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I beg to differ on the A303. I owned owned bought new for several years and ordered with 3" barrel . It shot from 1 oz. thru 3" loads. Factory recommended 1 1/8 oz on the light end but it shot my 1 oz. reloads just fine. The Beretta 302 did require barrel swap. Now you could swap a 3" barrel to a 303 gun that had came thru with 2 3/4" barrel as in a target gun as the receivers were the same in them,
How often did you replace the recoil springs in these guns?

If a 3" barrel works with 2 3/4" 1oz loads, with no gas compensation system, that means your recoil spring is worn out or the barrel is going to be severely overgassed when you shoot actual 3" shells.
 
How often did you replace the recoil springs in these guns?

If a 3" barrel works with 2 3/4" 1oz loads, with no gas compensation system, that means your recoil spring is worn out or the barrel is going to be severely overgassed when you shoot actual 3" shells.
Well the a303 has a gas compensation system much the same as 390. They changed it a bit on 391. That system is about the same as current A300 Ultima.
 
Well the a303 has a gas compensation system much the same as 390. They changed it a bit on 391. That system is about the same as current A300 Ultima.
It doesn't though. I think you're getting the models confused.

This is a 303 barrel, no gas bleed holes, spring, or valve:

Image


This is a 390 barrel. Note the gas port holes in the front, THAT is the gas compensation system.

Image


This is an A300 barrel. The spring and valve system is similar to the 391 but it uses a A400 piston.

Image
 
Well I won,t debate barrels with you as I don,t have anything but the A300 available to me right now, but i can guarantee my A303 3" 12 gauge shot everything from 3" steel duck loads to my 1 oz. lead 7.5 reloads at 1225FPS and know it didn,t wear out springs. Old hunting buddy still uses his 3" A303 for everything from doves to ducks and has never replaced a spring. These guns used for hunting and the occasional round of clays. The point is the A303 is what prompted Remington to introduce 11-87 to allow their gun to compete with Beretta in 1987.
 
Old hunting buddy still uses his 3" A303 for everything from doves to ducks and has never replaced a spring.
That's my point, a worn out recoil spring will allow you to shoot light loads in a 3" gun, at the cost of pounding your receiver into submission with 3" shells.
 
The guns for 2 3/4 "only" obviously can't shoot 3" but reliably use any 2 3/4" shell.
Kind'a true... Per Remington you can put a 3" steel shot only barrel on a non-magnum 1100 receiver & shoot 3" steel shot out of it.

I edited this to add "steel shot only".
 
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Discussion starter · #148 ·
Some of us consider a steel receiver to be advantage and more desirable particularly in a skeet gun
 
If someone was just getting into shotgun shooting and were concerned about recoil, I would reference this recent short article from a publication that I have been reading most of my 78 years. I have an 1100 Sporting and Citori CX as my clays guns.
 
This whole debate is about "which is the best beer to drink?". The obvious answer is "the one that you like the best". Same with semi auto shotguns. I seldom if ever go hunting these days as 99% of my shooting is on the Trap and Skeet courses. I prefer a heaver gun because I believe that it improves my swing and the soft shooting characteristics that it brings. A hunting and field gun is a whole different animal. I really don't need that kind of animal anymore. Although the 1100 was introduced when I was only 13 years old, I have basically grown up with it and like an old pair of shoes, it brings a comfort that a new pair can't match. Drawbacks? I really can't think of any that are worthy of mention. My guns are extremely reliable, fit me to a "T" and get the job done on clay targets. The same goes for my 870s. Others may prefer a different gun. I do not. I have a set of 1100 Tournament Grade Skeet guns in all four bore sizes. All of the sub gauge guns have factory weights in the magazine and butt stock to make them weigh the same as the 12 gauge. I like that!!! They all shoot the same to me and that makes me happy. So this debate really comes down to what you like. An old gun design does not necessarily make it obsolete or inferior. The Remington Model 32 introduced in 1932 is basically the Krieghoff 80 of today. Arguably one of the best clays guns on the market. Check out how many of them you will see at the World Shoot in San Antonio.
 
The winning bid for that 1100, 12 ga. was $1,665 Remington 1100 Skeet B Model - Beautiful Wood / Penny Auction - Semi Auto Shotguns at GunBroker.com : 1008435238. It had 30 bids. Granted this was a particularly beautiful sample, but that's still a lot of dough for an outdated relic made of stamped parts, non-aluminum receiver, lacking shims or a magazine cutoff, and was never seriously upgraded since its introduction.

Maybe, just maybe, the 1100 still has a following?

Just sayin...

Viginti
It does and always will. There's a reason the old workhorse was still sold decades after the introduction of the 11-87.

