Remington 1100 LT-20 problem

[TedH]

I had one of these sweet little shotguns several years ago, but foolishly sold it during a period where the cash was more important. I found another one just like it recently that a friend of mine inherited from his Grandfather. Now my buddy isn't a gun guy, at all. He had this for a few years with no intention of parting with it, but I guess the sentimental attachment abated, and he made me a good deal on it. I was very happy to have my favorite bird gun back in the safe. First time I took it out to shoot some clays, it wouldn't cycle properly but maybe 2 or 3 shots out of 10. I took it home and gave it a good cleaning through and through. The gas piston rings look good, and the o-ring appears to be good. There was a lot of very hard plastic fouling in the gas ports that I carefully removed with increasingly larger sizes of drill bits turned by my fingers. Once I was satisfied it was all clean I reassembled it, tried it again. It was better, but still not 100%. It would cycle about 80% of the time. The ammo was that Winchester Universal stuff. I picked up a box of the Estate brand that Wally World sells, and ran a full box through it with only two failures, and that was with a buddy of mine shooting it. I don't know if he could have somehow done something to halt it, but I doubt it.

Today I'm killing a day in between work training days in Chicago, so I run down to Cabela's in Hammond, Indiana. They had some shotgun ammo I hadn't seen before called RIO. Made in USA, and it listed a 1 ounce load at 1250 fps, with the same 2 3/4 dram as the other brands I've been shooting. All the other brands list velocity at 1120 fps. If these shells are loaded to a little higher pressure, they should make my little 20ga. 100% reliable, if not, I don't know what else to do with it.

I called my wife this morning and told her I might buy a rifle at Cabela's, so now she should be happy all I brought home was one little bag of goodies, and there's even some new electonic muffs and shooting glasses for her. I should be golden.

[cas]

Change the O-ring anyway.

I got mine used when I was 16 years old. It finally started to give me trouble last year (at 44 years old)
In all those years I never did anything to it but wipe it down with oil and always wondered what all the fuss was about with them not working.

Well I thought the O-ring on mine looked fine too, but I guess it wasn't. I changed it and the problem went away.

[TedH]

I tried matching up an o ring at work, but couldn't come up with a good fit. I'll order the proper one and see what happens.

[plowboy 45]

Hope you get it runnin well.
The rio ammo I used I could do no good with
I heard the rio plant exploded a while back

[Rusty]

Try looking at the Remington section over on shotgunworld.com There are some very experienced people there that can tell you what to clean, what to oil, what to replace, and what kind of shells work best.

[Lastmohecken]

Ok, I have never owned an LT-20 but I have owned and shot several 1100's
Here's my story:

I was given a brand new 12ga 1100 for Christmas by my new wife, about 36yrs ago, and it worked 100% for a few boxes of shells, and then started jamming. I took it apart and cleaned it, and lightly oiled the outside of the magazine tube. It worked fine for another couple of boxes of shells or so, then started jamming again, failure to eject completely.

I talked to an old gunsmith about it and he told me to take it apart again and check out the chamber and make sure it was clean, and free of any rust or roughness, and also take some emery cloth and lightly sand the outside of the magazine tube, just a little bit to make sure that there is no roughness there. Then when I put it back together, to use a heavy oil on the outside of the magazine tube where the gas ring slides down it during cycling. He told me that the old trap shooters used 30wt motor oils sometimes to keep them running.

I did all of that, except I didn't use 30wt motor oil, I used that little tube of graphite grease that used to always come in the those gun cleaning kits, made by Gunslick. I would apply it with my fingers and completely cover the outside of the magazine tube. No more problems!!!

I found that I could shoot it for several boxes of shells before it ever gave me any problems. I would usually go a year without cleaning and reapplying the Gunslick Gun Grease. So, each year before I started hunting with it, I would clean it and lube it, and it never let me down. I do that to all of my 1100's and I have fixed several people's 1100's that had the same issue. As far as the O-ring, if it looks good and fits tight, I doubt that it's the problem. Some 1100's have been known for eating up O-rings, but I have never had a problem with it, and in 30 some years, I think I have only changed out 1 or 2 on the guns I own. If they looked bad or loose I changed them.

One thing to keep in mind though is a lot of the cheap ammo nowdays, has steel case heads and some guns do have issues with them, not releasing in the chamber fast enough after expansion.

[jmiller]

I had one of those guns back quite a few years ago. If I recall, they were load sensitive and stated so in the owners manual. I don't recall if it was "shoot one ounce only" or what. Also, they were also made in a 3" version I think. Does your receiver or barrel say what size shell to use? I remember getting rid of mine because of the limitations of the loads that could be used.

[TedH]

It's a 2 3/4" gun. My old one I had before was identical, and it shot every load I ever tried. I ordered a new "barrel seal", or o - ring from Numrich. I'll see what that does for it.

