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Posted: 5/8/2024 4:33:59 PM EDT
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Today I received my APPROVED Form 1 from the ATF for the 10" 1100. 17 days after submission. The 2nd quickest approval I have received with 14 days being the quickest just over a month ago. This is an ambitious project going well beyond what is considered a really short 1100 Remington. There is some serious gun altering changes coming at me, if I can even make them all happen. One of those changes will require a talanted gunsmith to achieve. The candidate is a Sportsman, black polymer, vent rib, 2 3/4 inch only, chambered gun. No 3" chamber. I acquired 3 SpeedFeed youth 1100 buttstocks and one will be utilized on this project. No factory buttpads for this stock available. The SpeedFeed youth stocks are a good deal shorter than a standard 1100 buttstock coming in at 11.25 inches, just for the stock, no buttpad Overall LOP will be around 12.5 inches when complete, pretty short, but that is the theme of this project. The furniture may remain polymer or, it could be a nice modified Remington wood, or even something else I create. I welcome any comments, suggestions, advice, or? Here is the candidate with the short stock for comparison.  This pic showing where the barrel length will end up. Blue tape marking the 10" barrel length.  |
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The 1100 is gas operated, and needs some dwell time to build enough gas pressure to cycle the action. Cutting the barrel dramatically short will massively decrease the dwell time, which will decrease the gas pressure significantly. Unless the OP plans on having the gas ports drilled out and increased in size, he is going to have cycling issues. It will most likely never run bird shot, and even heavier 00 loads will likely have issues. If it were my SBS, I'd start chopping the barrel an inch or more above flush with the mag tube cap, and then see how it runs. Then chop it flush, see how it runs. But I don't think I'd go shorter than that. Unless his plan is to thread the barrel for a choke tube standoff device, like the Carlson's Breacher choke, I don't see a good reason to go shorter than flush with the mag tube cap. It's easy to amend a Form 1...just send a letter to ATF when you're done with the modifications to update the final OAL and barrel length. |
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Attached File 1100s are my Jam!! I’m excited for your project can’t wait to see how she turns out. If you have to adjust gas take her easy. I cut mine for chokes seems to run alright unless running something super soft. |
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See if I can cover most of the questions and comments. I did a 14" 1100 about 10 years ago. That gun was intended to run 3 dram loads. That equates to 1200 FPS, 1 1/8oz shot load. It runs them with great reliability. I run 1oz slugs of the same 3 dram powder charge thru it most every time out, again without issue I did not drill out the factory ports. The barrel on the gun was a magnum barrel which came with a single port. I added the second port of the same size which makes it a standard barrel. Same size ports. All I did was hand file the rough edges and polish and smoothe the ports with a fine needle file. The polishing of the ports really extends any port cleaning interval. Running clean burning shells helps as well So here it is in current form.  So why an extreme short barreled 1100? Because it might be the only one on the planet and I like the challange. This project involves a lot more than just opening up the ports and cutting off the barrel. I will go into those steps as the project moves forward. I have more SBS's than I can count on my fingers and toes. Some are simple to do, some are not. Like the 8.5 inch VR80 and the now in process 7" VR80 that I have on this forum. More than fun to build, fun to shoot, and even better, the challange to make them run reliably. The cost of this project will be a little bit higher because of relying on a talanted experienced gunsmith to perform one of the tasks. Yet to be found. I've not done this before and I don't want to spoil a very nice barrel if I don't succeed. As you can see in the pictures, there will be cosmetics and the function to work together. Hand guard, way too long, will be too narrow because of barrel taper. Easy to solve in polymer, more dificult in wood, and then the last option. My passion is short barreled 12 gauge shotguns. Semi autos. I don't own a pump. I have 1 over/under, 8.5" long, and I have a nice unsingle combo trap gun. 34" barrel. I want to learn from what I do. I will share info on this forum as I move on with this project. This forum has a ton of beautiful short barreled shotguns on it and I have been inspired by the creativity and ideas I've seen. Kudos to all. I don't have the finished design as to how this will end up looking but I will tell you that I intend it to be a functioning and reliable firearm. On another note. I gave this project a lot of thought about what the 1100 owners would think of cutting up, modifying, completely changing, what the 1100 is and has been. So stay tuned folks as I push on thru this fun and challanging project. Keep the comments coming, ideas as well. |
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@Gunnie357 You don't see the straight stocked 1100 very often. They are so unique. Don't think Remington made very many of them. Quite rare I'd say I like it. I'm an 1100 fan as well. I own 7 of them and love them all. They never fail. Just keep them reasonably clean and a drop or two of oil and your done. I have one that is quite different. Its pistol gripped. Well aren't they all (except yours). Mine has no buttstock either! Very unique and different 1100. Now that I brought it up, I better post a pic or two so members don't think I'm smoking something. I'm in the process of doing some kind of re-finish as I worked it to the function/reliability level and jumped on something else. She deserves to be completed. I'll come back in a bit with some pics and a detail or two. |
