12 gauge reloading for Remington Auto help

A friend has a Remington 1100 Auto that will not cycle the target type "low brass" shells. He has to use heavy field loads and up to get her to cycle reliably. A new barrel for the use of target loads is not going to happen....I'm not going down that road with him again,LOL.

He is willing to get all the components needed to reload our 12 gauges.
Any pointers on components I should try would be great....we will be using 6 to 7-1/2 shot mostly. Most shells used are 2-3/4".

I'm not worried about mine...they are all pumps. I just have to make sure I can get a load to work in his auto.

Thanks!

Let me check my stuff. Just a stupid question because my 1100 cycles fine with anything. has he replaced the gas seals? the O-rings on the magazine tube? he may want to look to make sure the gas ports are open on his barrel too.

Now i have a great Blue dot load for 1 1/4 oz heavy field loads. By the way Brass height doesn't matter at least not in a reload. Its a throw back to the old days there are even shotgun shells out there that have no brass at all just a plastic tube. FYI

I will have to get back down to the farm this weekend to give you the exact powder weight.

Remington has different gas port sizes in their 1100 barrels for different applications....his is a field model, so it won't cycle the light target loads. Remington said it was normal and he'd need a different barrel to shoot target loads.

So, brass height means nothing as far as reloading goes? Interesting......

no it doesn't mean a thing other than its a bear to re-size. if you look inside a (for example) Winchester super X high brass hull you will see that it is just a plastic tube all the way down with no base wad. if you look inside the Upland and AA they are the same and will load the same. The Remington STS hull is the same as the AA and will load exactly the same. Funny my 1100 is a field and shoots and cycles every thing .. .. I have to be honest though I have never shot or tried to shoot store bought cheep crap through it.

A load that works well in my 1100 always has .... as far as weight goes I dont know. a MEC 32 Bushing Red Dot powder WW aa# the white plastic wad for 1 1/8 oz shot. Or the generic equiv. Or Remington 1 1/8 oz power piston ... and 1 1/8 oz of shot (size of shot doesnt matter I.E. #9 #8 #7 1/2 #6 ETC)

The alliant web site says that a Mec #32 Bushing throws 19.2 gr of Red Dot powder.

I've never reloaded shotgun, but I have shot thousands of shells through my old 1100 and never had any problems. Makes me think that there is something wrong with the gun.


P.S.... Unfortunately I suffered an attack of stupidity, and sold my 1100 a while ago, so if he is tired of it, let me know.

I'll guess I'll load some up with some of the various powders I have and see if they will cycle. I have Titegroup,WST and Unique on hand....if those won't work...I'll try something else.

WAA12 wads will work? That's what I see the most of around here.

Reload3006 wrote:Let me check my stuff. Just a stupid question because my 1100 cycles fine with anything. has he replaced the gas seals? the O-rings on the magazine tube? he may want to look to make sure the gas ports are open on his barrel too.

Now i have a great Blue dot load for 1 1/4 oz heavy field loads. By the way Brass height doesn't matter at least not in a reload. Its a throw back to the old days there are even shotgun shells out there that have no brass at all just a plastic tube. FYI

I will have to get back down to the farm this weekend to give you the exact powder weight.

+++1 on O ring and gas ports I have had 1100's for 35+ years and they eat just about any thing (at least the older ones) as long as the gas ports are clean and the O ring is good. Check the 2 metal rings also they get stuck some times. Some times the O ring looks good to go and I changed it any and it solved the problem.

Info from Remington on the 1100...

The Model 1100 12 gauge is also designed to cycle loads of 3 ¼ dram 1 1/8oz shot or more.

The Model 1100 20 gauge gun is designed to cycle loads of 2 1/2 dram and 7/8 oz of shot.

These firearms are not designed for target loads. We do offer the Model 1100 Sporting, Trap and Skeet firearms that are specifically designed for target loads and should be used with less than 3 ¼ dram 1 1/8oz shot.

I agree check the gas ports. Had the same problem and cleand the ports. Runs like a champ now.

Did some first real handloading for the 12 gauge. They turned out really nice....I have to say I am impressed with the Lee Load -all.

I loaded a box of shells with 31gr of Longshot powder, Win209's, WAA12 wads and 1-1/8oz of #7.5 shot. I used Remington Highbrass type hulls(green). All turned out good and are ready for a test shoot.

I had good luck with some other hulls I tried too....No luck at all on Federal heavy field hulls I have....even though they are the same length, the crimp just doesn't come out right.....like they need more shot or something.

Feels odd to be a beginner at something again,LOL

Federal hulls are a bugger to load no mater what you do. I have some federal wads that make an ok looking shell. I usually load them up for hunting rounds because i figure i will lose my empty. the best looking hulls to load in my experience is WW AA and Remington STS. after that the Remington regular hulls because they have always used an 8pt crimp. Keep at it Hawcer you will have more and more success as you find the right wad powder shot combination's to load what empties with.

here is a link to federal wads

http://www.federalpremium.com/ammunition_catalog/wads.aspx

Before I try it....I want to get verification on one of the above statements.

By the way Brass height doesn't matter at least not in a reload.

So does this mean I can use the short brass target type hulls for loading more stout loads? I did a couple test runs on some Winchester "Universal" hulls with the same guts as the loads above and they loaded up perfect....but are these safe to shoot?

yes the brass on a shotgun shell means absolutely nothing the pressure is contained by your guns chamber. so be sure not to shoot any modern sell in an old black powder Damascus twist shotgun of the long ago. ammo mfrs kept using high brass as it was expected by the shooting customers but has absolutely no meaning. it functioning or safety.

Ok the the recipe for my Heavy field loads for Pheasant Grouse large upland birds is this.

Remington STS or Winchester AA hull
Remington sp12 1 1/4 oz wad
39.0 grains of blue dot powder
Winchester 209 primer.... any 209 primers will work the same I have used them all interchangeably.
1 1/4 OZ Lead shot. any size you want to use
velocity is about 1400 fps.
My book shows the closest you can come on the lee load all is with a .198 powder bushing and will give you 37.5 gr of Blue Dot. will push you out at about 1330 still pretty respectable.