[Pete44ru]

.

They're great little guns - I had the straight-grip/21" bbl'd/fixed choke Special Field version of the LT-20.

I only sold it when I decided that I liked double guns better.


.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Definatly replace the o ring with a factory part. It is made of a very hard special rubber and is heat resistant. A regular automotive type o ring will soon fail.

One other thing that most people never check is the recoil spring. Remove the butt stock and you will find a steel tube threaded to the rear of the receiver that contains the recoil spring and follower. I have seen them full of rust and crud.

I have fired many thousands of shots at trap with an 1100 and I only lightly oil the mag tube using very thin gun oil. Don`t grease it or it will foul and get sluggish fast.

[Sixgun]

Definatly replace the o ring with a factory part. It is made of a very hard special rubber and is heat resistant. A regular automotive type o ring will soon fail.

One other thing that most people never check is the recoil spring. Remove the butt stock and you will find a steel tube threaded to the rear of the receiver that contains the recoil spring and follower. I have seen them full of rust and crud.

I have fired many thousands of shots at trap with an 1100 and I only lightly oil the mag tube using very thin gun oil. Don`t grease it or it will foul and get sluggish fast.

That's good advice. I've had several 1100's and they will run filthy with low or high brass.....oiled or not oiled. That's why they sold several million of them.

That was a good reminder, I have a 100% NIB 12 guage, never put together since 1964 with all hang tangs that's going on GA this weekend.-----6

[Lastmohecken]

Definatly replace the o ring with a factory part. It is made of a very hard special rubber and is heat resistant. A regular automotive type o ring will soon fail.

One other thing that most people never check is the recoil spring. Remove the butt stock and you will find a steel tube threaded to the rear of the receiver that contains the recoil spring and follower. I have seen them full of rust and crud.

I have fired many thousands of shots at trap with an 1100 and I only lightly oil the mag tube using very thin gun oil. Don`t grease it or it will foul and get sluggish fast.

It may depend on the gun, as I have had very good service when using the grease, and light oil would fail much quicker.

[Nath]

Ted, the ammo you used seems low vel stuff for an 1100 any way!

Our RIO ammo is made in Spain and is fierce ! I have not done very well with it! But it may reveal your LT20's needs!

N.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Lastmohecken , Friend, I don`t doubt your experience for one second and yes each gun is a rule unto itself.
Now, there is grease and there is grease. they aint all the same. The Shooters Choice grease that I use on my 1911`s will almost flow at room temp. Try packing the slide rails of your favorite bottom feeder with waterproof wheel bearing grease and see what happens. It may work if you have a 50 lb. recoil spring.

[cas]

The other issue I just remembered is to check the top side of the lifter/carrier and make sure there are no sharp edges worn in it that shell rims can hang up on.

[TedH]

From what I've been reading, the o ring can cause problems even if it looks fine. I have one on the way from Numrich. I'll replace it and see how the gun operates with the original Winchester shells first. If it does ok there it ought to really run fast with that Rio ammo. I didn't see any issues with the carrier. I'll pull the stock off tonight and check the recoil spring. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

[Tycer]

keep us posted!

[GoatGuy]

I had one of these sweet little shotguns several years ago, but foolishly sold it during a period where the cash was more important. I found another one just like it recently that a friend of mine inherited from his Grandfather. Now my buddy isn't a gun guy, at all. He had this for a few years with no intention of parting with it, but I guess the sentimental attachment abated, and he made me a good deal on it. I was very happy to have my favorite bird gun back in the safe. First time I took it out to shoot some clays, it wouldn't cycle properly but maybe 2 or 3 shots out of 10. I took it home and gave it a good cleaning through and through. The gas piston rings look good, and the o-ring appears to be good. There was a lot of very hard plastic fouling in the gas ports that I carefully removed with increasingly larger sizes of drill bits turned by my fingers. Once I was satisfied it was all clean I reassembled it, tried it again. It was better, but still not 100%. It would cycle about 80% of the time. The ammo was that Winchester Universal stuff. I picked up a box of the Estate brand that Wally World sells, and ran a full box through it with only two failures, and that was with a buddy of mine shooting it. I don't know if he could have somehow done something to halt it, but I doubt it. .......

Ted - here is where you need to be to gain insight on the problems related in your post regarding your "new" Lt20. http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtop ... 5&t=113015

I also recently picked up a Well Used Rem lt20 skeet gun and experienced some sluggishness with its operation. Looked on the shotgunworld.com sight Remington forum and spotted this post. It is a "sticky" and well worth the time spent reading it. Great info. I'm certainly glad I found it! Hope this helps, ...it certainly helped me save time and $. I really love my little Lt20 1100!