70's vintage Remington 1100 12 ga

[468]

Anyone know if a standard 2-3/4" barrel can be machined to accept 3 or 3-1/2 shells?...and if the receiver would handle this?

...

[Ragnarok]

The 2 3/4" receivers..are 2 3/4" receivers..the 3" guns are different in ejection port size..and probably differ in other respects too.

[Mk42gunner]

In addition to what Ragnarok said, the gas ports in the 2 3/4" barrel would probably be too large once you cut the chamber deeper.

Robert

[468]

Interestingly enough, during a duck hunt this morning I tried a 3" shell in my 2-3/4" 1100. Worked fine. Then I tried 3 more. They all cycled, chambered, and ejected flawlesslly.
HOWEVER, I will likely not try this again...

[Mk42gunner]

468,

The problem is that when you fire a 3" shell in a 2 3/4" chamber, the end of the shell has nowhere to go except in the forcing cone. This can raise pressures dangerously high; I don't know the exact numbers, but all of the ammo and gun manufacurers that I can think of recommend against the pratice.

Robert

[468]

468,

The problem is that when you fire a 3" shell in a 2 3/4" chamber, the end of the shell has nowhere to go except in the forcing cone. This can raise pressures dangerously high; I don't know the exact numbers, but all of the ammo and gun manufacurers that I can think of recommend against the pratice.

Robert

Agreed

[MBTcustom]

Yeah, but if the shell worked in the shotgun, that means that the gas port is far enough ahead of the shell that it is not effected. Back to the OP, why not ream it out so that the shell can open properly and pressures will not spike as the wad gets ejected from the shell?
My first thought would be that maybe they make the 3"-3.5" barrels a little stronger so as to not get the ol' bulge in the 'ol scatter pipe. If your 1100 ejects the 3"rs fine, I really wonder what the big difference is. The difference might be nothing more than a 6" stack of paper filed away in Remington's legal filing cabinet. I mean they have to make those barrels a lot stronger than they have to be otherwise they would be a safety hazard, and in my opinion there is little difference in the high-brass 2 3/4" turkey loads with a full choke, and 3" shells. If it were me, (being the daring and dangerous type) I would probably ream it out and enjoy running a few hundred rounds through it just to see if it breaks. But then I have never been accused of being an ultra scientific type.

[468]

Goodsteel, that was my original thought, to have the barrel reamed and use 3' when the mood struck. BUT, I've been searching the net and have found some info.

Remington DOES make a 3" "steel" shot barrel that will mount and operate in a 2-3/4" receiver. They warn NOT to shoot any 3" lead shells. I recall reading that the gas ports for the autoloading system are different (smaller...or there is only one instead of 2). It was also stated that the linkage operating the bolt and mechanisms is heavier in the "magnum" guns/receivers.

So, in review: Remington makes a 3" barrel for a 2-3/4" receiver that WILL handle 3" steel shells...NOT 3" lead. This is the right way to go if 3" shells are needed. BUT, I killed as many birds as the guys shooting 3" and 3-1/2", so I don't think I need the 3"

[wv109323]

Guys, Remington Lost a major law suit over their shotgun barrels about 15 years back. It included Models 11-48,58 , 870 and 1100 and a few others. There was a class action settlement and if you had one of the guns you sent the serial number in and got part of the settlement. It involved hundreds of thousands of shotgun barrels.
Essentially the type of metal used at the thickness at which Remington used in in their barrels made the barrels marginal with just 2 3/4" shells. There was enough ruptured barrels and injuries that Remington lost the suit.
I would never use one of those old barrels and modify it to shoot 3" shells or shoot 3" shells in a 2 3/4" chamber. I want to keep all ten fingers and both eyes.

[MBTcustom]

Aha! see there? Knowledge to the rescue once again! I was thinking that there must be a way to block one of the ports, but that does nothing for the strength of the action.

I killed as many birds as the guys shooting 3" and 3-1/2"

Yeah, you know, if you get into a heated discussion with the guys at camp about how much better the 3.5" is than the 3", and then one of the old-timers walks into duck camp with his rusty old 28ga full choke and a whole limit of birds, suddenly everybody wants to talk about the weather.