[William R. Moore]

I've got an 11-87P that seems to refuse to function with anything less than 1 1/4 oz of shot and/or slugs & buckshot. Runs Federal tactical buck & slugs like oats through a goose. I'll admit to not doing any experimentation, I just loaded 1 1/4 oz at around 1250 fps. I would kinda like to find a way to cut the cost of feeding the thing.

I have the remains of a box of Winchester 1 1/8 oz loads that are the only lighter stuff to ever run the gun successfully.

I'm thinking it may be the powder selection. Anyone have any suggestions?

OH, AA hulls, Remington SP wads & WW 209 primers with 800X as powder is the current recepie.

 

[Charlie Petty]

I had one a long time ago that worked with every 2 3/4" factory load including some of the "lite" skeet load.

I did not load for it but when I used to shoot skeet 700X and Red Dot were what I used for 12 ga.... 800X was for 20 and 28.

Have you tried 1 1/8 oz shot charges?

 

[William R. Moore]

I've tried a couple of different factory 1 1/8 with no joy-except for that one Winchester loading. I'm going to have to experiment on how much of a card I might have to add to the SP wads to get a good crimp with a 1 1/8 oz shot charge to give it a try.

I expect I'll have to go to a different wad, which will be a PITA. That the Winchester load works and others don't make me think the pressure curve of the powder may be the reason.

 

[Skeptic49]

Does Remington produce light loads you like?
Geoff
Who figures it should run Remington ammo.

 

[Charlie Petty]

You could always make the gas ports bigger...

 

[spwenger]

Is 11-87P...

...the same thing as the Police 11-87? If so, mine came with the caution that it will not cycle with low-base loads and I know from experience that it will not cycle with the reduced-power "tactical" loads or birdshot loads.

My understanding is that the gas ports were sized for reliability and durability with high-base loads. I make no claim to know if that makes the orifices larger or smaller than those for the sporting guns but, if the ports screw in and out, could you swap them for the ports from the sporting models for use with low-base loads and swap them back when stowing the gun for availability for serious use?

 

[William R. Moore]

The 11-87P is the police variant, made for service with max loads-essentially a deer gun. The gas ports are fixed and there's no compensating valve like the bird guns have. Mine runs Federal Tactical loads with perfect reliability and low base bird loads so long as there's at least 1 1/4 oz of shot. [Federal Heavy Field loads at 1220 fps-or equivilent-work great.] I've heard from several sources that Federal Tactical loads are about the only reduced recoil rounds that will work well.

There are folks out there who ream the gas ports larger to 'improve function'. Frankly, I figure the engineers at the factory know somewhat more about this type of thing than somebody in a garage/workshop with an electric drill & assorted drill bits.

The problem isn't limited to gas guns. Several years ago, I saw I guy who bought a new Benelli tactical shotgun, several boxes of Wallyworld shotshells and showed up at a major match without test firing. He had a manally operated bolt shotgun for the match

I've been doing some research and it seems there's a couple of ammo companies who produce bird loads with 100 fps or so differences in velocity. You can get loads from 1100-1400 fps. I may have to buy a couple of boxes and see what works. Looking at the Lyman book, it seems my hulls, wads and PB powder will produce similar pressures with 1 1/8 oz of shot. This may be the long term answer.....maybe.

I got into shotgun reloading 20 odd years ago to afford to feed this thing (got offered 2 MEC reloaders for give away prices). The first load I tried worked and I didn't spend any time learning more esoteric details about the process.

 

[William R. Moore]

To update a bit, I did some experimentation. The Winchester loads that work the gun are 1 1/8 oz Winchester Expert. They clocked 1123 fps at 15 feet and will operate the gun with a firm shoulder mount. Ejected empties travel about 1/2 as far as the 1 1/4 oz 1220 (book) fps loads. I do expect the issue is pressure and I'll have to see what can be done.

I have a buddy who loads some 1 1/8 oz Roman candles that work the gun. Given a choice, I'd rather throw more shot to improve pattern density. If I can find more of those, I'll have to clock them out of curiousity.

I suspect some of the issues I've seen develop at matches have to do with the fact that some of the shooting positions are intentionally compromised. So if you're depending upon a textbook gun mount to allow function, you may be SOL.

 

[spwenger]

I suspect some of the issues I've seen develop at matches have to do with the fact that some of the shooting positions are intentionally compromised. So if you're depending upon a textbook gun mount to allow function, you may be SOL.

I'm sure that if you're ever in a gunfight, you can explain that to your assailant and he'll pause so that you can adjust your position. :dunno: