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A question on loading a Remington 1100

Kiwi cop

Kiwi cop

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When my 19” barrelled Turkish copy of a Beretta auto shotgun got stolen last year, I replaced it with a second hand Remington 1100. Last week I got the time to test fire it for the first time.

I have always loaded my semi and pump action shotguns by loading the magazine, actioning a round into the chamber and topping off the mag after setting the safety, but this method will not work on this Remington.

Pulling the bolt back to load the chamber simply locks it open with the round just sitting on the carrier. I have to push up on the release button underneath the carrier to lift the carrier and load the first round. Eventually I worked out to use the top-up round to lift the carrier, close the bolt and top up the mag then set the safety.

As this is a range gun only (speed shotgun), setting the safety is not a priority, but it is something I have gotten used to over the years, “just in case” of an ND while topping up the mag. I’m not (yet) entirely comfortable doing the top up without the safety on so....

Is there something not working right with this particular shotgun? Or if it is an 1100 perculiarity, is there another way to top up the mag on an 1100? I suppose I could manually load the chamber, put on the safety then load the magazine but I prefer to have the chamber loaded for as little of the loading procedure that I can.
 
Your choice.
Have spent ALOT of time with various M1100's and think I know what you're referring to.
Usually, with bolt locked open I'd just palm a round into the ejection port. The round falls in, lays on the lifter. You immediately push the bolt release (with safety already ON).
Lifter brings round up and bolt chambers the round.
Load magazine afterward.

It's also pretty easy to manipulate the bolt with your thumb and immediately depress the bolt release button with index or middle finger almost simultaneously, sending a round from the magazine onto the top of the lifter. A little practice and you'll have it.
 
35Rem said:
It should load from the mag when manually cycling the action.
Something with the carrier is not just right.
Click to expand...

Agreed. When you pull the bolt back, an 1100 should take the shell from the magazine and move it into the chamber. Something's not right with that gun.
 
Early 1100s won't cycle dry. It's my understanding that there's a little see-saw gizmo in the action that only "works" when firing/ejecting live rounds, just as you would use it when hunting. Dry-fire shell testing won't work, as the recoil momentum operates the action/cycling gizmo. Hope that helps.



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My old shotgun would not allow the bolt to move back with the safety on, and it was the only semi auto shotgun I have owned.

Knowing the 1100 will action with the safety on makes me feel a little more confident in loading.

I know that finger away form the trigger should be safe but .........
 
I have 5 1100s and I always load one into the chamber and then additional rounds get loaded into the magazine. As you have found out, they do not Charge like a handgun.
 
The original design of the 1100 was as most have found,,,the bolt locks to the rear on an empty chamber when loading a round from the magazine.
It requires the carrier release (the silver button on the carrier) to be depressed. Then the carrier rises and the bolt closes and feeds the round into the chamber.
That's the way it was designed.

Several yrs ago Remington redesigned the carrier latch and made the change so it would work as the OP would like ,,,place a round in the magazine pull the op handle back and let it fly and it picks up the round and chambers it.

I don't know exactly when the change was made, but I've been told by those who know a lot more about these than I that the entire trigger assembly inclu carrier on the older 1100 that exhibits the lock back style can be exchanged for the new style.

A call to Remington might better solve the issue, that is all the info I can add to that as I don't get into these much at all.
 
The process on the 1100 is to drop the first round into the open carrier. The next round goes into the magazine and activates the carrier release button. It's strange, but should be expllained in the manual which is posted above.
 
kwselke said:
The process on the 1100 is to drop the first round into the open carrier. The next round goes into the magazine and activates the carrier release button. It's strange, but should be expllained in the manual which is posted above.
Click to expand...

That’s how I load my 2016 1100 Sporting: Set the safety on. Pull back the bolt charging handle. The bolt will lock back. Drop a shell into the ejection port, take another shell and push up on the carrier release/ shell lifter with the shell while pushing the shell into the magazine. The bolt will close and chamber the shell in the ejection port. Load additional shells into the magazine tube if you want. Shoulder the gun. Push off the safety when ready to fire.

If you only want one shell chambered, just drop a shell into the open ejection port and push up on the silver bolt release with your index finger.

I load my Beretta 391 similarly, only after setting the safety, locking the bolt back, and dropping a shell in through the ejection port, I press the bolt release on the side of the receiver to chamber the shell before loading the magazine. The 1100 method combines a couple of steps.
 
YUP! Took me while to get use to the Remington 1100's action. A bit different than I'm use to and I recall posting a Thread about this very Shotgun about 2 months ago. I do not own one but was helping out a Hunting Buddy when we went Pheasant Hunting and he had trouble loading & unloading it. Apparently the gun has to be in the cocked condition to load the Magazine or else the Shells hang up on the shell stop or retainer.

While not conventional, it is something one can easily get use to.
 
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I like my 1100 TAC-4 it’s been very reliable and dependable despite the internets insistence that Remington can’t make a good shotgun anymore.
 
chief38 said:
YUP! Took me while to get use to the Remington 1100's action. A bit different than I'm use to and I recall posting a Thread about this very Shotgun about 2 months ago. I do not own one but was helping out a Hunting Buddy when we went Pheasant Hunting and he had trouble loading & unloading it. Apparently the gun has to be in the cocked condition to load the Magazine or else the Shells hang up on the shell stop or retainer.

While not conventional, it is something one can easily get use to.
Click to expand...

Well being able to set the safety on first is a bonus. And I did wonder why at times loading shells into the magazine was difficult. The manual didn't explain the shells hanging up on the shell stop unless it was cocked.
 
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