Viper trouble!!!

[shadowhawk9272]

I'm new to THR so I don't know if this question has been asked before....

I own a remington 522 viper one of the first guns I ever purchased and now it has become my little project gun. All in all the gun has not given me a lot of problems... and i've probably fired around 5,000 rds with this little popper. The problem I am having now is that it is starting to jam up... empty shells are getting stuck between the bolt and gun housing... I've cleaned this gun thoroughly as well as the only two mags that I have.... I've had some tell me that the mag springs might be worn... I notice that it seems to hang up sometimes while I unload the clip.

I know its a cheap gun and certainly wasn't one of the best that remington manufactured, but I would really appreciate any ideas...

SH

 

[Tinkerer]

I believe the 522 is a .22 long rifle semi-auto? If not you can ignore what follows. In my experience .22 LR semi-autos get really dirty. This happens because the powder is still burning when the case is extracted from the chamber, so the receiver, bolt, and associated parts get covered with soot and unburned powder granules. You probably need to completely disassemble the action to clean out all the nooks and cranies. Be sure to clean your magazine(s) as well. Check the extractor to make sure it is clean and there is nothing underneath it that might prevent it from grasping the cartridge rim completely. I use brake parts cleaner from the auto parts store ($1.49) to spray it down. Use a toothbrush to scrub hard to get places. Allow to dry, or blow dry with an air compressor, then coat with CLP. The brake parts cleaner acts as a degreaser and will remove any old oil or grease, so you will have to replace those lubricants/rust preventitives. That's what the CLP does. Wipe off any excess, then reassemble your rifle. .22 auto loaders should be thoroughly disassembled and cleaned about every 800 to 1000 rounds.

My boss at work has a Remington nylon 77 that he never disassembled to clean in all the time he's owned it. He would clean what he could see through the ejection port and mag well, but nothing else. After his cleaning, the rifle would only work for about 30 rounds, then he would get failures to eject. After I disassembled and cleaned, it worked flawlessly for his next shooting session where he burned up 300+ rounds.

Good luck.