Does anyone know what could be going on with this 11-87?

I have a good hunting buddy that I hunt with 90% of the time I hunt that has a Remington 11-87 Super Magnum. It's the Special Purpose version, but I'm not sure that would make any difference. Anyway, he called me tonight wanting to know if I had any idea's or could look online because his shotgun broke. I'm having a hard time understanding the problem without looking at it so I'm not sure if anyone online will be able to help, but I thought I'd ask incase someone has experienced something similar. He said it's not feeding the shells, and it's as if there is no pressure on the magazine tube to push the shells back into the action anymore. He said it's almost as if the spring just went weak or something. I just can't imagine this happening as it should only be the spring and plug in there. Has anyone seen this happen, or anything similar? Any things specific to check on these guns? I know I'm super vague right now, but hopefully I will know more when I get to see it next week.

 

Is it ejecting the spent shells? Has he check the o-ring for damage? Could be a weak gas seal.

Also, what type of load is he shooting? If he's shooting light loads, it may not be creating enough gas pressure to drive the bolt fully back.
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Does it cycle the spent shell out?
I think Im understanding The gun works but the mag spring is worn/bent/hung up and just not feeding shells from the mag to the action. check the follower and ya might even run a bore brush down the mag tube.

 

My understanding is that it just isn't loading the new shell, but I will be able to know more when I get to see it Monday.

He is shooting Winchester Supreme 3.5" High Velocity 00 buckshot.

He said it hasn't felt right the last few times he's shot it either right before it quit working. It's always kicked pretty hard with this load, but he said the last few times he has shot it, it feels like it's kicking extremely hard to the point of where he hit his finger on the front of the trigger guard hard enough he thought it was going to break it.

I'm not seeing how they could be combined though, and I'm wondering if it's not just the magazine spring somehow hung up.

That said, I know absolutely nothing about how the gas system on these things operates. Are there directions anywhere on how to clean the gas system, and how it should work?

 

I have cleaned several 1100/11-87's over the years and find it easier to hose down the gas port with brake cleaner or Powder blast cleaner. If it turns out to be the gas system "shells not cycling" look inside the lug that the mag cap seats on and fits around the mag tube, The gas port will be inside that. If the gun cycles the spent shell out and wont pick up/feed the new shell then I would start looking into the mag tube,spring,follower.

 

Have a gunsmith look at the action bar assembly. One of my hunting buddies had the same problem you describe. It turned out to be that in the manufacturing process of the action bar assy something wasn't forged right to interact with what I believe was called the interceptor latch. His would shoot and eject but wouldn't feed from the magazine. Remington footed the bill at an authorized repair shop in the city where he lives, so he didn't have to ship it back to remington.

I have an older version of the same gun with nice walnut furniture. The only thing I can think of that would make it kick harder, would be if the barrel seal activator may have been inadvertantly left in the gas cylinder while shooting lighter loads. They shouldn't be installed when using heavy loads.