First, let me say that I am a left handed shooter. Secondly, I've shot 1100's since the beginning of time and having hulls ejected across my face has ever bothered me. In fact, I don't recall ever having even seen one.

But, here lies the conundrum. I've stumbled across a used left hand 11-87 and never having shot one or owned one have never really looked at them much. I remember when Remington brought them out, it was touted as the "semi-automatic shotgun that can shoot any load". For me, that is really the only advantage over the 1100.

So, let me ask you this - Are the 11-87's as much if not more reliable than the old 1100's and would it be worth my time and effort to really look hard at this one?

In my experience, the 11-87 is not nearly as reliable as the 1100. Especially when shooting standard loads, like dove and quail loads.

The 11-87 is the same gun as the Rem 1100 except for changes to the barrel gas block to shoot 3 inch shells. If the Rem 11-87 you stumbled across has "Light contour" stamped on the barrel....BUY IT. The Remington "light contour" barrels are the same as their "Target" barrels are the smoothest swinging barrels Remington ever made. But most Rem 11/87's, right and left hand shotguns had the standard diameter barrels.

I shoot a left hand "light Contour" 11/87 barrel on a Rem 1100 left hand as my primary 5-stand sporting clay shotgun....swings like a feather.

Most 1100 and 11/87 shooters don't know how to grease and lube an 1100/1187 to keep it operating and reliable but that is another discussion.

Doc

I believe Remington shot themselves in the foot trying to replace the 1100 with an 11-87. I've never even picked one up.

Here's my (daughter and S-I-L) 1100's.





DMc

Here's a pretty cool wrong handed 870.




DMc

Thanks all for the quick replies. For the past week or so, I've been trying to talk myself into buying the 11-87 but with already owning a couple 1100's with multiple barrels, it's a struggle.

I certainly understand your dilemma, you did not say if your existing Rem 1100's are right handed guns so I assume they are. Like most left handed shooters I have shot right handed 1100's, Beretta 390's and my favorite the Winchester Super X model 1 for years with no issues.

My son who is also is left handed stated shooting scholastic trap at night. The flame that came out of the ejection port of the 390's and Super X's would blind him for a moment. I shot the right guns for my self and was flamed by the ejection. We both were shooting reloads with Hodgdon clays powder. The flame during extraction is not visible in day light hours. I found him a Rem 1100 left hand trap for him... problem solved.

All our right handed shotguns are gone now except for one Winchester Super X 1. All have been replaced with 2 Rem 1100 traps, a Rem 1100 lefty 20 gauge and a 20 gauge lefty 870.

Doc

I have owned both for years, I find the 1100 a bit more reliable with really light loads. That said all my serious hunting guns are 11-87's. Like all Remington autos keep em clean with a little oil on the tube and they will never let you down.

I have fired over 8000 rounds in a Model 11-87 with nary a hiccup. Just do the proper cleaning and maybe replace the rubber O ring occasionally.

So may 1100/1187 owners think the magazine tube should be run "Dry", even the Remington factory gunsmiths a the Grand American etc said to do so.

Like you said if the tube is run wet you will get double the mileage before needing a good cleaning and more importantly easier to clean.

I use axle grease on the barrel extension to reduce barrel vibration, grease up the action bar and action bar slots inside the receiver, along with the bottom of the barrel that rests on the forearm support and sliding barrel support. No functioning hiccups what so ever.

Doc

Good tip there, I do that to mine as well

My dad has had a LH 1100 since the early 70's and a LH 11-87 about 20 years. He has never had a problem with either one. He always wipes them down at the end of the day, only gives them a good cleaning at the end of the season. He hasnt shot the 1100 in about 10 years. The 11-87 eats dove loads thru 3" steel loads with ease.

I had an 11-87 for about 3 years, shot lots of clays and doves with it. All that gun ever shot was 1-1 1/8 oz loads, not one malfunction, period.

