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donec · Senior Member

Some questions.

1. Since the Nitro Piston doesn't bounce around inside of the rifle does it require the sensitive handling of a springer like using the artillery hold?

2. Also is it limited to the weight of pellet it can handle since it does not have a spring to break?

3. Can it be dry fired?

AirGunEric · Site Admin

After test-firing a couple of NPSS rifles late last year, it seems to me that while the recoil was reduced compared to a springer, they are not exactly "worlds apart".

I would treat them no differently than any other springer- some of the reasons you don't want to use too light a pellet or dry-fire a gun is not so much spring problems- but piston seal issues. Personally, I believe these two things have very little bearing on the spring and they have typically been over-stated in that context.

donec · Senior Member

Thanks for the reply. Are the seals really that different for a springer than for a single pump pneumatic? I mean you can dry fire a single pump pneumatic and don't need to hold them in any special way, but from what you said doing away with the spring with a Nitro Piston doesn't change much yet it seems from what I have read to make the Nitro Piston rifle much like a strong single pump pneumatic rifle.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

The NPSS is a springer- all that has been done is replacing the wound sprung steel spring with a gas-filled cylinder. These guns still have pistons with seals in them in front of the cylinder- a single stroke pneumatic doesn't.

donec · Senior Member

AirGunEric · Site Admin

No valve in a springer or NPSS- just the hole behind the barrel to push the air through.

The NPSS is exactly the same as any other springer with the cylinder put in place of the spring- which reduces the dual-recoil effect, makes cocking it more consistent and reduces/eliminates the 'twang' that comes off most springs. Every other part of the rifle is exactly the same. If you could get an NPSS piston that fit -whatever- springer you have, you would simply remove the regular spring and it's guides and put the NPSS unit in it's place, no other alterations. The piston, seal, chamber, port, trigger setup, everything is still the same as it would have been. The compressed gas is inside the NPSS cylinder and is only for the purpose of decompressing the cylinder/rod to push the usual piston found in any springer.

A SSP is completely different.

packrat · Senior Member

I bought a Crosman NPSS, .22 from P.A. a few months back..had it about 2 weeks and sold it, because...it is a very BIG gun, full size I guess you'd say..over 40 inches long and over 8 lbs. with scope..I'm 62 yrs.old, 5'8" and only weigh like 130 lbs..It was simply too big for me...no fault of the gun,,just one of those things..anyway..It was easy to cock..I could handle that no problem..and was accurate (but too heavy for me to shoot off-hand standing)..and was a nice looking gun- I had the black stock. So, if you're thinking of getting one, I thought you might want to know these things Smile

donec · Senior Member