Remington 1100 or 11-87 : Which one to pick ?

[Riss]

What is the major difference between the 1100 and 11-87 ? I see some parts that interchange and possibly a new gas compensating system on the 11-87. Is there anything else ? Which one would be better suited for 3 gun competition and skeet ?

 

[Milkmaster]

If you are talking about a NEW 1100 or 1187.....

According to the Remington site...The new 1100 line is for 2 3/4" ammo.

When you go to the magnum variety the 1187 is listed as having a 3" chamber, and the models offered are synthetic or camo.

I like having a 1100 model chambered in 2 3/4", because that size is all I shoot, and the barrel is well suited for ejecting light loaded ammo.

Used models come in a variety since 1987!

 

[ArmedBear]

I'd pick neither, if I were looking at a NIB gun.

I have a 37-year-old 1100. It's still a fine gun, within its limitations. Balances well, but weighs too much. Sharp edges inside can cut you, the trigger itself cuts my finger occasionally. Gets really dirty, and the O-ring does need to be looked after. Internal parts are stamped or bent from sheet metal and wire. Like laws and sausages, you don't want to see how it is made.

In 2008, you can do a lot better, especially for the money they want for the things.

 

[PT92]

You couldn't get me to part with my 1187. Great gun.

-Cheers

 

[ArmedBear]

Yeah, I'm keeping mine.

But I wouldn't pay today's prices for a new one. Too many options out there with much newer engineering and better QA.

 

[earlthegoat2]

The major difference between the two is that the 11-87 has a compensating gas system which means that no matter which load you shoot only a certain amount of gases are going to be used to cycle the action. This makes it so the bot will cycle at the same speed each time. Traditionally if you shot a heavy load in an 1100 it would slam the bolt back hard.

 

[ArmedBear]

I have a magnum barrel for my 1100, in addition to the standard one (it's a magnum receiver, also).

The magnum barrel has only one gas port, whereas the standard one has two. This prevents the bolt slam problem.

 

[rbernie]

The 11/87 can shoot both light and magnum loads equally well; the 1100 is not self-adjusting in that regard. The 11/87 is also marginally (but noticably) heavier up front as a result.

I bought my last two 1100s this summer for less than $300 each, in decent condition. For that kind of coin, they're a stone-cold bargain. Asking $700 for a NIB example leads me to suspect that AB is correct and that I might could spend my money better elsewhere. But I don't mind buyin' used, and I like the idea of spending the $400 that I saved in the shotgun to fund ammo to shoot thru it.

I don't totally agree with AB that the insides should make anyone cringe. I have had little trouble with the gas system o-ring (change it every 5K rounds or something similar and don't spray it with carb cleaner). As with my 870s, I have learned to keep my grubby mitts out of the insides and to instead clean it with stiff brushes. The edges of the grroves where the action bars slide are not radiused and they will slice you like a razor. Yeah, Remington cut some costs in the machine work.

I like the fact that I can buy plain barrels for the 1100; I prefer their balance and sight plane. Dunno for sure whether these barrels will also fit the 11/87, but I would halfway expect so.

The action is reliable and simple to clean and simple to fix. You can get parts for it just about anywhere, and the parts and labor won't cost you a fortune. There are tons of used and aftermarket bits for the 1100, and that has some value. In sum - I think you could do a lot worse.

You might want to look at the shotguns being used in local 3-gun and see what is favored. I would imagine that the Benelli's are popular.

 

[ArmedBear]

I don't totally agree with AB that the insides should make anyone cringe.

Have you ever tried to repair one?

 

[rbernie]

Have you ever tried to repair one?

Yes, and successfully. <shrug> Didn't seem like a big deal to me. There may be simpler systems out there, but in my ignorance I didn't find the 1100 to be overwhelming.

 

[ArmedBear]

There are some parts that you can't replace without an industrial press to smash the receiver metal back into place to retain them.

The experience of trying was what made me less enamored with the 1100.

 

[rbernie]

I have one in the shop as we speak, waiting to have the ejector replaced. (It ejected itself somewhere along the way, rendering the shotgun a complex single-shot.) Replacing the ejector is a job that is beyond my skill set, and one that requires presses and tools that I do not have.

But I can't think of many firearms that don't have SOME requirement for specialized tools to effect specific repairs. What I like about the 1100 is that they are reasonably reliable and the normal maintenance is easy to do.

 

[ArmedBear]

It's not that the tools are specialized. The guy I was working with has a small machine shop at home, and owns a big one down by the waterfront in San Diego.

What made me less enamored with the thing was seeing how they put it together! Having my finger cut by the trigger when shooting the thing didn't give me warm fuzzy feelings about it, either.

I agree with you, a used one for a good price is a functional, well-balanced shotgun (with a trigger shoe, anyway).

As I said, I wouldn't buy a new one for what they're asking these days, and I wouldn't buy another gun with the rough, rust-prone finish my 870 Express has on it, unless it's a sub-$300-new throw-it-behind-the-seat beater. So the 11-87 Sportsman isn't on the consideration list (and heavy as snot, to boot).

So, for the price of the G3, I can do better by letting my eyes wander over to Italy. For less, the American Italian is a great shotgun. For a lot less, the Mossberg 930 is my choice.

