Remington 1187 not cycling after most shots

M

mlk3454

New member
So ive had an 1187 as my main slug gun for about 10 years. This past season the area that i gunhunt has switched to allow rifles. So I bought a smooth bored barrel with chokes to use as a duck gun and several rounds of sporting clays a year instead of the nicer o/u seeing the bad weather. It worked great with the heavy loads through the light gun club reloads until this spring in which it got soaked during turkey hunting and hasnt cycled consistent since with any loads. I stripped and cleaned everything well and the oring is still intact. There is a spring that seems to go into the buttstock that has rust residue that comes into the action a bit but i cant seem to figure out how to remove it and soak/clean it. More often then not the bolt locks open after the first shot and the remaining rounds are not loaded. It still will cycle and load the second shell but only about 25% of the time now. Im not sure if the mag spring is going and not feeding the next round or if its the spring that goes rearward into the butttstock that is hurting the cycling and not allowing the action too fully move through the motions. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
A Rem 760 pump was put away wet. Action very sluggish. So owner traded it in. I soaked it with WD 40. Flushed out all the rust. Then oiled. Good as new after.
 
Check mag spring and follower for any rust, replace spring if any rust found. The action spring--behind the bolt---is reached by removing the buttplate to expose the stock nut. It can usually be removed with a very wide thick blade screwdriver, you want the driver to fit the slot so it doesn't slip out and damage the stock which is pretty thin there. A cross pin retains the spring, you must depress the spring slightly to remove the pin. Don't let it jump out. Again, if rusty, replace, and clean the tube. GW
 
11-87

Goatwskers is dead on!

Make certain the magazine tube and spring and follower are all free of all rust...completely.
The gasket ring is inexpensive (get it at any good hardware store...lots cheaper than Remington) . Don't forget the action bars, too. Good luck, it's a great gun.
 
Along with everything else already mentioned, ensure the gas ports (those little holes) in the barrel are clear. You can use something small such as a wire ~paperclip size or a small Allen wrench to clear out those holes, if needed.
 
This is what I'll try first. I haven't checked the mag spring yet but I know the action spring has rust. I'll order that part for sure. When I initially cleaned it after the hunt I removed the stock so I'm familiar with that process. What are some thoughts on cleaning the action spring tube? Flood it with WD-40?
 
I'll see what I can do to clean that tube. I do have some Rem Dry Lube that I can use on the new spring once it comes in. I had a few min tonight after working a 14 hour day to take a look at the mag spring and it looks fine with no rust. I dont think that was the problem after comparing that new look to the look of the rust/dust coming from the action spring/tube. I can't wait to get the spring in. I should have a few min to order that and some non-related parts tomorrow.
 
Just a follow up now that I have the 1187 up and running with several boxes and different ammos through it (3 Dram Federal game and target through Remington Hyper Steel at 1700 fps).

For anyone else that may go through something similar I looked into the Sure Cycle product and didn't choose to go with that as it was a much higher price vs the OEM items and it doesn't appear that there is a replacement spring that can be bought when it wears out.

That said, I did end up buying OEM: Action spring tube nut, action spring tube nut washer, action spring plug pin, action spring plug, and of course the action spring. I wish it would show this area as a routine maintenance area or at least a spot to check as the manual doesn't give you any info about this section other than the exploded parts list. So needless to say this is my duck gun and I make sure that the gun is cleaned and lubed and have never had a problem until what was described above with the failure to eject and/or cycle. Once I was enlightened to this area I was able to remove the items and the spring was covered in rust badly. It was so bad that at the bottom of the action tube there were chunks of rust caked all over it and the action tube plunger and pin had to be forceably removed. I got rid of the spring and tried to polish the other pieces but I wasn't happy with how they were so I ordered the items as noted above. I cleaned it all up as well as I could and swabbed the action tube (I wish it could be screwed on and off) to clean out the rust.

All that said after being put back together I shot a round of sporting clays with 3 dram loads with only 2 failures to cycle the next shot (not bad with no break in). I have since shot some goose loads with no issues what-so-ever. The action closes much more forceable now and action itself is more quiet. It will definitely be a more routine maintenance area for me and I look forward to more trouble free and enjoyable shooting experience now that I am aware of this once neglected area.
 
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