Argon gas bottle buying guide
Updated: October 2026
You have a MIG or TIG set open on amazon.co.uk, and the first screen is not one product. A disposable about 30 cm tall sits next to an 8 litre cylinder the seller says is full, and next to a steel shell that ships with no gas. An argon gas bottle buying guide has to sort those objects before a price from £17.99 to £306.07 means anything. The [argon gas cylinder comparison](/hub/soldering-and-welding/argon-gas-cylinder) holds the eight listings, with the conflicts left visible. This page is the order of checks: which gas, how much is really in the bottle, which outlet it uses, and whether it arrives full. Peter F. updated this on 17 October 2026. Nothing here is a lab fill or a timed weld. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You have a MIG or TIG set open on amazon.co.uk, and the first screen is not one product.
You have a MIG or TIG set open on amazon.co.uk, and the first screen is not one product. A disposable about 30 cm tall sits next to an 8 litre cylinder the seller says is full, and next to a steel shell that ships with no gas. An argon gas bottle buying guide has to sort those objects before a price from £17.99 to £306.07 means anything. The argon gas cylinder comparison holds the eight listings, with the conflicts left visible. This page is the order of checks: which gas, how much is really in the bottle, which outlet it uses, and whether it arrives full. Peter F. updated this on 17 October 2026. Nothing here is a lab fill or a timed weld. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Gas | Stated contents | Outlet | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  SWP SWP WG/1368 60 L disposable | Argon/CO2, ratio unstated | 60 L gas volume | Not stated | 7.6 | about £17.99 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Gray Eagle Gray Eagle 8 L 82/18 | 82% argon / 18% CO2 | 8 L water / 1.2 m³ | L 21.8 × 1/14 | 7.1 | about £169.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  Sealey Sealey MIGMIX2.2 430 g | 84% argon / 16% CO2 | 430 g / 2.2 L | M10 | 7.0 | about £57.17 | View offer |
On this page
Match the gas to the metal before you compare bottles
Carbon-steel MIG in this set is an argon and carbon dioxide mix. TIG, and MIG on aluminium, is argon. Adams Gas puts that split in plain language, and BOC treats an 80/20 mix as an M21 example while calling pure argon MIG on steel unstable. BS EN ISO 14175 labels argon as I1. M21 is argon with more than 15% and up to 25% CO2. Air Liquide’s ARCAL Force is an 18% example of that class.
Sealey MIG/MIX/100 prints 80/20. The MIGMIX bottles print 84/16. Gray Eagle prints 82/18. BricoLoco prints 86/14. Those four are steel-MIG mixes, not argon for aluminium. Sealey MIG/ARG/100 is the only disposable sold as argon, at £31.68, with a 100 g component beside a 60 litre claim. The empty steel shell is described for argon and contains none. The SWP title says argon/CO2 and never states the percentages, so it cannot be filed as 80/20 or as M21.
If you are about to TIG aluminium with a mix bottle because the title contains the word argon, stop and read argon or argon/CO2. The pound price is the wrong argument until the gas matches the process.
Litres of gas are not the same as a cylinder
“60 litre” on the SWP bottle and on the two small Sealey disposables is a gas-volume claim on a bottle around 30 cm tall and about 1.3 kg. Sealey also prints 100 g as the included component. BOC describes a common 50 litre cylinder as about 10 cubic metres. That is a different object from these cartridges. Sealey’s “about 1 hour” on the 60 litre bottles is printed as approximate. Do not plan a panel around it.
Gray Eagle measures something else. Eight litres is water capacity. The gas is stated separately as 1.2 cubic metres of 82/18 at 150 bar, at £169.99, with no reviews. The empty listing’s 60 cubic feet is capacity for a cylinder that ships empty at £306.07. BricoLoco’s “1 litre” at £78.29 does not say whether that is water capacity or gas volume, and the regulator is another listing. Sealey’s 430 g MIGMIX bottles state 2.2 litres, 110 bar and M10. A trade note of about 220 litres for that water size is not a measurement of these ASINs, and this page does not convert 430 g into litres.
A Saturday repair can live with a small cartridge if the thread already matches. A day of arches cannot. The fork is on the disposable or refillable page.
Four outlets, and only one family is a British industrial argon valve
UK industrial argon uses BS 341 No. 3, a 5/8 inch BSP right-hand outlet. Boiswood’s connection table puts CGA 580 in the other column. None of the eight listings is stated as BS 341 No. 3.
The SWP bottle and both Sealey 60 litre disposables leave the thread unstated. Sealey only says the bottle fits Sealey and other makes of welder or regulator. One SWP review said the fitting was smaller than a normal regulator, and mentioned a 4 mm hose against an 8 mm hose on the welder. The MIGMIX2.2 and the four-pack state M10, at 110 bar. That is a disposable thread. It will not start on a BS 341 bullnose, and a BS 341 regulator will not start on it. Gray Eagle states L 21.8 × 1/14 and includes a mini regulator, so the bundle can be used with that regulator even though the outlet is not the British industrial one. The £306.07 shell states CGA580 and a 3/4 inch NGT inlet. That is a North American argon valve.
Forcing a nut that does not match, or bridging the gap with PTFE tape, is how seats get damaged. If the nut does not meet the valve, the buy was wrong. Fitting steps, and the point where you stop, are on the how to use page.
