At long last...

I teased y'all a few times with this one, and believe me, the wait was harder for me than you.

I had seen this go through the classifieds on the S&W Forum for a few weeks with a few price drops and no nibbles. I sent the seller a trade offer which he declined, but he also asked if I was really interested and wanted to work something out. I decided to take him up on the offer and made two payments on the gun. He shipped it earlier this week, and my FFL emailed me to let me know it had arrived yesterday.

I stopped out after work, dropped the transfer fee on the table, filled out the 4473, and brought this beautiful piece of history home:

That's a 1968-vintage Remington 1100. The seller's father bought it new, fired a few hundred rounds, then cleaned it and put it away - and it looks it. There are a few tiny marks on the barrel ring (which hides under the fore end), but other than that it looks like it's new out of the box. The wood has beautiful figure for a field-grade gun, and the balance and trigger are just magic.

It's a 2-3/4" chamber, so no heavy loads, but it will be wonderful for clays and birds. The barrel is 26" plain (no rib), single bead, with a fixed Improved Cylinder choke (according to seller; I couldn't find a marking). As it sits the gun is not a rarity or collectible (Remington still makes 1100s and has since the early 60s; there are millions in circulation), so I will probably send the barrel to Briley at some point for a set of interchangeable chokes.

The other thing that was in the box with the gun - and the seller hadn't mentioned - was this:

A slightly yellowed original instruction manual.

With price list.

(Receiver Assembly, (includes Action Spring Tube, Barrel Lock, Interceptor Latch Spring, Interceptor Latch Stud, Magazine Tube Assembly, Receiver)...$32.90)

I can't wait to get this honey to the range.