Need some info on Nitro Piston Air Rifles

I think it’s like a big shock absorber once the gas seals go you need to replace the mechanism. I could be wrong so watch other reply’s. I have a couple of springers from Weihrauch I got them from Krale changing the spring and replacement of seals it an easy do it yourself job. 

Hello airgunfan,

Welcome to AGN, there is another type of airgun called a pre charged pneumatic (PCP) that uses an air source to charge. The other gun type is a nitro piston which is similar to the spring piston but rather then using a spring for power it uses a nitrogen gas charged piston which never needs to be recharged as a power source. If you check out the Crosman website you will find all the different types of airguns. crosman also gives a 25% discount to AGN members and if you place your order on Fridays you will also get free shipping. Good luck with your search and welcome again.

Jim

There is no "refilling" to do. The Nitro piston, or gas ram (as it is also called) is a replacement for a SPRING. It is similar to the struts on a vehicle hatch.

Power is consistent, and they can be quite accurate. The only true downside to a gas ram gun is they have fairly heavy recoil and are very hard on scopes.

I own a pair of gas piston guns, a Crosman Nitro Venom .22 and a Diana 340 .22 both are decent shooters and neither have destroyed any scopes, I have Nikon EFR ProStaff scopes on both in one-piece UTG mount. The Crosman out-performs the Diana in chronographed pellet fps. I've replaced plastic with brass barrel pivot washers in the Crosman and it is quite accurate and my "go to" break barrel .22 for accuracy out to 40 yds. 

I've also replaced pistons in each gun after noticing a decrease from "factory" performance and in both guns the replacement pistons from the manufacturer (Crosman / Umarex) were not expensive and relatively easy to do. I do not know that my experience with pistons losing pressure is the norm or the exception,, and it would not keep me from buying another gas piston gun if I was in the market for one.

The Nitro piston has most of the same issues as spring piston. There is still heavy double recoil to kill scopes and they are still hold sensitive. They will still have changes of point of impact due to temperature changes. PCP can be more powerful and zero recoil until you get into big bores, even then it is light. My .50 Sam Yang recoils like .45 acp, so nearly nothing, just a little push. If you are set on the nitro piston, I have the SIG ASP20, and it is a good gun, on par with the Diana and Weihrach spring pistons. You get what you pay for, and I think the gas piston in the lower level guns is just so they can put the word NITRO on the box for marketing to the uninformed. Nitro is slang for nitrous oxide in race cars, and using NITRO as slang for nitrogen is kind of twisted. Nitrogen is simply an inert gas that makes up 78% of the air you breathe.

another variant is the HW90/RX Beeman/Theoben gas piston powered series of rifles.

they are rebuildable, pressurized, adjustable, rugged and reliable.

they are a bit more pricey than the other marques, though and you need special equipment (pump and pressure gauge) to work on them.

As mentioned ,, "you get what you pay for" as with most purchases of any air gun, I've found. To answer airgunfan' inquiry I had no damage to my gas pistons, they both just seemed to lose some internal pressure during sitting,,, and NOT in the cocked position. Have NO idea what or why it happened. In both cases the replacement costs were nominal, actually less than I expected. Now this all occured 3 or 4 years ago but I recall the Crosman piston was under $35 and the Diana under $45 with shipping costs atop that. Actually the Diana was still under warranty and I worked out the swap of a new piston without having to send the whole gun back by paying for a new one then being reimbursed when Umarex received the bad one. I felt fortunate they worked with me and it did cost me mailing costs,, but it all worked out so I ended up happy.

There's no comparing Nitro Piston guns with PCPs, as mentioned, PCP has little to no felt recoil which allows for better accuracy.

Single stroke pneumatics are low powered ten meter target guns. For PCP there are a bunch of entry level guns out now that will be 20 ft lbs or so at the muzzle so good 50 or 60 yard small game rifles and under $500. I started back into this sport a few years back with a Benjamin Discovery and hand pump. I bought it so me and my wife could target shoot every week without hauling off to the range when she was getting ready for her first deer hunt. I was happy with it until I found field target matches near me every month. Then my choices were to step up to a better PCP or shoot one of the piston classes. I have been shooting the piston classes and enjoying it with an HW97 and now a Sig ASP 20. This year I may shoot open PCP, but still trying to keep it fairly budget with a BSA Scorpian and SWFA scope. 

Take a look at the Benjamin Marauder, Discovery or Maximus, Gamo Urban/BSA Buccaneer or Hatsan Flash/ Flashpup. All are fairly budget friendly, hand pump friendly and more accurate than you could imagine once you find the right pellet and learn the power curve of your rifle.

For target work a single stroke pneumatics are great. Like CM Shooter said they aren't power houses. 450-600fps in 177. I would go with a real spring rifle over a gas ram any day of the week. Gas ram/Nitro piston is a big marketing scheme. Go get a good spring rifle like an HW 30, 35, 50, 77, 95, 97, or 98 from Krale Shooting Sports or a RWS 34. All the rifles I just named are outstanding and will last lifetimes. Don't get hung up on power as more is better. More is worse and in many cases another marketing scheme to charge more for an over spring rifle that is hard to shoot accurately.

