I recently bought a Remington 11-48 - and I have three questions for those 'in the know'

First - I have seen the date chart for dating Remington firearms by their barrel date codes. My question is - Is that chart a 'rule of thumb'? Or is it gospel? My 11-48 has what looks like a P UU but it may be a B UU on the left side of the barrel

It certainly isn't a WW code
The SN on the barrel and the SN on the receiver match too.
I decided to contact Remington and they said that the date of manufacture for my 11-48 was 1950. Do I believe the chart, or Robin from Remington.

Second - did the early 11-48's come with the Model 11's 'Light load - Heavy load' friction ring, as opposed to the self adjusting one? Mine has the light/heavy ring and I suspect that someone has swapped out the original friction system.

Lastly - the barrel is marked 'FULL' but it is equipped with an adjustable polychoke. Is that aftermarket? Or did some 11-48's come with a polychoke?

Sorry for all the questions, but I can't find a lot of information around on this one.

Hi all - no reply yet, so I thought I'd share some photos

This is the recoil system with the handguard removed
It is not the same as the self-adjusting friction ring with the felt wipe that does not need to be turned around for heavy and light loads.



Here it is with the barrel removed -

This is the actual friction ring. It is a brass split ring that fits into a recess in the barrel lug -

Then is has something that looks like a 'cap' for the top of the recoil spring

So - that was I think it works is that the barrel begins to recoil. The brass split friction ring is begins to get squeezed by the bevel in the 'heavy/light' ring. Each side is beveled.

For light loads, the bevel is short and sharp



For heavy loads the bevel is shallow and allows the ring to really get squeezed, slowing down the barrel.



This recoil system does not look like the Model 11, and it does not look like those I see advertized as being for the 11-48. But my shotgun is certainly a 11-48

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The Remington Date Code, stamped into the barrel, indicates that the barrel was definitely made in 1949 - June 1949 if the 1st letter is a "P", January 1949 if the 1st letter is a "B".

FWIW, your shotgun's governor ring setup looks exactly like the one on my 1955 Model 11-48.

They function best with a light film of oil on the outside of the magazine tube..................................



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Hey - thanks for the reply.

Strange that the date code indicates 1949 and Remington says the shotgun dates to 1950 ... I wonder if the date of manufacture was 1949, and it wasn't sold until 1950?!?

Or is it possible they made the barrel, and made the receiver the next year?!? (and they are stamped with the same SN?)

Strange indeed

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FWIW, I've read reports from several different folks, who've gotten erroneous DOM info from the Remington Customer Service Dept in the past 6-7 months, so I'd trust what's written in stone (steel) before what some newbie or part-timer that probably couldn't wait to get their coffee break has to say.



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Guns and barrels having different "dates" isn't that unusual, but Crisco is 100% right about Remington's accuracy. If the barrel has a choke marking and a choke device, the device was installed aftermarket.

Range report -
I went to the range yesterday to shoot the 'new' shogun on the skeet field. Unfortunately, due to recent storms, there was no power.

Luckily, I had brought three different types of shell with me. I took
Federal Target and Field, 2 3/4", 3 Dram Equiv, 1 1/8 oz, 1200 fps, #8
Federal Target, 2 3/4", 2 3/4" Dram Equiv, 1 1/8 oz, 1145 fps, #8
Winchester AA Low Recoil, 2 3/4", Min Dram Equiv, 1 1/8 oz, 980 fps #8

The shotgun recoil friction ring set-up was configured for "Heavy Loads" and it functioned perfectly with both of the Federal loads. It did not cycle the Win shells.
Just for the heck of it, I flipped the ring over and tried the Win again and still no joy.
The bottom of the low recoil loads box does indicate that the loads are designed for doubles or pumps and will not function a semi auto - but I wanted to try, because they are probably referring to gas operated semi-autos ... and I was hoping the light load setting might work out - but no luck.

In reference to the date of the shotgun, since the SN on the barrel and the receiver match, and the date code is a clear 1949, I am inclined to believe that. Either way, 1949 - 1950 ... it is still a C&R - it isn't like it is borderline ... So that's cool. I think it is a 1st year production.


Now I am really hoping that AEP can restore power to the area (there are still tens of thousands without power in this area of Virginia) sometime this week and I can shoot a couple rounds of skeet next weekend.

I was able to shoot a few rounds of skeet yesterday and did about the same as I do with my Browning. I'm not a 25-straight shooter, but I do have fun! 18,19,18 (low 20s usually make me really happy - never shot the hat yet)

I had two gun malfunctions, one was a failure to fully eject the shell before the bolt started coming back with the next shell, stove-piping the empty. The second was a feeding problem, the shell caught the edge of the chamber and dug into the plastic of the hull.

All-in-all not a bad day, but then again, even the worst day on the skeet field still beats the best day at work.

I recently inherited a 1949 Remington Model 11-48 12 gauge and need some help assembling the recoil system. The parts you describe sound exactly like my gun but I’m not able to view the pictures you posted. Do you mind sharing the original pictures from this thread again?

Just FYI... IF you happen to have a .410 model, it did not use the friction ring. And I have an electronic copy of the 1148 manual if someone wants one. Just PM me an email to send it.

Given the fact that this thread was created almost 7 years ago, and the OP hasn't been back to this site in almost 7 years, I doubt you're going to even get a response.

Maybe he will get lucky

Yeah, I knew it was a long shot but having trouble finding any information. Attached is what I’ve got. I’m just looking for confirmation that I have it assembled correctly and that I’m not missing anything.

My 11-48s have the compensated spring setup - that looks more like the setup from a Model 11. But your gun is a few years earlier than mine.

The thing that's clearly missing is the friction ring - that might still be in the barrel lug. I would think those would do it (basically covering the ends of the spring) but I can't say for certain.

There is a ring in the barrel lug that appears to stay there. See images below. This is how I assume it goes together.

This is for a browning A-5, but the setup is identical to an 11-48

Milk, I’m a little late to the discussion, and just created an account here (it won’t let me send PM’s yet), but I’d love a copy of that 11-48 manual u mentioned!