11-87 cycling issue

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RAMMER287

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Hello all,


I bought a newish 11-87 from a local shop. i took it out to the range and fired about 75-100 rounds through it. when i rapid fired the gun it seemed to catch a shell in the ejection forcing a jam. Am i shooting the gun to fast?

When firing 1sec apart the gun shot fine and cycled well.
 
It's only gonna go so fast, you can't make it screw up by going too fast.

What kind of ammo are you using, the ounces of shot and dram equivalent?
What gauge? What length shell are you using?
What is the barrel chambered for length-wise?

~~~

~ Ammo is too light of a load.
~ Not held firmly to the shoulder.
~ Weak extractor spring.
~ Dirty/rusty chamber.
~ The Piston, Piston Seal, Barrel Seal and barrel all need cleaned and assembled correctly.
 
1oz is a really light load, especially if the dram equivalent hovers near 2½. This alone may be the issue, combined with any other problem will definitely give you malfunctions.

Try a heavier load before anything else, something in the ounce and an 1/8 range that also has a heavier DR/EQ number, I think the problem will go away.
 
justinchow said:
Yea I hear that, that is one of the drawbacks of semi-autos, with a lighter load, you may get some cycling issues
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Hopefully it will work better after broken in with a couple hundred rounds.

Strange!

My $500 Mossberg 930 doesn't have any such issues! ;)

If it doesn't cycle light target loads it is useless to me, and I take it the OP is in the same boat. This is why I did my research when buying such a gun.

OP, try putting some heavier loads through it like I suggested previously, and hopefully as everything wears in and the springs loosen up things will work better.
 
It has nothing to do with being broken in. Just fire a quality 1 1/8 oz load with a higher dram equivalent, and you shouldn't have any issues. Their true calling is as duck and goose guns. With 3" or 2 3/4 heavy loads my 11-87 doesn't miss a beat. Of course it will work with light loads, but your expectation of firing light 1oz loads without issues is unrealistic.
 
my 1187 mag will fire 7/8 and 1oz no problem, some days as many as 250 rounds without a glitch, but I never had any reason to rapid fire at targets like OP is attempting and I'm guessing you'll never have any reason to shoot that fast anyway. I wouldn't worry about it, if doesn't jam in the amount of time it takes to swing from one clay target to another.
 
Quigly said:
It has nothing to do with being broken in. Just fire a quality 1 1/8 oz load with a higher dram equivalent, and you shouldn't have any issues. Their true calling is as duck and goose guns. With 3" or 2 3/4 heavy loads my 11-87 doesn't miss a beat. Of course it will work with light loads, but your expectation of firing light 1oz loads without issues is unrealistic.
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I don't think this guy agree's with you. And I sure as hell don't. If the OP wants to shoot trap all day, I think he would appreciate the gun cycling lighter target loads, as do I.

eastcoastsoxfan said:
my 1187 mag will fire 7/8 and 1oz no problem, some days as many as 250 rounds without a glitch, but I never had any reason to rapid fire at targets like OP is attempting and I'm guessing you'll never have any reason to shoot that fast anyway. I wouldn't worry about it, if doesn't jam in the amount of time it takes to swing from one clay target to another.
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OP, give it a good clean, and keep shooting her. Try some heavier loads for a while, then go back and see if it improves.

That said, there really is no reason to shoot light trap loads that quickly. Even doubles takes a sec to swing to the next clay. ;)
 
If you're using the Winchester value pack shells they sell at Canadian Tire, that can be your issue, they seem to jam in a lot of guns. I've heard the cheap shells expand a tad too much when fired and sometimes jams. Having said that, I do use those shells in my 870 pump, and have to cycle with authority to make sure I don't get a jam.

Again, this is just opinion, I'm no gunsmiff :)
 
mlehtovaara said:
I don't think this guy agree's with you. And I sure as hell don't. If the OP wants to shoot trap all day, I think he would appreciate the gun cycling lighter target loads, as do I.
