doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Not A Double But A Classic

'Historically significant' a better term?

I didn't like them either... at first.

It took a while for my horizons to expand and my appreciation for the A5 to develop. They aren't for everyone.

I also like 1100's, Win 50's, 391's, and Benellis.

There are plenty of doubles here too. It's a wide world out there and everything has something to offer the curious.

I had a Remington M11. It was a direct copy of the A5. Maybe it wasn't done very well, but it was a heavy, clumsy, clanky, and ugly thing that did not point well at all and jammed whenever the temperature was below 40 degrees or within 2 ft of a single grain of sand. It had all the ergonomics of a broken pick ax so far as I was concerned.

While I am not a big 1100 fan, I can't think of a single thing that the Remington 1100 would not excel relative to the Winchester.

I kind of agree with you on the M-11. It's no A5.

I do have a an 11 'Sportsman' that solved some of the weight and handling issues. It's reliable and handles reasonably well. Browning did not let Remington use the two piece carrier or the magazine cutoff.

Remington's 'machine blueing' process was very good, but of course the Sportsman has that cartoon like 'engraving'. Ducks with lips.

I bought it for $250 at a gun show only because it has a factory installed Polychoke.

Now that is stylish at the skeet club!

Damn thing shoots well though...

I grew up shooting a M11 20 ga. at doves and quail for several years. I was about age 11 when I got it and shot it until I was 16. I killed innumerable doves with that gun. Though I never shot a A5 at a bird in my life, that I can recall, I have handled many of them.

I don't recall ever noticing any difference in how the M11 handled vs the A5. Are y'all saying one handles well and the other not? That's hard for me to imagine.

SRH

The first 25 I shot at Skeet was with my Model 11 F-grade with Cyl barrel......it weren't no dog!!!!! A Remington collector ended up with it.

I had a D grade 11 for a short period. It was a factory Skeet gun which had a Cutts compensator installed. They, Cutts, were every where at one time. Shot Skeet with it but no birds. Bought it because it had such pretty wood on it. But previous owner was so short he could run under a Shetland pony. LOP was 12 1/2� and even with thick pad it would be way to short for me. Sold it to another short armed fellow who I doubt ever shot it.

Still it had a great stock of wood in it. Was told the original owner who sold it to me called a Remington rep or shooting rep and asked him to pick out the wood for him. If nice he�d take him Rock fishing, (Stripe Bass fishing), on the Chesapeake bay. Hope they caught a boat load because he got a nice blank. Supposed they did. Back then in the late 50�s or 60�s we could catch as many rock fish as you wanted in the Fall.

Brent the design is not for nimrods with rubber duckies
...

Are you getting your guns mixed up? Both Rem & Win made a model 11. The Rem 11 was built under Browning patents & is essentially a Browning. The Win 11 was made to try to get around Browning patents so they could build a successful autoloader. The W11 did not have a bolt handle. There was a knurled ring about the center of the barrel & the barrel & bolt assembly had to be "Pumped" back to eject any unfired shells, rather than unlocking the bolt & just pulling the bolt back.

My personal feelings always were that a sweet 16 had about as good a feel (& better than most) as any single barrel magazine gun I ever felt. The few times I shot one I could shoot them plenty good. That "Hump" did not bother me at all. I just never shot one enough I guess to get used to that Double Shuffle of the barrel flopping around like a Chicken with its head wrung off.

I think the Winchester Model 11 was commonly known as "the widow maker".

He's likely referring to the Winchester Model 50 in my post.

The 50 is an interesting design, and they were beautifully made.

As far as a Rem 11 vs. a real A5, Browning finally saw the light and made the 'Lightweight' guns and those are the ones with decent dynamics.

There is quite a difference between a standard weight 16 and a Sweet.

The one that was under appreciated in my book was the magnum 20.

If you close your eyes, and have someone hand you in succession a sweet 16 and a mag 20 you can't tell the difference (no fair feeling up the barrel).

The mag 20 really will reliably shoot any 20 gauge shell.

You can't say that for the 1100 magnum 20.