Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl Remington 11-87 reliability

Hey guys,
I was wondering if anyone has used this gun much. Can it hold up to much grit and grime? I will be hunting on the sandy Red River, Oklahoma-Texas border, so it will get sad in it no matter what.

thanks for all the help

Brett (Mac)

i'd say any semi auto is likely to fail if sand were introduced into the equation. why not get an 870? both my son and i use 11-87's for ducks/geese/turkeys without any complaints, but we don't deal with sand.

just take some canned air with you. the stuff you use to blow dust out of your computer. nothing in the auto that will scew up any more than a pump will. the safety can get stuck on remingtons is the only issue i have ever had with sand. this has happened on both 870 and 1100

Had a Remington 1100 for 20 years and then purchased an 11-87 sportsmen fully camo. I've got 5 different barrels for the shotgun. Absolutely love it. Mine is the 3" chamber. The only thing ever to go wrong was the gas seal. I just keep a spare with me in my fanny pack. No complaints on the 1100 except it was 2 3/4 chamber and wanted a 3 inch. Barrels were a little harder to come by for the 1100 also. Don't know about the sand. Never hunted in your type of situation.

Ken

There are two places in an 11-87 that can screw you up. One is the gas port in the barrel and the other is the recoil piston in the stock. If you keep the sand out of those two places, you most likely won't have a problem. Don't overoil the action. Too much oil is worse than no oil at all. Silicone spray is best. I have owned 1100's since they were first made. I then switched to the 11-87 because they shoot all loads interchangeably. I have never had a failure with the 11-87. I did with the 1100's because I was ignorant about keeping the gas port clean and also getting dirt in the stock. Remington makes a good shotgun.

Three years ago on a hunt in Arkansas flooded timber a friend had an 1187 give him a fit. He got through the hunt with it but it really gave him a hard time. Ever since we take a back up gun but have not needed it. The guy bought a Stoeger and it has shot very well.

I have hunted 11-87's for years and find them to be as good if not better in bad weather as any auto made. You will need to clean em up when you are done hunting but if you are getting sand in any gun it should be cleaned daily. Keep the mag tube, pistons and action arms clean and you should be good to go.

I dumped mine in a river one day duck hunting and it came up full of silt. Right after I sloshed it around in the water with the action open to get out as much crap as I could and had all the water out of it ducks were coming so I put 3 in and they all went off. I hunted with that gun all morning and took it apart that afternoon when I got back home, I really think it runs better now.

I've only had one problem with mine and it was while I was turkey hunting and further it was my fault not the guns.
I had to use the plug to make it hold less shells and must have put it in wrong (hunting turkeys in KY) and I called in 8 gobblers at one time....I got a little flustered and shot at one of them that was a little far. (stupid thing to do because they were still coming in).
I tried to shoot again at the now scattering and running birds only to have nothing happen.
I then realized that the gun emptied the spent shell and never did cycle a new one, so I grabbed the release and tried to get a live one in, it would'nt put another in so Sitting on the ground right next to a field I started to dissassemble the gun.
Well as soon as I got the gun dissassembled and parts everywhere I noticed 2 turkeys about 200 yds away, after a quick check through the bino's I discovered one was a hen and the other a tom, just for the fun of it I decided to try to call him in knowing that 1. he is with a hen....he wont come in and 2. my gun is still in pieces, so I couldnt get a shot if I needed.
Would'nt you know it he leaves the hen and makes a beeline right for me, and he's a fully mature longbeard!
I frantically get the shotgun back together just in time to throw 1 shell in it and make a 30 yd shot to which he dropped instantly.....talk about exciting!
Anyway sorry about the long story and I know this is a waterfowl forumn, but he did walk through a large puddle of water, does that count?
Like I said it was'nt the guns fault it was mine but I nor any of my friends have never had reliability issues with our 11/87's and mine is the supermag version....I also shoot 2 3/4" out of it too.

Thousands of rounds in mine from those little aguila's to my standard 3 inch steel shot for ducks and geese. I have a lot of shotguns but this is the one that gets used. Had one failure in -30 weather duck hunting in Lamar Colorado. It turned out to be ammo related. They run in hot, cold, snow, rain, mud and sand. Mine easily has over 10,000 rounds through it and its on its 2nd barrel seal and I bought it used. I have another one on the way that will be turned into a duty shotgun for work. I trust my season and my life to it. Ryan

I've used one for several years with no problems until this year. Opening weekend on my first duck of the year.......killed the duck, reloaded, lifted the gun by the barrel to set it in the corner of the blind and the barrel came off in my hand complete with loaded round. The solder joint between the barrel and lug had failed. It has been at Remington all season.

don't get me wrong, i like and use the 11-87. but just today i was at my favorite gun shop talking to the gunsmith about which new gun i should get for ducks. he said i should avoid the new 11-87s as they were "junk" (his words, not mine). he said his shop has had so many problems with them in 2008 that they have stopped selling them as of jan 2009. the 11-87's my son and i own are maybe 3-5 years old and have never given us any major problems (failed to eject a time or 2 perhaps but that was due to needing a good cleaning i believe). i live in an area where duck hunting is king, and this gunsmith sees and repairs every kind of gun you can think of used for waterfowl. just relaying what i was told. ymmv.

thanks guys for all the feedback. It is much appreciated.

Brett (Mac)

I'll run a beretta extrema before its all done, but have had an 11-87 since appx 86 or so, I"ve NEVER babied it at all, and the only issue is the pressed in shell retainer for the tube pops out, but I"ve never sent it back, I put it back in once its clean. Runs and has been dropped in the water/mud etc... just clean it and go again.

Jeff

Didn't get out once, until the very last weekend here, finally got my airboat running decently.... Decent way to finish the season out I think, especially for wary ducks.



Jeff