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My $175 Rem 1100 Trap-T

8K views 31 replies 20 participants last post by  BigTuna 
#1 ·
Was at my buddy's gunshop, and stumbled across a Rem 1100 Trap-T (the receiver is marked such). The gun looked halfway decent from the outside, but there were definite internal problems. Had a heckuva time getting the barrel off, and heavy rust was found in the gas chamber (barrel hanger). He said he'd sell it to me for $175. I figured hey, if anything, I can at least get some spare parts off of it.



Here's the gun after cleanup. I have a 26" 1187 standard barrel with Rem Choke mounted on it. This fits perfectly, and even the forend fits perfectly. I have not test fired it yet in this configuration. Above it is the original 30" fixed full choke barrel. It has a date stamp of RX, which if original dates this gun to Nov '73. The barrel is standard weight, with a plain vent rib (no step).



Here's the rust inside the gas chamber. The two-piece rings are all but welded in place. It's evident this guun has not automatically cycled for a long time. In fact, the mag tube has some minor pits on it from gas etching. These aren't enough to cause any problem. There are also some heavy rust pits on the mag tube under the action sleeve, but these are not in a place where they will cause problems. In the meantime, I installed new "one-piece" gas rings and a fresh o-ring.



The barel is ported. Looks like someone used a drilling jig. I have no clue what the two holes in the rib are for. Note the rust on the barrel.

In addition to the rust, the barrel has been bent. It has a very noticable upward curve. Someone deliberately bent the barrel to raise the POI. Unfortunately, it appears they also bent it to one side, as you can see the rib slightly curving to the right.



The stocks are your typical press checkered monte carlo trap stocks. The cheekpiece has been thinned down on the LH side. This isn't a problem, as my right eye is perfectly centered. The butt is adjustable. I don't know whose adjustable plate this is. The stock is in pretty good condition, but it needs to be refinished because of the sanding and use.



Here's the real gem. I stripped the gun completely down to clean it (which took a few cans of Gun Scrubber and several hours of work - the old lube was like tar and it was filthy). While testing the trigger group for function, I tried to apply the safety. Oops. No safety. I then noticed the hammer has two holes in it. Blasted it clean and on a hunch put a magnet on the trigger housing. Yep, steel. And the safety hole isn't filld in - it was never there. This is someone's aftermarket precision trigger (it's a non-release). It's full of custom parts. Anyone know who might have made it? It breaks very crisp with no creep.

I don't know if the barrel is salvagable at this point. I'll try soaking the gas rings and derust the gas chamber. I'm not a fan of ports, and it's anyone's guess how high this is going to shoot because of the barrel bend.

I bought it with the idea of setting it up specifically for sporting clays. I'd like to mount a light contour 28" 1187 barrel on it, or possible one of the late model 1100 Classic Trap 30" barrels, which I understand are supposed to have a light contour taper. Was also hoping to use it for field shooting in decent weather. Definitely out of the question due to lack of a safety. But, I might try swapping the trigger group with my 1187 trap gun.

All in all, I don't think I did too bad for $175.
 
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#14 ·
From what I found the early trap guns had press checkering. I wish it was cut checkering as I'm not a fan of pressed checkering. I vaguely recall a discussion going back quite some time that it's possible to recut the pressed checkering to make it into real checkering, but the thread may be long gone. I could not find it in the archives.

The gas chamber looks bad. Lots of pits. Many might clean up with a brake hone, but some will never clean up. Whether they'd cause problems is unknown at this point.

I'm going to try to test it this weekend with an 1187 barrel.
 
#16 ·
OK, I fiinally got the gas chambered cleaned up as much as I can without power honing it out, which would mean increasing the diameter. I hand cleaned it with 400, 600 then 800 grit wet sandpaper (oiled). The gas rings were junk, and had to be knocked out with a punch and heavy ball peen hammer. Fortunately the gas chamber didn't get knocked off the barrel, but that though ran through my mind with every strike. Light taps did not budge the rings, I really had to whallop them. Anyway, I don't know if the gas rings would make an effective seal if I honed the remaining pits out. I lubed up the gas chamber, reassembled the gun, and test fired it today.

The first shell stove piped, but the rest of them (fired as pairs) functioned flawlessly.

Recoil is soft, but definitely not as soft as my 1187 with its trap barrel. I suspect the bolt velocity is higher than a stock 1100 or 1187 trap gun. I'm using the same 3 dram 1-1/8 oz loads I always do. I had cleaned the gas ports, but hadn't measure them until now. They're both .089", which is .010" over the standard .079" for these barrels. That's a 26% increase in area. I suspect the ports were opened up for light loads. I need to get my hands on some of the Light AA loads. These normally will not cycle a stock 1100 or 1187. I wonder if they might in this gun? Since I shoot 3 dram loads, I might see about installing an 1100 magnum action sleeve, as it's heavier then the standard sleeve. This does make a difference on the LT-20 models, so likely it will on the 12ga model.

The trigger functioned perfectly, which is to be expected with a Timney. It's not the lightest pull I've felt on an 1100 or 1187, but it's the most crisp.

