Jobber26,

Thank you very much for the detailed information on the "combo" youth model. I joined this forum to get more information on that gun, and you answered all my questions.

Did the over-sized bolt handle and bold release install without modification? Did they make a difference?

I'm between that gun and the Mossberg SA-20 for my daughter.

We have crossed the 1,000 round mark. 1,045. Shot 100 Sporting on the Red course at Cardinal Center here in central Ohio. Got there and had left extra chokes at home. So everything was shot with the skeet tube. Broke 77/100. Some of the targets were a little long for a 20 gauge Skeet tube with 7 1/2 shot Estates. Some of them dusted, some of them chipped and some of them flew through the wide pattern unscathed. Lol. This gun has been great. No complaints. Nothing rattles in it. The trigger has smoothed our great. I have not adjusted it and have no plans to do so. It shoots exactly where I am looking. This is a copy of a simple, well designed action and it functions great. I have no reservations about it.

Who's design is it a copy of?

When I bought my first one about five years ago the reviewer mentioned an action I was not familiar with but noted it’s simplicity and said they had had no reliability issues. I will look for the article and see what model he was referring to if I can find it. If I can find it I will post a link. He named some specific design features in the gas system that were similar to another model. I may have looked that model up at the time. He was right about reliability. My 28 gauge has never failed and this 20 gauge has only failed the one time I used a shell that the instructions said was too light.

Thanks. I'd be interested in that info.

I as well think the guns action is quite robust. I was surprised when I initially took it apart and saw how strong everything looked. Nothing seemed like a weak link. Quite impressed with the design. Nice gun.

I don't change out. I remove, watch the bird, not the bead.

Took the G2 out and shot a box of Gun Clubs at five stand before shooting trap. 25 flawless rounds which brings total to 1070. Also that means 900 straight rounds since the lone malfunction this gun has had. A fun and reliable gun to shoot.

My .410 Viper G2 has 750 rounds through it. I did have a few issues early on, but only with my reloads.

I'm leery of using a budget gun for clay target games due to the round counts involved. A season of skeet, trap or sporting clays is probably worth two lifetimes of shooting for an avid hunter, right?

On the other hand, target loads tend to be much milder than game loads. Anyway, the Viper G2 seems to perform above it's pay grade. I'm very pleased with mine.

50 more flawless rounds today. Sporting clays. Combination of Federals and Gun Clubs. 7.5, 8, & 9’s. All through extended Carlson skeet tube. That puts it at 1120 with 950 straight without any hiccup. I think I will report the next fifty which will hopefully be flawless and would make it 1k straight without a hiccup. Then, when there is a hiccup I will report that round count and what happened. I have no problems recommending this firearm. It points great. I have not messed with the shims. Just swapped out trigger return spring. I will get that next batch through it soon. It will be my regular clays gun getting ready for winter league. I had a bad experience with the Field grade original over/under but the two G2’s have been awesome.

Shot a limit of dove this morning with my Bronze 20. Not going to say how many shells it took. Must be throwing bad patterns....

Thinking I’ve got 400+ shells through it now. No issues that weren’t self induced due to buying a box of low recoil AAs on accident.

I put another 125 rounds through my 20 gauge Viper G2 this past week. That makes about 1,000 rounds I've put through it so far. If I've had any failures of any kind with the gun, I sure don't remember it. I ordered another flat of ammo for it this morning. Probably should have ordered 2 flats, but I shoot 12 gauge guns a WHOLE lot more than I do my 20 gauge Viper.

51 rounds today. No failures. Mixture of Gun Clubs and Federals. That puts it to 1001 rounds since its lone failure. I have not cleaned it in 379 rounds. I am reluctant to let it go any further. That would eventually cause it to fail but that would not be legitimate because routine maintenance should be done. So going to clean it. When it fails next I will let you know. Not sure if just telling you I shot another 50 or 100 let’s you know anything. We shot our regular course today and they had changed up three stations. Shot those and broke 13/14 targets we shot on them. Gun just fits me. I have never changed a shim or done anything other than clean it. I know that is not always the case for fit but it is this time.

This gun just works and works well. I really enjoy shooting it.

Didn’t think I would post unless had a malfunction. Shot 50 Federal and Gun Club shells through it today. The gun was flawless. When I put the round count into the file I noticed that it had been 429 rounds since its last cleaning. Normally it would be about 300 rounds. I had not had the gun out this fall. I shared because I know a lot of semiautos that will not go 400+ rounds between cleanings. I am tempted to let it go and see how long it will run flawless before a malfunction related to cleaning. But I am not going to give in. Will give her a good cleaning. She deserves it.

On my G2 the owner's manual recommends cleaning after about 250 rounds so that is what I do. I don't know what it proves to shoot a gun until it stops due to a lack of maintenance except that you are using it outside of its design parameters. Cleaning after 8-10 boxes of shells does not seem like a big deal to me.

Now we know that it is at least 179 rounds better than its “design parameters.”

Recoil spring on mine broke. Tristar sent a new one, had it in 2 day’s. Plus a magazine spring to go in the shelf. Not sure if that should make me gun shy going forward or not.

I too broke a recoil spring which was evident when I cleaned the gun. It never stopped functioning. I got a new one quickly like you did and it has not been an issue in over 3 years since. If it bothers you, get another recoil spring to have as a spare. They are not pricey.