Tristar Arms Viper G2 Walnut 16 Gauge Shotgun - 5+1 Rounds, 28" Barrel, 2.75" Chamber, Turkish Walnut Stock, Wood, Blue/Black

I bought the TriStar Viper in 16ga to replace my old Model 11 16ga, as I had decided to retire it from the field. I was looking for an inexpensive option for an auto loader. Having researched several options I opted for the TS, and have been very happy with its performance. It has cycled every brand shell that I’ve ran through it without fail, and has been quite effective on my pheasant hunts. Light, maneuverable, and incredibly quick on point. Still fairly new, so I’ll have to wait and see how many rounds it will hold up to, but I’m very pleased with my purchase.

Long time Buds customer and as expected Buds checkout process was painless, and shipping was quick. This honest review is for the TriStar Viper G2 in 16 gauge. I'll start with the good. The shotgun arrived well packed & in pristine condition & looks amazing. comes with 3 chokes, improved cylinder, modified and full complete with choke wrench and shim kit to adjust the fit of the stock on the shooter. The shim that came installed on the gun was neutral with no cast. I'm 5'11" and the length of pull was perfect and after patterning the shot was 50/50 however slightly to the right. After installing the beveled plastic shim for slight cast off, the pattern then moved dead center. Fit and finish overall was excellent and inside & out appears to be a well-made firearm. it is very easy to field strip and even the trigger group comes out just by tapping out the single pin. I do strongly suggest completely cleaning the gun before heading to the range as mine had a thing coating of heavy grease inside and out. Now, I have a Remington 11-87 20ga and this viper G2 16ga is noticeably lighter in weight however it handled recoil very well. The trigger is crisp and consistent. I don't have a trigger scale however I'm guessing it's at least 6-7lbs. After shooting 4 rounds of skeet as of this review it does feel slightly better. And now on to the bad.... The shotgun cycled and ran flawlessly with my 7/8oz reloads and ran perfectly with Remington express 1-1/8oz loads however using any factory load with less than 1200fps will result in constant FTE's/stovepipes. i noticed that the gas system in this gun reminds me of a Remington 1100 in that whatever load works best, you're stuck using only that load. There is no gas regulator/spring to allow using heavy loads then switching to light loads. This gun is designed for heavy/fast loads. Overall, I'm happy with my purchase & if you could get past that it's picky on ammo then you may like this one.