Remington 1100 Questions

[leadaddict]

I volunteered to look at a friend's 1100 he was having a problem with. When I got it the bolt was stuck open and wouldn't close. The carrier release was hanging lose. I removed the trigger/carrier group and found that the carrier release pin had slipped out of place. I put it back in place and everything seemed like it was normal.

I took it out and shot it. It failed to feed every 4th or 5th shell. The bolt would start to come forward, but the shell would catch just below the chamber.

I disassembled and thoroughly cleaned the shotgun, which was very dirty. After reassembly I shot it again only to find that it jammed in the same manner every 3rd or 4th shell. It seemed to get worse.

I ordered a new o-ring and a new actions spring last night (along with a new safety to switch it back to a right-handed safety). I figured those two parts would have the most affect on this issue.

I was shooting cheap Federal 7 1/2 from Wal-Mart. I don't own an autoloader and don't know what my friend normally feeds this thing, but he said he hasn't had this problem before.

Is there anything else I should do to the gun or parts I should consider if these parts don't fix the issue? Is there any reason why that pin would have come lose and should I do something to make sure it doesn't happen again?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Hootus]

Is there anything else I should do to the gun or parts I should consider if these parts don't fix the issue?

Back in the late '70s I shot competitive skeet in college with 1100's... most of the rest of the team shot 1100's too. They were consistent, reliable, and I still have a bicentennial edition that shuts tight as a vault even though it has about 100k rounds through it. I'd say you're on track replacing the o-ring and spring; that should do the trick.

Is there any reason why that pin would have come lose and should I do something to make sure it doesn't happen again?

I think you may have answered your own question: "I ordered a new o-ring and a new actions spring last night (along with a new safety to switch it back to a right-handed safety). No one on our team had problems with the pin.... but if the firearm has been tampered with by a shadetree gunsmith that messed around with the safety mechanism, who knows what else was done. Get the 1100 back to stock configuration and checked by a pro gunsmith and you should be good to go for thousands of rounds.

 

[flasig]

Remington 1100

Try using a heavier load. My 1100 would not cycle low recoil target loads. I could change the gas port, but I use the gun for hunting and competition. 1200 fps+ functions perfectly. Recently purchased the gun used with a 28" barrel and replaced rings, seals and springs.

 

[leadaddict]

Thank you both for the input.

Flasig - What other springs did you replace? I wondered about whatever spring pushes the carrier up. If it wasn't getting up fast enough maybe that could be a cause. However, I couldn't figure out what spring is doing that though??? Even after looking at the diagrams I wasn't sure.

 

[Blue68f100]

My dad had problem with his 1100 and I found that RS piston had been gummed up after 40 yrs. I did a full detail clean and put it back together, all was good. Just needed some TLC.

 

[leadaddict]

UPDATE:

After replacing the parts mentioned above (safety, actions spring, and gas ring) I took it out again and shot 60 more rounds through it. I took two different types of shells with. The Federal multi-purpose 7 1/2 from Wal-Mart (the 100 rd boxes), and some older Winchester AA 7 1/2. I had two failures to feed with the 25 rds of Federal I tried, but with 35ish rounds of the AA, I didn't have any problems at all.

In short, it is feeding the cheap Federal better than before, but still not perfect. But it feeds the Winchester AA just fine. I returned the gun to its owner over the weekend and explained my results.

 

[flasig]

1100 modifications

Gregaw, I replaced the magazine spring, action spring, barrel seal, piston, piston seal and hammer spring. Once I had the gun running properly, I started the modifications, which included oversized safety, bolt handle, front sight, mag tube extension and speed loader. The Daves Metal Works speed loader required fitting, but functions great.