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Quoted: @Gunnie357 You don't see the straight stocked 1100 very often. They are so unique. Don't think Remington made very many of them. Quite rare I'd say I like it. I'm an 1100 fan as well. I own 7 of them and love them all. They never fail. Just keep them reasonably clean and a drop or two of oil and your done. I have one that is quite different. Its pistol gripped. Well aren't they all (except yours). Mine has no buttstock either! Very unique and different 1100. Now that I brought it up, I better post a pic or two so members don't think I'm smoking something. I'm in the process of doing some kind of re-finish as I worked it to the function/reliability level and jumped on something else. She deserves to be completed. I'll come back in a bit with some pics and a detail or two. They didn’t make many at all they were intended to get a jump into the upland bird market were most wanted an English double. I kept my 23”? Factory barrel as standard. A pistol grip only 1100? I thought from memory the 1100 used a spring and tube in the stock how does it work? For instance a SGa won’t work because of the recoil assembly. |
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@Gunnie357 My 1100 pistol gripped shotty. 22.5" barrel, 32" overall, 8 rounds, and nearly 8 lbs. Fun, soft shooting, 1100 Remington rarity. Personally, I think the KooL factor is up there with this one. A 12" version would put the muzzle about a 1/2 inch in front of the handguard. About 22" overall. If you look at the tail of the pistol grip, you can see the hole for the grip mounting screw, in the action spring mounting boss.     |
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Quoted: @Gunnie357 My 1100 pistol gripped shotty. 22.5" barrel, 32" overall, 8 rounds, and nearly 8 lbs. Fun, soft shooting, 1100 Remington rarity. https://i.imgur.com/Vx8kUL1.jpg https://i.imgur.com/EyLjBF5.jpg https://i.imgur.com/6w1G5DS.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gs8QSV9.jpg So where is the recoil assembly very intriguing |
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This Remington started out as a regular 1100 that was not very well taken care of. Lots of scratches on the receiver sides and some also on the top/sides. I picked up the gun at a pawn shop for a pretty reasonable price. (think low) I bought it because of my passion for the 1100. Really didn't need another one. She had a standard length action spring and tube. My desire to have something not everyone could have took me down this path. This is actually one of my first 1100 projects. Also it was quite difficult. There is a lot of hours in this one. Sleepless or short sleep nights littered in the process. My field of choice was Aerospace. I started my machinist career in 1975. Seems like forever ago. I retired from another Aerospace field, (same company) of 23 years, March 31, 2023. 49 years with the same company. Now I have the time to follow my passion. Make/change/modify shotguns to one of a kind firearms that excite me just a little. |
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Quoted: Did the 1100’s ever have a short tube like the 870’s? Special Field maybe? I always thought it was a much better length for the short barreled guns. I think Scattergun Technologies did some Witness Protection guns in that configuration. Special fields hold 3, standard hold 4 |
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@ AT-ST83 I'm sure I will get that same question a lot. Why so short? This one is really short. Really can't make it any shorter. The overall design of the carrier assembly and its stroke limits what I can do. Oh, I might be able to go to a 9" barrel, that makes things a lot more difficult. So here's the limit IMO. It's a passion, the desire to achieve something. Like a dog with a bone, I just really like the bone. I don't think this will be done by another. Ridiculous I know. Who would want to? There may be a misstep or two along the way, but I am motivated by desire. Hope you stay tuned. |
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@nhsport Yes, the Remington 1100 is a gas gun. Gas ports are in the barrel ring and drives the piston, driving the carrier assembly and bolt. And yes, the plan is to cut the mag tube as well, or let me re-phrase. I'm going to remove the mag tube (if possible), shorten it by a specific amount, recut the O-ring grove in another location, and reassemble. If it comes out, the rest is easy. If it doesn't come out, relocate and recut the O-ring grove, cut off the magazine tube to desired length, re-cut the square threads on the end. All of this will have to be done with the receiver still attached. None of this will be easy if the mag tube can't be removed. Difficulty level grows IMMENSELY. All of this work brings on another list of things to do to the designed handguard. More fun. |
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@Cooper1 Anything with a barrel less than 18 inches, if a shotgun, requires a $200 tax stamp, Form1. Key word here is shotgun. Shotgun means it has a buttstock, was shipped with a buttstock, sold with a buttstock, and a smooth bore over .5 inch, over 26 inch in length. The Remington TAC 13 never had a buttstock, it's over 26 inches in length, the minimum length, it's classified as a FIREARM! Mossberg has one, Black Aces Tactical has one, Remington TAC 14 is another, etc. The ATF also wants to know the overall length. If it has a collapsible buttstock, extended length is whats needed. If your gun measures exactly 28.5 inches extended(if that applies) put 28 inches on the form. Shorter is better on the form. So if the ATF ever shows up, you will be longer instead of shorter than whats on the form. On the barrel, make sure your barrel is longer that what you put on the form. Thats measured with an empty gun, bolt closed, tape measure or rod down the barrel to the bolt face. Longer keeps you out of jail. |
