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twatson

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Hello All, my name is Tim and my 13 year old son had just ended his first season in a Skeet Club. He broke 2 Rem. 11-87's and since I own a M2 I went out and got a 20 ga. M2 for his skeet. After shooting about 100 rounds the gun malfunctioned and it appears the spring in the plunger recoil housing in the stock broke. Can I fix this my self or do I need to send the gun in. Also, is his skinny stature causing a problem with the gun? I was told by the gun shop the 11-87's didn't work right because he does not have the body mass to support a good foundation for the gun. I responded by saying, then why do they make a youth model? Need advise I known the Benelli is great quality. Did I just get a bad spring or will we continue to have problems until my son puts on more weight? Thanks for any help this has been very frustrating.

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im no expert, but i find it hard to believe that a persons weight would have anything to do with it.if its true, that seems to me like a very poor design. i would suggest getting him a franchi AL48 20ga , my 9yr old stepson shoots mine a lot and he only weighs around 70lbs. there are several on http://www.gunbroker.com if you can find an engraved one ,like mine ,youll make him prouder than a peacock. they are beautiful. you should be able to fix yours, but that really depends on how you are at gunsmithing. good luck.

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Tim,

 

Good for you for getting your boy interested in shooting sports. Skeet is a challenging game. I hope he enjoys it and sticks with it. May I recommend the skeet shooting DVD by Todd Bender for some valuable instruction, with some great camera work.

 

Now, to your problem.

 

"I was told by the gun shop the 11-87's didn't work right because he does not have the body mass to support a good foundation for the gun."

 

That's utter nonsense.

 

The 1187 is a gas operated semi-automatic action. If the gun is operating nominally, it will cycle if you hang it from a string.

 

My daughter has been shooting a 12 gauge 1100 (nearly the same gun as the 1187) for trap shooting since she was 12, and at that time she might have weighed 100 lb. Gun always worked.

 

When you say "he broke 2 1187's," what, exactly, broke on the gun? I am very familiar with this gun, and I submit his weight/stature has absoultely nothing to do with it.

 

Just my humble opinion, the 1100 or 1187 is better suited for shooting skeet than the Benelli's. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Benelli's, as they're a fine gun. But they're light. Super for carrying around the field chasing pheasants all day.

 

But for skeet shooting, you actually want a heavier gun. Two reasons. One is recoil. A heaver gun recoils less than a light gun. Also, the 1100/1187 guns are well noted for their soft recoil, due to the gas action. Recoil, especially for a light-weight youngster, is a fun-killer.

 

Second, a heavy gun almost forces you to swing the gun smoothly, instead of jerking. This too is a good thing for skeet. Many of the best skeet shooters shoot guns that are quite heavy for this reason.

 

That's just my opinion, and its worth every penny you paid for it.

 

Good luck to you and your son.

 

Tim

 

As far as the problem with the M2, I can't help. If its that new, and under warranty, I'd send it in.

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Thanks for the responce. The 11-87's my son used would not cycle the shells when shooting doubles. Nothing "broke" but the first 11-87 we had got disqualified at a tournement because of to many malfunctions, no ejecting or stove pipes, on the doubles. I returned it for another and same thing first tournement the gun was disqualified. I got so frustrated I took that gun back and ordered a Benelli M2 20 ga. The first week out to practice the spring broke in the recoil plunger tube. I need a gun he can use for hunting and skeet for another year os so until he gets serious with skeet then we will look at over unders. Has any one changed the plunger recoil spring? By the way my son is 13 and is about 80 Lbs. He is hooked on skeet and wants to do it next year even though the gun situation was very frustrating. Thanks, Tim.

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It looks like you ran into a horrible string of luck with guns malfunctioning. I own the 1100 version of your 11-87 and never really get problems with it ahmmm until you get it good and dirty from a lot of shooting.

 

If your son does that much competetive shooting you really should consider an O/U, just like Novaking mentioned. A decent name brand O/U should stand up all the shooting you want.

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i agree for the most part with what timb99 is saying. my question is....what does he want?? my kido prefers my franchi al-48/20ga over my 870/16ga, charles daly/12ga, and his moms 410. and the al-48 kicks harder than any of the forementioned. when asked why he likes it , his response was "it doesnt make me tired to hold it, its lighter. its all about what he wants and what he is comfortable shooting. the problem with the 1187s is perplexing at the least. i have friends that have them and never had a problem. nto knocking the citoris, the are fairly expensive , but very nice. my i suggest a "mossberg silver reserve"?? around $450.00 to $500.00.

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Yes, you need to call Benelli CS and send in the gun for repairs.

The spring could have simply been a bad one or there could be an underlying problem with another part on the gun.

 

All I can say about the Remingtons is to reinforce what timb99 has already said. It's nonsense that his build will have any bearing on the gun's ability to function properly.

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splashtx,

 

Good insight. What the kid wants is important.

 

I know the first gun I got for my daughter didn't work out for either of us.

 

Luckily, I listened a little more on the second gun.

 

The main reason I'd recommend against a Mossberg Silver Reserve is the triggers are very, very heavy and have a long pull before breaking over (kinda like my Stoeger Condor.) Not such a big deal for hunting, but for target shooting, 3.5 to 4 lb trigger pull is preferred. The Mossbergs are around 8-10 lb triggger pull.

 

Tim

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yer sir, the silver reserve is a beutiful shotgun. i have a friend that has one, lol, he polished the satin part of the receiver to a high gloss shine. on the former subject. it is funny to watch my kido shoot that al-48,cause it kicks the snot out of him, but he hits what he aims at 50% of the time. i know a lot of time we tend to get our kids, and wifes what we want them to shoot. why this is im not sure.when i got my gal the al-48, she hated it. so i gave her $500.00 and told her go get what you want. she came back with a Fausti 410 o/u, i laugh out loud. we went to the skeet range and she shocked me, she did real good. then i tryed the 410, and let me tell you ...that is a sweet little shotgun.

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Thanks for the replies. Just to let you know I did tthink about a citori but my son needs a gun to do double duty right now for waterfowl, pheasants, and skeet. He did not want to take a citori to the duck blind and this being his first year of skeet I wanted to make sure he liked it enough to stick with it. One kid had a stoeger condor and he had problems with the ejectors sticking. With about 20 kids in this club we have seen all types of guns, no Franchi's though, and all semi auto's have had problems except an off brand called Verado. Its a three $300 gun and they never clean it either. I just never expected a benelli to break like that but I hope it is just a bad spring. When he is ready to get serious we will look into citori or cynergy line of guns. For now the benelli can't be beat in the feild in my opinion and he loves that 20. Thanks for the help.

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