Making the piston lighter lessens felt recoil, but also (typically) lowers efficiency and increases (likelihood of) piston bounce. So, there's a balance to be had. That being said, whether a lighter piston is beneficial or not depends wholly on the particulars of the gun, what else is done in the tune, and what are the goals of the tune. Brits in particular, with their hard 12 fpe limit (meaning c. 11.5 fpe max guns IRL), put great emphasis on making their fixed-power springers as "dead" as possible, in the positive sense. There, lightening a particular gun's piston may be a part of the puzzle.
Quote from: Ilimakko on November 28, 2021, 08:39:00 AMMaking the piston lighter lessens felt recoil, but also (typically) lowers efficiency and increases (likelihood of) piston bounce. So, there's a balance to be had. That being said, whether a lighter piston is beneficial or not depends wholly on the particulars of the gun, what else is done in the tune, and what are the goals of the tune. Brits in particular, with their hard 12 fpe limit (meaning c. 11.5 fpe max guns IRL), put great emphasis on making their fixed-power springers as "dead" as possible, in the positive sense. There, lightening a particular gun's piston may be a part of the puzzle.If a person wanted to lessen the felt recoil with a lighter (titanium) piston but didn't want the bounce couldn't they reduce the strength of the spring along with the titanium piston.In other words, they compliment the lighter piston with a lighter spring. With all things considered, if they find the right piston and spring combination they could push the same pellet out of the barrel with the same speed as before but with the reduced recoil. Hopefully they could reduce the bounce with a lighter spring.I'm not an air rifle physicist but play one on the air gun forums:-)
In deference to my deeper longings and shallower purse, just going to buy a new HW50.