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@Rangetoy The 1100 runs pretty well at roughly 12"s. You might be able to use a needle file to polish the ports to get it to run. If not, drill out the two ports to the next size. Still use the needle file to clean them up/polish a bit. Smooth transition for high velocity gas is advantagous for sure. Not all shells are equal. One brand 1200 FPS, 1 1/8 load may run just fine. The next brand may not. They are inconsistant for sure. I shot a suppressed 12ga semi auto about a month ago at CanCon at Ben Avery (Phoenix). Hearing safe for sure and a blast to shoot. Post some pics and share with us what your doing or at least, the finished product. |
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Quoted: @Rangetoy The 1100 runs pretty well at roughly 12"s. You might be able to use a needle file to polish the ports to get it to run. If not, drill out the two ports to the next size. Still use the needle file to clean them up/polish a bit. Smooth transition for high velocity gas is advantagous for sure. Not all shells are equal. One brand 1200 FPS, 1 1/8 load may run just fine. The next brand may not. They are inconsistant for sure. I shot a suppressed 12ga semi auto about a month ago at CanCon at Ben Avery (Phoenix). Hearing safe for sure and a blast to shoot. Post some pics and share with us what your doing or at least, the finished product. Appreciate the reply. My range only allows slugs so I hope that would help my case. My Mossberg 500 barrel is out for cut & thread so have not tried my VersaX can yet, but would be nice to have a semi-auto SBS too. Just have to find a 1100 priced right. Not trying to have a ton of money into. |
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Update: I stopped off at the machine shop this afternoon to check on the progress on my parts. Pleased with what they have done so far. Nice machine work. They were about to start on the reworking of the 1100 parts. Said I should have them this week. That would excite me just a bit. I'm ready to cut the barrel to the first length and get it ready for some of the other work needed in the first step. There is a process I have to follow to make this happen accurately. That is a must on this one. I'm also having two pieces of tooling made at this shop. Both for the 1100 project. Gotta have them to make this all come together. What I saw today made me smile because the work was really good. Couldn't have looked better. Maybe som pics when I get some of this work done. Stay tuned. |
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A little further into this project. Progress is a little slow but moving forward. One of the important parts of this build has been completed. A small part but necessary. 1100 owners will recognize this part and the changes made to it. The other components in this pic are just for the reference.  First cut on the barrel. This is cut at 12". It is a step in the process. Making a fixture to fit in the in the ID of both the barrel and the mag tube. It will have a secure plate to hold that spacing prior to removing the barrel ring. Barrel is finished to the exact length of the mag tube, holding the barrel seated in location. This will allow accurate measuring to the new barrel ring location. Designed to keep the current barrel to mag tube spacing. Then I can remove the barrel ring/gas cylinder from the barrel and relocate it with the exact barrel to mag tube spacing. Can't have that spacing altered, has to be as it is today. Of course the barrel ring will be about 1.5 inches closer to the receiver in its new location. Measured from the current end of the barrel. Black mark on the barrel is the 10" mark, final barrel length.  |
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Update 06/05/2024 We now have the barrel cut to prelimenary length of roughly 12 inches. Actually cut and semi finished to the same length as the magazine tube The shortened 1100 slide has been shortened 1.428 inches is now installed on the action rods and assembled to the gun. This is an overall picture to get the general layout/configuration of the gas/action assembly. I put an original slide in the pic, in the correct location if it were assembled on the mag tube, to show how much the modified slide has been shortened.  A better pic showing other slight modification made to the shortened slide.  The barrel and the magazine tube are within .001 in length with the barrel seated in the receiver. There is a fixture to be used to correctly hold the barrel to the exact distance it is now, from the mag tube. Its a plate with two round bosses that will insert into each diameter and hold the correct spacing. Necessary when fitting the barrel ring back to the barrel in its new location 1.428 inches closer to the receiver. Since the original barrel ring will be off the barrel at this point. Nothing to hold it in location to properly re-fit the barrel ring. That dimension will be checked from the end of the barrel to the ring as it is now, a known dimension and add the 1.428 for correct placement. Correct placement will be fun as the barrel is larger and also a slightly different taper that must be matched on the barrel ring. this fitment needs to be really good as this will have to prevent high pressure gas from escaping thru the interface. Plan is for an excellent fit and to tig weld the ring to the barrel. Takes less heat than silver soldering so less chance of ruining the barrel.  |
