Rem 1100 build?

[norbyam22]

First off, let me say I am pretty fresh to the website, I joined when I drank the blue koolaid, and did not do a lot of exploring. I have recently become more interested in the "gun games" and noticed this was the place to find lots of info on that.

So I am debating building up my Rem 1100 factory 26in imp cyl. Already ext to 10rd.

but I have some questions and would like some opinions. I have an m2 and an m4, but decided I want to build this one up first. So please, no "use the benelli's"

Honestly I like the wood on the gun, and am debating keeping it on.

Have many of you shot both with pistol gripped shotguns and normal stocks and have a preference?

Furniture would not be a problem for me to add.

How do you like your shotguns set up?

Ghost ring rear and green FO front is what I have planned, it is at a single bead now.

I notice many people using speed chutes, but I think I am going to just use the extended carrier release bar.

I am also ceracoating this blackened bronze and putting a burnt bronze strip down the top of the barrel the width of my front sight ramp for a personal touch.

What are some of the other goodies people like?

[JFlowers]

When I changed the wood furniture on my 1100 to synthetic I noticed a significant change in weight.

Do you want to replace the bolt handle with a larger one? I like the Nordic.

MatchSaver?

Have someone who KNOWS what they are doing work the gas ports and action?

P.S. My 1100 is setup for OPEN so most of the goodies I run are not going to do you any good.

[norbyam22]

Ah yes, bolt handle is already a larger one.

The match saver looks handy, I might have to get one.

It is one of my local smith's personal shotguns. He'll be doing all the work, I'm confident as he has done a great job on many of my other toys.

[Why1504]

Good luck. I followed this same path. For me it was a mistake and I spent money I wish I hadn't. After I shot my first 3 Gun I quit until I got an appropriate shotgun. I look forward to reading about your progress.

[GeoffB]

I personally have shot with both a pistol grip and traditional grip. I MUCH prefer the traditional grip. A lot of people will tell you that the button will slow your reloads down, and it will. But if that's what you have to work with to get into the sport, then that's what you work with. I know a few guys that run a 1100 and that part doesn't seem to slow them down much.

As far as a sight, you are going to want something adjustable, again, that's ideal. I had an adjustable dawson sight machined into my vent rib. It makes the slug shots much easier, and you'll waste a lot less slugs that way.

Either way man, just get out there and shoot. Nothing will make you better than real practice.

[Vespid_Wasp]

I have an m2 and an m4, but decided I want to build this one up first.

Why? Whenever I see a guy struggling through frequent shotgun malfunctions, the analysis is usually as simple as 'using a Remington 1100 for high round count 3-gun'. I'm not a shotgun expert or a gunsmith, but I suspect your plan may involve throwing away good money when you have a good platform (M2) at your disposal.

[JFlowers]

Not sure my everyone is so down on the 1100. Mine ran both the Benelli/Rockcastle and the Nordic Component without any issues not caused by ammo or shooter.

[Vespid_Wasp]

Not sure my everyone is so down on the 1100. Mine ran both the Benelli/Rockcastle and the Nordic Component without any issues not caused by ammo or shooter.

Not trying to be negative. My unscientific perception based on a small sample set of people shooting 1100s that I have been squadded with involved lots of people digging shells out of their shotguns with pocket knives.

[norbyam22]

I love my benelli shotguns, don't get me wrong, I even debated doing up my montefeltro. And I am sure at one point in time I will set a benelli up for this, but for some reason, I really like my 1100.

GeoffB: glad to hear you like the traditional. I am thinking more and more about leaving the wood on the gun. How far have you had to take shots with a slug?

I have heard that 1100's will have issues if you are using the bulk pack cheap ammo, but I reload for shotshells and might start slugs soon. The shotshells have enough juice to make it run.

[GeoffB]

I think that you will get some funny looks with the wood, but who really cares. And as far as the slugs go, probably 80 yards is about as far as I've had to shoot on a 12"x18" plate.