Had one I put around 30,000 thru and fairly quickly. One day the magazine tube fell out of the receiver. Not sure about trap or skeet, but on the SC circuit 1100/1187's are as common as hens teeth.

I tend to disagree but it may boil down to use and type of lube. Let me explain. The local 4-H Shooting Sports does trap, club guns when I became involved were Remington 1000 in 12 and 20 ga. I was asked to look at the shotguns as they were experiencing weak ejection, stovepipes, then no ejection. And they were replacing O rings like crazy. The shotguns were cleaned by knowledgeable and diligent people.

On disassembly it was apparent the actions and mag tube were liberally sprayed with Rem Oil. (A little is good so more must be better, right?). The bolts and actions had sludge of oil, carbon and unburnt powder. The mag tube which gets hot near the gas ring had a sticky sludge of oil and carbon with carbon baked onto the mag tube near the gas ring. The gas ring had carbon built up where the O ring seats to the point you could pick it off in chunks.

New routine is deep clean the action with MINIMAL oil every year or two based on inspection. Mag tube is cleaned with Ed's Red and wiped dry leaving a minimal oil film as part of normal cleaning. The gas ring is cleaned with a wire brush Brownell's sells for that purpose, takes just a couple quick twists if you keep up with it. Can use steel wool. NO Rem Oil spraying.

Result is much happier shotguns, no extraction/ ejection problems with field strip and minimal cleaning after sessions, like you should always do anyway. With the carbon kept down on the gas ring, O rings die from the heat, they loose their elasticity. Takes a year or two with trap use, depending. Some last longer. Before they got chewed up within a month. Note that a carbon/oil sludge makes a fair abrasive paste. Though the fire control parts are hard that sludge can't be helping anything.

Now that's in a heavy use situation where plenty of heat gets generated. In normal hunting use your mileage may vary.

As to 1100 v. 11-87 they are the same gun except for the spring pressure relief at the gas ring and a few other more or less usual production changes. We use promo loads (saves the kids' parents a few bucks) in the 11-87 with no problems.

They are definitely durable. In all the years servicing 4-H I replaced a chipped extractor and I forget what minor part in a fire control group. We did have a gas ring fall off but that's a lot of hammering on a brazed joint. No expert but looked like a bad braze as can happen from time to time. Dealer swapped it out and we came up with a nicer barrel. The latch staking sucks though.

Nighthawk,

Like you said " a little oil is good so more is better." As you stated to much oil on the mag tube does gun up the works and most often the gun won't cycle. I had one of my Scholastic trap shooters over spray his mag tube and his gun would not cycle. He learned a little oil is better.

Doc

I hoped Remington replaced with a new receiver.

Doc

Never called Remington. I parted it out and moved on to something else.

Addition: There is also a long thin bar on the inside left of the receiver that partially functions to keep shells in the magazine. It is peened to the receiver. And repeened and...

When you removed the trigger to clean, it would just fall out. I finally gave up and would just figgle around until I had it lined up and pin the trigger in place with the cross pin.


Nice pointing, but a Beretta, Benelli or SuperX Model 1 it wasn't.

Yeah, those are the latches with the sucky staking. They can be re-staked in place but to do the job right you need a tool. But you can do a fair job with common tools. Or you can figgle around which isn't hard once you figure out the figgle.

I bought my son's lefty 1100 off Gunbroker which turned out to be a well worn trap gun but had the most beautifully figured wood I have ever seen on a any Remington. The slot inside the receiver which aligns to the barrel extension was completely gone. I sent the receiver to Remington along with $125.00 for repair. Four months later
Remington shipped back a brand new left hand receiver...I was shocked and pleased at the outcome.

Super X's are in a class of their own just the best semi-auto ever made.

Doc

One day the magazine tube fell out of the receiver. Not sure about trap or skeet, but on the SC circuit 1100/1187's are as common as hens teeth. [/quote]

I had a mag tube come off too, sent it back to Remington and they fixed for for free.

