How much CO2 is there in 12 Gram CO2 cartridges?
The obvious answer is “12 Grams”. But actually, that’s not likely to be the real answer. In practice, there’s always very minor variations in every sample of a manufactured product – even if they are exactly “the same”.
We see this manufacturing variability in HAM pellet test reviews, for example, where there are very slight differences between each individual pellet. It’s the same with the 12 Gram CO2 cartridge.
So we gathered 12 Gram CO2 cartridges from six different brands. To make a statistically-significant analysis, we tested 25 cartridges from each brand. HAM Tester Doug Wall weighed each one full. He punctured them to release the CO2 and – once they had completely dried out – weighed them again using our incredibly-accurate milligram balance.
(Rapid release of CO2 from any container causes a significant temperature drop. This causes icy frost to form on the outside of the cartridges from water vapor in the air. That’s what had to melt and evaporate before the empty cartridges were weighed.)
So here we have a HAM mega-test of CO2 cartridges from ASG, Crosman, Daisy, Gamo, SIG AIR and Umarex. Thanks to all those companies for supplying their products!
For simplicity, all weights are measured in Grams. All charts are given the same scale as to be easily-comparable to each other.
We’ll investigate each brand separately first, in alphabetical order. Then we’ll summarize and give conclusions.
ASG 12 Gram CO2 Cartridges.
ASG – Action Sports Games – is probably better-known as a supplier of airsoft products. However, they do sell some airguns and their 12 Gram CO2 cartridges are quite widely available, with the Ultrair brand name.
ASG 12 Gram CO2 cartridges are supplied in boxes of 5. They are manufactured in Taiwan.
The company also supplies Ultrair CO2 Lubrication Cartridges. These include a built-in quantity of oil that will blow through the gun when it is fired, lubricating metal parts and swelling O rings to prevent leaks. We did not include these interesting cartridges, however, as we could not be sure of exhausting all the oil and – thus – possibly recording incorrect CO2 weights.
First, HAM Tester Doug Wall weighed 25 ASG 12 Gram CO2 cartridges. Then he weighed them full and empty. The difference between the weights for each cartridge represented the amount of CO2 contained in it.
First we have the full weight for the ASG 12 Gram CO2 cartridges tested by HAM. This is how they are when you buy them.
As you can see, the average full weight is 40.863 Grams. The lightest weighted 39.998 Grams, the heaviest 40.863 Grams.
After puncturing, we find that the weight of the empty ASG 12 Gram CO2 cartridges averaged 28.824 Grams. The lightest was 28.109 Grams, the heaviest 28.824 Grams.
So, taking one from the other, we find that the average weight of CO2 in the ASG cartridges is 12.039 Grams. The minimum was 11.342 Grams of CO2 and the maximum 12.039 Grams. That’s a variation of 6.14% in the cartridges tested by HAM.
That’s pretty good manufacturing consistency for ASG. But how does it compare to the other brands? Let’s move to the next in line: Crosman Powerlets.
Crosman Powerlet CO2 Cartridges.
Crosman, of course, is the company that started the whole 12 Gram CO2 cartridge standard. Although – as we saw in a previous article – their “Golden Powerlets” were originally specified to contain 12.5 Grams of CO2.
Crosman Powerlets are available in multiple pack sizes, including 5, 15, 25, 40 and 500. They are manufactured by Crosman (now called Velocity Outdoor) themselves at their headquarters in Bloomfield, New York.
One immediate observation is that Crosman Powerlets are heavy!
The average full weight of the Crosman Powerlets tested by HAM was 43.292 Grams. That’s 2.429 Grams heavier than the ASG 12 Gram CO2 cartridges.
Where does that weight come from? Well one source is the amount of steel from which each Powerlet is manufactured. The empty weights of the Powerlets tested by HAM varied from a minimum of 30.665 Grams to a maximum of 31.567 Grams.
The average was 31.077 Grams – that’s 7.8% more steel in every Powerlet compared to the ASG cartridges.
So how about the amount of CO2 in Crosman Powerlets?
The average works-out to be 12.215 Grams. The minimum was 10.444 Grams and the maximum 13.223 Grams. That’s a variation of 16.9% in the amount of CO2 contained in the Powerlets tested by HAM.
In the second part of this HAM mega-test, we’ll move on to investigate Daisy 12 Gram CO2 cartridges. Stay tuned!
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