is the remington model 1100 a good choice for a home defence build?

[rantingrelentlessly]

I don't mind that it only shoots 2 3/4 inch shells. I'm more concerned with ruining the value or ruining a good hunting shotgun. Are there many options with this model? Any recommendations for upgrades? Anyone want to recommend another shotgun to use as a platform?

[g.willikers]

An 1100 would make an effective defensive weapon.
There's no reason it wouldn't.
And there's nothing about changing it from a field/hunting gun that can't be reversed.
Barrel, mag extension, sights maybe and an extra round carrier?
What else is needed?
Change of stock?
If you'd rather not mess with your hunting gun, there's plenty of used 1100s around for very reasonable prices.
At our local shows, from $250 to $500 depending.
And there's no end of aftermarket stuff for them.

[pete2]

1100 gun is good for about anything you do with a shotgun with 2-3/4" shells. In fact it'll usually do it better than a lot of other guns.

[gyvel]

If it's all you have, it will be better than nothing. Be advised, however, that if you shorten the barrel, you will need to open up the barrel gas vent holes slightly for the gun to operate properly.

Also, make sure your O ring is in good condition and that there is no rust forming on the magazine tube.

I have an 1100, and I love it as a fine sheet shooter, but for HD, I keep several pumps hidden around the house.

[jmr40]

For home defense 2 3/4" shells are all you want. The only downside is that the guns are tuned for barrel length. Changing to a shorter barrel or cutting down the one you have could result in some ammo not cycling properly. Most heavy loads will work, but lighter loads won't. Pumps aren't affected by barrel length to function.

[gyvel]

Most heavy loads will work, but lighter loads won't.

Hence the necessity for opening up the gas bleed hole in the barrel.

You're better off leaving your 1100 alone and looking around for a cheap pump shotgun. I've gotten a couple at my local pawn shop for around $100.00-125.00

[g.willikers]

In the heat of the moment, don't forget to pump.

[FITASC]

HUH? A 1100 is a semi, not a pump.
All you need to do for HD is load and point it at the bedroom door, no upgrades needed except for you to practice.

If it's all you have, it will be better than nothing. Be advised, however, that if you shorten the barrel, you will need to open up the barrel gas vent holes slightly for the gun to operate properly.

Not really; once the gasses pass the gas port - which is not that far from the chamber - you're GTG.

[Virginian]

The shortest barrels that Remington has offered are 21". At that length you should be fine with most buckshot or slug loads. Below that if you need to open the gas ports to get reliable operation just go one drill bit size at a time. If you start going much below 21" you may have issues with some loads.
If it is at the front of the safe, an 1100 is my HD shotgun, with a 28" barrel. Handgun is first line of defense after the two dogs.

[gyvel]

Not really; once the gasses pass the gas port - which is not that far from the chamber - you're GTG.

Customers would bring me 1100s that someone had shortened the barrel on that wouldn't function reliably until the gas holes were opened up a little.

The gas bleed on the 1100 is at the mag support ring, and is quite a distance from the chamber and requires a certain amount of residual pressure for the gun to work reliably. If the barrel is too short, there isn't enough residual pressure.

At least this is what Remington advised us to do.

[g.willikers]

^^^
Would that still apply if the original barrel was shortened, rather than replaced?
Wouldn't the distance from the ports to the breech then remain the same?
Unless using weaker ammo added to the equation?

[g.willikers]

FITASC,
Reminding to pump a pump gun was in reference to gyvel's recommendation.
With some practice, a pump gun is very fast, certainly enough for the few rounds needed for home defense.
And without the worry about what ammo to use.
Pumps shoot anything.
As long as ya' remember to pump.

If the experts on the subject can be trusted, roaming around a building with any gun takes special skills.
And is to be avoided, if possible.
Then the barrel length doesn't really matter so much.

[MarkCO]

The Remington 1100 locks open on each shot, and the shell released from the tube releases the bolt to complete the cycle. Those parts that cause this to happen are stamped metal parts.

