Remington Autoloading Shotgun vs Model 11: They're different designs?!

   

Gunny McGunsmith

 

Published on Feb 24, 2020

In today's video, we're going to do something I haven't done on the channel previously, and likely won't do frequently either.

We're going to be cataloging information on an old shotgun that I haven't found online.

John Moses Browning designed the Auto 5 in 1898 and patented it in 1900. It was the first mass produced semi automatic shotgun.

John Browning initially presented his design to Winchester, where he had sold most of his designs. Fun fact he thought it was his best achievement and I'm inclined to agree

However Winchester refused his terms, So he turned to Remington. Another fun fact: the president of Remington died of a heart attack as Browning waited to offer them the gun. ouch.

This delayed Remington's licensing of the design to 1905. At the time it was marketed as the Remington Autoloading Shotgun.

Now-a-days I've seen these referred to as Pre-Model 11s or more commonly just Model 11s.

But this is where we get into our dilemma. See in 1911, Remington didn't just change the name of their shotgun. They changed the design.

This presented a problem for me when it came time to service my Remington Autoloading shotgun.

The problem was the schematics online didn't match up. The biggest thing that caught my eye was a missing felt pad at the rear of the receiver,

which depending on who you ask acts as a safety mechanism to prevent bump firing, or a recoil absorption method to protect the receiver and or bolt from cracking.

I scoured the web, but could not find any information on whether or not this was something that simply missing and needed to be replaced, or was a design difference.

In fact, I couldn't find any evidence that Remington changed the design in 1911 at all. It seemed it was simply a change of name.

So lacking the equipment and expertise to rivet the felt pad in place, and needing some of the recoil components serviced as well, I sent it off to Bull Creek Arms in Idaho.

And I'm glad I did!

Because in a phone call today, where Tim from Bull Creek Arms told me the gun was shipping back my way and covered what they did, I asked about that felt pad.

His response? These earlier Model 11s have different receiver geometry, being thicker in the rear and as such not needing nor being designed for that recoil pad.

That's right, the pre-model 11s are a different design.

I'm just learning about this, and so I don't know if that's the only way in which their different, or if there are other differences.

So, that's it for this topic so far. From here on out, I'll be referring to my Remington as the Remington Autoloading Shotgun, to help reinforce that it is in fact a different design even if that's only slight.

Additionally, I'll try to dig a bit deeper and confirm any further differences, before making my own schematic sheet for the earlier shotgun.

I can already think of a few ways in which they might differ, but I don't want to risk any misinformation until I'm certain!


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