Shooting the Rem 1100 without the bolt handle

[Ricky B]

I showed up at the trap field one day without the bolt handle (or operating handle, as Remington calls it) on my Rem 1100 (forgot to reinstall it, and it was on the bench back home). It seemed to me that I should be able to shoot it without danger of gun malfunction once I retracted the bolt (easy to do by pulling on the action bar sleeve with the fore-end removed) and dropped in a shell. After the first shot, the bolt would lock open, allowing subsequent shots by dropping in a shell and pressing the carrier release. It seems to me that all the bolt handle does is allow you to retract the bolt and therefore its absence would not otherwise affect the operation of the gun, but since I wasn't sure, I passed on shooting that day.

What say the experts here? Can you safely shoot the 1100 with the bolt handle removed? By safely, I mean without danger to the gun or shooter. I realize that if I had to remove a shell from the chamber because the puller had to go the trap house to refill the machine, it would have been awkward (and probably none too safe) removing the the fore-end and working the action bar sleeve manually while a live shell was chambered.

TIA

--Rick

 

[kudu]

You have prety much answered your own question. It will shoot fine, but there is the safety issue if you have to unload.

 

[Hotbarrel]

A friend of mine has an old 1100 with a busted detent for the handle. He went through three spares, all lost in the field, before giving up. Now he carries a flathead screwdriver and uses it as a handle. For all the crap I've given him about it, he still won't explain why he's too cheap to have the detent fixed.