Can spring piston air rifles simulate the recoil of a firearm?

The recoil is different and the pellet takes a lot more time to get out of the barrel. Thus with a springer or a gas ram you get the hold sensitivity. And they're all different across the brands and models. Of my four springers I have one that for some reason can be pretty much held like a normal rifle. It's a 340 N TEC Compact and I have no idea why it is like that.

No
Spring power rifles have what's called a double reverse recoil which means when you pull the trigger it jumps in your hands forwads then backwards to your shoulder when the piston ends it's movement. Gas rams are similar but the nitrogen acts as a cushion and makes it less but still there. I wouldn't recommend a springer to a noob for this reason get a pumper or Co2 and learn on them then get a springer save yourself some time and money.

If you're new to the whole topic the first place to go is a local range or preferrably gun shop with an attached range and get some lessons in shooting. The second thing you will want to do is take the hunter safety class for your state for which most states by now have posted where they are being held. 

Yes the springers can have significant recoil, no it's not firearm like. It is bi-directional as bhbeyes explained but the springers are not good guns to learn to shoot. Look up "artillery hold" and you will understand why. As a matter of fact springers are challenging enough to shoot that without knowing what you are doing your accuracy can be so poor you might have a bad experience with it and give up prematurely.

I would start with just a BB gun which can be had for about 40 bucks and these are not just backyard friendly where safe or legal but if not safe or legal at your place of residence can be shot in your living room or basement with minimal backstops. Be sure to get eye protection! Worst comes to worst if you end up not liking the hobby you can quit with minimal expense.

If hunting is your thing and you just buy one gun, there is not an animal in North America that cannot be safely and humanely harvested with a 12 gauge shotgun using the right load from little to big and you can buy one for little more than the cost of a BB gun but do yourself a favor and learn the fundamentals, meet, talk to and go shooting with people who know what they are doing before taking the leap.

Pellet rifles (especially break barrels) teach you how to take your time with each shot, proper form, and shot placement....All of which transfers to powder burners.

The recoil is never gonna be the same between powder burners, and pellet rifles. This really doesnt matter as much as you would think.

"bhbeyes"No
Spring power rifles have what's called a double reverse recoil which means when you pull the trigger it jumps in your hands forwads then backwards to your shoulder when the piston ends it's movement.

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You got that backwards. The initial recoil from the release of the spring and piston is backward, then there is a forward jerk (not true recoil) when the forward motion of the spring and piston stops. This happens before the pellet leaves the barrel so your POI will be low if you zeroed your scope with the gun on a rest. The true recoil of a pcp is more than a spring piston gun. It is the forward jerk of the spring piston gun that makes them more difficult to shoot accurately and damages scopes.

No I have it right initial recoil from the release of the spring is forward. From off the sear it drives forward.
look at 1:31sec on this video and you'll see it drives forward if it did what you say it would be going down then up but not so.

That forward motion is not the initial recoil due to release of the piston. At the moment the trigger is released, the spring accelerates the piston forward very rapidly. According to Newton's third law of motion, for every action (force), there is an equal and opposite reaction. The spring and piston go forward, the gun goes backwards. This was clearly proven by the Cardew brothers in their extensive analysis and testing of air guns in their book, The Airgun From Trigger to Target. Quoting from their book, "The result of the combined forward movement of the piston and spring is that the gun is first thrown backwards into the shoulder of the shooter, but at about the peak of the gun's rearward acceleration the piston and spring are suddenly stopped by a cushion of compressed air built up between the front of the piston and the back of the pellet. The violent forward blow given to the rearward moving gun by the sudden arrest of the spring and piston causes the gun to change direction within a very small interval of time. This hammer blow may be further compounded because the piston will continue to bounce back and forth several times, driven by the remaining energy in the spring and the air compressed in front of its head. It is this sudden reversal of movement, rather like a whiplash, which causes the scope, or indeed anything else attached to the rifle to be thrown backwards, often with great force." Part of the testing of these recoil actions involved suspending the gun by two cords and photographing the results. Upon firing, the gun swung first backward and then forward and lifted slightly.

Outdoorman when i say "when you pull the trigger it jumps in your hands forwards then backwards to your shoulder when the piston ends it’s movement". the "then" means at the same time not a separate event without forward motion there can be NO Recoil OK we are saying the same thing i dint get from a book i learned in the field but thx anyway.

We are not saying the same thing. The initial recoil is rearward. That is abruptly halted when the piston stops it's forward motion at which point the gun moves very slightly forward. This can be seen in the video you linked. You can't see any rearward motion at 1:31 in the video because the butt of the gun is on the ground. It can't move backward. Suspend the rifle in a horizontal position and you will see that the gun kicks to the rear first. You can't argue with the laws of physics. See this video at 1:31 As soon as the trigger releases the piston there is a strong forward action of the spring and piston which causes an equal and opposite action on the end of the spring that is solidly against the trigger housing. This causes the rearward recoil. It is the sudden stopping of the piston that causes the hard impact on a spring gun. This sudden forward force causes all the movement of the gun and causes the scope to want to go rearward.



Here's another video that clearly shows at 2:08 the initial rearward recoil due to release of the spring/piston and then the forward movement and vibrations due to the piston coming to a stop.

IMHO, if you can shoot a recoiling piston gun well you'll shoot a powder burner better.

Anywhoo, the recoiling piston gun has a "two way recoil" plus a bit of twist that requires a more consistent shooting form than a powder burner.

H.S. an NCED sighting. How have you been Ed.

Been well and I just had my 70th birthday on Feb 8th!

Still, shooting US style hunter class field target matches in North Carolina using my Beeman R9 or HW95.

Anywhoo....greetings from Rougemont, NC to you in Massachusetts!