Shooting old guns??

R

Rock Knocker

Well-known member
Ive got my grandfathers Remington Model 11 (Browning A5) and this particular Remington was a good bit older than him. From the serial number I believe it was built in 1905, from looking and handling the gun you would think it was made in 1975 and taken good care of.

I havent fired it, no one has in my family since I was born. Everything feels good, as far as I can tell, the action springs feel strong and the barrel spring feels strong, I can change around the little recoil adjustment and feel the change in the barrel spring.

What would you look out for? What ammo would you consider MAX power for this gun? Ive got a box of Federal 7 1/2, I want to try this thing out. I dont know if I should replace springs first, these really do feel strong, or if I should set the recoil to larger power loads and try the light 7 1/2s would be safe enough.
 
I had an LC Smith side by side 16 gauge that was my great grandfathers. He gave it to my dad and my dad gave it to me. It is now owned by my oldest son. It was built in 1921. We have shot it hundreds and hundreds of times with mostly 6 and 7 shot. Never a problem. When I was a kid even shot slugs out of it. Don't shoot steel shot or anything hardened and you should be okay. I also wouldn't shoot any magnum loads or juiced loads. The steel was different back than. Good luck and safe shooting.
 
I shoot a number of old rifles and shotguns, my oldest a cartridge 10ga from the 1870s. They need TLC, steel was softer, barrels thinner, wood is aged and oil soaked. I like to keep pressures under 9000psi in my working guns and around 6000 psi in the really old ones. That's why RST is in business. Most modern shotgun ammunition that you buy over the counter is loaded to function modern auto-loaders whether it is an ounce field/target load or a heavy field load. Lower velocity light loads should be fine as it is recoil operated not gas operated. Recoil on the wood and old parts will be easier.

Enjoy your old shotgun, I want to see a Benelli in 100+ years
 
I will give it a go today. I was just cleaning it, and must have been looking closer than ever before but Im pretty sure this is a damascus twist barrel, I wasnt expecting that. The inside muzzle diameter is just over .700".
 
Im trying to look into the Damascus and old timey 12ga ammo but my danged internet has gone antique as well, the last few days Ive been lucky to get this website loaded and hardly any others are working.

I can post here well enough but I cant get to any of the links, it took me probably 3 hours to get to the RST shells site.
 
I doubt the barrel is damascus. Remington did change barrel steel shortly after the Model 11 was introduced. I think they called the new steel "cold rolled" or something like that. I would check the chamber length, that old shotgun might have short 2 5/8" chambers instead of the later standard 2 3/4" chambers. That would be a consideration. Shooting our now standard 2 3/4" shells in the short chamber will likely raise pressures and cause malfunctions. Also, be careful with that safety. They didn't call those safeties the "suicide safety" for no reason.
 
GC said:
I doubt the barrel is damascus. Remington did change barrel steel shortly after the Model 11 was introduced. I think they called the new steel "cold rolled" or something like that. I would check the chamber length, that old shotgun might have short 2 5/8" chambers instead of the later standard 2 3/4" chambers. That would be a consideration. Shooting our now standard 2 3/4" shells in the short chamber will likely raise pressures and cause malfunctions. Also, be careful with that safety. They didn't call those safeties the "suicide safety" for no reason.
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I was just thinking about that safetey, you have to put your finger into the trigger guard and pull towards the trigger..

BUT she is running like its 1910! I just put ten rounds through it, I had to turn down the recoil to get it to cycle but it didnt miss a beat, I even got it a bit warm!

I was curious about that damascus. The blueing is too good to see a damascus pattern in the steel but looking down the barrel and I do see a spiral twist pattern running down it.
 
On this gun all the numbers match, the reciever, barrel and trigger area are marked with the same numbers. This sucker is old, I dont want to mess with any of those parts.

Its got a 28" full choked barrel now and its 120 years old, im more worried about the barrel than other parts. I am thinking of turning this into a fantastic home defense type gun though. On Ebay Ive found Browning A5 barrels for $250-$300, I could cut one of them to 18" and buy a cracked A5 stock for cheap and cut that 10". I could make the gun around 36" total length and with the big humpback reciever and these stocks have more drop than my pump guns, I can still aim down the barrel decent with a very short LOP.

If I had a new barrel with just a cylinder bore I wouldnt worry about damage and I could set the whole thing up for light recoil 00buck. That would be a cheap home defense gun, shortest shotgun I can shoulder well, worry less about damage to parts AND Grandpa gets to keep keeping the family safe... And I think a little Al Capone version of this gun would be fun.
 
Cost less to buy a modern cheap shotgun and hack saw the barrel off at 17", especially for the improbable home invasion event( unless you live in Minneapolis, Chicago,Baltimore,Seattle or DC where you odds go way up).
 
Its not about cost, not about home defense ether, I just want to shoot the gun and 28" full choke that cant handle heavy loads wont get used much.

Ive been talking about this 20" BPS I just got and its fantastic, I can cut that for chokes and leave it as is and it will be great for a short hunter. Then I can turn this one into my compact fun gun.

Even if I got a modern gun I cant cut the stock and shoulder it like I can these bizarre shaped Model 11/A5 receivers. Plus, the last modern 870 i worked on cut my fingers open when I was putting it back together, my buddy just got a Savage with more machine marks than my 1943 Mosin Nagant.

I think this would be awesome if it was set up as an authentic coach gun. AHahahaha, its hard for me to believe these things probably actually did that some. This thing practically looks modern, it just went through 10 shells like it was modern... Going from the old side by side to a cutoff Model 11 would be a heck of a step up out on the dusty trail!
 
Yup, I see a lot of 18.5" is that just a safety margin? 16" for rifles and 18" for shotguns seems silly....

Ive been looking into magazine tube extensions also, I started by looking for one for my 20" BPS and Briley says their BPS tube extensions also fit vintage A5s... I tried swapping the end caps from my Model 11 to my BPS and they werent interchangeable. Im not sure if Model 11s and A5s have different mag tube threads? On my model 11, if i had only one inch of extension on the magazine I could fit another round. Im thinking of trying to buy another magazine end cap, drill the end out and weld my own 1.5" extension on. Briley says their +2 mag extensions are 7" total, im not sure exactly how much total added length but I dont want the mag tube sticking out past the barrel, and its pretty even between the Model 11 4rd mag tube if cut to 18" barrel and my BPS with 5rd mag tube and 20" barrel,,,, +7" extension puts the mag tubes longer than the barrels of each.
 
GC said:
You're f#%Xing it up.
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Lol. Well im also trying not to F up the original parts. Im going to have to be cautious with this barrel, and at 28" its looong, I cant shoot steel from it especially with the full choke so I cant hunt wood ducks with it, or any waterfowl. It patterned the 7 1/2 game loads real well, I will get a grouse or two with this setup for sure but thats it.

Same with the stock, this is the longest stock ive got, its in great shape and im not going to do anything with it. This is the longest shotgun ive got and the only thing I can hunt with it is grouse in the brush.

I figure I can buy cheap replacement parts to cut up and shoot without worry for fun while still saving the original parts... I can swap out the stock and barrel in under 5 minutes so swapping from original to fun WWI trench gun for buckshot on the range would be a piece of cake.

Im going to use this as a range toy, im not going to be dragging it into the mud or snow out hunting much, I can get a grouse in the back yard but i wont be taking this far.,
 
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