Remington 1100 not cycling - help!

[chrisb]

So I was checking my dad's 20 ga Remington 1100 today to see the shot capacity to make sure it was legal for pheasants. Besides learning that it isn't plugged, which isn't a problem i can't fix in a jiffy, when trying to empty the rounds from the tube I discovered that they aren't loading into the chamber. It almost looks like the bolt is getting stuck in the locked back position like it does when its empty. anyone know what could be causing this or better yet how to fix it?

[h2ofowlr]

You probably will need to clean it.  Then it should work.  Take the barrel off, pull out the receiver knob, where you caulk it back at.  Straight out.  Slid the o-ring and two following pieces off.  Note direction they are sitting.  Flip gun upside down and push in shell release button for the tube magazine and the receiver will slide out.  I would clean it up.  You can also knock out the two pins to take out the trigger to clean up.  It should clean up you gun.  If you need a plug.  Get a piece of wooden dowel that will slip into the top of the tubular magazine.  Slide two shells into the mag.  Mark the dowel and then trim it.  It will work good.  If you you find you can't put the gun back together, send me a pm.  I will walk you through it.

[chrisb]

That's kinda what I thought it would be. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't some known issue with these guns where something breaks or wears out and causes this. Thanks.

[Buckmark]

You probably will need to clean it.  Then it should work.  Take the barrel off, pull out the receiver knob, where you caulk it back at.  Straight out.  Slid the o-ring and two following pieces off.  Note direction they are sitting.  Flip gun upside down and push in shell release button for the tube magazine and the receiver will slide out.  I would clean it up.  You can also knock out the two pins to take out the trigger to clean up.  It should clean up you gun.  If you need a plug.  Get a piece of wooden dowel that will slip into the top of the tubular magazine.  Slide two shells into the mag.  Mark the dowel and then trim it.  It will work good.  If you you find you can't put the gun back together, send me a pm.  I will walk you through it.

These guns get dirt and fouling in places you wont believe, like h2o said clean and clean again, and for the plug a piece of hose also works for a plug if you dont have a dowel around..

[h2ofowlr]

A pencil will work as a plug as well.  Or you could modify one of the 870 ones they sell at Wal Mart.  These guns are fairly tough.  But fouling will make them not cycle along with making it tough to close the action.

[chrisb]

Hmmm Never thought about a pencil. Those are plentiful around my house.

I'm kind of wondering if the problem is due to me trying to manually cycle the action instead of actually firing the gun? thoughts?

[ICEMAN]

No way, you should be able to cycle that thing all day without ammo..... besides,  it's fun!

[h2ofowlr]

If your dry firing it all day there won't be any fouling building up.  You will probably actually wear some of the slide parts loosening up the action.  You can damage the firing pin and spring.  I would get some 20 gauge snap caps if you plan on dry firing.

[chrisb]

Not doing any dry firing just trying to see how many rounds it would hold to know if it needed a plug.

[Chopaka81]

Brownells is an excellent source of OEM parts. Shotgun Sports Magazine sell Rem M1100 repair kits with all of the common parts that are prone to wear and in need of replacement.  Your only challenge is that the shotgun is a 20 ga. My gues is that your shotgun is a LT-20. It that is the case you are in luck as there are a lot of LT-20's out there, so finding parts should not be a problem.

Good Luck,

[wrangler]

i have a 20ga. 1100 also. never had more problems with any gun cycling than that one. seems if its fouled at all it wont cycle. im farliy handy in the smithin' department and iv massaged everything on that action for years. im resolved to the fact it's just not gonna cycle all the time. i know of one other 1100 that has the same issues. sorry, but good freakin' luck.

[wrangler]

ok i just reread your post. its not cycling manually? like when your not firing it? thats kinda strange. anyhow disregard my previous post if this is the case...

[chrisb]

Yeah it will extract the round from the chamber but the next round pops out of the tube but not up into place and the action locks open as it would if it were empty.