The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - 11-87 op handle problems

RsqVet · September 30, 2012, 10:52 AM

OK so we were shooting a brand new 11-87 police and after the first 5 or 6 rounds look down and the op handle has exited the weapon.

I am rather surprised by this as it seemed firmly in place prior to shooting, I know from other 1100 / 11-87 guns I have worked on that getting it out is more often than not a pain in the rear. Gun has not been taken down to the point of bolt removal since new, gave the operating system a light oiling and that's all.

Looking around I managed to find it on the op handle on the ground though we called it a day shooting the 11-87 until I could look at it closer on a workbench.

Looking at the bolt of the gun the ball detent that holds, or should hold the op handle is located on the butt end of the channel in the bolt of the gun. Looking at the op handle the detents that are milled into it to engage with a ball detent are all on muzzle facing side of the op handle. So basically it was never really locked into the gun, just a tight fit and seemed locked in but recoil proved that wrong.

So is there a gun they make that this would be the right op handle for or did they just make the whole thing wrong? Not very happy to have had this happen on a high dollar gun. What do you guys think? Send the whole gun back? Or just put an aftermarket op handle on it which I had planned to do anyway and call it a day?

September 30, 2012, 10:52 AM	#1
RsqVet Senior Member Join Date: February 20, 2005 Posts: 2,474	11-87 op handle problems OK so we were shooting a brand new 11-87 police and after the first 5 or 6 rounds look down and the op handle has exited the weapon. I am rather surprised by this as it seemed firmly in place prior to shooting, I know from other 1100 / 11-87 guns I have worked on that getting it out is more often than not a pain in the rear. Gun has not been taken down to the point of bolt removal since new, gave the operating system a light oiling and that's all. Looking around I managed to find it on the op handle on the ground though we called it a day shooting the 11-87 until I could look at it closer on a workbench. Looking at the bolt of the gun the ball detent that holds, or should hold the op handle is located on the butt end of the channel in the bolt of the gun. Looking at the op handle the detents that are milled into it to engage with a ball detent are all on muzzle facing side of the op handle. So basically it was never really locked into the gun, just a tight fit and seemed locked in but recoil proved that wrong. So is there a gun they make that this would be the right op handle for or did they just make the whole thing wrong? Not very happy to have had this happen on a high dollar gun. What do you guys think? Send the whole gun back? Or just put an aftermarket op handle on it which I had planned to do anyway and call it a day?