Discovered that the magazine would not accept more than one shell. There's no plug in it, and I took it apart to clean it. It won't even accept a 3" shell (just for testing). Something may have been modified, but I'll have to strip it and check.

The barrel at 20 yards is making a very tight, dense pattern, perhaps a foot in diameter, and the 6 o'clock position of the pattern is on top of the rib. As mentioned previously, the barrel has been bent. Further checking shows the rib is perfectly flat, though. I suspect the rib was removed, and the barrel was bent, then the rib machined to compensate and reinstalled. It's quite possible the barrel was done by a barrelsmith who knew what he was doing. The pattern makes me wonder if the bore has been worked on, but I do not have the gauges to check.

The porting, done with a drilling fixture, does help a bit with muzzle rise, but damn, it's loud. It doesn't appear have any affect on recoil, which is as expected.

If the gun will go 400+ rounds without cleaning, then I'm going to say it's good and the gas chamber can be shot as-is, pits and all.

For far I've got $175 into the gun, plus a new set of gas rings and an o-ring, and several cans of Gun Scrubber, and about 30+ hours of elbow grease.

Next will be a trip to the trap range. I need to put a Uni-Dot on it though, otherwise I'll have to shoot it with one eye closed, since I crossfire badly with both eyes open.

Oh, and the stock fits me almost perfectly. I do miss the padded comb on my 1187 trap stock, though.
 
#17 ·
Brian. Wonderful little story. I've seen these neglected BORs (bucket of rust) but run from them as quickly as I can. Your buddy with the gun shop is pretty much my gig with our gunshop but I have the run of the joint and pick andchoose what I want to Show and Sell. I've found that athe good stuff does and the bad stuff drags the entire image down. The boss man at first bought anything resembling trap until I informed him that a bum trap gun is still a bum gun. And just like that exceptional as ne TMX showed the otehr day these guys will pay for the good stuff and pee on the maligned stuff. I am a 1100 guy too and my fave bbl has slightly oversized ports to accomodate lighter loads, /but the bolt does not slam back against the buffer that I can detect, but I always keep in a good mainspring. Prob why. I have several Timneys, pull and release and your analysis of them being crisp and yet having a stronger pull is correct. Some of that can be controlled by weaker springs. But as release triggers the heavier sets tend to make the trigger faster (or seem so). Anyway keep us informed. I'd like to hear more about the obstruction in the mag tube. I'd also like to have you get a buddy with a bore mic and give a report on the interior of the bbl. Thanks for the update.
 
#21 ·
I'll have to ask my gunshop buddy how he came into possession of it.

One thing I noticed later is that the gas chamber, with the rings rusted solid, had no powder fouling in it. When I first got it, I assumed whomever had it had been shooting it single shot and didn't care if it cycled. But there would still be power fouling. The gun hadn't been cleaned in a long time, so I think the powder fouling broke down into metallic salts and corroded the gas chamber and rings, probablyy absorbing moisture from the air. This would mean the gun hadn't been shot in many years. Maybe decades. I wonder if an old trapshooter had this, passed on, and the gun was in possession of his widow for years or decades. Then the widow passed on and the gun was sold by the inheriting family, or the executer of the estate. Given the mods that were done to the gun, it probably would not have been a young trapshooter who owned it, but someone experienced. Pure speculation on my part, but it's quite plausible.
 
#22 ·
That gun and trigger are very dangerous. I think it is tragic that you even intend to use that gun. I will give you $175.00 plus shipping money to take that gun off of your hands and dispose of it safely. I am proud to extend this humane gesture to individuals from gun-related injuries.
 
#23 ·
Test fired it again this afternoon.

First tried it with an 1187 light contour field barrel. Functioned fine, except for the issue with feeding shells into the magazine. Can't put the gas shield on when using the 1100 forend, but it works without it. Recoil is still a bit more than most 1100's, so it's possible the action spring is weak.

Also shot it with the original barrel. I stripped it this morning and found nothing that should keep more than one shell from being loaded into the mag. Found that wiggling the base would allow more shells to load. There may be an issue with the interceptor latch. I'll R&R it, and thoroughly clean it and behind it, and look for wear and burrs.
 
#24 ·
BIO. I have a new spring if you want a measurement. I have measured them before, but forget. Two to one the mainspring is total surface rust. Clean the inside of the mainspring tube too and lightly oil it.
 
#25 ·
If the magazine tube only accepts one shell there could be a doubles conversion in it. Tom Morton used to do them. They drilled the magazine tube and put a slug in it.

When the slug was rearward( no shell in the tube) the gas went into the magazine tube instead of cycling the action. There should be a hole in the screw on cap to let the gas out.

When the tube had a shell in it the slug was pushed forward and blocked the gas from coming in the tube - Presto, the gun would cycle.

This gave you a built in shell catcher (keeper) but allowed the gun to spit the first hull when shooting doubles.

check your magazine tube for holes that line up with the gas ports in the barrel.

I can't see any other reason for the tube to hold only one shell.

HM
 
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