Remington 1100:Layout 1 - Clay Shooting USA

124 MYGUNthat he didn’t replace the springs,either. Nobody did ‘back in thosedays’.I found a credible internetaccount of an 1100 that lasted for aquarter-million shells, albeit with abit of nurturing. There is anexcellent ‘sticky’ post onwww.shotgunworld.com under the“I Love My Remington” thread,that offers a myriad of tips onkeeping the 1100 series up andrunning. One of the moreinteresting was the use of lightgrease to lube action parts ratherthan the liquids we commonly use.The grease gets credit for killingvibration in the gun. (By the way,grease works fine, even in coldweather – I used STOS andShooters Choice.) The informationon the thread comes fromRemington employees, gunsmithsand long-time Remington shooters.It’s well worth the read.Get a group of experiencedshooters together and ask them todescribe their idea of the perfectclays auto. I’ll bet 8 of 10 will list asteel receiver in their design plans.The 1100 is the only currentlyproduced auto that offers one.The 1100 receiver starts out as an8 1 /2 pound chunk of steel. Itends up 1.340 inches wide and2.370 inches high. That’s slimmerand trimmer than anything else atmy house that says 12 gauge on it.In fact, it’s slightly slimmer thanthe receiver on my 20 gauge 391 –that bit of research kinda’surprised me too!I noticed the slimness of thereceiver the first time I mountedthe gun. I’m a one-eyed shooterand was immediately aware of howmuch less gun there was ‘in theway’. Two-eyed shooters probablywouldn’t notice the difference sographically, but I sure did – and Iliked the expanded ‘field of view’.The receiver color isn’t quitesilver and I don’t know what to callit, but it’s a light color that doesn’tstand out when the gun is mounted.That’s another positive little touch.This 1100 trigger assembly willswap out with any other 1100trigger. It does have a nice touchadded over earlier models. Thebolt release, located on the shelllifter, is extended. This release hasto be depressed to load the gun.The shorter ones could be a bit ofa small target to find sometimes –but this new one makes the 1100incredibly easy and quick to load –One aspect of the 1100 worthmentioning is the ample partssupply, most quite reasonablypriced, available throughout mostof the country or on line.There’s also plenty of sparebarrels to be found at prices towarm the heart. I walked into thelocal gun shop and walked out witha 30" field barrel that had beenshot very little for $150. Barrelscan be found on the internetalmost daily for similar prices. Newbarrels are listed at the CountryI would like to see Remington focus someattention on the 1100 as a target gun.drop one in the chamber andshove the other in the tube withthe can’t miss extended release.There isn’t a simpler system.The trigger pull was like anyauto – less than stellar. I spentabout 15 minutes polishing partsand moved this trigger from thebasement to the first floor. There isstill room for improvement, but it’snow OK. The trigger is the samenarrow design that has been usedsince before Moses had to shave.It’s one area I feel would be quiteeasy to generate some designimprovement, something widerwith a more comfortable curve toit. At the very least, Remingtonshould explore Browning’s overunder approach of offering factorytrigger shoes. (Tyler still makestrigger shoes for the 1100.)Store at www.remington.com andare quite reasonably pricedcompared to some other models.The 1100’s gas system hasbeen surpassed – some will say it isoutdated, but show me anothercurrent shotgun that has been onthe market for 47 years? There’s athin line between an outdateddesign and a classic functionaldesign, as is witnessed by theModel 70 Winchester or a 1911Colt pistol. Both are designs thathave been superseded, but nobodydoubts their functionality. Thesimplicity that made the 1100 aninstant hit in 1963 is the samesimplicity that keeps it quietlycompetitive today.The maligned-in-sportingcircles1100 is still spoken of fondlyin trap shooting circles. I’ve seencomments alluding to thatfavorable opinion stemming fromtrap shooters only having to shootonce. However, my 6000 roundsthrough the 1100 haven’t shown anissue with second shot reliability.I’ve corresponded with another1100 Competition shooter who hasabout 40,000 rounds through his.He has had zero problems withcycling or parts and is still usingthe original O-ring. He chose the1100 because he liked the feelbetter than any other gun – andhas found no reason to change.My Wish ListIt’s no secret Remington hasstruggled to introduce a newmodel with market appeal. I wouldlike to see them focus someattention on the 1100 as a sportingtarget gun. Seems everyone inHollywood that has been around aslong as the 1100 is getting a facelift, so why not? Ratchet up thequality control and give it the newtrigger I mentioned. A true targetstock rather than a take off on thefield stock would be welcomed, aswould a shim system, redesignedgrip, added LOP and palm swell – areal target stock. With that, I can’tfind a reason why the 1100Competition couldn’t be acontender on the sporting field foryears to come. With the currenttrend towards light, lighter,lightest, the weight of the 1100 isgoing to keep it a soft shooter,always a welcome feature. Thesimplicity that made the 1100 aninstant hit in 1963 is the samesimplicity that can keep it quietlycompetitive for years to come.Simply put, the 1100Competition is a better gun thanwe thought and the 1100 designworthy of more respect than itgets. This gun is capable andcompetent – and red, white andblue through and through. ■CLAYSHOOTINGUSA