[MAC702]

I have a Remington 1100 Special Purpose that I bought sometime around 1996. It has a black synthetic stock and matte finish and came with a 21" fully rifled barrel. Very soon thereafter I modified it with a Sidesaddle 6-shell carrier and extended magazine tube, the latter of which required that I drill out the two dents at the end of the factory tube to get the shells to actually enter the extended portion. It's never cycled with low-base shells, but I've been led to believe that may be because the slug barrel was gas-ported for magnums. Makes sense.

I recently bought this barrel for it: http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=837364

When I went to install it, I discovered the fore end support piece had been broken for quite some time. This gun had been shot very infrequently, probably less than a couple dozen shells its entire life.

So I ordered a new fore end support and O-ring barrel seal (why not, right?) from Brownells. I have since cleaned the shotgun and installed the fore end support and new O-ring seal.

But the new barrel would not go on. It would stop about 3/16" from fully seating. I then turned it so that the lug recess portion was not trying to go into the receiver at the same time. Still stopped at the same point. The original slug barrel would still go on, however.

I took off the O-ring and the new barrel would go on. I reinstalled the old O-ring and the barrel would still go on. But not with the new O-ring. I cannot detect any differences between the two O-rings with the naked eye. Call that weird, but I guess I can live with the old O-ring, right? Well, then I hit the new problem that is still preventing me from using my 1100.

With the new barrel installed, the fore end will not seat fully. It stops with the end of magazine tube flush with the fore end instead of letting the threaded portion extend past it.

Turns out, this is the same distance as the width of a step machined into the cylinder below the slug barrel that is not present in the new barrel.

Is there a reason for the differences between these two barrels that prevent me from using the original fore end? Do I have to buy a new fore end to use the new barrel? I've been told that all 1100 barrels should be interchangeable.

Am I just missing seeing something? Thanks.

 

[MAC702]

Oh yeah, and I also bought an extended bolt handle while I was at it. Is it just me or should it be this easy for the bolt handle to pull out? I can literally hold the shotgun and pull it out with two fingers, and not trying very hard at that. I'm worried it can get caught on something and fall out on its own!

 

[MikeG]

Bolt handle should come out with hand pressure - but I'm not sure how much or little you are using. Could be on the loose side, I guess.

A "magnum" 1100 barrel will have one gas port, ordinarily. Standard 1100 barrels have two.

That's about as much help as I can be - no experience with your specific model.

 

[Cheezywan]

Youv'e changed and modified yours to the point were I'm not sure what direction to send you Mac.

Easyest test I can think of would be to try all parts for fit on an 1100 that is as issued from Remington. There should be one or two of those around somewhere.

Cheezywan

 

[MAC702]

I listed all that as a full disclosure, but I haven't done anything to affect this.

This is the only 1100 I have access to at the moment.

Here's a picture of my original barrel and cylinder. You can tell from the Midway page that the new barrel's cylinder is different.

FYI, there are two gas ports in the original slug barrel. I don't know if they are sized differently than the two ports in the new Rem-Choke barrel.

 

[Virginian]

Seems to me I saw this on another forum. Like i said there, I have never seen an 1100 gas cylinder tube with a stepped profile, but obviously I can now say I have not seen them all since i still haven't seen a picture.
Make sure your new bolt handle has a detent that matches up with the ball location on your model. It has moved from the bottom to the back side over the years starting with the 11-87s. Lost a bolt handle when I was simultaneously cleaning 4 guns at the same time and not paying close attention. The new Remington bolt handles have detent depressions in both locations. if the detent ball is working right you should be okay, but if it got rusted and the spring is weak you probably need to replace it. On a clean gun properly lubricated gun it should not come out on it's own, but it is quite easy to take out. Haven't lost one in 47 years like that, and I have hunted in stuff so thick the tree branches got in the ejection port and fouled the action.

 

[MAC702]

The other forum I had hoped had a lot of shotgun-specific traffic. So I joined there just to post about it. When that didn't work, and the forum had some problem with me posting pictures, without telling me why, I gave up it and decided to bring it here where I've had better luck with past questions. It's already generating more responses at least. And now you can see the picture that there is clearly a step machined into the cylinder on the original slug barrel.

As for reliability, I can still put the slug barrel on and launch 7 sabots down range.

Not so much worried about the bolt handle, just wondered if it was normal for it to just be finger tight. I guess if I haven't lost it yet, I probably won't lose the bigger one either.

So has it always been accepted fact that all 1100 barrels should interchange with all 1100 shotguns? Is mine the first case where this hasn't been true? Is it just a fore end issue, or is the fore end issue supposed to be telling me that there is another reason I shouldn't be able to put a Rem-Choke barrel on a Special Purpose - marked shotgun?

The slug barrel will work with either O-ring, too. The new barrel will not go on past the new o-ring, only the old one. That's just weird.

 

[Virginian]

Wow, thats a new one on me. I think you are going to need another fore end to fit the standard barrel gas cylinder profile and still get a good fit with the old barrel with the old fore end.

 

[Marshal Kane]

Suggest you run this by Remington Customer Service. At least you bought an original Remington barrel according to Midway. Did you check the box label to see if they sent you the right barrel? If anything can happen, it will.