BigJim, you're wrong on this one. When the 1100 was introduced it ran everything else off the Skeet ranges faster than anyone would have believed possible. An unreliable gun would never have done that. It totally dominated until the O/Us got popular. I have had an 1100 since 1963, it has over 115,000 rounds thru it, it won league high average in Skeet in 1964, and it still runs like a finely tuned machine. I have had 12 others thru the years, still have five, and have probably shot hundreds and worked on hundreds. I have personally had one (1) extractor fail in all that time. There is not a more reliable semi auto made. I don't care if you are a worshipper of newer fancier designs with more bells and whistles and catchier foreign names, but don't tell me about an 1100. Yes, there are "newer" designs - some keep changing every few years just for marketing. In my opinion Beretta peaked with the 390, but you can't sell guns to the guys who just have to have the newest betterest thing out there unless you have a brand new design all the time. It does work to make money. I am not saying Beretta doesn't build a good gun too; I am saying I don't see where they are a bit better for most users, just different. Yes there are gas systems that will run cleaner/longer, although I have never had an 1100 stop on me even running filthy Blue Dot reloads, and yes there are lighter designs that use aluminum instead of steel, and yes there are designs with adjustable this and that, but to me not one bit of that makes them "better". There are guns now that will shoot anything from 2-3/4" thru 3-1/2". Great innovation if you only have one gun, but I take the gun I need with me out the door. Nowdays that's a 3" 12 gauge for waterfowl and usually a 20 gauge for anything else. Are there different guns;yes. I have owned all of them - except an inertia gun, and they have all come and gone.
The original 20 gauge 1100s were built on the 12 ga size receiver. In 1970 they introduced the LW20 on the 28 ga sized receiver. In 1977 they changed the design slightly to the LT20. Some target shooters still prefer the originals for the extra weight, but in my opinion the LT20 is such a joy to shoot and the steel action sleeve on an 1100 soaks up peak recoil forces so well I would much prefer one of those. And parts are growing scarcer for the originals after 35+ years out of production.
The new 1100 Sportings are designed to function with light loads. They do have an admonition on the barrel about using heavy loads. IMO those Light/Target Contour barrels handle as well as the old fixed choke barrels. If I needed a new gun to shoot targets with I would get one, but none of mine are close to worn out yet.