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Actually, Quigly was right! The 11-87 was designed as a hunting gun and not a "target" gun. Remington gave it a self adjusting gas system to improve reliabilty with a greater variety of loads but never intended to have it cycle all of them without failure. If the OP wanted a semi-auto that cycles light loads reliably, he should have purchased one of the 2 3/4" chambered 1100 target specific models.

With that being said, the 11-87 is still one hell of a gun but it needs a minimum 1oz load @ 1290fps (3dr eq.) in order to operate reliably...and that only once it has fired at least 500rds. A 7/8 oz load @1325fps will also do but they seem to be near impossible to find these days.
 
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Buy a box or flat of brass hulled shells, like Winchester AA and your issues will vanish.
My 930 can cycle 3/4 loads all day long on the skeet field with brass hulls.
 
VLT79 said:
Actually, Quigly was right! The 11-87 was designed as a hunting gun and not a "target" gun. Remington gave it a self adjusting gas system to improve reliabilty with a greater variety of loads but never intended to have it cycle all of them with failure. If the OP wanted a semi-auto that cycles light loads reliably, he should have purchased one of the 2 3/4" chambered 1100 target specific models.

With that being said, the 11-87 is still one hell of a gun but it needs a minimum 1oz load @ 1290fps (3dr eq.) in order to operate reliably...and that only once it has fired at least 500rds. A 7/8 oz load @1325fps will also do but they seem to be near impossible to find these days.
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That there is some sound advice.
What the OP can also do is take a wooden dowel with a slot in it place a piece of emery paper in the slot.
Place the dowel in an electric drill and polish the chamber ...just a little though.
This should be enough to remove rough finish during manufacturing process.
This tip has been documented with pictures in the past.
Not to mention the other advice of running a few boxes of some heavy loads to get the action worked in helps too
I just do not recall where and by who.
Rob
 
Thank all of you for all the sound advise! i have purchased a flate of AA and plan to take it up north and have a little fun ;) i purchased this gun primarily for hunting ducks/geese so i will be sticking to heavier loads in the future. i just figured that i would be able to have some fun shooting clays at my cottage with the 1oz but it does make sense about it not having enough omph to cycle properly. As i mentioned at slower trigger pulls it was fine. Polishing the internals is probably what i am going to do next. Thank all of you!
 
My 1187 supermag came with a secondary gas seal that could be installed on the magazine tube... a metal band which backed up the primary seal, thus increasing the amount of gas used to cycle the action. This made the gun cycle light stuff fine...but any heavier loads would cause the action to slam because of the increased pressure. There was also a black rubber o-ring installed when i bought it that i replaced with a hard silver plastic one which my gunsmith recommended as being more durable.
 
VLT79 said:
Actually, Quigly was right! The 11-87 was designed as a hunting gun and not a "target" gun. Remington gave it a self adjusting gas system to improve reliabilty with a greater variety of loads but never intended to have it cycle all of them without failure. If the OP wanted a semi-auto that cycles light loads reliably, he should have purchased one of the 2 3/4" chambered 1100 target specific models.

With that being said, the 11-87 is still one hell of a gun but it needs a minimum 1oz load @ 1290fps (3dr eq.) in order to operate reliably...and that only once it has fired at least 500rds. A 7/8 oz load @1325fps will also do but they seem to be near impossible to find these days.
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There's only one thing the 3" 11-87 gas system does, it vents off excess gas so you don't beat the action to hell when firing high pressure magnum loads. The only mechanical difference between an 1100 and 1187 is the gas system.
1oz at 1290fps? where did you get these numbers from?
I'm willing to bet there are plenty of 3" 11-87 premiers out on the ranges right now cycling light target loads and they are using the same gas system as all the other synthetic models.
Search shotgunworld, the Remington forum, you'll see how many are used as target guns with no issues. I did the search before I bought mine and that's why I chose the 3" model instead of the supermag.
I don't believe OP ever said which model he had?
 
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