I am thinking of buying an 11-87 3 1/2" camo 12 ga. and was wondering if anyone has one and are they reliable.

I appreciate the help.

hunter966

Yes.

In my opinion, I would look at the Winchester Super X-2 in 3 1/2. Being an avid duck hunter, I can vouch for the Winchester being used in extremely tough conditions. I have never owned an 11-87, but if you visit the duck hunting talk sites, they don't get rave reviews for that application from a mechanical reliability standpoint.

Living in the "cold" country and being a goose hunter, I can find fault with ANY autoloader. Keep them clean and most of them will work one day at a time and if you are the lucky guy maybe the whole season. I have not had very many 3.5" 1187s for repair- yet. Learn how to totaly disasemble and clean(including the action spring in the buttstock) and an 1187 should give you many years of good service.

www.duanesguns.com

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I can find fault with ANY autoloader. Keep them clean and most of them will work one day at a time ... Learn how to totaly disasemble and clean(including the action spring in the buttstock) and an 1187 should give you many years of good service.

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I want to second that advice.

All gas-operated autoloaders are inherently dirty because they use powder gases to operate their mechanisms, so the internal mechanism quickly becomes fouled with burned powder residues. Thus, to keep them operating properly, gas-operated guns tend to need frequent and thorough cleaning. They also tend to be persnickety about what loads they will function properly with, especially in cold weather, meaning that, when it is cold and the gun is a bit dirty, they are prone to failing to cycle with target or light field loads.

I was tempted to go with an autoloader (was leaning towards the 11-87) but due to the many comments (not complaints) about having to clean often and occasional problems, I stuck with the pumps and bought a Rem 870 to get the 3 1/2". Very few problems with pumps and they are almost as fast in my opinion.

I have shot an 11-87 for 5 years without a hiccup and it gets cleaned maybe twice a year. We hunt very hard and I guees from what I have heard here I have been lucky, but I doubt it. I am a big fan of Remington, but I am eyeing a Benelli Super Black Eagle 2 now. Not that there is anything wrong with my 11-87 but I just want another shotgun.

Have three 11-87's in the family; my wife and both sons have the Sporting Clays model. Probably approaching 20,000 rounds through them combined. Clean them every couple hundred rounds (light loads) and have replaced a couple of the little rubber rings. That's it. Good guns.

My 1100's and 1187's have been so good that I would never consider switching to anything else! They don't really need as much cleaning as some would have you believe to continue to operate flawlessly...

It's true you do have to clean the auto's if you are going to shoot'em a bunch. My son used one for trap and we cleaned it pretty good every 200 -300 rounds.

The 11-87 has an advantage over the 1100 by having the magazine tube made of stainless steel where the 1100's is not.