Yes for marksmanship training, and becoming familiar with administrative handling. They absolutely make airsoft bolt actions, and "gas blowback" guns that work like real self-loaders; bolt or slide moves, bolt lock works, safeties work right, etc. Do not get an AEG (automatic electric gun) for training.
I think these are more realistic versions of centerfire guns, by far, than .22s, and go straight from them to centerfire pistol or rifle when training up for first shots, kids or adults.
If you pay more, you can get quite accurate guns. The human-safe velocity means that they have a limited range. 75 ft is about the max reliable accurate range (though you can get hits much much further away). They even run matches in other countries with them, where guns are harder to get.
Now, for emulating real firearms, esp for some of the things we care about most for precision rifle, there is one problem: The accuracy and range is largely the result of what airsoft calls "hop up," but is just golf-ball-like backspin, or magnus effect. They all (ALL) shoot round balls (and like all ammo, yes you can get different weights, materials, and levels of precision... but all are round ball) so no such thing as rifled airsoft barrels. Smooth, with varying degrees of blowby, and a draggy bit at the chamber that gives it a reliable amount of backspin.
Problem for long-range/precision training: that this makes it go in a straight line. No drop, it is all balanced so that it goes in a laser beam straight line.
Second problem: At the max effective range (somewhere between 75 - 130 ft) the pellet will loose the stability, and it will NOT do that in a predictable manner. It doesn't then stop having spin and start acting ballistic, but scatter, spin off up, down, left, right, etc.
Airsoft is EXCELLENT for short range, basic marksmanship, and treating range being fired as actual gun range, so you get mechanical offset and all that, but no way I have been able to use it as a scale trainer for the hardest parts of precision rifle, multiply range x 10 or something and adjust range and balistic arc off that.
(My idea if I had a limited range and wanted to practice would be to run a 9 mm, loaded subsonic, to get the most rainbow-possible trajectory. But I live in the suburbs so by the time I can shoot I am at a real range anyway, either 300 or 1400 yds available so I haven't bothered. But practice in basement or back yard...)
