I've about had it with Remington 1100s -- Updated
This past week I did some shooting instruction for a group of women who hold an annual two-day sporting clays getaway at a private lodge and clay facility about 3 hours drive away.
This is the third time I've been asked to work with this group and in anticipation of the event I acquired an excellent condition Remington 1100 Skeet 28 gauge. The soft recoil and short stock make it perfect for beginners and the semi-auto action has a couple of advantages while teaching compared to an o/u.
Before the course I was test firing the gun at the club and it jammed and I mean JAMMED. The bolt was half open, frozen solid and had to be pounded out with a mallet. It had turned out part of the action bar block that the bolt sits on had sheared off and the pieces had jammed up the gun. The gun still worked without those pieces but the bolt handle wouldn't stay in place.
No problem I thought because Brownell's had the part in stock and one was ordered immediately. The part arrived just in time and on my way to the shoot I dropped into the post office to pick it up. I had taken off the old action bars and left them at home.
At the lodge it was a snap to put on the new action bars and before the students arrived I slipped onto the range to test fire. The gun worked except the shell carrier wouldn't go up far enough to get a shell into the magazine. What I had was a single-shot 1100 which wasn't going to get the job done.
The two days went uneventfully otherwise and I used my o/u instead.
When I got home I noticed that Remington had changed the design of the action bars on the 1100. On the older models there are two slots on either side of the block that aren't on the newer design which would explain why the carrier wouldn't go up far enough to allow shells in the magazine.
Finding older style action bars for a 28 gauge has proved a challenge. Brownell's doesn't stock the old style and Numrich is sold out.
As I see it my immediate options to get this gun up and running are to contact a machinist friend and have him drill slots in the action bars similar to the old style or grind down the carrier so it fits the newer style action bars.
I have also considered ordering a new carrier for this gun assuming that its design has changed to work with the new action bars. Replacing the carrier is probably beyond my skills and would incur a gunsmith charge but at least this way if it broke again I could replace it with currently available parts.
Any suggestions on which course I should take to set this gun right?
This past week I did some shooting instruction for a group of women who hold an annual two-day sporting clays getaway at a private lodge and clay facility about 3 hours drive away.
This is the third time I've been asked to work with this group and in anticipation of the event I acquired an excellent condition Remington 1100 Skeet 28 gauge. The soft recoil and short stock make it perfect for beginners and the semi-auto action has a couple of advantages while teaching compared to an o/u.
Before the course I was test firing the gun at the club and it jammed and I mean JAMMED. The bolt was half open, frozen solid and had to be pounded out with a mallet. It had turned out part of the action bar block that the bolt sits on had sheared off and the pieces had jammed up the gun. The gun still worked without those pieces but the bolt handle wouldn't stay in place.
No problem I thought because Brownell's had the part in stock and one was ordered immediately. The part arrived just in time and on my way to the shoot I dropped into the post office to pick it up. I had taken off the old action bars and left them at home.
At the lodge it was a snap to put on the new action bars and before the students arrived I slipped onto the range to test fire. The gun worked except the shell carrier wouldn't go up far enough to get a shell into the magazine. What I had was a single-shot 1100 which wasn't going to get the job done.
The two days went uneventfully otherwise and I used my o/u instead.
When I got home I noticed that Remington had changed the design of the action bars on the 1100. On the older models there are two slots on either side of the block that aren't on the newer design which would explain why the carrier wouldn't go up far enough to allow shells in the magazine.
Finding older style action bars for a 28 gauge has proved a challenge. Brownell's doesn't stock the old style and Numrich is sold out.
As I see it my immediate options to get this gun up and running are to contact a machinist friend and have him drill slots in the action bars similar to the old style or grind down the carrier so it fits the newer style action bars.
I have also considered ordering a new carrier for this gun assuming that its design has changed to work with the new action bars. Replacing the carrier is probably beyond my skills and would incur a gunsmith charge but at least this way if it broke again I could replace it with currently available parts.
Any suggestions on which course I should take to set this gun right?
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