The 1100, set up as a field or clays gun, with a few rounds in the magazine, are decent and reliable in that role. When you add the extra mass and spring length in a tube past about 4 rounds, not a good choice. You increase wear and decrease reliability. You have left the designed operating window by a factor large enough that it is not a good choice in any role with a magazine capacity over 4 rounds.

There are very few 1100s filling the role of a tactical shotgun for LE/Mil and if you go to a 3Gun match, you will only find one in the hands of a stubborn newbie. In 1980 and 1981, all of the top 10 competitors at SOF shot 1100s as it was the only platform that could be readily adapted to the higher capacities and run full power buck and slugs. But they did not last long. Today, there are a bunch of autoloaders that run circles around the 1100 as set up for higher capacity.

With higher capacity shotguns, you want one that releases the shell on the trigger pull...Inertia, ARGO and a few gas operated shotguns. There are a lot of other issues that go into it all, but for a budget minded auto-loader, look at the Stoeger M3000. For under $500, it is one of the best platforms on the market for reliability, durability and low maintenance.

[1spottedpony]

As an experienced, and long time 1100 shooter having fired 10's of thousands of rounds in trap and skeet competition, I have to respectfully disagree the port on a shortened bbl would need opening up to reliably function the action, and I base this on personal ownership experience of multiple 1100's, both in magnum and standard models.
Personally I've been witness to only one failure to load a follow up round, at a trap shoot many years ago, and the determined cause for that was a dirty gas port in the bbl, (fellow shooter in a doubles match). The malfunction was "repaired" with a simple scrubbing of the gas ports using a pipe cleaner and solvent, followed up by a swipe or two with a bore snake.

Personally I've found even my magnum guns reliably cycle 2 3/4 dram equivalant trap loads without fail.
additionally the non magnum guns cycle well with light loads of both 1, and 7/8 shot charges.
Currently I keep two with 18 inch barrels at hand and neither have thus far suffered any cycling issues with a variety of loads.

While obviously I can speak only of my own experiences, i'd venture to say most failure to feed issues are maintence related. Generally dirty gas ports or the O ring on the mag tube leaking.

[g.willikers]

If the Achilles' heel of the 1100 is the mag tube length, there's an easy solution - don't do that.
For home defense there's probably no real need for an extra long 3Gun type, anyway.
If 4+1 isn't sufficient, the mid size extensions, say 5 or 6, should be more than enough.
Doubt they would cause the problems referred to.
Anyone have experience with those?

[MarkCO]

g.willikers...

i did run 1100s and 11-87s for many years. As long as you leave the factory lifter alone, size the magazine tube spring to about 8" to 9" longer than the tube, change it every 1K rounds, and keep it at 6 rounds, there should not be any reliability issues for at least 10K or so. Past that, I don't know. But I doubt anyone is going to hit 10K on a SD shotgun in their life.

[Virginian]

I have had 1100s since 1963. One of mine has over 115,000 rounds thru it. All mine have been extremely reliable; I will not hunt with an unreliable gun. I also sold and worked on guns for many years. If you go shortening any barrel on an 1100, other than a Skeet barrel which has larger ports to begin with, to less than 21", you are likely to run into cycling issues with some loads. The shorter the more likely to encounter problems. Ever notice Remington has never offered a barrel shorter than 21" for the 1100? There's a reason for that. The ports on an 1100 are far enough down the barrel that length past the ports does come in to play. You can open the gas ports if you shorten the barrel to get reliable cycling with your chosen load, but you are on your own for any different load(s). Also, the only 1100 I have ever seen with a cracked receiver had enlarged ports in the barrel that was on it. And, as Mark said, if you go pushing a lot more ammo out of the tube than four rounds you will likely induce failures of the magazine feed components. The parts are cheap, but how often do you want to replace? I have also seen magazine tubes that were bent etc from pickup trucks running over them and who knows what, and I have seen a mag tube with an extension screwed on it with no barrel support cracked.