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Update 06/20/2024 I have now removed the barrel ring and completed the two needed fixtures. NOTE: The barrel is still at just over 12 inches and the final cut to 10 inches will be the last item to get done. Up next is to clean the silver solder from the barrel and the gas block/barrel ring. Don't know how hard this will be but it has to be done. Seems to be a small pin location hole on the barrel right between the gas ports. It is evident on the barrel ring as well but I'm not finding a real pin or something similar. Closer inspection is coming up. So first up is a look at the barrel with the barrel ring removed. This is as it came off by concentrating heating the barrel ring and not the barrel. Took more heat than I thought it would. Concetrated the heat inside the ring at the attaching point. It just fell off after the solder got hot enough.    This is one of the needed fixtures. It is a snug fit to the barrel ring and a slip fit over the magazine tube. This will be needed during the fitting process of the barrel ring in its new location and then to hold it in that location to fix it to the barrel. I put a split on both sides of the fixture about half its length to use a hose clamp to hold it tight to the mag tube for the mounting process. I am moving the barrel ring the exact distance that I shortened the slide by. In this case, 1.428 inches. This way the ratios by Remington stay the same.   The second fixture is self evident what it is for. It holds the exact barrel to mag tube spacing that this gun had before any modifications were made. Extra care was given to this process to make the perfect fit. To split any tolerance that was present in the original gun. Hit it in the middle, best location. Three were made, measured and tested, until the correct spacing was found. She's good. This will allow a tiny bit of leeway on the barrel ring mounting. The last pic showing it all in use on the end of the barrel. This is how it will be used but a bit closer to the receiver.    Now to clean off the silver solder and fit the barrel ring in its new location. (sand to fit on that barrel taper will be fun) Then there will be the shortening of the mag tube and the cutting of a new O-Ring groove on the mag tube, Won't run without it and won't be easy to do. The original O-Ring groove will remain where it is. It won't be an issue to the gun. This mag tube work is due to the amount of risky work it would be to remove the mag tube from the receiver, modify it to dimension, and then re-install it. Lots of heat required that I would like to stay away from. Shortening of the handguard, or creation of a new one. Not decided yet. Got to find a buttpad to either fit the shorter youth buttstock (smaller in size) or find a way to use a grind to fit pad. Grind to fit pad will need some way to locate it and keep it in location on a hollow polymer buttstock. But then I have an idea to create a buttstock and handguard of my own. Really different if I go that route. Stay tuned as this moves deeper into the project. I'll update as I complete segments. |
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The barrel and the barrel ring have now been cleaned of all silver solder with the exception of a low area in the barrel ring. The old silver solder came off pretty easy. It's also easy to see why it is used for this purpose. It is a solid mounting system. I have alread begun the fitting process as you can see on the barrel ring. I have moved it towards the receiver about 1 inch so far and that took a good deal of sanding to keep the fit to the barrel contour. To be honest, its a good deal of work. I have about 3 hours in it so far and at least that much more to go. You can see how far it has moved in the assembled picture. The fixtures I created are working very well. I know the spacing is good and the barrel ring fixture allows for the sanding of the ring. Slowly moving the barrel ring towards the receiver  
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Hey Tony. Thanks for the input. Thats been a concern in the back of the mind since I started this project. This project was a reach from the start. It was a challange I had to run with. Moving the barrel ring gave me some ebbijeebies from the start. Not an easy task to get it right. There is some fast moving taper at this point in the barrel. I'm having to remove more material from the ring than originally allowed for. Really tough to figure out the machining so I made the fixture to sand my way there. Man my hand gets tired. Labor of love I guess. Been thinking of tig welding the barrel ring back on. Silver soldering would require even more material removed from the ring. I want to make sure there is no gap between the ring and the barrel to attract/capture gas. Line to line fit. Barrel OD is about .970 at the center of the mounting location so I got about .120 wall to work with. I'm open to any suggestions or comments you might have. This is a learning process on this one. Been following you and Evl for many years. Learned a lot reading what you guys have posted. I even purchassed the UTAS XTR 12 project from Anthony a while back. Its moving up the get to list. I'm a Saiga 12 and Vepr guy. Love those Russian guns. Remington V3 and 1100's. RIA VR80's and Panzer MAG 12's. Love the semi auto's. Not really a pump guy. They're a cool tool but I like the challenge of a semi auto. Retired March of 23 after 49 years in the aerospace industry. Now chasing my passion. |
