Help me fix my 11-87

[Archangel]

A few months back, I bought an 11-87 Police, intending to use it as a USPSA gun. I soon thereafter decided that 7 rounds wasn't enough, so I put a 26" light contour vent rib bbl and +5 mag tube.

Problem is, ever since changing the bbl, it has been short-cycling. It mostly works, but every once in a while, an empty won't eject all the way, or the empty will eject but the bolt won't come back far enough to grab the next round. And it will never lock the bolt open after the last shot.

It's done this with a variety of #8 and #7 1/2 shot, as well as slugs (NOT low recoil, as my shoulder can assure you) and magnum 00 buck.

I've heard rumors that the gas system on the police model is slightly different than on the standard 11-87, so I'm wondereing if putting a standard (ie non-police model) bbl on it is what's causing these issues. Do I need to enlarge the gas ports? Something else?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.

 

[mnrivrat]

Not an easy answer as I see it. Obviously (according to your info) the problem comes along with the barrel - that seems to indicate one of two things 1.) Not enough gas coming through to operate the action . 2.) Some binding or drag on the action.

The two area's to check for drag would be at the gas piston and at the barrel extension . Cycle slowly by hand and if there is no additional drag in comparison with the other barrel, then it would almost have to be gas related. Check assy to make sure that it is correct and then compare the gas port hole in the barrel underlug with your other barrel to see if they are the same size. Opening up the size of this hole should be a last resort and done carefully (and a little at a time). With the metered gas system of the 11-87 and your problem still existing when shooting slugs and magnum loads , I would take a very hard look at everything else before I enlarged the gas port.

 

[HSMITH]

Drill the gas ports out to match the size of the P barrel.

 

[Archangel]

From the very breif amount of time that I've had to look at things, here's what I've come up with so far:

There does not seem to be any unusual drag in the action, though I haven't switched back to the other barrel to compare. When I last took it apart to clean, I checked for wear indicating where things might be rubbing together, but didn't see anything obvious.

The most likely culpret I've seen so far is that the 18" police barrel does not have the gas cylinder spring, while the new longer barrel does.

So, assuming that this is the problem, what would be the easiest way of closing off the ports under the gas cylinder spring?

 

[mnrivrat]

Angel

The set-up for the 18 inch barrel and the longer barrel should be the same. The gas system to the rear of the barrel lug is the same as the 1100 . The metered gas system of the 11-87 consists of two parts to the front of the barrel lug - the gas cylinder collar ,and the gas cylinder spring. Without both these parts in place the system will not work as the major share of gas will be ported out the front. Only excess gas should be allowed to excape - that is the purpose behind the collar & spring. You may need to take another look at the assembly of the gun to assure all parts are in there place.
There is also technical help available at the Remington web site. You can review problems with them and they will correspond via e-mail with you.

Good luck !

 

[Archangel]

The 18" barrel does have the collar, but no spring. Not like it's missing, there's no ports or place for the spring either.

The newer 26" bbl has both the collar and the spring, but won't fully cycle the gun.


I'll have to try the Remington web site, see what they have to say about this.

Thanks.