I've replaced the factory tubes on SuperX 1's with steel tubes. They have threads and you just lock tight the new one in. Can't remember what the deal was with Remington's. I just wrote it off

Snapped a trigger pin on a SuperX 1 also. Also had a rib come off when they first came out. The factory rep met me at the gun club with a new barrel. Times have changed.

Remington mag tubes are silver solderer on.

And that is putting it nicely especially when you are talking about the "Old" 1100. Just the same, my partner used to shoot 1100s back in the day, our waterfowl season runs from early Sept to early March and we shoot A LOT. He would sell his off at the end of every season and buy a new one for the next year. After a couple of times he just got smart and moved up to a SX2 then an an Xtrema II and has never looked back

Battue,

I think you meant ..you replaced the Super X steel magazine tubes with the stainless magazine tubes. I did the same on my Super X's. I tried a thin layer of oil on the stainless mag tube to prevent carbon build up. The gun would not function with the oil ( unlike the Rem 1100)...so continued running them dry.

Doc

Makes sense, because as you know the original factory tube would rust fairly easily.

I've used a light coat of oil on the stainless replacements and they still worked.

Winchester used to make a 12Ga shell called the Feather. I think it was 980FPS. The Super-X 1 would even work them. The bolt was moving slow, but it still would feed the next round.

The short stroke gas system designed into the Super X enabled the shotgun to feed and eject about anything....including 3/4 oz 12 gauge reloads.

Doc

The main reason 1100/1187 shell latches come un-staked, is from pushing the trigger plate pins out from the wrong direction.

The shell latch is on the ejection port side of a right handed 1100/1187. If you push the pins out from the solid side of the receiver the pins and any tool you are pushing with will push the latch into the slot in the receiver and no damage is done.

If you push the pins out from the ejection port side, the pins and tool will tend to push the latch away of its slot. Eventually this will cause enough wear to the staking that the shell latch will come loose.

Michael

Makes sense, but you could have removed that trigger pin with a dull toothpick. I saw the very small amount the edge was peened over the bar.

With recoil and the subsequent jarring, it was going to wear loose no matter which way the pin was pushed over. Sloppy workmanship was the primary cause.

Bought that 11-87 on top in 1987!!! Was the first at the gun shop to buy one. He got 24 in with his first order. I got to pick the best trigger pull out of all 24.

Was my skeet gun. No telling how many rounds have been thru it. Like it so much I hunted everything with it - Quail, doves, ducks, squirrel, geese and turkey. Only problem was hunting cold -20 degree with that original silver o-ring - It would become brittle in the cold and fail. Rem fixed it. Since I've shot out 2 sets of piston rings - Just put the 3rd set in last year.

Its chambered for 2-3/4 and 3" shells. Only thing it doesn't like is those high velocity 7/8 oz loads. Not a problem for me as it shoots all my 1oz reloads fine.

One thing I've found out over the years is that 11-87 owners either love their guns, or hate 'em.....there ain't no inbetween!
My friend has an 11-87 that he uses mostly for waterfowl; over the past several years he has had issues with jamming, parts falling off/out of the gun, etc. I will say that if he bothered to clean the gun more frequently (like, ever!) he might not have some of the issues he does....but it ain't my gun.
I have been very pleased with the 1100 I bought used several years back....so much so that I bought a rifled slug barrel and a 26" barrel with IC choke to go on the gun.

Agreed, seems the guys that hate them either dont know how to maintain them or are too lazy.

The guys that take care of them have no issues, weird!

I have a camo 11-87 SP.
Love the thing. Fits me to a T, and runs like a raped ape.
Gotta keep it clean, and no lube in the mag tube.

I really would like to find a factory 21" mossy oak camo barrel for it. I know somewhere out there, someone took one off, and put a different barrel on, and the 21"er, is just laying somewhere, unused.