I went to a gun show this past weekend, and I picked up a used 20 ga. 1100 for, what I thought was, a good price. I paid $320.00 for it, but it needs a little TLC. My wife wants to try sporting clays in the spring, and I would like to get the gun looking nice for her. Before I dump anything in to it, I want to obviously shoot it first to see if there are any issues.
1) The barrel has a few letters stamped on it by the receiver, they are DPR and what looks to be an O. From what I can tell, the barrel seems to be from Sept. 1967. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
2) The receiver has a serial # of 513201X. I am only assuming that this is the original barrel, but I don't know for sure. Am I correct that this is one of the older 20 ga. 1100's with the full size 12 ga frame? I think it is because of the X at the end of the serial #. If so, 1967 would make sense.
3) I have developed a list of parts to definitely purchase, and a list of maybe's. What do you think?
Definite[/b]
New magazine spring
New Action Spring
New barrel seal (would I buy a 12ga one, because this is a larger frame than modern 20 ga guns)
Action Spring Follower (the old one is aluminum )
Maybe[/u]
Recoil buffer
Link
Piston Seal and Piston (again, would I buy a 12 gauge?)
I disassembled the gun and gave it a good cleaning. It still needs a little more, but after 3 hours, I was out of time for the night. Lets just say I had to get the dental picks out. Very dirty but no rust.
Everything looks to be in pretty good shape mechanically, but I have some questions.
4) Below is a picture of the link. I have cleaned it and it is very smooth with no rust, but it looks to be discolored. The end with the prongs come out of the follower easily. I have seen some videos of people needing needle nose pliers to remove this. Is it worn out? Should it be replaced? Or should I just polish it up with some Flitz and forget about it?
5) Below is a picture of the Piston and the piston seal. Again mechanically they seem to be in good shape, and they slide easily on the magazine tube, but they are discolored. Again, should I replace, polish them up with Flitz, or keep them clean and forget about them? As I asked above, if I replace them, do Ibuy a 12 gauge size?
6) Below is a picture of the inside of the receiver. I have read that there is some sort of recoil buffer behind the bolt. The schematic I downloaded from Remington's web site does not show this part, and that drawing is also for current guns. In the picture I attached, should there be a buffer here somewhere? If so, how does it get installed?
OK, now some questions regarding the finish
7) I would like to refinish the stock. As you can see by the picture below, there are some dings and scratches in the old finish. The stock and the forend look about the same in regards to the damage. I was thinking about using the Birchwood Casey stock finish kit. I have seen some videos and it seems pretty straight forward and easy to do. I don't believe this gun has any value that will be destroyed by doing this. Am I correct in assuming that?
8) I was also thinking about trying the blue wonder kit for repairing the scratches on the barrel and receiver. The pictures below show what I am faced with. I really don't want to spend the money to have it re-blued, because I don't think it will really add much to the value. What are you thoughts on this?
9) If I use the Blue Wonder Kit, should I also re-finish the magazine tube? Will it hamper the operation of the piston? Below is what it looks like now.
10) The gun has a 28" barrel and it is a fixed Mod choke. I would normally like to shoot Imp Cyl, so my question is, do you think it is worth it to send it to someone like Mike Orlen to have it re-choked? I know that Mod is not bad for Sporting clays, but a little larger pattern would be desirable.
I think that covers it for now, I'm sure I will come up with more questions. This site rocks, I have been a long time lurker, and I have learned a lot.
Anyone who took their time to read this long post and reply with comments, I thank you in advance.
1) The barrel has a few letters stamped on it by the receiver, they are DPR and what looks to be an O. From what I can tell, the barrel seems to be from Sept. 1967. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
2) The receiver has a serial # of 513201X. I am only assuming that this is the original barrel, but I don't know for sure. Am I correct that this is one of the older 20 ga. 1100's with the full size 12 ga frame? I think it is because of the X at the end of the serial #. If so, 1967 would make sense.
3) I have developed a list of parts to definitely purchase, and a list of maybe's. What do you think?
Definite[/b]
New magazine spring
New Action Spring
New barrel seal (would I buy a 12ga one, because this is a larger frame than modern 20 ga guns)
Action Spring Follower (the old one is aluminum )
Maybe[/u]
Recoil buffer
Link
Piston Seal and Piston (again, would I buy a 12 gauge?)
I disassembled the gun and gave it a good cleaning. It still needs a little more, but after 3 hours, I was out of time for the night. Lets just say I had to get the dental picks out. Very dirty but no rust.
Everything looks to be in pretty good shape mechanically, but I have some questions.
4) Below is a picture of the link. I have cleaned it and it is very smooth with no rust, but it looks to be discolored. The end with the prongs come out of the follower easily. I have seen some videos of people needing needle nose pliers to remove this. Is it worn out? Should it be replaced? Or should I just polish it up with some Flitz and forget about it?
5) Below is a picture of the Piston and the piston seal. Again mechanically they seem to be in good shape, and they slide easily on the magazine tube, but they are discolored. Again, should I replace, polish them up with Flitz, or keep them clean and forget about them? As I asked above, if I replace them, do Ibuy a 12 gauge size?
6) Below is a picture of the inside of the receiver. I have read that there is some sort of recoil buffer behind the bolt. The schematic I downloaded from Remington's web site does not show this part, and that drawing is also for current guns. In the picture I attached, should there be a buffer here somewhere? If so, how does it get installed?
OK, now some questions regarding the finish
7) I would like to refinish the stock. As you can see by the picture below, there are some dings and scratches in the old finish. The stock and the forend look about the same in regards to the damage. I was thinking about using the Birchwood Casey stock finish kit. I have seen some videos and it seems pretty straight forward and easy to do. I don't believe this gun has any value that will be destroyed by doing this. Am I correct in assuming that?
8) I was also thinking about trying the blue wonder kit for repairing the scratches on the barrel and receiver. The pictures below show what I am faced with. I really don't want to spend the money to have it re-blued, because I don't think it will really add much to the value. What are you thoughts on this?
9) If I use the Blue Wonder Kit, should I also re-finish the magazine tube? Will it hamper the operation of the piston? Below is what it looks like now.
10) The gun has a 28" barrel and it is a fixed Mod choke. I would normally like to shoot Imp Cyl, so my question is, do you think it is worth it to send it to someone like Mike Orlen to have it re-choked? I know that Mod is not bad for Sporting clays, but a little larger pattern would be desirable.
I think that covers it for now, I'm sure I will come up with more questions. This site rocks, I have been a long time lurker, and I have learned a lot.
Anyone who took their time to read this long post and reply with comments, I thank you in advance.
