[BigJimP]

We all have to go with our gut instincts....( and "Fit" ) when it comes to shotguns....

If you don't feel good about the 11-87's ....then don't go down that path.
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But in all shotguns....there are shooters, guys like me and most of my buddies, that clean and inspect their guns, after every range trip - whether we shoot 50 shells or 250 shells /it doesn't matter. So we prevent a lot of issues from coming up with our guns - because we spot worn parts and cut down on wear by keeping guns clean and properly lubed all the time. There are guys at my clays club that shoot semi-autos....that only clean their shotguns once a year/regardless of whether they have cycling issues or not....guys that have never taken the stock off an O/U to inspect their firing pins, etc inside an O/U in 10 yrs..../ where guys like me take all of our O/U stocks apart at least every 6 months ( make sure there is no crud in there, etc )....

Remington 1100's and 11-87's ....require some maintenance in my opinion. If I were shooting a 200 bird tournament...I'd clean it at lunch time after 100 targets...before I went out in the afternoon -- just to be sure, with any semi-auto / but especially these older technology models. But if I shoot my Benelli in a full day tournament ...I'd do the same thing / because its my nature ...where I wouldn't do that with my primary O/U's because a few hundred shells is truly insignificant.../ almost nothing can go wrong with an O/U.

One guy we shoot with, good guy, but not very careful with his equipment - that repeatedly had failure to feed / failure to fire issues on his Beretta semi-auto. I finally told him to come by my house...and we'd take the Beretta apart to clean and inspect it ....( I'd never seen such a mess inside a gun in my life !! ) it took me an hour to clean that thing....and despite a few of us telling him to pull his bolt from the gun / and remove and inspect his firing pin and the firing pin spring...he never did do it. Once I got the gun clean - it took me 30 sec to get the bolt apart and remove the firing pin and spring ...and sure enough, the firing pin spring was broken. he went to a local shop - bought a new spring, and firing pin....we installed both later that day.....and its been 6 months, he hasn't had a FTF since....but he also hasn't cleaned the gun since either ( and he shoots about 200 shells a week )...

Buying a used gun from him ....or him saying Beretta's are not reliable --- would make no sense..../ but he wants to buy a Benelli or an O/U ...because it'll be less maintenance...( and he does no maintenance now ...???) ...

So take what you hear...with some caution..../ don't believe everything I or anyone else tells you as gospel ...maybe my experience with Benelli's is comparable with other guys - who knows ( I probably have about 25,000 shells thru my Benelli Super sport 12ga ...its about 8 yrs old now )...and I don't shoot it every week...where I probably have 150,000 shells thru my Browning Citori XS Skeet model 12ga...which is my primary gun - during that same time frame. No issues with either gun....and while I think my experience is typical based on what I hear from other shooters...maybe its just the circle I run in.

I know its petty ....but since most of my buddy's and I reload....none of us shoot semi-auots...because we don't want to pick up our hulls from all over the ground. We also don't want to give up our O/U's ...because we like the swing characteristics better, the look and feel of our O/U's - and the fact that we can have 2 different chokes in the guns for sporting clays and because we think our O/U's are more durable ( less moving parts ) no cyclining issues in a tournament, etc.

I don't shoot that much anymore....no tournaments to speak of anymore ...and probably on 100 - 150 shells most weeks thru my shotguns. If I go to my local club 50 times a year ...I only put 5,000 - 7,500 shells a year thru my shotguns these days.../ where a lot of competitive shooters, even guys that just shoot local events, put 500 shells a week thru their primary gun ....or about 25,000 shells a year...

.....so when you visit your local club....look at what those guys are shooting...and talk to them / why do they like their guns / would they buy them again .....or for that matter, do that with anybody you see at your club. I think you'll get a broader perspective that way.