See there are two types of 1100 people.
Those who dont/didn't understand it's limitations and those who understood the limitations but also knew it was a Clydesdale. An absolutely reliable work horse.
O-ring good and a wet mag tube the thing just works.
 
For a reasonable discussion of this often-asked, highly-pondered, loudly bragged-about question, let's take a step back from the usual gun club banter or advertising hyperbole. To start with, let's consider not just the stunt of a “torture test” that many manufacturers claim, all with predictably fabulous results. We will go straight to the source, a very good source of high-volume autoloading shotgun performance evaluation. Hayes and Hayes Outfitters is run by Alex and Zeke Hayes in Argentina. Please refer to H&H Outfitters | Best Dove Hunting Experience in Argentina . They have been at it for over eighteen years. Hayes & Hayes keeps over 150 rental guns on hand for clients that would rather avoid the hassle of bringing their own shotguns, although you are most welcome to.

Hayes & Hayes clients consume up to six million shotshells a year. When the subject matter turns to millions of rounds per year for eighteen years, it is a body of experience that cannot be easily dismissed. No manufacturer or individual can hope to compile this level of data, not even close. Millions of rounds fired, with clients averaging over 1200 rounds per day is the type of work-out that few shotguns will ever see. It makes that little “4000 round” torture test on a new model shotgun look puny and insignificant by comparison. So what is it that Hayes & Hayes has observed with this level of shooting activity over the years? Zeke Hayes has come up with the following direct quotes in times past about a few popular models.

Beretta 391: “Doesn't hold up as well as the 390 because the 391 pistons break."
Browning Gold: "It is the next in line after Beretta and Benelli for quality."
Remington 1100/11-87: "Some fanatics bring Remingtons, but they have to nurse them."

Most of the house guns are twenty gauges, the autoloaders of choice are Benelli Montefeltros and Beretta 390's. It isn't that even these guns are completely immune from any wear, as Hayes keeps replacement links on hand for their 390's and replacement inertia springs on hand for their Benelli's. Not everyone is going to agree with Zeke Hayes' finding that the most reliable autoloader is the Benelli followed by an obsolete Beretta 390, but that isn't the sole point.

The point is that very few individuals or companies in the world have equal experience to base their findings on than Zeke Hayes. A high-end, high-volume Argentina outfitter has more riding on the long-term performance of a shotgun than the fellow just shooting a couple of rounds of skeet per week. Jamming and broken guns give clients headaches, the outfitter as well, and keeping guns running is part of the cost of operating high-volume hunts.
 
I shot doves as a guest of H&H a few years ago and indeed, my rental gun was a Montefeltro 20, as were all the rental guns. At the end of the day the bird boys would disassemble the guns for cleaning in a kerosene bath combining all the parts from all the guns. Then they would reassemble the guns for the next day. I was told that the guns were used for 4-5 years before they were sold and replaced. Pretty good track record if you ask me.
 
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For a reasonable discussion of this often-asked, highly-pondered, loudly bragged-about question, let's take a step back from the usual gun club banter or advertising hyperbole. To start with, let's consider not just the stunt of a “torture test” that many manufacturers claim, all with predictably fabulous results. We will go straight to the source, a very good source of high-volume autoloading shotgun performance evaluation. Hayes and Hayes Outfitters is run by Alex and Zeke Hayes in Argentina. Please refer to H&H Outfitters | Best Dove Hunting Experience in Argentina . They have been at it for over eighteen years. Hayes & Hayes keeps over 150 rental guns on hand for clients that would rather avoid the hassle of bringing their own shotguns, although you are most welcome to.

Hayes & Hayes clients consume up to six million shotshells a year. When the subject matter turns to millions of rounds per year for eighteen years, it is a body of experience that cannot be easily dismissed. No manufacturer or individual can hope to compile this level of data, not even close. Millions of rounds fired, with clients averaging over 1200 rounds per day is the type of work-out that few shotguns will ever see. It makes that little “4000 round” torture test on a new model shotgun look puny and insignificant by comparison. So what is it that Hayes & Hayes has observed with this level of shooting activity over the years? Zeke Hayes has come up with the following direct quotes in times past about a few popular models.

Beretta 391: “Doesn't hold up as well as the 390 because the 391 pistons break."
Browning Gold: "It is the next in line after Beretta and Benelli for quality."
Remington 1100/11-87: "Some fanatics bring Remingtons, but they have to nurse them."