My buddy who shoots an 1100 shoots some cheap stuff, plenty of the bulk packs, so I wouldn't be too scared of them. My FN was very picky about shells, so I started shooting AA's through it, and I haven't switched. I do however believe that the versamax that I'm shooting will eat whatever I throw at it. Do yourself a favor and do your experimenting at the local cheap matches with nothing but pride on the line. And use what works or has been proven at the bigger matches.

[jjw]

I personally have shot with both a pistol grip and traditional grip. I MUCH prefer the traditional grip. A lot of people will tell you that the button will slow your reloads down, and it will. But if that's what you have to work with to get into the sport, then that's what you work with. I know a few guys that run a 1100 and that part doesn't seem to slow them down much.

As far as a sight, you are going to want something adjustable, again, that's ideal. I had an adjustable dawson sight machined into my vent rib. It makes the slug shots much easier, and you'll waste a lot less slugs that way.

Either way man, just get out there and shoot. Nothing will make you better than real practice.

did dawson do the work or did some loacal smith ??? if dawson did it i will just mail my barrel. lmk

jeff cramlit did me a benelli bbl that way great poa shooter with slugs. my smith said a remington bbarel was too lightly soldered to do thge mod on a 1100 barrel

can u email me how iut was done pls

tks

jjw

jumper66@cox.net

[Kali]

replace the 1100 lifter with an 870 lifter. You loose the bolt hold open but it loads easy like an 870 (no button or EZ loader) and the gun seems to run faster.

[GeoffB]

I personally have shot with both a pistol grip and traditional grip. I MUCH prefer the traditional grip. A lot of people will tell you that the button will slow your reloads down, and it will. But if that's what you have to work with to get into the sport, then that's what you work with. I know a few guys that run a 1100 and that part doesn't seem to slow them down much.

As far as a sight, you are going to want something adjustable, again, that's ideal. I had an adjustable dawson sight machined into my vent rib. It makes the slug shots much easier, and you'll waste a lot less slugs that way.

Either way man, just get out there and shoot. Nothing will make you better than real practice.

did dawson do the work or did some loacal smith ??? if dawson did it i will just mail my barrel. lmk

jeff cramlit did me a benelli bbl that way great poa shooter with slugs. my smith said a remington bbarel was too lightly soldered to do thge mod on a 1100 barrel

can u email me how iut was done pls

tks

jjw

jumper66@cox.net

I had a gunsmith do it for me. Pretty much anyone that can cut a novak (*SP) can do it. I'm not totally stoked about how it came out, I think that I'm going to send it back and get them to cut the rib around the rear sight so that it'll sit down more and I won't have to use such a tall front sight, which in turn will reduce the amount of POI shift at close distance with bird shot. Pretty much a win win to get it redone. But here are a few pics for anyone that is curious what it looks like.

[norbyam22]

That is a pretty cool idea with the sights. There is an 1100 in the Classifieds that I am looking at purchasing instead of building mine up to exactly how I want it.

The one I am building is a 26 inch, vs the 28 in the ads. Do you guys have length preference?

It also has an optic, and 14rd loaded capacity. Would changing this open gun to tactical only be removing the optic and using open sight?

[GeoffB]

Yes.

[dillon]

Can you enlighten me on the concept of replacing the 1100 lifter with the 870 version? This sounds interesting

[Mike Bell]

Has anybody just tried swaping out the trigger group with an 870 group? Just a thought with out thinking...

[enroute]

Has anybody just tried swaping out the trigger group with an 870 group? Just a thought with out thinking...

Yes, I am interested as well.

I will start researching and answer back if I find something worth reporting.

[Ryan N]

I never had any ammo issues with my 1100. It would shoot anything that I ran through it(even Winchester buik). I still have it since purchasing the Versamax. The 1100 is now my back up SG. My 1100 is a mostly stock Tac4. It came with the Competition Master loading gate. Some folk prefer the Daves Metal Works "Eazyloader". I prefer the Remingtion CM loading gate because it isn't something that can break off or get hung on something.

