My 1100 hasn't been cycling light/cheap ammo lately. I changed the O-ring and cleaned and lubed everything and tried it again today and it still won't cycle the cheap stuff. It always used to. Could it be the recoil spring?

Thanks

Everyone cleans the o'ring and gas cyllinder, but forget the other half...

Take the butt stock off, remove the trigger assembly, the bolt and give it all a good cleaning...

I did that...

Are you SURE that you have the gas ports cleaned out?

You might try cycling a few "high brass" shells thru it.

Yep, the gas ports are clean, I clean them after everytime I shoot it.

That would be my guess. The recoil springs on older 1100s are a real witch to get at, and if you are a meticulous cleaner like I am, you'd be flat amazed how much gunk will build up in there and eventually turn in to mud. You can really notice how much slower your action will work, even if its just a little bit dirty.... answer is in the recoil spring.

Other spot could be fouling build up on the gas ports right at the bottom of the barrel. A small drill bit, or a bent paper clip can scrape that crap out. 90% of issues with 1100s are cleaning related, 5% are ammo related, 5% are broken parts that are readily available and easily replaced.

Infact reading some of your posts jeep I think that build up in the recoil spring is exactly what it is. Since you break it down and remove the bolt everytime, you are spraying a lot of debonders and lubricants into your action, and when you stand the shotgun up, all of that runs to the back of the action and eventually down into your recoil spring. Time to take out the torch and the 10" flat head driver and put her in the vice.

My fathers duck gun gave me the same sort of crap a few years ago. Always meticulously cleaned, but the recoil spring hadn't been out since the 1970s. I acctually found what looked like a dead spider inside it, along with grass, seeds, and probably enough powder fouling to gag a gunsmith... rest of the gun spotless. Hasn't hiccupped since.

Just curious but were you firing the same brand ammo before or another brand .

Both. I was shooting the Federals that you get from Wal-Mart (always have shot good), Estates and Charles Dalys. I usually shoot Remington Target or Sporting Clay loads and they always shoot fine, even now.

I will pull it back apart and try to clean the recoil spring better.

Should I buy a new one and just replace it?

I've read and heard different reports of competition shooters replacing their recoil springs as preventative maintance every 25,000-50,000 rounds. Its not a terribly expensive part, and if the gun is an older model and had been shot a lot, I'd submit that is definately won't hurt anything.