Remington 11-87 Break in period?

[jmcrawf1]

I have a brand new Remington 11-87 en route to me. It's a sportsman model 12ga. 3" chamber.

My question is that I seem to remember hearing that autoloaders require so many rounds of 3" as a break in when you first use the gun. Does anyone have any info on this?? This is my first autoloader. Thanks!

 

[evbutler462]

Gas guns like the 11-87 usually are ready to go right out of the box. Inertia actions are built to closer tolerances and need a few heavy loads to seat the parts so that they mate. Gas guns normally don't have a break in period.

Mine didn't. It was a 11-87 Premier. Shot everything I throwed at it new.

 

[jmcrawf1]

even the light target loads? Lower than 3.75 dram?

 

[Shell Shucker]

An 11-87 should run out of the box with 3 dram 1200 fps 1 1/8 oz loads. Most will run with lighter loads. The gas system is supposed to compensate for heavy loads so as not to overwork the action; it vents excess pressure. the heavy loads will only serve to "break-in" your shoulder faster. Go and shoot 4 rounds of trap or skeet (100 shells), clean it, and call it good to go.
BTW, I've had inertia/recoil operated guns that were good to go out of the box with the same 3 dram loads.

 

[Pete409]

Gas autos may or may not require a break-in period, but it certainly doesn't hurt anything to run a few boxes of heavy 3" shells through it shortly after purchasing it.

Of course, the first thing to do is to thoroughly clean the moving parts with a good solvent and then lightly oil the gun.

 

[birdbustr]

Pete said it all. No break in for shotguns, unlike a rifle. Clean the heavy oil/grease out of the receiver. That stuff is to preserve in case the rifle doesn't get used for a while (doesn't sell or sits on a store shelf for a while). It's kind of like cosmaline except not quite as thick. Any new pistol/rifle/shotgun that may have that crap in it. It's dark brown and it needs to go.

 

[jmcrawf1]

so it *should* digest anything i feed it right?

 

[Shell Shucker]

It "should" feed most loads. A 3 dram 1 1/8 oz target load is a realistic minimum.
As a couple of people have pointed out after my post; clean out the packing grease before you shoot it. I can see where "a few boxes of 3" magnums" might help initially if the gun was full of packing grease.

 

[birdbustr]

I think shooting some skeet should be a good trial after you clean the grease out. Run a little bit of everything through. If you have no problems, you probably got all the grease out. Put another coat of oil in the action and go hunting.

If you do have problems, you probably missed some of the grease and need to go back through a little more thoroughly.

I like to use Tetra Grease on the high contact areas and Browning gun oil, Rem Oil, or Hoppes gun oil for lubrication.