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Quoted: Great job! I'm thinking about doing this? I have both the 1100 and 1187. I own two Saiga 12 SBS.Im so a semi auto shotgun guy. I am as well. I own a ton of shotguns. Three are break open. A 34 inch FabArm combo trap gun, a 28 inch Browning BT99 as a backup for trap. The third is a TriStar over under with 8.5 inch barrels and a buttstock at this time. Soon to be made into a pistol. It weighs in arounf 4.5 pounds and has a sharp recoil. Quick and somewhat nasty. Once a pistol, which it is stamped for, I will not be using 2 3/4 inch shells. Just the mini's. May get brave and try some low power 2 3/4 in shells. I do not own a pump. Sold them all. I love SBS's and have more than my share. All but one of my SBS's, the TriStar, is semi auto. Saiga 12's, Vepr 12's, Remington V3's, Kalashnikov KS 12's, Remington 1100's, a Girsan MC312, some Panzer Arms Mag 12's, RIA Vr 80's, several bullpups purchassed and created, and a Standard Manufacturing Shorty I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet. I love the challenge of making them run without issue. Keeping the gas ports as small as possible to extend cleaning intervals and carbon buildup. Baseline round is 1200 FPS and 1 1/8 ounce of shot. Slugs and buck, 1oz. I have a VR80 running stock sized gas ports with 8.5 inch barrel cylinder bore. Just completed a 7 inch version but not been to the range yet for testing. I'm in Phoenix and she's been pretty warm here for weeks. 112° here today. Thats in the shade by the way. I have an indoor membership at a great place. When you fire off a really short shotgun there, you get a lot of curious folks asking questions, making comments and so on. Like to keep the thoughts on point when testing new creations or working on issues. This 10 inch 1100 needs the barrel ring re-attached and the mag tube shortened yet. Fitting the barrel ring was some time consuming work on a sharply tapered barrel. Has to fit very well so no gas escapes thru that interface. It's about as short as the guns mechanics will allow. I'm at the limit of the stroke. If you can live with a 12 inch version, that would be my recommendation. They run well at 12 inches. Look good doing it and not hard to make em run good. it's your own custom touches that make the 1100 quite attractive. Unique to you. I just finished a TAC 10. A shorter version of the TAC 13. Its pretty cool and ready for testing, and still needs a muzzle sight created and attached. Amazingly, it weighs 7 ozs less than the TAC 13. Everything is shorter I guess. |
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Quoted: I am as well. I own a ton of shotguns. Three are break open. A 34 inch FabArm combo trap gun, a 28 inch Browning BT99 as a backup for trap. The third is a TriStar over under with 8.5 inch barrels and a buttstock at this time. Soon to be made into a pistol. It weighs in arounf 4.5 pounds and has a sharp recoil. Quick and somewhat nasty. Once a pistol, which it is stamped for, I will not be using 2 3/4 inch shells. Just the mini's. May get brave and try some low power 2 3/4 in shells. I do not own a pump. Sold them all. I love SBS's and have more than my share. All but one of my SBS's, the TriStar, is semi auto. Saiga 12's, Vepr 12's, Remington V3's, Kalashnikov KS 12's, Remington 1100's, a Girsan MC312, some Panzer Arms Mag 12's, RIA Vr 80's, several bullpups purchassed and created, and a Standard Manufacturing Shorty I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet. I love the challenge of making them run without issue. Keeping the gas ports as small as possible to extend cleaning intervals and carbon buildup. Baseline round is 1200 FPS and 1 1/8 ounce of shot. Slugs and buck, 1oz. I have a VR80 running stock sized gas ports with 8.5 inch barrel cylinder bore. Just completed a 7 inch version but not been to the range yet for testing. I'm in Phoenix and she's been pretty warm here for weeks. 112° here today. Thats in the shade by the way. I have an indoor membership at a great place. When you fire off a really short shotgun there, you get a lot of curious folks asking questions, making comments and so on. Like to keep the thoughts on point when testing new creations or working on issues. This 10 inch 1100 needs the barrel ring re-attached and the mag tube shortened yet. Fitting the barrel ring was some time consuming work on a sharply tapered barrel. Has to fit very well so no gas escapes thru that interface. It's about as short as the guns mechanics will allow. I'm at the limit of the stroke. If you can live with a 12 inch version, that would be my recommendation. They run well at 12 inches. Look good doing it and not hard to make em run good. it's your own custom touches that make the 1100 quite attractive. Unique to you. I just finished a TAC 10. A shorter version of the TAC 13. Its pretty cool and ready for testing, and still needs a muzzle sight created and attached. Amazingly, it weighs 7 ozs less than the TAC 13. Everything is shorter I guess. Any updates on the super short 1100? |
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Quoted: Any updates on the super short 1100? Sorry to say...No. But I had it in my hands yesterday and I am persuing an aerospace TIG welder to make the attachment of the barrel ring. During the fitting process, I did not leave any room for silver soldering. It was somewhat a tedious process just to get the fit as it is without taking off a couple of thousandths more. That would be several hours more hand labor. So this one gets the TIG treatment. I want the aerospace welder so a fine weld can be made by someone with experience in the field. Really, any good TIG welder could do the job. I worked in the Aerospace field for 33 years so I'm kinda attached to the requirements for excellent welding skills. Whoever I find first will probably get the job as I'd like to get it up and running. Got to hit the machibe shop this week as well. I will update soon. |