 

[Virginian]

Actually, these days you had better read the fine print carefully. Some 1100s have been made recently that will cycle 2-3/4" and 3" interchangability, which in essensce means it has an 11-87 style gas system and the 1100 name.
In discussions of worth, everything is worth whatever someone is willing to pay. I don't think I have seen any new 1100s I would pay over $1,000 for, but then I already have five. I actually much prefer the older styling. The Classic series did tempt me - everything handles better with that white diamond in the grip cap.
I also surely haven't seen anything other than the I-talian name to make me think a Beretta or Benelli is worth around $1,500 either. The Benelli has the be the easiest to manufacture. It's not the design so much as I don't especially like the styling, since the SBE I, and that kicked the everloving crap out of me with the very loads I was thinking of buying it for.
Every design has it's proponents and/or detractors. In 45 years my Remingtons have never let me down. I don't count the times some unnamed idiot closed the action on a branch in the pre-dawn's early light, etc.
Oh, and you do not have to go the swaging route with the Remington's internals. I had a shell stop fall out years ago, and I stuck it back with SuperGlue. Now, I can't remember which one it was.

 

[ArmedBear]

A local place is selling new synthetic stock 391's for $795, not $1500.

Franchi's shotguns are fine guns, too, but without the Benelli markup, or the over-the-top styling of some.

 

[Crazy Fingers]

I am not real thrilled with my 11-87s. I have a 12 and 20 gauge Premier version and they looked very nice at first. But the bluing is complete crap and it didn't take long before they were scratched and rusted in spots. Maybe they are fine if you only shoot a round of sporting clays in cool weather, but if you sit out there on a dove field for a long, hot afternoon, I almost guarantee your sweaty hands will have that receiver rusted before you get home. And you better hope you don't sit it down on top of something that's metal, because it scratches about as easy as a chigger bite.

The inside of my 20 gauge is razor sharp. Numerous mechanical problems with my guns have led to numerous slices on my hands.

Worth the $450 I paid for them NIB 3 years ago, but nowhere close to the retail price.

 

[shoen1200]

I cannot speak for the 11-87, but I do own and abuse an 1100 12ga.
For a while I always used my 870 pump and left the 1100 in the safe.
It was the idea of the pump invincibility/reliability verses an auto.
I got involved with a bunch of people that love to hunt pretty much anything from crows to deer and also setup competitive shoots.
I broke my pump over a year ago and took the 1100 out of the safe and have not picked up the 870 since.
No joke – in the last year I have well over 1,000 slugs and over 400 rounds of various shot thru my 1100 – without a single problem.
The reason for so many slugs is that a friend’s father passed away and he discovered 6 cases of Winchester Super X slugs in his dads closet, which he gave to me.
I am having a lot of fun at the range with slugs.
The 1100 shoots so much softer than my 870 - I can shoot slugs with impunity!
Its fun to show off how quick and accurate the 1100 with slugs can be.
My friends joke and say that I have the 12ga confused with .22lr.
I thought I finally broke the 1100. While shooting quick pairs the trigger would no longer release the hammer.
Friends laughed and said I had finally killed it.
I unloaded and popped the pins and dropped the trigger group and found a small stick was wedged in the mechanism.
Pretty sure I picked that up pushing my way through heavy brush while grouse hunting last Wednesday.
I removed the wood and it was back up and running.
I have not replaced a single part – just a cleaning every now and then.
Very durable and cycles anything from slugs to target loads for crows.
The 1100 is a great gun.

 

[cota]

1100s have a slightly smaler extractor claw than 1187s and the gas system on the 1187 self compensates for both 2 3/4 and 3 inch shels on the 1187 premiers and Sp models. the sporting clays 1187s have a 2 3/4 chamber and i think a diferent gas system to the 1187 premiers basicaly the same as the old 1100.
The old magnum 3 inch 1100 was a devil to cycle lighter than 1 1/8th oz loads some would but many did not like lighter loads.
The 1100 allways felt nicer in my hands than the 1187 of the same chamber. i once had a 1100 magnum and a 1187 sp in timber( so cant blame symthetic) and dispite the 1100 having a 30 inch multichoke barrel with a Hastings turkey choke screwed in the 1100 it felt a lot nicer to handle and it was livelier in use in the field to boot.

The big + for the 1100 and the 1187s is the fact that one size fits all people if you are green as grass with a shotgun you can bet your life you will fare better with a 1100 series than lets say a Benelli or Beretta. Well thats how it allways seemed to me
1100s/1187s have a few faults the lock time is slow there is no getting away from this it is in the nature of the beast, it is of little significance but none the less it is a fact.
They have a few mechanical features that do give issue on hard worked/ abused examples, notable of the faults is the infamous intercepter latch circlip fault this feature is a nuisance and as the grove wears the circlip begins to ride off and you are broken down as the latch leaver gets away
A new leaver and clip may cure the problem but in the end it will be away again and it will become a big problem. There are ways around this aplenty but all are a faff and in my view the guns worst fault to live with or cure.
The action bolt forks/ bars do buckle and deform and jam up and on ocasion the mag spring tube can come out of the action rear, it is just a press fit in and is a budge to sort out, the gas seal can give issue but it is the easiest fix on the 1100s and realy not worth the mention.
Do i like 1100s/1187s ? A Big YES! They are a wonderfull gun a true classic let down of late by crude finish on the SP models and not helped by being upstaged ( well mabe out marketed) by the italian B guns they have lost popularity, but you cant take anything away from the Remy it is there and it has the shirt, it will come good in the end. I can remember when the old A5 Brownings were knocked for being old hat but there are still loads out there struting there stuff and the exact same for the 1100s/1187s.

My choice of 1100/1187. A late model multichoke 3 inch Magnum 1100 with 30 inch barrel a real nice goose stroker load it with a 1 3/4 oz Bismuth load and a Hastings choke Hell! i want one just thinking about it.