Howdy,

My dad bought me a Remington 1100 magnum, full fixed choke, VR barrel when I was 12. It was and is a very nice gun that I almost never shoot because it doesn't eject standard clay loads reliably and a 3-inch mag full is a little overkill for grouse and pheasant (which is the only hunting I do on occasion).

I installed an EZ loader and plastic furniture and a choate+5 extension, and bought a 28" (I think) 2 3/4" chambered barrel (plain/bead) to try to use it in 3-gun (I usually use my Mossberg 590 marinecote) and I've had sort of mixed results.

The barrel/mag tube clamp appears to have moved the POI pretty significantly down and to the right. With the 2 3/4" barrel and no mag extension/clamp installed, it hits center with the pattern maybe 60% above the bead, which is fine with me. Even 100% would be fine. But below the bead is not preferred for me and definitely not to the right.

I have been trying to keep to a very tight budget on this, so I'm reluctant to buy another barrel (though I vastly prefer VR barrels)... so LMK your thoughts on:

1. Should I have the barrel cut/chokes installed to 22-24" so the extension is longer than the barrel (to protect the muzzle when dumping the gun during a match)?
2. Would this mitigate/improve the POI shift do you think?
3. Is it wise/possible to run a +5 extension without a barrel support clamp?
4. Should I give up on this misguided project?

Are you sure you are using the correct mag clamp? Sounds like it putting to much pressure on top

It's the one that it came with... and I've tried flipping it over with the same result.

Remington has at least two differant sizes of clamps. Using the wrong one will either pull the barrel and mag tube together, or push them apart. Yours my be pulling them closer together.

Hmmm. It came with the Choate mag extension. Maybe I'll try to source a remington one. Are the universal as far as which mag tube you can use with them? Thanks for the ideas and help.

I started doing some 3 gun a while back and was told not to use a clamp at all if possible. The theory was that if you take it off for cleaning and then put it back on you can never get it tightened exactly the same way. This changes the harmonics of the barrel (the way it vibrates) and will shift the point of impact a little when shooting slugs. Sort of the same theory as free floating a rifle barrel.

I’m concerned about that longish 5-round extension flopping around full of ammo up there. Maybe it’ll be okay.

I haven’t used Choate extensions, but I’ve dumped Nordic extensions in barrels plenty of times with no clamp without a hint of a problem.

That’s good to hear. I assume your extensions are longer than your barrels? My barrel is currently longer than the extension. I guess I could have it cut/threaded for chokes.