Problems shooting cheap ammo in my Rem 11-87

[Rob62]

I recently purchased a used 12ga Remington 11-87 Special Purpose shotgun with factory 21" vent rib barrel with screw in choke tubes. This is a gun that I've been wanting for quite some time and from my limited shooting I am so far pleased......except for one thing.

While this gun will shoot slugs, buckshot, and high brass shells with great ease. I have consistent problems shooting the inexpensive low brass 12ga shells such as the 7/8oz Federal brand.

Reading the instruction manual I find reference to not shooting this type of shell through the 11-87.

What I'm wondering about is - what if I add the barrel seal activator (Rem part #12a) that was designed to be used with the 11-87 Super Magnum to my non Super Magnum 11-87?

I would think that the barrel seal activator would create more gas pressure to allow me to shoot these cheap shells through my gun. Of course I would only do this with these lower powered shells and not the full power loads that I've had successs with already without the barrel seal activator.

Any thoughts or opinions.

BTW - the gun is NOT dirty or damaged, nor are the gas holes in the barrel blocked. The Piston/Piston seal assy. and barrel seal (rubber washer/ring) are also in good condition and not to blame for my problems as far as I can tell.

TIA,

Rob

 

[sm]

Paging kudu...paging kudu...

kudu will know most likely .

My gut tells me the 7/8 oz load doesn't have enough "oommph" . High tech term for not enough gas pressure to run the gun. I haven't messed with the 11-87 enough to really give you a answer on messing with parts.

My experience in various other gas guns inform me the gun needs a certion dwell to run. Barrel length and port size. I have seen to many guns with bbls shortened and ports fiddled with - and would not run - or would not run except with what "fiddled" results let the gun use.

ME, I leave the gun alone and shoot what the gun is designed for. For ME - reliability is paramount. This way I know the gun will run if things get serious.

 

[kudu]

Well Rob62,

sm has an awful lot of faith in me and I don't know if it's deserved, but not knowing if the gun has been messed with before you owned it, it is hard to break down the problem.

It stands to reason if the ports were opened up by a previous owner it would cycle light loads easily and have trouble with very heavy loads, so I don't think the ports have been touched. I think it is the barrel length and what it is designed for.

Many of the 7/8oz loads wil not have the velocity and recoil to function the bolt with such a short barrel. I have shot 7/8oz reloads going about 1200fps through my 11-87 with great success, any slower they have some extraction problems. I usually use a 30" barrel. I have a 26" barrel as well but use it for hunting thick brush with game loads. A cantilever slug barrel rounds out my shotgun for deer.

I would also cut open one of the questionable shells to see if it has a good shot wad in it to seal off the gases generated by the powder. If it has just a cup with a plastic sleeve the gases may be blowing by the shot column and not into the gas system.

Untill something can be blamed go with a heavier shell in 1oz or 1 1/8oz.

 

[Ed3]

The "Official" Remington line on min. charge is 3dr. 1 1/8 oz. I have always successfully used 2 3/4, 1 1/8oz as long as the action is clean. Once in a while I'll get a stovepipe using Fed Top Gun. Probably just coincidence.

Ed

 

[Rob62]

Thanks guys for the replies. I absolutly agree in that the 7/8 oz loads just don't have enough "oomph" to fully operate this action.

I may be asking for something that's just not possible by design with this gun by wanting to shoot these light loads reliably. As I've said the full power loads are 100% reliable and work the action without any problems - I really like this gun in any event.

My main point or question was that if adding the barrel seal activator designed for the Super Magnum SG would create more gas pressure to allow me to shoot these cheap/low power shells through my gun reliably.

I thought someone here might have tried this before. In any event earlier today I ordered this part from Remington along with some other spare parts. If no one has any experience with doing this I guess I'll be the goat and try it to see what happens. From a strict safety point I don't see a problem with trying this out.

I don't believe the previous owner messed around and modified my 11-87 in any way. I was told it was used primarily as a turkey hunting gun. It will be interesting to see what happens when I do this mod.

I'll report back here how it worked when I shoot this gun with the barrel seal activator installed.

Rob

 

[Rob62]

Follow Up................

.......for those that may care.

I received the barrel seal activator designed for the Super Magnum SG and put in on my standard 11-87.

First thing that I did upon reassembly was to test (dry) fire the SG. And to my surprise nothing happened. No click, no hammer moving forward, no nothing. Nothing happened when I pressed the trigger. Right away I presumed that I had reassembled the SG improperly. It turned out that wasn't it.

It appears that by placing the Super Mags barrel seal activator on a regular 11-87 it does not allow the connector / disconnector to engage the sear and fire the SG.

Instead of trying to mess around more with the 11-87 I'm giving up on trying to shoot low power shells through it and safe them for the always reliable no matter what type of shells it shoots 870.

Regards and Happy Safe Shooting New Year,

Rob

 

[yorec]

I'm going through the same issues with my new (to me) 11-87 in preparation for a class later this spring. Did a search and found your thread - thanks for asking the questions Rob. Helped us both.

I too thought of the actuator "fix," lol - glad you figured it out for us both!

1 oz sounds like the way to go. (Though I've also found on my particular gun, that low recoils buck also fails about 50%. Will have to use full power loads - durned! )

Despite the demand for quality/higher cost ammo - I love the gun so far.

 

[Rob62]

yorec, Glad a post of mine could be of some help.

For various reasons I ended up selling my 11-87 shortly after my failed attempt to make it shoot the lower power loads. Nothing wrong with the gun just my finicky tastes changed and I had to have an AR15 clone more than another SG.

Take Care,
Rob

 

[RUT]

>>For various reasons I ended up selling my 11-87 shortly after my failed attempt to make it shoot the lower power loads.<<

Don't feel bad... I did the same thing for the same reason, and bought an O/U instead.

 

[yorec]

Ah you were just going about your purchases backwards - I've already got a couple ARs and wanted a shotgun to match... Buy 'em in addition to what ya got!

Besides - one day I may just look a little deeper into 3 gun matches...

But for now, I have my loads for the class identified - 1 oz works fine for Buck, slug, and practice rounds.

 

[RUT]

I made the move for a couple of other reasons as well. For one, since I'm only a clay shooter and not a hunter, the O/U is more user friendly on the line as far as loading & unloading goes. Plus, I don't have to scrounge the hulls up off the ground for reloading purposes. Last but not least, the O/U is much easier to clean.