Finally got the new Rem. 11-87 out to the range over the weekend.
To put in context, this is only my second ever shotgun – and my very first semi-auto – being preceded during the past 4 years solely by a Rem. 870 pump. I’ve been wanting something gas-operated to take the slam off my now 50-year-old shoulder, and also with interchangeable chokes (the 870 is a fixed IC) to let me tailor patterning to meet the demands of my local 3-gun matches.
Well the 11-87 felt good in handling, patterned better than the 870, and functioned flawlessly with everything on the heavy side: 9-ball double-ought buck, 1-5/8 oz. #6 turkey loads, and 1 oz. slugs. It would not, however, cycle with anything lighter. In my case this was #7.5 in 1-1/8 to 1-1/4 oz. field loads – not really “light” by my thinking but more mid-weight. So, I felt some dismay.
Got home to call the person who sold me the gun from one of our local dealers. He said I need to shoot some more of the heavy loads (I had shot a couple dozen rounds so far) to get the action to “loosen up” before it would cycle anything lighter.
I’ve known this individual for some time and believe him to be knowledgable and honest. Still am wondering though, and this being my first semi-auto I don’t have any prior experience to provide a perspective. I know the SA guns as a group have “issues” that the pumps are free of, but I’m still surprized this 11-87 won’t yet handle oz.+ field loads.
You’ve encountered what, in my experience, has always been the potential shortcoming of semi-auto shotguns; limited ammo selection.
Your “friend”, may be right, and it will probably loosen up a bit with more of the full-house loads as moving parts seat into their various channels and springs and such get an initial workout, but I wouldn’t expect to get too huge of a change.
That’s been my experience. Some will be close enough to threshold that they can be worn-in a bit and work better. Gas scatterguns are hit and miss.
Blackscot- There are a number of folks that can tweak your gas system to work with the light stuff. I believe we discussed the mods and vendors in another thread here about a year ago.
In my experience, running a couple hundred rounds of full power ammo through it will help with break in.
It hasn’t proven necessary on my 11-87P, but several shooters have told me that they run two rubber O-rings in order to get their 11-87’s to cycle with lighter loads.
I think I saw an off-hand reference to that on the earlier thread.
Another O-ring thought: this gun is new, but it sat in the store unsold for 5 years. Could the O-ring be just old from that? Stiff, stretched, whatever?
At any rate, I’m definately going to get some replacement O-rings ASAP and try that route next.
The O-ring could absolutely be degraded. I had a Benelli M3 that sat in the store where I worked for years, and I got it for below cost because of it. When I got it home and took it apart there were a couple (IIRC, this has been nearly 10 years ago) of o-rings in the action that needed replaced.
I bought an 11-87 that sat idle about 10 years as well. I cleaned it up without breaking it down and took it to the range a few months ago, shooting some Federal low recoil slugs and some Wolf 00. The gun was accurate with both but damn did that Wolf ammo buck like hell! I thought “Man I’m out of shape”, but after totally disassembling and cleaning the thing afterwards, I found the O ring was pretty degraded. I replaced it and shot it again and man what a difference!
O-rings in 11-87’s and 1100’s are definately a high wear items, but honestly, in my experience I’ve seen more lost, torn or damaged than I have just “worn out” or degraded from age. Some solvents seem to eat them.
i also have an 11-87p, i bought it new two years ago. and have never fired it. is there anything maintenance wise that i should do before i take it to the range? also since it is the ‘‘p’’ model, full power loads are what the gun is set up for, right/wrong? thanks. Don…
My 11-87 was worked well out of the box with loads as light as 1 oz.
However, it is a model with a 26" vent rib Rem-choke barrel.
It’s my understanding (someone with more knowledge please chime in) that the short varrels (deer or defense barrels) have larger gas port optimized for heavy loads, and won’t be as reliable with light field loads.
:rolleyes: thanks DrMark, i always user 7/8 ''3 sluggers, ‘‘ouch’’, i bought 8 cases for a good price sometime back, so i hope luck is with me and i picked an 11-87p assembled on a good day. D…
I bought an 11-87 for my first trip to Alaska many years ago. I bought it shortly before leaving and had few rounds thru it, with no problems.
When I go there and it was time to duck hunt, I would get light primer strikes on the 3" Magnum #2 steel shot shells. Everyone in camp took it apart and no one could get it to work.
I ended up having to use a Sears semi auto shotgun that would not cycle and we had to lube it with outboard motor (2 cycle?) oil. Did some nice duck hunting despite the gun issues. Lesson learned was never take a non broken in gun on an expensive trip.
Now over ten years later, I have never had another problem with that gun even with light #8 trap and skeet loads. I took it back to the store when I returned, they would not tell me what they did to it and only said it was fixed.I still don’t know what the problem was to this day. I have heard of other guys who had the same light primer strike problem.
I keep extra O rings on hand these days. Good luck with your gun.
It’s been my experience 200 rounds is to be considered a minimum break in on 11-87’s. This is especially true with 11-87 Special Purpose(3.5") guns, when trying to use light loads. I duck hunt alot, and have seen almost every brand of semi-auto shotgun choke. In my experience, the 1100/1187 is a reliable shotgun once broken in. Overall, I think the 1100 is a better gun for lighter loads, IMO and experience. Also, pumps may be a more reliable action, but I’ve seen many a short stroke once people get excited.
Welp, I got a few replacementment O-rings, but still no-go with the #7.5 1-1/8 oz. loads. Also tried the doubled-up O-rings config, which did increase pressure enough to move the bolt partway back, but not enough to eject the spent shell and feed the next.
The guy I bought the gun from said “a couple more boxes” of heavy loads were needed. So along with the O-rings, I also picked up 60 rounds of turkey loads, which will get me through the next 3-gun match at the end of the month (if the shoulder holds up! ). I’ll then see if the gun has loosened up any.
The idea behind getting a gas-op though, was to lessen the abuse the pump was giving me. That logic doesn’t really hold if the SA will only eat buckshot, slugs, and turkey loads. I’m not really keen on the propsect of having to digest 200-500 rounds of heavy stuff before the gun might handle something lighter.
I failed to include earlier that this is a 21-inch rifle-sighted rem-choke (interchangeable) barrel. Someone mentioned to me awhile back that I might want a longer barrel for competition. Not having an experienced perspective, it didn’t occur to me to ask if that had anything to do with gas impulse and cycling. Oh well – this is how we learn. So another possible option would be a barrel switch-out.
Or – I could just return to the 870 and have the muzzle threaded to accept interchangeable chokes and get the tighter patterning I need. I’d heard of someone local who could do that for ~$100. I know the pump will feed everything. One thing for-sure: it’s not getting sold until when/if the SA situation gets resolved.
Thanks for all the interest and replies folks. I may update here later if there’s anything to report.