Keep us posted on your upgrades. There are a few folks on here that still like the 1100.

[enroute]

Vid from Nic Taylor on his 1100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah1gBP2udk4

[LSnSC]

What does everyone do to their 1100s to make them so unreliable? I've been shooting them for thirty years and if properly maintained mine have all run fine.

[openclassterror]

They wear them out. FWIW, the biggest reliability enhancements are slight increase in gas port size, and REPLACE THE INTERCEPTOR LATCH CLIP!!!!! The thick ones from brownell's take the play out of the interceptor that allows the shells to jam up and cause the cuss-and-pick with the pocketknife we have all seen. Other than that, almost any part on them can break (like any gun). On the early style bolt carriers, the retainer plunger for the bolt handle is much less positive, and the big aftermarket bolt handles have a habit of flying off into the weeds after so many ejected shells bounce off. That's always fun in the middle of a match. The reason they run faster with an 870 carrier is that there is no delay when the carrier locks waiting for the shell to release the carrier button as it pops out of the mag tube. If you have a weak magazine spring, the bolt will try to lift the carrier before the next shell is all the way out of the tube, and you get a spectacular tie-up. Timing becomes critical. If you open the gas port to increase bolt speed, the timing becomes even MORE critical. Not a project for a DIYer. It MUST be properly tuned by someone familiar with the platform. I ran an 1100 until this year, when my carrier broke at the NWMGC. Completely locked up the gun. I went my backup (an inertia gun). I hadn't realized it, but I had actually developed a pause in my gun manipulation while waiting to feel the bolt close so I could shoot again! After adjusting to the feel of the new gun my split times dropped measurably. I still miss my 1100, but even though it runs again now, it is firmly in the backup case.

[enroute]

What does everyone do to their 1100s to make them so unreliable? I've been shooting them for thirty years and if properly maintained mine have all run fine.

Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on here, but one thing is clear: there seems to be a movement to NOT get familiar with and know how to work on your firearms, and HAVING a NEED to buy brand new stuff? Been running 1100s for decades now, for ducks/geese/deer-it's the most basic operating machine that's out there on the planet. Today you have 20 YouTube videos SHOWING you how to do it, start to finish, WITH purchasing cues embedded telling you where to buy, what parts?! By God, as kids we just took them apart and figured it out: hammer, a punch, some steel wool, WD-40, rags and some oil !! What in the world has changed to make the "new" shotguns so much more complicated? ( I see there's a half dozen FN SLPs FS in classifieds right now.)

I believe, if the 1100 is good enough for Nic Taylor, I can probably make it work too.

[mpeltier]

What does everyone do to their 1100s to make them so unreliable? I've been shooting them for thirty years and if properly maintained mine have all run fine.

Shoot them.....a lot.

I used an 1100 for over 25 yrs prior to getting into 3-gun. It never missed a beat hunting. But I put more rounds thru it in one year of 3-gun than I did in all the years hunting.

[StealthyBlagga]

I ran an 11-87 for many years. If I kept it clean and well maintained, it rarely let me down. Even though I now run a Versa Max, my sons still use my old 11-87 and it is still going strong.

26" is a good length. Just add a 10+1 mag extension, an EZ Loader, and (if you like them) a ghost ring. I also like pistol grip stocks, but this is a VERY personal thing. I see a lot of guys who still run the original wood stock and they work fine. They certainly look prettier than plastic.

Here are some photos of my 11-87. The PG stock is a long-discontinued Choate unit. The rear ghost ring is from Williams. The front sight is a HiViz TriComp sitting atop a platform I fabricated from steel bar stock. I've seen enough aftermarket bolt handles come flying off that I only run the Remington factory part.

HTH

Edited January 1, 2014 by StealthyBlagga