[buzz meeks]

Hi everybody. Time for a Remington novice to come crawling to THR for some help. The local emporium has a used 1100 for sale and over the last six or eight months the price has steadily drifted downward. It was $350 and now it's right at $200.

The gun has a 28 inch, ribbed, fixed modified barrel and walnut furniture and appears to have been somebody's hunting gun for a long time. The glossy wood finish is worn and flaking in places. The barrel's metal finish is good but the receiver has mild rust specks all over. They may clean up, they may not. If it matters, the serial number is L1809XXX. Gun has a plastic buttplate and will require a recoil pad.

I am obviously interested in buying the thing and have a few questions. All I have described are cosmetic problems. What should I be looking for mechanically? This is a shop I frequent a bunch and will let me strip the thing.

The foreend and buttstock each have a bit of wiggle. I imagine the buttstock screw is loose or is there something more ominous at work? Is a bit of foreend wiggle normal?

Can 1100s be brought back from the dead? What is required?

Vintage?

Worth the asking price?

My uses are pretty typical. I will probably leave the gun set up as is for upland hunting. The longish barrel and choke are perfect for how and where I hunt. I will seek out a shorter factory barrel for home defense and the once or twice annual three-gun match I attend. I will likely leave the wood furniture in place but will add the biggest, cushiest recoil pad I can find.

Thanks in advance.

[Tiny in Ohio]

If it is a pawn shop, offer them $150 cash. Almost any semiauto is worth that price, and you can always have it reblued later if that interests you.

[kudu]

Grab that gun. It would be a rare thing to find one that is worn out. I would check the barrel for pits in the bore, pull the forestock and see if the action bar has left a groove on the mag tube, a sign of lots of shooting. The mag cap could be tightened down a couple clicks to tighten the fore stock and the butt pad removed to tighten the stock bolt/sleeve, it is a wide pipe setup that uses a wide screw driver about 3/4" slot that is hollow on the center so you have to span both sides to get a good bite to tighten it.

I would grab it at $200 in a heartbeat. Sounds like the rest is cosmetic.

[Dale Taylor]

I have a Remington 1100 Skeet Model purchased while in Marines at Camp Lejeune 1963. Have used it hard. Only have replaced neoprene o-rings. Paid $142 in '63. Buy it. daleltaylor@att.net

[Technosavant]

Go for it.

You can always replace the barrel, and the gas system O rings are easy to obtain. It sounds like it would make a decent project gun; shorter barrel, new furniture, magazine extension = nice cheap "tactical" shotgun.

[Scoupe]

Sounds like a steal.

As noted, the wood being a touch loose is a non-issue. A little 0000 steel wool and light oil will most likely knock the rust freckles down well enough for hunting use. Check the barrel for pits, dents, bends and bulges. Look good at the underside of the rib and the rib posts for hidden rust. Check the feed latch and the opening for wear and amount of finish left as an indicator of how many shells have been shoved in it over the years. On the breech end of the barrel there is a little half moonish looking relief cut inside. The straight edge of that notch should still have a reasonably sharp edge, not worn down smooth. Oh, when the barrel is off check the mag tube for dings as well - dings equal gas leaks.

That is pretty much how I check one over. Go rescue it!

On dating one. Remington uses a 2-letter code stamped on the breech end of the barrel outside. There's a chart somewhere on their website for deciphering the code, or you can call them on the phone for dating.

[buzz meeks]

Well, thanks to everyone who goaded and encouraged me to rescue the beater 1100. It now resides in my gunsafe and I couldn't be happier. I am steeped in pump actions but have always had a soft spot for the 1100 and two hundred bucks seemed like a good introductory price. The really, really good news is that the wood finish was just fine. What I took to be flaking poly was really some kind of adhesive backing. I think perhaps the original owner had attached some kind of camo tape. Anyhow, with a bit of elbow grease I managed to get down to the original finish which was in fine shape. Some honest dings and scratches but not bad at all. The receiver does wear some freckles where the bluing is thin but hey... it's a hunting gun. A quick function test seemed to indicate no problems. A longer session this coming weekend will tell for sure. So thanks for all your advice and help. Looks liek things worked out well.

[kudu]

Looks like you got one of those cinderella guns there. :D Take some good oil and rub on the freckles of rust with a rag, might bring up some blue and make it look better.

Wish I could come up with a deal like that.:scrutiny: