaseous CO2 in the tank affect this process.)


Edited by Mack - 30 April 2008 at 11:37am