Most of the house guns are twenty gauges, the autoloaders of choice are Benelli Montefeltros and Beretta 390's. It isn't that even these guns are completely immune from any wear, as Hayes keeps replacement links on hand for their 390's and replacement inertia springs on hand for their Benelli's. Not everyone is going to agree with Zeke Hayes' finding that the most reliable autoloader is the Benelli followed by an obsolete Beretta 390, but that isn't the sole point.

The point is that very few individuals or companies in the world have equal experience to base their findings on than Zeke Hayes. A high-end, high-volume Argentina outfitter has more riding on the long-term performance of a shotgun than the fellow just shooting a couple of rounds of skeet per week. Jamming and broken guns give clients headaches, the outfitter as well, and keeping guns running is part of the cost of operating high-volume hunts.
Randy is right in the ultimate test for a gun is Argentina dove hunting.
I took a 390 20 ga one year. Awesome gun. Almost no recoil. Never should have sold it😥
 
Yes, it was, and designed to be just that in 1962, introduced in 1963, and clearly promoted as such: The Model 1100 can fire any 2+3⁄4-inch (7.0 cm) shell without adjustment in the standard models, and both 2+3⁄4 and 3-inch (7.6 cm) Magnum shells can be used interchangeably on the Magnum versions.

A quail gun and a goose gun in one defines versatility.


View attachment 91434
Now you move the goal posts.

Good lord please follow along. I mean it's actually posted many times in this very thread....by me...without any Google reference or any days ago advertisements.

I'm telling ya you'll just keep bidding in an auction against yourself.

For the umpteenth time the 1100 is two ways.
The 1100 2 3/4 gun that will cycle any 2 3/4 load.
The 1100 3" that will cycle 3" and 2 3/4" shells but NOT ALL 2 3/4". 2 3/4 hi-brass and or hi-power loads. The 1100 3" version does NOT like lite 2 3/4 loads.

It's NOT versatile.

I've covered this many, many times.

The 11-87 was introduced in 1987 to be that very "versatile" shotgun.
Was it? It was "supposed to be" the shotgun to shoot ANY or EVERY 2 3/4 shell along with any 3" shell.

In REALITY some did and some did not. It was supposed to but not always.

The 1100 without change or modification is not versatile. It's "CAPABLE" if one does this or that (like changing a bbl) but it's not an out of the box untouched shoot everything shotgun.

The 11-87 was the attempted answer but Remington was smart in keeping the 1100 alive because it did within it's parameters extremely well.
Again I'd put it up against any gas gun made for reliability. Good o-ring and a wet mag tube it's simply going to work.

In 1991 Benelli introduced the SBE and that was truly the first real "versatile" semi-auto-shotgun. At least to that point the most "versatile" shotgun made. Cycling without hiccup the widest range of shell offerings all in a semi. Not a gas gun but at the time it could handle the widest range of shells of any semi.
 
Discussion starter · #158 ·
The real virtue of the 1100 series is not that it doesn't eat parts; it does, but those parts (until the bankruptcy) were ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive. Also, the lack of innovation of the original model has an unintended benefit: uniformity of parts and interchangeability. Most of the recently made parts will fit 1100s made in the 60s!

Besides that the gun is extremely serviceable and correctible if problems arise. Most repairs can be handled by the owner with just a few tools. Jerry Kuhnhausen's classic manual on the 1100 & 870 can equip anyone with rudimentary mechanical skills to such a degree that their gun will never have to pay a visit to the gunsmith. Rarely does the 1100 series show a catastrophic failure such as a cracked receiver, detached magazine tube, or broken interceptor latch stud.

The Mossbergs, Weatherbys, Berettas, etc. are fine guns, but how long will their parts be available, especially since they tend to come out with new iterations periodically?
 
but those parts (until the bankruptcy) were ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive
If you compare current market price for Rem 1100 parts to their closest competitor analog part Rem parts are STILL quite a bit cheaper.

EX A complete bolt and action bar assy for a 1100 will run you somewhere around $150-$200, a complete bolt and action bar assy for a A400 is in the $500-700 range. A trigger assy for a 1100 is around $100, a trigger assy for a A400 is more than 2x that. A barrel for a 1100 is $200-300, for a A400 is $700.

Fun fact: The 1100 will work just fine with the interceptor latch and/or it's stud completely removed, it just limits you to one shell in the mag at a time. It is not a terrible idea, on a clay target gun, to simply remove the latch, as that's one less thing to cause a malfunction, that spring being one of the weaker components of the gun.
 
I contacted Remarms by email. This is what I wrote.

"Still wondering when you will start producing the iconic 1100 shotgun. It is still highly in demand. I would love to see them being made again."

This was their response.

"We plan on offering them this fall. Thank you!"

Viginti.
I have a V3 & an 1100. Love them both. Between the two I'll choose the 1100 👍
 
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