Remington 1100 Sporting 20

[IrvJr]

Hi All,

My wife and her friend recently tried shooting some clay targets. We used my Browning Cynergy 12 ga shotgun. Also, a friend of ours was kind enough to let us try his Remington 1100 Sporting 20. After shooting both guns at several targets, my wife and her friend expressed a distinct preference for the 1100.

They commented that the 1100 felt lighter and recoiled a lot less than my 12 ga. I got to shoot a few targets with the 1100 and I really liked the way the gun handled too. It was a sweet shooting gun and it really felt slim, yet nicely balanced. It also seemed to swing much more smoothly than my 26" barrel 12 ga Browning, even though it's lighter.

We are going to try to shoot some other guns over the Christmas vacation (perhaps some 20 ga O/U's), but my wife really likes the 1100. We're thinking about buying one and having it fitted for her. A local shop has a lightly used Sporting 20 that my wife expressed an interest in checking out over the holidays.

Anyone have any experience with the Remington 1100 Sporting 20? If so, what is your opinion of this gun? My wife, her friend, and I really enjoyed shooting this gun and thought it handled well. One minor concern was that when I was shooting doubles at the skeet field I had a jam on the first round fired. I was using Federal field loads (Wal Mart ammo). Does the Remington 1100 Sporting 20 handle field loads OK or is it optimized for light target loads only?

I originally had a Remington 1100 12 gauge (also a 28" barrel like the sporting 20) and I liked that gun A LOT. My gun was a plane jane field model with synthetic stocks and some rough parkerized finished. I eventually sold it to buy an O/U because I got tired of picking up shells, but I regret having let that gun go. I think it's a great shotgun. I never had any reliability issues or jams with that gun. It was really reliable.

 

[ysr_racer]

I have one and love it.

 

[Milkmaster]

I have two 1100's with no problems. I use a shell catcher for the hulls during trap rounds. That solves the problem on having to pick up hulls. Your experience is one of the reasons the 1100 has been selling so well for so many years. Easy to clean and work on, easy to find parts and accessories, and American made. Fit is VERY important! You have a good plan to have it adjusted to fit properly when buying it for your wife.

 

[toivo]

I have a Sporting 12, and I'm very happy with it. Keep the gas ports clean with pipe cleaners (or a drill bit if they get really cruddy) to avoid ejection problems.

I find that mine will jam on very light loads if the ports aren't clean. Odd that you experienced a jam on a field load. What kind of jam was it? Did the spent hull get caught in the ejection port?

 

[IrvJr]

Folks - thanks for the replies. The jam I experienced with my friend's sporting 20 was that the empty hull didn't clear the ejection port and was sort of stove-piped, but to the right instead of up. Actually, I experienced two jams like this. The first was shooting a single, so I didn't pay much attention. The second occurred when shooting a double set of targets. what might be causing this type of jam?

I'm not too concerned about the 1100's reliability since the one I owned was reliable with field and light/reduced recoil target loads. I used to use a piece of insulated copper wire to keep the port clean.

 

[PJR]

The 1100s of today are not the 1100s of yesterday. I know two guys at the club with that exact model 1100 Sporting 20 gauge and a couple of others with the same gun in 28 gauge. All of them have had various troubles with their guns.

I own an early 90's vintage 28 gauge 1100 Skeet gun that I use to teach women and young shooters. This gun doesn't get shot that much and yet I've had to replace action bars, an extractor and link spring. When I do use this gun to teach I bring a variety of spare parts to keep the gun up and running. This came in handy when I was able to get a female shooter with her own Remington 1100 28 gauge Sporting back up and running when the tiny piece of metal that keeps the ball detent on the action bars in place split causing her to lose her cocking handle. I had the metal piece, detent and an extra cocking handle.

Before putting down any money on an 1100 Sporting check out the Beretta 391 and the Browning Gold. They are more expensive but worth the extra money.

 

[Pete409]

The 2 stovepipes on ejection were likely due to either too low power shells, or gun too dirty, or lack of lubrication. Any of these problems are easily corrected.

The Remington 1100 Sporting is a good, soft shooting gun. Whether it's the BEST 20 gauge auto is perhaps debatable, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy one for my wife if she likes it and enjoys shooting it.

 

[Pete409]

This gun doesn't get shot that much and yet I've had to replace action bars, an extractor and link spring.

Just curious. What's a "link spring"? I don't think my 12 gauge 1100 has one, or perhaps I know it by another name.

 

[PJR]

Just curious. What's a "link spring"? I don't think my 12 gauge 1100 has one, or perhaps I know it by another name.

It's correctly called the "link." It's the piece that fits in behind the bolt and slides into action spring tube. Every 1100 has them. I've call it a "link spring" because that is how I first heard it referred to and the habit stuck.

 

[Pete409]

Oh, OK. I'm very familiar with what a link is. I just didn't know what a "link spring" was.

Links can break on any autoloader. In fact, I had one break on my 390 a few years ago. It was very easy and fairly inexpensive to replace.

 

[another okie]

What does the "sporting" mean in the name? I really like the old Remington 1100 20s built on the 12 gauge frame.

 

[ArmedBear]

What does the "sporting" mean in the name?

Usually about $500.

 

[toivo]

What does the "sporting" mean in the name?

Usually about $500.

Well, yeah... All the 1100's are "competition" models these days, but you can get an 11-87 field model for about $300 less. The "Sporting" models are meant for clay shooting instead of hunting. Nice wood, "light contour" barrel, comes with five different chokes, that's about it.

 

[IrvJr]

toivo - if my wife and i can find another 1100 in 20 gauge, will it also have the same, slim receiver?

we saw a remington 1100 youth model (used) for sale at a nearby shop. I really like the sporting 20, but the youth model is about $525 cheaper than the sporting 20 and I figure I could buy a long barrel at a later time. Plus the youth model would have a shorter length of pull, which might fit my wife better.

 

[toivo]

toivo - if my wife and i can find another 1100 in 20 gauge, will it also have the same, slim receiver?

If you're talking about the older models, I think it depends on whether or not it's built on a 12-gauge frame. The LT-20 would be the slimmer one, built on a 20-gauge frame. I believe the ones before that were built on a 12-gauge frame. Can anybody out there verify this?

we saw a remington 1100 youth model (used) for sale at a nearby shop. I really like the sporting 20, but the youth model is about $525 cheaper than the sporting 20 and I figure I could buy a long barrel at a later time. Plus the youth model would have a shorter length of pull, which might fit my wife better.

I think the youth model with a longer barrel--maybe a 26?--would be a good choice.

 

[ArmedBear]

Yes, the original 1100s in 20 were on 12 Gauge frames, but that changed 30 years ago. Anything remotely recent is on a scaled frame.

Also, I don't believe you can buy new barrels for the old frames. You're stuck with used ones. I don't know about choke tubes, etc. on the old barrels.

I don't believe 20 Gauges have LC barrels, since they're lighter anyway. I think (verify?) that only the 12s come in regular and light contour.

 

[toivo]

I don't believe 20 Gauges have LC barrels, since they're lighter anyway. I think (verify?) that only the 12s come in regular and light contour.

I believe that you're right--the Remington website says "light contour" for the 12 but not for the 20.

The Youth Model 1100 20-gauge that IrvJr is talking about is discontinued (replaced by Youth 11-87), but not all that long ago. I think these barrels will fit it:

RAMAC---Description---Barrel Length---Retail
24484----LT-20--------28" VT---------$239.00
24486----LT-20--------26" VT---------$239.00

This is from the Remington website.