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An update Found a Tig welder to handle the task of fixing the barrel ring to the barrel. It was going along nicely with a fuse weld, but when finishing, a hairlione crack appeared on one side. It was a beautiful weld job to this point. Welder quized me on the materials and I didn't have an answer exactly. I did tell him I thought they were disimilar steels and his response was that was probably the issue, fuze welds. At that point, he said he would add some filler material and that should solve the issue. And it did. Not as pretty as it was, but it is secure and no further issues are anticipated. At this point I am wanting to check out the mechanical changes I made. Barrel length is still at 12 inches. This was done because I need the forend as stock to be able to use it to secure the barrel until I've completed the function testing. I drilled the gas ports to the original size as I have a good deal lighter action bar/carrier. Original gas ports have not been closed yet. They may cause an issue with cycling, lowering the gas pressure a bit. That will be in the equation when testing. I made a spacer bushing to make up for the roughly 1.5 inch gap created by moving the barrel ring. I also added an O-ring in the forend compressed area to make sure the barrel was held in place as the spacer length was about .010 short. Completely went thru the gun today, cleaned it well, lubed it so its ready to go for mechanical test. I put back on the original stock because it has a buttpad where my youth stock is missing that important feature. Still looking for one. The mag tube will be shortened a bit over two inches once all mechanical and function testing is complete and she runs as designed. So a few pics to show what I did.     
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Went out in the desert Thursday the 7th to do some testing on this 1100 and 3 others. A 7" VR80, an 11" V3 and a 10"V3. Focus on the 1100. For this mechanical function test, the barrel was kept at 12", the mag tube at 12", and some other modifications were applied. A spacer of 1.408 inches was added on top of the barrel ring along with a gas port O-ring on top of the spacer. This was done so I could use an un-modified hand guard. Needed to cover the gap created by moving the barrel ring. The main goal was to check the function and durability of the modified action bar assembly which was shortened 1.416 inches. This included moving the barrel ring/gas ring the same distance and Tig welding to the barrel. All of my fitting of the ring was done to be a line to line fit to the barrel so no room for silver soldering. The gun was cleaned and oiled up for the test. There was a lot of work done so it was a bit dirty with sanding, stoning, and previous carbon residue. First shot was a single load shot, one in the chamber. Nothing in the mag tube. Everything sounded normal with the exception of the ejection. Crushed in the receiver opening. I drilled the gas ports to factory size so I really wasn't expecting it to cycle with all the changes I made, especially the first shot. But I was hopeful! Ammo used was Remington Gun Club trap ammo. I have a lot of it. 1200 Feet per second, 3 dram equivolint, 1-1/8 oz of 7.5 shot. First shot is like a cold shot. Gun takes a set so to speak. Barrel moves slightly to get in the alignment it likes. I did a quick check of the action bar assembly and everything looked good. Loaded up 5 rounds, 4+1 and proceeded with the testing. Short cycled again, then again, then again. The 4th and 5th shot tried a bit harder but still a similar result. Last round almost made it. Part of the problem is that the original gas ports are still open and they definately bled off some needed gas. 1.416 inches further down the barrel. I tried another 5 rounds with the same result. Time for a change. I loaded up 5 rounds of Noble Speed 1300 FPS, 1 1/8 oz, 7.5 shot, and I believe 3.25 dram equivolent trap ammo. Cycled all 5 rounds without issue. Kicked the hulls out about 8-10 feet. Normal for a just cleaned 1100 SBS. Really haven't a clue! Put 20 more round thru it, same results, ejected all the rounds, no issues. Loaded up 5 rounds of Remington 1 oz managed recoil slugs. Hit and miss on the ejection. So the ports are close for this configuration and an extra pair of original open ports. I did load in 5 rounds of BPS round ball slugs. 1 1/5 oz. Gravy, cycled them with athority. The guns going to 10" so opening up the gas ports will be needed. Don't know how much yet. Will have a better idea once the original ports get welded closed and finished. So that neeeds to be done before any more testing. Disassembled it today to check out all the componnents for wear or anything unusual I might find. Everything was normal. So close the original gas ports and back to the desert. (Sonoran) Cleaned up the original ports for welding. Small amount of carbon present. I made a mistake in my process. Should have closed the original ports first before welding on the gas ring. The angle of the ports and their location to the new barrel ring location made it difficult to clean the ports really good for welding. The needle file had to be run thru the barrel ring which limited how much I could do with the file. Good enough for the welding to close them up. A pic of the new ports and the barrel ring location relevent to the old ports. New ports have been dressed with the needle file. Stay tuned as I want to get this thing cycling and off the board.  , , |
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Today I shortened the barrel to the desired 10 inches. I also cut the hand guard so I could use it as Remington designed. Since the barrel ring was moved, a spacer was made so the full length hand guard could be installed and the magazine cap could be used. With the hand guard cut, it is now being used as designed, just a bit short for now. The two halves will be cut to the correct length, and fited to to the correct length and look original, just shorter. This 1100 will have pretty much a bull nose, little to no barrel exposed and same with the barrel nut. I took the spacer made for the inside the hand guard, and now its on the muzzle end under the magazine cap. Magazine tube still at factory length (4 rounds) so it looks a bit odd. All of this is for testing. Pics of action open and closed so pretty important I keep the hand clear of that area, I will be quite aware of what I have in my hands. Still stock sized gas ports and now, the 10 inch barrel length.  , , , 