[jfruser]

rantingrelentlessly:

A Rem 1100 makes a fine SD/HD shotgun. The 1100 12ga I used to take my first pheasants is on the other side of my keypad-access locked closet, ready to roll. I shot it enough that it is as natural as riding a bike to point it where I want it to go. It may not be up to hard 3-gun competition use, but that was not the question. And not the use to which I put my 1100. Keep it clean and replace the O-ring every few years or so if you are using it lots.

To make your 1100 a better HD/SD all you _really_ need is an 18" bbl. You may or may not need to open up the gas vent holes. Before you do that, pattern and find a good buckshot and good foster slug load with that 18" bbl. Yours may be dead-reliable with your best-patterning load, no modification needed. If so, don't muck with it. Used 12ga 1100 bbls can be found reasonably and cut to 18" & a smidge. Put on a bead if you like. Or buy it already 18".

If you want to do more, I would suggest the following:
* Weapon light. Can attach one of several ways.
* Mag extension (+2) & spring, along with bbl/mag clamp.
* Sling & swivels

Here is mine after 18" bbl & mag extension, before light, sling, and mag/bbl clamp:


Some patterned loads:


Image of cheap Rem 12ga Express 000B at 7 yards:


Rem 12ga Express 000B at 15 yards:


I have subsequently patterned my Rem 1100 12ga with Federal FliteControl 00B. At 15 yards they do not so much as pattern as rip one ugly ragged hole smaller than my fist. Nice, but not necessary for HD if you want to buy cheap stuff. Just find the cheap buck that works for you. And the cheap Wally World Winchester Value-Pack slugs shoot fine, too.

FTR, I also have a couple social pump shotguns (Rem 870, Ithaca 37 DSPS). I like them all, but I shoot the Rem 1100 fastest.

If you want a cheap HD gun fast, with no build time, just buy a used police trade-in Rem 870 Wingmaster Police. Very smooth pump.

Good luck and remember to pattern your gun and practice with it.

[gyvel]

Would that still apply if the original barrel was shortened, rather than replaced?
Wouldn't the distance from the ports to the breech then remain the same?

The 1100s rely somewhat on residual gas pressure, i.e. the gas pressure exerted after the shot column passes the gas port. It's almost a matter of timing. A larger gas bleed hole allows more gas to pass through in a shorter period of time before the shot column leaves the end of a shortened barrel.

[Virginian]

jfruser,
Where have you ever seen an unmodified 18" Model 1100 barrel for sale?
My '63 - bought new - still has the O ring I put in in about 1967 to replace the original metal V ring so I wouldn't lose it. It has slightly over 100,000 rounds on that O ring now. Call it a test in progress.

[jfruser]

Virginian:

Never sought one out since I had my dad's 24" plain bbl (that he could not wingshoot with). I cut that to 18" and put a bead on it. I recall seeing an 18" 1100 bbl in a gun shop soon after that, but it had rifle sights, which I did not need for a HD gun. Could be that was a cut-job, too.

Maybe they don't make them? Lemme look.

Looks like they do:
Remington Barrel Remington 1100 12 Gauge 2-3/4" 18-1/2" Improved Cylinder Bead Sight
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/160...der-bead-sight

This replacement barrel is a factory original from Remington.

Technical Information:
Firearm Fit: Remington 1100
Gauge: 12
Barrel Length: 18-1/2"
Chamber Length: 2-3/4""
Choke: Improved Cylinder

So they exist.

Then there is this:
Remington 82800 1100 Tactical 2 Shotgun .12 GA 18in 6rd Black Pistol Grip
http://www.tombstonetactical.com/cat...k-pistol-grip/



FYI:

Originally Posted by http://www.guns.com/review/2013/02/21/remington-1100-shotgun/

the 1100 set a record in 1978 for the most shells shot out of a semi-auto shotgun without any cleaning whatsoever and without any failures of any kind. That number is a staggering 24,000+ rounds. Although several companies have tried, nobody can best that to this day.

[Virginian]

I beg your pardon, I stand corrected. It appears they do offer those as tactical accessories. I believe they have the larger Skeet size barrel ports but I can't find a reference right now.
I am well aware of that record. It was set with an LT 20.