Steel Cylinder Supply Update: What’s Going On and What It Means for You

If you’ve been browsing steel airgun cylinders recently and noticed stock looking a little… thin, no, you’re not imagining things. There is currently a global shortage of steel cylinders, and while the supply chain behind them is about as clear as mud, we wanted to give you a bit more insight into what’s actually happening.

A Complicated Supply Chain

Faber's Italy manufacturing plant is one of the largest air tank manufacturers (Faber Cylinders 2023)

Steel cylinder production is one of those industries where OEM manufacturing dominates. A relatively small number of manufacturers produce steel cylinders that are then branded and sold by multiple companies worldwide. Add in fluctuating steel availability, international shipping constraints, and competing industrial demand, and you end up with a supply network that’s fragile at best.

Because of that, it’s often unclear who is making what, using which materials, and what other industries may be quietly absorbing capacity behind the scenes.

Where We’re At Right Now

Our tank supplier, MDE, is optimistically cautious that fresh stock will return around March. Until then, what’s currently in circulation is likely the last of the available stock for the time being.

We do want to be clear here. This isn’t a panic announcement or a nudge to empty the shelves. In fact, if everyone rushes to buy cylinders at once, we then end up with none available for in-store customers, which helps absolutely no one. Transparency beats panic every time.

Will This Affect Other Brands?

Short answer: probably, yes.

MDE believes this supply issue is likely to ripple out to other brands too, simply because there are so few steel tank manufacturers globally that OEM for everyone else. Brands such as Hydrotec, Bisley, AFO, and Best Fittings are all drawing from the same limited pool of manufacturers.

That said, some of these brands focus more heavily on domestic supply and don’t ship internationally in the same way, so they may appear to have stock for a little longer. That doesn’t necessarily mean their supply chain is immune, just that the impact may be delayed.

What You Should Do

If you genuinely need a steel cylinder now, and you see one available, it may be sensible not to sit on it too long. If you don’t, there’s no need to panic-buy. We’re monitoring the situation closely and will update you as soon as we have firmer timelines or confirmed inbound stock.

As always, if you’re unsure what option is best for your setup, give us a shout. We’ll help where we can, even if the steel itself is currently playing hard to get.

Shop Air Tanks

---------------------------------------------------

Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments below.

---------------------------------------------------

Support this blog by buying the blog writer a coffee!

---------------------------------------------------

References

Faber (2023) Faber Cylinders, Faber Italy . Available at: https://faber-italy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/faber-cylinders-g1-71.jpg (Accessed: 03 February 2026).

Faber's Italy manufacturing plant is one of the largest air tank manufacturers

*Please note that some of the links may be Amazon affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission from your purchase. Affiliate links help support our blog and the valuable information we provide.

Image Use for Educational Purposes - This blog post includes images used for educational purposes, not all of which are not owned by the publisher. Efforts have been made to credit image owners/sources appropriately, and any concerns about attribution or copyright should be addressed by contacting us. These images are used solely for educational purposes within fair use guidelines, with no commercial intent. The inclusion of external images does not imply endorsement or sponsorship of our content by image owners/sources. We aim to comply with relevant copyright laws.