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Update for 01/08/2025 Took 4 SBS's to the indoor range today. Had the space for an hour. A little recap to this point. 10" barrel, shortened and lighten the action slide, barrel ring moved closer to the chamber, handguard shortened. The previous pictures and text tells the story up to this point. There is always concern when shortening a semi auto. How to keep it cycling reliably. Concern really grows when you shorten the barrel on an 1100 to 10 inches. That was me. This is unchartered teritory requiring some real thought and guts to move forward. Something that was in the back of my mind from the beginning was will I have enough dwell time to gas the system. Moving the barrel ring had to happen and most likely increase the size of the gas ports. The barrel ring got moved. What did I gain by doing so. I gained about 1.5 inches of dwell time. The gas pressure is higher. The gas is hotter. Burns cleaner. Reduced carbon buildup. Those are some real positives. I'vw seen that with the other SBS's I've built. Especially the really short ones. What about the gas ports? I've been told I would really have to open them up with this short of barrel. Well I didn't open them up. They are still at the factory diameter. Did it function, did it complete the firing cycle? Yes, it did. I expected to run a little hotter ammo to make this one cycle. Not the case. Why? Higher gas pressure. Hotter gasses expand faster. Shortened and lightened action slide nearly 1/3 less weight. It all came together resulting in a gun that functioned as it should. It was a blast to shoot and I mean that. The ammo I used was not what I wanted to use. I could not use any shot smaller than NO. 1 buck, no bird shot. I had lined up 5 different loads to test with, all bird shot (7.5 shot) Not allowed to use any of them. 1200 FPS 1 1/8 oz Remington Gun Club 1230 FPS 1 1/8 oz B & P Compitition One (Baschieri & Pellagri) 1265 FPS 1 1/5 oz Captor 1300 FPS 1 1/8 oz Noble Sport (Noble Speed) 1350 FPS 1 1/4 oz B & P Compitition Flyer What did I use? NO. 1 buck 1 oz @ 1200 FPS Sellier & Bellot 1 oz slugs @ 1200 FPS Remington Managed Recoil Slugger 1 oz slugs @ 1350 FPS Federal Deep Penetrator The NO. 1 buck was not reliable. Id say it was 50%. I consider this a light load for shot even though it buck. Both the 1 oz slugs cycled the gun with the 1350 having a powerfull ejection. The 1200 slugs just cycled the gun. Recoil was noticablly stronger than the NO. 1 buck. Slugs just produce more recoil than shot at the same 3 dram 1 oz load. Thats a technical question I don't have an answer for. With a limited selection of ammo, I managed to get much needed info. My goal was to be able to run 1 1/8 oz loads at 1200 FPS. I may be there. More test with the heavier 1 1/8 loads. I do want to shoot the 1 oz slugs at 1200 FPS to keep ammo cost as low as possible. Faster slugs rise in price quickly. I will open the gas ports to the next drill size. That being all that is needed for reliable operation. Very pleased at where it ended up. A unique shotgun that works as designed. Now to shorten the magazine tube, work the inside of the handguard so it goes on further, about 3/4 of an inch. Glue the shortened reworked handguard back together and recess the mag cap a bit. Work over the vent rib at the muzzle to accept a tall LPA front sight to clear a suppressor, drill and tap for the LPA rear sight. I don't want to drill and tap the receiver with the standard Remington set-up unless it becomes necessary to mount a pic rail. Look into a red dot mount and see what can be done if I make that decision. Ream and thread the barrel for Rem chokes and a JK Armament suppressor adapter for the 195 series JK suppressors. It has a youth buttstock on it so the length of pull is just right at 13 inches. Overall length is 29 inches once the magazine tube is shortened. More to do but the big question has been answered. It runs. Something else, it recoils less than a stock 1100. Pleasant surprise. This is as tested, as it came from the range. Powder residue covering the muzzle area.    |
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Update: Had some custom work performed by some well known gunsmiths/armorers. This 1100 needed a front sight so I came up with this idea that is really quite awesome. A HI-VIZ front shotgun sight was used and we flush mounted it in the rib. It helps with a couple of things. Better protection for the sight and helps with the shotguns aim point. I raises the impact point a little with the sight being closer to the barrel, especially with short barrels. It is now threaded for REM chokes. Having a 10 inch barrel length, it will help keep the shot pattern a bit closer together. Steve also opened the gas ports to the next drill size up. It ran with the original ports. This should make even a more solid platform. All of these modifications were done by Steve at Rose Action Sports. Excellent work. Thanks to Steve. He worked on 4 other barrels I sent with this one. When I got the firearm back from steve, I sent it off again. This time to Josh at Cotton Branch Customs. He shortened the magazine tube to the desired length and re-threaded it for the Remington Magazine thread. For lack of the correct name of the thread, its a 1"x12 square thread. Josh fixed me right up with his custom work. I wasn't going to attempt threading it myself. He sent me a pic this morning so I wanted to share it as I am stoked it's near finished. I'm sure it will be headed back to me next week sometime. I will post some detailed pics then but you can see the sight installation and the shortened mag tube. Just the foregrip left to finish when it gets back home. Josh has the front of it and I have the backend. Do the fitting, put them together, and consider what Cerakote color I might like. 
