That's because you keep them clean. Our 4-H Shooting Sports club - trap - has had five 1100's in 12 and 20 youth for 14 seasons now. We got a couple 11-87 youth models a few years ago. All function reliably, the only breakdown was a fluke gas ring problem that Remington promptly fixed. Otherwise all original parts. I think I replaced only one of those O-rings last year, it had gotten hard from the heat. In fact I was drawn into the club because they were having problems with reliability and excessive O-ring destruction. It was all in the routine maintenance.

The 1100 handles OK for me, there are others I like better. But they work.

Recoil comes in three impulses, the largest being around 50% if I remember correctly. I don't think you can do much better, but stock fit, recoil pad technology, and technique contribute to felt recoil.


The key elements in human thinking are not numbers but labels of fuzzy sets. -- L. Zadeh

Which explains a lot.