Hey yall. I was a member here for quite some time, but apparently was inactive for awhile and my account was cleared. Anyway, I purchased my first semi-auto shotgun yesterday, a Viper G2 Realtree 26" barrel in 20 gauge. I already have several 12ga pumps, and remember how much fun I had shooting a 20 gauge in my youth. I also intend to use it to get my wife into skeet shooting.....which was an awesome excuse...um valid reason to get another gun!

I have perused the forums and youtube and have gathered a fair amount of information on the gun itself. Being new to semi-auto shotguns, is there anything I need to be aware of that applies to the gas operated mechanism with maintenance, etc.?

Pictures will be forthcoming after I have a chance to get it to the range.

I own two G2s, a 12ga and a 20ga and if you keep them clean mine work flawlessly. i picked up 10 sporting targets at sporting clays with mine. take care of it and it will take care of you.

Congrats on the new gun! The Tristars have received generally favorable reviews on SW.

I have a G2 28 gauge that is one of the best shotguns I have had in 50 years. way above the cost....... the one common issue they seem to have , if is a problem for You is very heavy trigger pulls. probably for legal reasons. mine was around 8lb so at the advice of others I sent the trigger group off to Precision Sports . in less than a week it was back with a 4 3/4# pull. Every time I have called Tristar with a question a real Human answered the phone . As I have said many times here if I was a young man I would own a G2 in all 4 gauges. Good Luck.

Keep the gas system clean and it should run like a hound out of hell.

I have a G2 silver 26"in 20 ga, bought it last year for the grandkids to shoot skeet with me. I started shooting it this summer and liked it so much I ordered another G2 20 ga in black synthetic with a 28" barrel today. Great gun to be sure.

I agree keep the gas piston clean and G2's will eat anything you feed them. I have a 28 Bronze and it eats my reloads with rarely a hang up. My Remington 1100 28 ga does not like my reloads, but will eat factory ammo just fine...

"Clean" is a relative term. I've got a Viper G2 and think it's a great gun for the money. I find them to be very similar to the Beretta 390 which I like a lot.

My cleaning regimen on a semi auto is to clean the trigger assembly and bolt assembly by dunking them in solvent about every 750 to 1,000 rounds. Clean the gas piston about every 500 rounds or so. Wipe out the inside of the receiver with a rag about every 200 rounds. Clean the chamber and bore perhaps every 300 to 500 rounds. None of these numbers are cast in stone. They're approximate, and many guns will run WAY longer than that between cleanings.

AND, very importantly, keep it well lubricated. This means keeping the bolt rails, the receiver rails, the trigger assembly, and the outside of the magazine tube well lubricated with Breakfree CLP or similar. In my experience, a semi auto will run quite well even if it's dirty, but they don't like running dry. I've fixed many a "broken" semi auto (belonging to other shooters) on the course by pulling out a little bottle of CLP and giving it several generous squirts of CLP on the critical friction areas.