Full, empty, and whether a regulator is in the box
Only the Gray Eagle bundle states a mini regulator in the box, on an L 21.8 outlet, and the seller says the 8 litre cylinder ships full. There are no amazon.co.uk reviews to support that sentence. The seller also cites EN 1964-1 and a validity date of 2030, with a made date of 2020. Those are seller lines. This comparison did not inspect the cylinder or repeat a test. BricoLoco states the opposite on the regulator: clamps, hose and regulator are a separate listing, on top of £78.29 for the 1 litre bottle.
The steel 60 cubic foot cylinder states that all cylinders ship empty and tells you to ask a local supplier about filling. A DOT bullet on that listing is not evidence a UK filler will accept CGA580, and this comparison has no fill price. The disposables are sold as gas bottles, but the file does not promise they arrive full. On Sealey MIG/ARG/100, one of two stored reviews said the bottle arrived empty and lasted two or three minutes, against a 3.7 average from 16 reviews. Check the seal and the weight against the listing before you assume a Saturday job is covered.
The catalogue size of 1 × 1 × 1 cm on both MIGMIX listings conflicts with 2.91 kg and 11.6 kg. Ignore that centimetre field. It is not the bottle. Use the stated weight and the 2.2 litre claim instead.
What the shelf prices are allowed to decide
The amazon.co.uk prices in this set are £17.99 for the SWP argon/CO2 disposable, £31.68 for Sealey pure argon, £32.11 for Sealey 80/20, £57.17 for one MIGMIX2.2, £78.29 for BricoLoco, £169.99 for the filled 8 litre bundle, £192.57 for four MIGMIX bottles, and £306.07 for the empty shell. Those are the prices in the raw files, not a live re-check and not a claim to be the cheapest in Britain. Sealey’s own site has shown a different figure for MIG/ARG/100. Do not merge that into the Amazon price.
The comparison’s top pick is the SWP bottle on review evidence for a short session, with the mix still unknown. The best value mark sits on the single MIGMIX2.2 because 430 g of a stated 84/16 mix is more printed gas than 100 g at about £32, if your regulator is already M10 and you accept that nobody has reviewed it. If two listings pass the gas check and the thread check, the shelf price can choose between them. If they fail either check, the cheaper one is still the wrong bottle.
Common questions
Is 60 litres a big cylinder?
No. On the SWP bottle and the small Sealey disposables, 60 litres is a gas-volume claim on a bottle of about 1.3 kg and about 30 cm. A rule of thumb at 15 litres per minute, taken from BOC’s example flow, is about four minutes. SWP reviewers reported roughly 5 to 20 minutes. An 8 litre water capacity with 1.2 cubic metres stated, or a trade 50 litre cylinder at about 10 cubic metres, is a different scale.
Will a BS 341 regulator fit a Sealey disposable?
Not if the bottle is the M10 MIGMIX, because M10 is not BS 341 No. 3. The 60 litre Sealey disposables do not name a thread at all. They only say they fit Sealey and other welders or regulators. Offer the nut by hand. If it will not start cleanly, stop and do not use tape to close a metal-to-metal joint. A regulator bought for a Hobbyweld or BOC cylinder is the usual mismatch.
The 8 litre bottle includes a regulator. Is the thread British?
The Gray Eagle listing includes a mini regulator and states the outlet as L 21.8 × 1/14. That is not written as BS 341 No. 3, which is the usual UK industrial argon outlet, a 5/8 inch BSP right-hand connection. You can use the regulator that arrives in the box. Do not assume a regulator you already own for a British exchange cylinder will screw onto that valve.
Why is the £306 cylinder empty?
The listing says all cylinders ship empty and that you should ask a local supplier about filling. The valve is CGA580, with a 3/4 inch NGT inlet, not BS 341 No. 3. The £306.07 price does not include argon. This page cannot tell you that a UK supplier will fill a DOT-marked CGA580 shell, or what that fill would cost. Until both are confirmed, you have bought a container.
Pure argon or a mix for steel MIG?
For mild-steel MIG, the bottles here that state a ratio are argon/CO2 mixes from 14% to 20% CO2. Pure argon is the Sealey MIG/ARG/100, and that is the disposable to look at for TIG or aluminium, not for steel MIG. BOC describes pure argon MIG on steel as unstable. The SWP bottle says argon/CO2 and does not state a ratio, so it stays in neither column until the seller prints one.
What if the catalogue says 1 × 1 × 1 cm?
On Sealey MIGMIX2.2 and the four-pack MIGMIX2.24, the catalogue dimensions field says 1 × 1 × 1 cm. That line conflicts with a stated 2.91 kg, a pack weight of 11.6 kg, and a 2.2 litre claim. Keep both figures visible if you are checking the raw listing, and do not treat the centimetre line as the size of the bottle. The weight and the gas claim are the figures that describe the object.
Which listing actually states the mix ratio?
Sealey MIG/MIX/100 states 80% argon and 20% CO2. Both MIGMIX bottles state 84/16. Gray Eagle states 82/18. BricoLoco states 86/14. Sealey MIG/ARG/100 states argon without a CO2 percentage. SWP WG/1368 says argon/CO2 and does not give percentages. The empty steel shell is sold for argon and ships with no gas, so it has no mix to state.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings in this set, last checked on 17 October 2026.
- HSE INDG297, safe use of gas cylinders (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- HSE, asphyxiation hazards in welding (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Carriage of Dangerous Goods Regulations 2009 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- BCGA CP 44, storage of gas cylinders (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- BOC, shielding gas brochure (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- BOC, transporting and handling cylinders (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- BSI, BS EN ISO 14175:2008 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Boiswood, bottle connections (retrieved 17 October 2026)