My NPSS has a shot cycle similar to a .22LR 

shprt, sharp then over. Compared to the longish push from a spring. You will need to find the best way to hold it,as itll be hold sensitive or it wont care, but thatl be one of things you'll need to get to know about it. ITs not a bad thing, but it took me 20 shots or so when I Ifirst got it to figure out what was going on

For target work a single stroke pneumatics are great. Like CM Shooter said they aren't power houses. 450-600fps in 177. I would go with a real spring rifle over a gas ram any day of the week. Gas ram/Nitro piston is a big marketing scheme. Go get a good spring rifle like an HW 30, 35, 50, 77, 95, 97, or 98 from Krale Shooting Sports or a RWS 34. All the rifles I just named are outstanding and will last lifetimes. Don't get hung up on power as more is better. More is worse and in many cases another marketing scheme to charge more for an over spring rifle that is hard to shoot accurately.

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I am a bit new here, but I have to agree and also disagree with a couple things here.

Saying that going with a spring rifle over a gas/nitro gun any day is subjective. The upside to true springers is they can be tuned, and with cheaper gas-rams, not so much. Springers inherently are a little noiser (generally) than NP's because of what's going on under the "receiver."

There is a weird school of thought that goes around with springers here that I take issue to: "Leaving a springer cocked and never fired for a long time can weaken the spring, whereas leaving a gas/NP gun cocked will stay more true to it's FPE when fired." To some extent this is true, but the real thing that kills even the best well-maintained springs is cycling. Every time you take a distressed spring, compress it, and then release it, you are weakening the spring. Granted, this weakness is negligable shot-to-shot, but over time, it will weaken, period. The reasons why gas rams shine in this instance is because as long as the piston seals are doing their job, the energy from the retained nitrogen charge should always be consistent. Nitrogen is by nature a "large" element for a gas, and therefore it takes a lot longer for nitrogen to leak past a faulty seal compared to other gases.

I do agree that there was/is a weird marketing ploy about NP rifles being more efficient with temperature changes, and also with the falacy that higher FPS is good, especially with those that claim 1300+ fps. Weird poop happens to pellets when they are trans-sonic (slightly approaching or breaking the sound-barrier at 1150 fps or so). The pressure-wave makes pellets wobble and tumble, especially in .177. There simply is not enough mass or axial spin to overcome the forces of nature at that point. Ballistic coefficients for a .177 pellet shot at 1200 fps look like a nightmare within the first 15 yards. Slower is better.

Higher FPE springers and gas rams are both somewhat harsh on scopes. I learned this fast... I bought a cheap NP gun that actually shoots great. But I found myself tossing the cheap scope and laying down more money on a better scope that could handle the double-recoil of the NP. For some, the cost of the scope will surpass the cost of the rifle.

As far as break-barrels dislodging retinas... I doubt that. Unless you have the eye-piece of your scope literally buried into your eye-socket when you are shooting, 

Airgunfan... airguns use compressed air to move a projectile. It can be stored , as in a pcp, or compressed during the firing cycle, as in a spring powered rifle. The gas ram is just a type of spring and can be very good, despite the naysayers. The problem is with how the engineers and manufacturers get there. Springs and gas rams both push a piston to compress air when you pull the trigger. They just do it in a slightly different time/force profile. You really would have to try both in YOUR scenario to be a judge of what is better. I happen to like gas rams better because they are typically smoother but few are offered these days that satisfy my other preferences in a rifle.

Single strokes store air when you do the pump stroke and it's released when you pull the trigger to push the pellet . There have been some of higher energy but pump effort and other tradeoffs result in mostly lower powered airguns using this system.

Multipumps just add a valve and maybe a little more air storage to a single pump to allow for reasonable pump effort to achieve more power. Keep in mind your efforts are what are powering the pellet in all the above .

Pcp's store typically more air than multipumps but operate much the same and you can consider them to have the power stored without the work (unless you use a hand pump to fill). They can achieve MUCH higher energy levels than the others because of this plus you can typically fire multiple shots on a charge. CO2 is just a form of pcp, btw. 

How to choose between them should be reflected on the use you intend. The recoil on the spring piston is not objectionable if you keep power to reasonable levels and you don't mind a little more weight. You don't need an air source. Multipumps and single strokes are great for typically shorter ranges and don't need an air source either. Pcp's can be the lightest and most powerful and typically are what is used for longer ranges ..... but need an air source. All can be very good but quality is usually reflected in the price. There ARE some great values in each category though.

Personally , I have a lot of all of them and enjoy each for their own character, but it mainly comes down to what your use will be.

HTH

Bob

Just wanted to clarify another point in your questions. I don't think ANY type is inherently more accurate. It's a matter of how the engineers and manufacturers get there and how EASY it is to shoot accurately. Springers have recoil that increases in intensity radically as you go up in power and may be tougher on scopes but require no extra power source. Single strokes and multipumps use your energy for power source but have little recoil. Pcp's can have more power and repeat capabilities but require an extra air source. Again , none are inherently more accurate if engineered and built well.

So, after rereading your questions, you still have not indicated a distance you want to stay within. If it's under say.. 20 yards, a single stroke or low powered springer would be very satisfying and need no extra air source but if you plan to shoot further or hunt, more power will be necessary and the choice becomes complicated as there are SO many options .

Anyway.... welcome .

Bob

Hey All, i'm just learning break barrels, mostly np2 .22 cal. Since Xmas i've been dabbing into air rifles. to be brief, i was wondering would anyone know where to purchase a piston for my Benji Trail np2. Thank You Much.