11-87 feeding and firing problems

P

powderific

New member
Hello everyone,

My one and only shotgun is a Remington 11-87, and lately it has been rather naughty. I shoot trap with it once a week, and recently i have been experiancing some rather annoying problems.

The problems are for the most part feeding/ejecting problems. Often when I shoot doubles, it will fire the first round, but then the bolt will hold open and it will not chamber the second round.

I have always had stovepiping problems with it as well, last fall when I shot a sporting clays course thingy, I had numerous stovepipes that made shooting rather difficult at times. I haven't had many problems with this while shooting doubles before, but recently it has become a very common occurance.

The third problem, which concerns me the most, is that a twice during doubles the last time I went shooting, the second round chambered all right, but i could not pull the trigger. It was as though the safety was on, but it wasn't.

I'm curiouse as to what you folks think it might be? I keep my shotgun clean, and the gas ring is almost new, although I think I will change it soon anyway. Is there a major proble with my shotgun? Or is it something that i could probably fix with just a little work?

Thanks in advance
 
:rolleyes: What sort of traploads are you using ? Too light a load may be causing it to short stroke, not cycling all the way.

Have you cleaned the gun ? How about the gas port holes? They need to be cleaned out occasionaly with solvent and a pipe cleaner, or a proper sized drill bit that fits the hole, to remove the carbon, and allow the proper amount of gas to operate the action.

Check to see if the bolt lock is dragging badly on the barrel extension, as this can be slowing down the action, also. Polish/debur this area if heavy drag marks show. Look for burs, or a bent action bar/bolt carrier that doesn't travel smoothly.

The gas ring on the barrel needs to be cleaned/decarbed every so often, as well as the piston, and piston seal. The rubber o ring barrel seal could be worn out even though it may look OK. A very light amount of lube on the moving parts is also necessary occasionaly. Also check your chamber for rust/crud buildup, which could be retarding the operation of the system. Clean out the action with Gun Scrubber/brake cleaner type solvent to flush out debris. Hope you solve the problem. Joe :D
 
The loads im using definately are not light loads, so it's not that.

Hmm, gas port holes, I think that they may be the culprit. I hate to admit it, but I hadn't considered that possibility :o

I think I'll stip it all the way down to give it as good a cleaning as i possibly can and check for any binding.

Thanks again gunsmither, I feel like such an idiot for not checking the gas ports :o :rolleyes: :D
 
it could be a broken op rod.

Whenever one of my guns stops working for some reason, I generally field strip it and look at everything to see if there are obvious broken parts. I don't own an 1100 or 11-87 personally, but I've heard that they break op rods.
 
The 11-87 does not have an op rod in the traditional sense. It has action bars. Check the little sheet metal clip on the action bars, if this clip is broken or gone the bars will flex and bind. This is a fairly common failure on the 11-87.

If the bolt is locking back it is not short-cycling. Take the trigger group out and hose it out with a can of electric contact cleaner that you VERIFY is plastic safe. Also hose out the recesses behind the shell stops in the side of the reciever after soaking them in penetrating oil for a half hour. The gun not firing when it did load the second shell is either a case of the bolt not in battery or a problem in the trigger group.

More than likely the problem is grime in the trigger group, or worn parts. You do not mention how many rounds have been shot with this gun.

I have been down the 11-87 trail before, if you need more info let me know.
 
Hey Powderific,

I have had an 11-87 for about ten years or more now, and my general practice has been to shoot the gun until it stops functioning. Generally, I find that after I shoot about twenty to twenty five boxes of my reloads, my 11-87 will start to mal function. When I take it apart to clean it, it looks absolutely awful in the gas operation ports and tube. Since I only use it for clay bird use, the action never really gets that dirty, but the op tube has baked on grime which I spend a half hour or so cleaning with any regular cleaner. Once finished, it is all nice and shiney again, and I put it back together and go shoot it till it stops again. So far, I have never had to replace any parts - including the rubber seal. I like my 11-87 a whole bunch.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile
 
Thanks everyone,

I took apart my shotgun and cleaned it VERY well, got the internals all nice and shiney. Changed the gas ring, cleaned the gas port holes, and anything else I could think of. I think that I'm good to go now, I won't get to shoot again till this fall when I shoot a little sporting clays, so hopefully it will funtion well then. Thanks again :D
 
Wups, missed your post HSMITH,

What parts in the trigger group are plastic? I don't remember seeing any :confused:

The shotgun is about 14 years old, it was my grandfather's. I don't know how many rounds were put through it before I got it, but since I have had it i've been shooting about 75 shells a week during summer when I'm off from school, with a little in the winter. So I've maybe put 2000 rounds through it all together. My grandpa only hunted with it really, so I assume it hadn't been shot very much before I got it.

All in all, I don't think that the shotgun has really been used that heavily. The trigger group was awful grimy when I cleaned it though, so perhaps that was the problem. Thanks again!
 
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