I have seen quite a few Rem1100 builds on here in the past and there are some out there that are pretty snazzy. I decided to build one of my own a few months ago and it is more or less finished. Even though there is already a bunch here, I am going to post it anyway because if you are like me, you always like to read about home builds and look at cool pics! Plus there is some good info regarding gas ports and proper cycling of the firearm.
So staring off I bought a bone stock 12 gauge Remington 1100 3" magnum with 30" barrel. I believe it is an early 1980's serial number. It was in good shape, blue was good, wood was nice, action may have never been cleaned (lots of grime and dirt, but good all around gun. So I took it out for a test run and of course my suspicions were correct. 3" shells cycled fine, 2 3/4" slugs occasionlly, and target loads and buck were a definate no go. I had a fancy single shot 12 gauge.
stock internet photo, I had none of the original
So, back to the drawing board. I put in a new o-ring and piston assembly from Brownells, cleaned and lubed everything up nicely, but it was still short stroking. So I made the exectuive decision to drill a second gas port. Gasp! Don't do it everyone says! It will ruin the functionality of the gun they say. It is dangerous if you try to shoot magnum shells again they tell you. Well it's not. Not if you do it properly. On to the details
You may or may not know that a 30" magnum barrell only has one gas port and the ID of said hole is .073". Good for 3" mag shell, not good for anything else. So with a little reasearch I found some info on the various gas port diameters of other barrells of various lengths. It seemed that some of the shorter 22" barrels have ports of about .089-.093" and some of the 18.5 are upwards of .100. Common sense tells me to start small and work my way up. Starting with a .073" drill I got the barrel set up in the drill press, paying special attention to keep the new hole along the same parallel as the existing hole(by far the trickiest part). With patience and a steady hand I had a newly drilled out gas port hole. I also decided to shorten the barrel to 21.5" at the same time in the shop.
duel gas ports
21.5" barrel
So off to the range again for more testing. It was quickly evident that 2 ports at .073 wasn't going to cut it. The gun still wasn't cycling target loads. Luckily I brought along the cordless drill and a selection of numbered drill bits. I would take it apart and slowly open up each gas port to the next size up, and test again. It was a lot of back and forth testing, drilling reassembly and so on. Eventually I got to .086" and it seemed to be working really nice, all kinds of different loads no prob. Then it started to short stroke every once in a while. I thought maybe it was the cold (-20 or so that day) so I went to .089" for good measure and it functioned perfect.
When I got home I realized I wanted(needed) an easier way to reload as the small button on the carrier was quite difficult to operate quickly. Order up a Daves metal works easy loader. Let me say this is a great item, BUT, do not expect it to be drop in. This is a part that has to be fitted. Not for a novice. Once installed and setup to work correctly this item is worth it's weight in gold. Although later on I did find it a bit too long, especially when loading with gloves on, they would sometimes get caught up in the easy loader. So I took everything apart and trimed about .5" of the end and reshaped and beveled back to original shape. Good to go.
shortened Daves easy loader
Now that everything was working like greased lightning I decided to dress it up a bit. Order up a Speedfeed stock, charging handle, +2 mag extension and follower, sling loop, V-tac sling, Hi-viz front sight and, 6 round velcro shell holder. The Speedfeed is pretty good quality although it was a pain in the ass getting the original stock off the gun but it came loose eventually.
front sight and +2 mag extenson with 19.5" barrel
Speedfeed and buttstock sling loop with "original" length easy loader
With all the dust settled I think it looks pretty good. I am not a fan of the scrolling on the receiver and bolt, I am trying to devise a way to get rid of it or cover it up. I also didn't like the extra length on the barrel so now it is trimmed down to 19.5" and I opened the ports out to .093" for good measure.
Regarding the opening of semi auto gas ports, it is a good practice to mark the barrel gas port ring area with the dimensions of the holes, either with a punch or engraver. So in the event that a gun is sold, the next guy has an idea what has been done. The concensus is that repeated use of (a lot ) 3" mag shells in a gun with bigger gas ports will lead to premature wear. I for one will not be shooting much magnums from this 19.5" barrel, but you are responsible for what you do to your gun. Modify your firearms at your own risk.
With that said take a look and tell me what you think. If you have any questions, just ask.
As a ongoing project I am working on a set of custom sights. They are still early on in the prototype stage. I made them out of a piece of weaver rail and a 30mm scope ring (thank goodness for cheap ebay parts!) and a lot of filing. I plan on putting some Hi-viz fiber optic rods in later. Still a ways to go yet but I'll put a pic up anyway. I'll probably do a set out of steel later on when I have better access to equipment.
