Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns 11-87 input

Although being chronically left handed, years ago I adapted to shooting right handed Remington 1100’s. I shoot them well enough I’ve never been moved to try something else. Today I ran across a used left hand 11-87 and I’m tempted but am not in the know about them. Can you bring me into the late 20th century and tell me about the 11-87 as compared to the venerable 1100? I realize this question was probably asked 30 years ago so that tells you how old I am plus now the 11-87 has been around long enough for someone to offer real life experience and not just a bunch of suppositions.

Exact same gun except the the 11-87 has a stainless mag tube and can shoot both 2 3/4 and 3 inchers. The main difference/change was the ability to shoot 7/8 oz loads followed by a 3 inch shell with zero issues.

They will also have choke tubes and a light contour barrel, some, they are a better gun over the 1100 IMO and I LOVE the 1100.

Buy it, you wont regret it

I've owned both, and like the 1100s, all you have to do is keep them clean and they'll run like a top. Keep a few O-rings as spares, and you should be golden. Nothing wrong with them at all, they're just "old technology" now, and some folks cannot abide not having the latest and greatest thing. Remington shotguns fit me, those latest and greatest shotguns do not.

There's a lot to be said for a shotgun that fits you, and that you can hit with.

Thanks for the quick replies!

Having shot trap with the 1100 I’m pretty handy stripping them down to give them a thorough cleaning. So if their virtually the same I shouldn’t have a problem.

The 11-87 I found has several choke tubes which is another plus. I have multiple barrels for my 1100’s to accomplish the same. I do have an 1100 LT-20 skeet with interchangeable tubes which is sweet

Great gun.
Buy it.
You won’t regret it.

The early 11-87s had a relatively heavy barrel, a Light Contour (LC) version came out a few years later in response to complaints. I owned one of each in right hand and bought an original left handed 11-87 later on for my stepson.

I was not impressed with them, they worked most of the time but there were times they let me down. Part of it was my fault as I was not lubricating them properly, especially in difficult conditions. My wife and I had stoppages when used for competition when the shot count crept up to the 100 round mark. This was with light 1 oz and 7/8 oz loads which were kind of dirty. Dirty loads and improper lubrication coupled with field guns lead to problems. I had no issues with 1100s with the same loads and lube process prior to the 11-87 but the gas system in the 11-87 was an adaptation of the 1100's and there were some wrinkles in the system. That is one reason many other designs became more desired than the 11-87 as these designs became available.

I also had issues in dusty conditions such as field hunting in wheat fields where a lot of chaff was present. This was common with many of the systems of the time so was not limited to just the 11-87. Problems were compounded with the use of plain gun oil which was what I typically used. When I was introduced to Breakfree CLP, this problem and the other one above was greatly reduced. I still had to clean daily but I rarely had a problem during a single day.

Like the 1100, the 11-87 is a gun most can pick up and shoot decently. It is not as trouble free as more modern designs but it is pretty reliable. As mentioned, pick up a couple O-rings from the hardware store and keep on hand, you will need one at some point. If I had to use one I could do so without a great deal of angst.

Do not use hardware store O rings! Common O rings will not stand up to the heat and abrasion and will fail quickly.

Do keep the gas block clean of carbon. It wants to build up where the O ring seats and nick up the O ring. The 1100 and 11-87 want almost no lubrication Any more than scant does nothing but trap powder residue and assorted trash and gum things up. If carbon (actually I think burnt oil and carbon) builds up on the stainless mag tube it's okay to get the steel wool out (piston parts too). Steel wool is softer than any steel in the shotgun.

The gas block on the 11-87 was modified to regulate gas pressure to handle promo loads to 3" field loads and in our experience is more prone to ejection problems than the 1100 with light loads if not kept clean.

Replacement piston parts are readily available but it takes a lot to wear them out.

I bought 12 gauge 11-87 SC in the early 90’s and used it for everything. Never gave me a lick of trouble even though I ran it for awhile without an O ring. Had it not been stolen it would probably be the only shotgun I owned. Dave

Well I went and did it. It looks like it was used very little and came with the manual, 4 extra choke tubes and the green plug. I haven’t fully dug in bag but it appears I might need a tube wrench but that’s minor. Thanks all for your input!
B.E.

Use a quarter. In vise grips for a tight one - shouldn't be that tight.

I hope it works well for you. I've never been a fan of any Remington semi auto. Either never trusted the designs in the conditions I use autos in, or never liked the appearances

I’ve got a 1987 11-87. It’s shot lots and lots of ducks.

Buying Viton O-rings at the hardware store is the cheapest and easiest way to buy spare O-rings for 1100s and 11-87s. When I still owned Remington's, I picked the rings up for about 15 cents each. They are probably 50 cents at most today. Some place like Grainger will sell you a bag of dozens for much less per ring. That sure beats the couple bucks each Remington or other places charge for a ring.

The club guns at 4-H trap O rings would go at least 2 seasons if everything else was done right. They do loose their resiliency and when they did I'd put on a replacement as a matter of course. The official ones are Teflon I think so if we were getting low I'd just slip it in the order when we ordered other stuff from Brownells.

That - beat me to it...

And yeah, don't try to use cheap O-rings for the barrel seal.. Get the factory stuff - not cheap by ANY means, but they do hold up tons better and will keep performance at reliable levels..

Buy factory O-rings fot $2-$3 each or go to a gunsmith and get them for half that price, or go to the hardware (or auto parts or where machine tool parts are sold) store for 1/3-1/2 the gunsmith price, or buy them in bulk at a wholesaler like Graingers for around half the price of the hardware store. The material used for the O-rings is not some super secret, proprietary compound; it is plain old commonly found Viton. Neoprene works nearly as well except it is not as resistant to abrasion and is more likely to tear when moved over the magazine threads.

Mine does alright except for the charging handle goes flying off at least once every couple boxes of shells.

You want the chokes TIGHT. They will shoot loose if you dont check them from time to time. Get the proper wrench. And not the POS one either, get the one from Briley or the like.

Good question, would like to hear what Redneck thinks. I always used one of these and my hands aren't particularly strong. Choke tubes checked during after-session cleaning. Worked for us. Choke tube on one 1100 always wanted to shoot loose even if farmer tight - the lead instructor was a farmer and had him crank on it just to see.

Per Briley: Tight and grease for the lube.