Various combinations of noble gases are experimentally investigated to help improve the triggering stability of pulsed ion lasers. The results of these tests show that a 1:1 ratio of Ne&sngbnd;Ar stabilizes the triggering, but gas separation limits the repetition rate. Tests on He&sngbnd;Ar show that 15 &mgr; of Ar combined with 15 to 100 &mgr; of He produced triggering stability with no obvious detrimental effects at pulse rates up to 1000 Hz. Both mixtures displayed 25% power loss with respect to the optimum pure argon laser output.