Remington mdl. 11, some rust, $200. Should I get it?

[c-bag]

Saw in the classified section "Remington Model 11, rusted some in storage, shoots very well, $200". I know pretty much nothing about this gun except that it is a clone of the Browning Auto-5 which was the first autoloading shotgun developed by the late, great John Moses Browning.

My question is, should I drop $200 on it not knowing anything about what characteristics a good specimen should have? If you do know what I should pay attention to when and if I go take a look at it, please let me know. I would be buying this as a shooter and a conversation piece, so the rust doesn't bother me, but the possibility of it not going bang does.

Thanks in advance for any help you can be to me.

 

[Old Shooter]

I've owned the Browning, Remington and Savage versions of this shotgun and I believe the chances of it not going bang are pretty slim. In my experience, mechanically, this is a well designed, interesting and reliable shotgun and a hoot to shoot.

One word of caution, look at the forend for splits and cracks, this design, although nice in many ways, has a tendency to split the forends especially if the recoil rings/washers are not installed correctly when switching from lite to heavy loads. When you take the forend off to adjust the washers there is sometimes a chart and diagram glued to the forend showing the correct orientation, otherwise the info is on the internet. Replacement forends were available from Numrich when I was playing with these guns and I did one repair using a two part epoxy that worked well (that was just an experiment to see if it would work at all). The splits are usually on the bottom of the forend and start at the receiver side and work their way towards the magazine cap.

I would be concerned about just how bad the rust is. If it's acceptable to you I would think that $200 is a fair price for the gun

 

[Dave McCracken]

11s are good shotguns, mine the archives for input. Most 11 owners are happy with them.

 

[EMC45]

Get it. I have one I got for 60 bucks as a "parts gun". I put 60 into it and it is a neat old gun that will shoot all day long!

 

[Capstick1]

The foreend on my Auto Five cracked mainly from old age and heavy use at the trap range. I replaced the forend and my buttstock with a Carbellite stockset made by Bell and Carlson. It's black and looks ugly but I guarantee you this stock set will never need to be replaced unless you deliberately try to hit it with a sledgehammer. Even then it would be difficult to crack this material. I do think that model 11 would be worth buying. The Browning Auto Five and the Clones from Remington, and Savage are excellent shotguns. The one I have has a polychoke on the barrel. Some people find these a little ugly but I can use this gun for trap, skeet, and sporting clays. I don't have to carry 3 or 4 different choke tubes around with me and a choke wrench. All I got to do is turn the front adjustment collar with my hand. I wouldn't reccomend firing steel shot through the older Auto Fives though. I think the barrel steel is soft on these shotguns and it could damage the barrel. Use the Auto Five/Mod 11 for clay games and use the steel shot for the more modern choke tube barreled guns. Another thing about the Auto Five that you should be aware of is that it's recoil operated. Around the magazine tube are some friction rings and a heavy recoil spring. These rings need to be adjusted accordingly to the type of load you're using. If it's set up for 1 1/8 oz field loads and you fire some 1 1/4 oz heavy hunting loads through it you could damage some parts and/or have some feeding problems. This is an excellent shotgun. John Browning designed and released this shot gun in 1902. Browning kept this model in their catalogue for nearly 100 years before they stopped manufacturing it. The main reason it's no longer made is it simply is not well suited for mass production, expensive to manufacture, and it uses alot of gunscrews in the reciever. These screws require special screwdrivers to remove for repairs. If you try to use your ordinary flathead screwdriver from Sears you'll end up gouging the hell out of the screwheads. If you ever do have to do some major repairs on an auto five, the best thing to do is either ship it to Browning or take it to a professional gunsmith who knows how to work on the Auto Five or it's clones. The good thing about the Auto Five though is that they rarely have any reliability problems as long as they're well maintained and the friction rings are set properly. If the design of this shotgun was bad why would Browning wait almost 100 years to stop manufacturing it? $200.00 is worth it. Even if you have to get the reciever reblued.

 

[c-bag]

Thanks guys. I kind of knew when I saw the ad that this was a must get. you know that feeling, like when you see "pistol for sale was my husband's says Mark IV Series 70 on side with a pony drawing. will trade for yard work". that kind of thing.