Hope I didn't bore you all too much with my novel.
Cheers, Ryan
So staring off I bought a bone stock 12 gauge Remington 1100 3" magnum with 30" barrel. I believe it is an early 1980's serial number. It was in good shape, blue was good, wood was nice, action may have never been cleaned (lots of grime and dirt, but good all around gun. So I took it out for a test run and of course my suspicions were correct. 3" shells cycled fine, 2 3/4" slugs occasionlly, and target loads and buck were a definate no go. I had a fancy single shot 12 gauge.
stock internet photo, I had none of the original
So, back to the drawing board. I put in a new o-ring and piston assembly from Brownells, cleaned and lubed everything up nicely, but it was still short stroking. So I made the exectuive decision to drill a second gas port. Gasp! Don't do it everyone says! It will ruin the functionality of the gun they say. It is dangerous if you try to shoot magnum shells again they tell you. Well it's not. Not if you do it properly. On to the details
You may or may not know that a 30" magnum barrell only has one gas port and the ID of said hole is .073". Good for 3" mag shell, not good for anything else. So with a little reasearch I found some info on the various gas port diameters of other barrells of various lengths. It seemed that some of the shorter 22" barrels have ports of about .089-.093" and some of the 18.5 are upwards of .100. Common sense tells me to start small and work my way up. Starting with a .073" drill I got the barrel set up in the drill press, paying special attention to keep the new hole along the same parallel as the existing hole(by far the trickiest part). With patience and a steady hand I had a newly drilled out gas port hole. I also decided to shorten the barrel to 21.5" at the same time in the shop.
duel gas ports
21.5" barrel
So off to the range again for more testing. It was quickly evident that 2 ports at .073 wasn't going to cut it. The gun still wasn't cycling target loads. Luckily I brought along the cordless drill and a selection of numbered drill bits. I would take it apart and slowly open up each gas port to the next size up, and test again. It was a lot of back and forth testing, drilling reassembly and so on. Eventually I got to .086" and it seemed to be working really nice, all kinds of different loads no prob. Then it started to short stroke every once in a while. I thought maybe it was the cold (-20 or so that day) so I went to .089" for good measure and it functioned perfect.
When I got home I realized I wanted(needed) an easier way to reload as the small button on the carrier was quite difficult to operate quickly. Order up a Daves metal works easy loader. Let me say this is a great item, BUT, do not expect it to be drop in. This is a part that has to be fitted. Not for a novice. Once installed and setup to work correctly this item is worth it's weight in gold. Although later on I did find it a bit too long, especially when loading with gloves on, they would sometimes get caught up in the easy loader. So I took everything apart and trimed about .5" of the end and reshaped and beveled back to original shape. Good to go.
shortened Daves easy loader
Now that everything was working like greased lightning I decided to dress it up a bit. Order up a Speedfeed stock, charging handle, +2 mag extension and follower, sling loop, V-tac sling, Hi-viz front sight and, 6 round velcro shell holder. The Speedfeed is pretty good quality although it was a pain in the ass getting the original stock off the gun but it came loose eventually.
front sight and +2 mag extenson with 19.5" barrel
Speedfeed and buttstock sling loop with "original" length easy loader
With all the dust settled I think it looks pretty good. I am not a fan of the scrolling on the receiver and bolt, I am trying to devise a way to get rid of it or cover it up. I also didn't like the extra length on the barrel so now it is trimmed down to 19.5" and I opened the ports out to .093" for good measure.
Regarding the opening of semi auto gas ports, it is a good practice to mark the barrel gas port ring area with the dimensions of the holes, either with a punch or engraver. So in the event that a gun is sold, the next guy has an idea what has been done. The concensus is that repeated use of (a lot ) 3" mag shells in a gun with bigger gas ports will lead to premature wear. I for one will not be shooting much magnums from this 19.5" barrel, but you are responsible for what you do to your gun. Modify your firearms at your own risk.
With that said take a look and tell me what you think. If you have any questions, just ask.
As a ongoing project I am working on a set of custom sights. They are still early on in the prototype stage. I made them out of a piece of weaver rail and a 30mm scope ring (thank goodness for cheap ebay parts!) and a lot of filing. I plan on putting some Hi-viz fiber optic rods in later. Still a ways to go yet but I'll put a pic up anyway. I'll probably do a set out of steel later on when I have better access to equipment.
Hope I didn't bore you all too much with my novel.
Cheers, Ryan
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