Remington “The Sportsman” trigger problem

[TD.]

I am a new member to this great forum with a question about the old Remington Sportsman shotguns. A member of our skeet club brought in a 20 gauge Remington Shotgun with the words “The Sportsman” stamped on the bolt. It is a well used shotgun (but does not appear abused) with a polychoke at the end of the barrel. He came to me because I am pretty good at repairing the Remington Models 870 and 1100 type shotguns. I have never worked on a Remington Sportsman shotgun, hence my post to members of this forum.

The problem is the trigger will not operate. The shotgun appears to function fine in every other manner except shoot (because the trigger will not pull or move in any direction). I know from my preliminary research that this shotgun is basically a Remington Model 11 – but that does not help me diagnose the problem. My initial thoughts are this shotgun has been disassembled and then re-assembled incorrectly. However, I have never been inside a Sportsman shotgun and thought I would ask if anyone else has experienced this problem.

All thoughts and assistance will be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Chawbaccer]

Got the safety on? push from right to left. Other wise you are going to have to pull the trigger group out. Two screws on the side, one is a pin maybe, and the back screw on the tang. Real simple except old guns get a bit of rust.

 

[TD.]

I appreciate the reply. No, it does not appear to be the safety. The safety moves back and forth freely and the trigger will not move when the safety is in either position. It is as if the trigger is stuck.

 

[Chawbaccer]

Could be any number of things, you will have to pull the trigger group, as you will anyway to fix it. Numrich has a schematic.

 

[35Rem]

It's a Remington model 11. Should be able to figure it out. Also should work just like a Browning A-5. I'm sure there are youtube videos on the breakdown of the A-5, at least.

It's not too hard to get the trigger group out. Take the stock off (screw with set screw on bottom of tang). Pull stock off the back. 2 screws on left side of receiver hold trigger group in. Remove them and pull the TG out. May be a broken spring, gunk built up not aloowing movement, etc. Shouldn't be too bad.

You say the safety "moves freely". Does it have resistance to move? It should. It has a ball detent to keep it from moving too easily. If it's loose, that may be the issue. Also, hammer spring may be broken.

 

[TD.]

35Rem,
Thank you for your post. The safety does have some resistance. It clicks when moved on and off for lack of a better description. I will speak with the owner and see what he wants to do. I agree the trigger group has to be removed. I appreciate the tips on how to remove it. I was hoping this may have been a common problem for the Remington Model 11/ Sportsman - it seems not.

Again, I appreciate all responses.

 

[35Rem]

I wouldn't say it's a common problem at all. It is possible something fell into the trigger group or a spring broke. Probably pretty simple.

Safety sounds fine.