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Quoted: Interesting projects you have going here Namsag. Here is a detail of the front sight bead/vent rib treatment. It makes for a smooth installation. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/31644/IMG_4134-3752573.jpg Hey GunCat, thanks for the blow up of the sight. Makes with a pretty nice clean install. With this type of sight, you normally end up with a slightly lower impact point. Killed two birds so to speak! Most all of my projects, it's the challenge. I like to take on stuff that maybe hasn't been done before. The short Remington V3's, the 10" 1100, 11-87's. Short RIA VR 80's, Panzer Mag 12's, M2's, and M4's. Saiga's, Vepr's, Benelli's. I don't have as much interest in the pump guns. I have two, the Magpul 870DM 18" (box fed) that I have a short barrel for and a TAC 14DM. The TriStar O/U pistol will be cool if I can bring it all together. Semi auto's. Gas fed, inertia drive, and recoil driven like the Remington A5. All present some kind of challenge to make them run as they did originally. I picked up a few Mosberg 9200 fully rifled barrels. (dealer getting rid of them) Got some rifled Remington V3 barrels. I have a lot of ideas. Some folks on here may think why with some of these projects. Like to treat them as build projects, share what I do. Maybe inspire others to dive in on their ideas. I've learned a ton doing these guns. Sparked more ideas, more inspiration. Lots of satisfaction when they run good. More to come. |
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Quoted: Hey GunCat, thanks for the blow up of the sight. Makes with a pretty nice clean install. With this type of sight, you normally end up with a slightly lower impact point. Killed two birds so to speak! Most all of my projects, it's the challenge. I like to take on stuff that maybe hasn't been done before. The short Remington V3's, the 10" 1100, 11-87's. Short RIA VR 80's, Panzer Mag 12's, M2's, and M4's. Saiga's, Vepr's, Benelli's. I don't have as much interest in the pump guns. I have two, the Magpul 870DM 18" (box fed) that I have a short barrel for and a TAC 14DM. The TriStar O/U pistol will be cool if I can bring it all together. Semi auto's. Gas fed, inertia drive, and recoil driven like the Remington A5. All present some kind of challenge to make them run as they did originally. I picked up a few Mosberg 9200 fully rifled barrels. (dealer getting rid of them) Got some rifled Remington V3 barrels. I have a lot of ideas. Some folks on here may think why with some of these projects. Like to treat them as build projects, share what I do. Maybe inspire others to dive in on their ideas. I've learned a ton doing these guns. Sparked more ideas, more inspiration. Lots of satisfaction when they run good. More to come. Thanks for your posts. I'm learning a lot to apply to my JC Higgins model 66. Attached File |
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Quoted: Thanks for your posts. I'm learning a lot to apply to my JC Higgins model 66. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/276807/793_jpg-3756840.JPG Wow! Have not seen one of those for quite awhile. Looked it up for some info. Made by High Standard for Sears. A big box store shotgun. There were lots of those in the past. Sears, Woolco, Montgomery Wards, JC Penny, etc all sold firearms, mostly rifles and shotguns. Pretty cool. Not much if any, in the way of parts available anymore. Nice condition. It's a cool piece of history. I have a New Haven 600AT pump made by Mossberg for Montgomery Ward and other box stores. New Haven was a private promotional brand for Mossberg. Identical to the Mossberg 500. It even has the C-Lect choke on it. Similar to the poly choke. |
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