I’ve always harbored a bit of suspicion with
Semi-autos. My earliest semis were Remington 550/552 and the Ruder Std. MKI pistol, go ahead and add the Browning Sweet-16 too. All pretty good semi-autos. But I always liked the care free attitude I kept while wielding the pump or double.
I still favor the 870 over the 1100. Introduced about the same time I was in the early 1960’s. Honestly anytime I’ve ever seen a 1100 have a stoppage it was obviously linked to poor ammo or dry as a bone internals. There is a rubber o-ring that needs a little grease and changing every couple of decades, no matter if you shoot it or not!
Today was maintenance day. I can use a new gas ring (on my list) and should have broken down the trigger group. They are very close to the same, the assy. for the 1100 and 870, to a point. I chopped the barrel long ago, before the mag tube was added. Still have not drilled and tapped for a fiber bead. Also on my list. We keep the shotguns and a couple AK platforms ready for emergency farm duty. Everyone knows where they are (moving them or the ammo is forbidden) and how to use them! Good old utility arms.
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I nicknamed my 1100 "the tomato stake,"
As reliability was almost always an issue for the years I had one. No one should have to keep a gas ring handy. My dad has it now, and he cherishes it like some relic of a by-gone era. Sorry, but I will take an inertia over a semi-any day, and a pump over all else. I am a die-hard duck hunter, so I know what abuses a shotgun can be subjected to, and what it takes to run on in austere conditions. Keep your 870 close and use that 1100 on your garden, I say.
I can appreciate the 1100, I was there
I’ve owned Remington 11’s, 11-48, 58 3-shot gas, 11-87 as well. For 25 yrs and sheer numbers sold for $150-250 it was an impressive distribution of a well received shotgun. Not perfect, but some skeet buddies had them and shot cases of ammo through them. I’ll admit under ideal conditions.
A duck hunter! That’s a special sickness. I agree, your shotgun should also fare emergency duty as a boat paddle. Albeit a $1500-2000 one! A good 3.5” pump of any flavor will serve fantastic in that capacity. I get a tinge of a headache just thinking of it in the blistering wet cold.
I shot in the 3 gun combat shoots in the late
70s and early 80s. Almost all the guys in the shoots I shot in used the Rem 1100 with the 9 shot extended mag that stuck out about 4" longer than the barrel. One of the Devil Shoots had us crawl down into a gully with about 8" of water in it. They ran wire about 16" across the bottom of the gulley and most of us rolled over on our backs before sliding down the gully into the water. we got to the other end of the gully we cocked our gun to take out a bad guy. I had an 1100 for this course and I don't remember having any problems with the water or mud, but that was 40 or more years ago.
We had another run that they required an 870 or other pump shotgun instead of the 1100s. They had cut a large tree down to where the stump was about 6 feet off the ground. We had to go up the steps nailed to the stump, put a sling on the 870 over your shoulder the grab a one inch thick rope and holding onto your 870, swing over a bunch of briars and other fun crap and land on another 3 foot stump about 20 yards away. They thought about us shooting the 870 before swinging to the shorter stump, but several of the guys in the club were lawyers or doctors and they voted it down. They even checked our shotgun to make sure it wasn't loaded before this run. But we still did the swing to the shorter stump with the 870. At the time I owned 17 acres of dense woods where we ran this part of the shoot an also a great combat designed shoot.
My ONE duck hunting story...
I sort of feel bad, until I step outside in single digit weather. Arkansas is a fantastic place to shoot waterfowl, and I have only gone once. With a co-worker, goofy Roger. He had the kit, boat, trailer, decoy set, calls, etc. I'd never been and we talked up a trip. I did not have any "magnum" shotguns but did have a nice 870 Wingmaster 12 with a fixed modified choke. Perfect I thought, I'd just buy a couple boxes of 2-3/4" short-mag. steel (mandated) shotshells and I'd do what I could. They were remarkably expensive if I remember, about days take home wages, for two boxes at the time. I think I went with #4's or #2's can't remember. Steel pellets lose energy terribly fast so you use a size larger than normal, but I was cramped on capacity with the 2-3/4" shells. The choke was perfect. Steel shoots the next choke size tighter than lead, so my modified should throw full choke patterns. However I did not test it.
We met about 3:30 a.m. and got on the road a little after 4:00. In the water and setting out plastic ducks at 4:30 in a really sweet spot. About 5:00 a bunch of guys came up to find us right where they wanted to be. They cussed us and called us every name in the book. It was actually intimidating, I'd never experienced such rude and asshole behavior hunting before or since. It was almost as if we were in their deer stand, but it was public land in a big slough. They actually cussed us all morning and did a lot of sky shooting which pushed ducks away from us. I think they actually peppered at us from 100 yds. or so away once. Roger shot a drake mallard and it hit the water and disappeared! An alligator?! Huge fish? He told me sometimes ducks would dive and bite on a stick to die and not resurface. But I saw it myself it was just gone.
I had one very picturesque Mallard drake come in, cupped in the sunrise glow about 10' off the top of the water in the middle of our decoy set. Instinctively I blasted him at 30 yards, twice with the pump, in less than a second. It looked as if I had shot a pillow, de-feathered the poor bird. Alas, he had just enough left to fly right on off! I have never felt so defeated while hunting. The shotgun seemed totally useless with steel shot. What crap. I think I gave away the remaining 48 rounds to Roger for his trouble and efforts. I have had zero rekindling to try it again since. I did later get a double 10 ga. and consider some thinning out of problematic Geese. But that too has subsided. I don't think I've ever venture out again, with steel shot using less than a 3-1/2" 12 or 10 ga., a waste of time. I've eaten some well prepared duck and Goose by true experts and it was not bad. But it wasn't Granny's fried chicken either. It does have a bit of liver whang, I don't care what anyone says.
Guys spend thousands waterfowl hunting and it really helps our hunting revenues. I'm happy for it. It's just a bug that nibbled on me but no bite.
Good story. We all have our passions
For me, it has always been birds. I love dove hunting and turkey hunting.
Sure, it takes a special kind of nut to go out in inclement weather and make all manner of weird noises. That’s a waterfowl hunter! Never have cared for deer hunting…I need some action and to be able to talk with others. YMMV.
Living in the south there is nothing like a good dove hunt
Best I ever got into was a 100 acre patch of Sunflowers with two ponds! I was using a 11 bore percussion muzzleloader. More fun than a barrel of monkeys. Another time I used my 10” Contender with custom #9 3” .410 loads. I did alright too. Last time I went I scrounged some purple hull Federal 16 loads. Used the replacement Steven’s 5100 double from my youth. Grandfather gave me that shotgun for my 13th birthday. Stolen when I was 17, replaced it 12 yrs. Later with an identical model and condition. Sitting on a 5 gal. bucket I shot most of a box. I had such a headache I had to drive home covering one eye.
That 16 on the 20 chassis kicked lots harder than I remembered. But those purple hulls, the nitro smell, I think Federals are a bit dirtier than others, but heavenly memories.
aroma therapy
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Yeah
