If someone were to ask you which products Colt has sold over the years, would you say a .22 semiautomatic rifle? I didn’t think you would. Colt made three versions of .22 rifles, the Courier, Colteer and Stagecoach, as well as others under several private-label names for Sears, Wards and other companies. This alloy rifle shot well, but did not hold up well. Unless it was kept oiled and clean, the alloy parts wore very rapidly. In spite of this, the little Colt rifles were good enough lightweight shooters that most owners will pay to get them fixed rather than discard theirs.

Introduced in 1963, the Remington Model 1100 shotgun has been around for over 40 years now. Variations include a sporter for field shooting, a Magnum version for ducks and geese, as well as a skeet and trap model for those who enjoy breaking clay targets. In all, there have been well over 3,500,000 Model 1100s produced over this period of time so you are bound to see one (or more) come across your bench. In this article, I’ll cover some of the common problems that result in ejection failures along with a few of the possible glitches that aren’t seen very often. And, of course, I’ll examine the cures that will help you get this shotgun back in service as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Check out several videos this week: Close quarter defense requires different tactics than defense from a distance. Pillar bedding is the process of installing aluminum columns in a rifle stock to ensure there is perfect metal-to-metal contact between the action and bottom metal. Gunsite Range Master Il Ling New demonstrates the how to properly load and unload your firearm.

What's ahead for the midterms? Jeff Knox at The Firearms Coalition says, 'There might be a few Democrats who haven't been able to bring themselves to declare support for the Second Amendment, but the official party line is broad support for the constitutional right, while interpreting it in the narrowest terms, and doing all they can to undermine and dismantle it.' As for the other party, 'Republicans, on the other hand, are generally supportive of the right to arms, but few of them have any more understanding of the issue than do the Democrats. They definitely lack the resolve and the backbone to vigorously oppose the Democrats' attacks on the Constitution and the President's appointments of radical extremists to the courts and high level government positions.'

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Vector Arms V-53 .223 Rem.

Courtesy, Gun Tests

A viable alternative to the AR-15, the Vector V-53 was a pleasant, accurate, and reliable rifle. The permanently attached flash hider is false. This rifle showed significant preferences for ammo types.

This roller-locked HK variant was Vector’s V-53, chambered for the .223 cartridge. This well-made rifle had a composite trigger-assembly housing, incorporating the pistol grip as well as holding all the parts normally contained in a sheet-metal housing.

Takedown was much the same as for the .308 version, except the V-53 had only one pin holding the all-composite buttstock to the receiver. The recoil spring was not captive within the butt cover, as it was on the JLD rifle. Instead it floated, and came out the back freely once the butt was taken off. The buttstock incorporated the rear action cover, made of poly instead of steel, and that meant the gun had fewer parts.

As with the other rifles, the trigger assembly could be disassembled by withdrawing the safety lever. Like the full-size .308 version, this one had a curved hammer within the trigger housing. The bolt was substantially smaller and lighter than the .308 version, and this resulted in a lighter rifle. The weight of the Vector with empty mag was 7.8 pounds, on the heavy side for the cartridge, but not unreasonable.

Except that the rifle was slightly smaller in all dimensions, and had black furniture, the overall appearance of the Vector was much like that of the JLD PTR-91. Workmanship was pretty darned good, we thought. The metal finish was dull black, and highly scratch resistant. The 16.3-inch barrel had a false muzzle brake, which we thought looked better than a bare tube. Rifling twist was one turn in seven inches.

The trigger of the Vector was two-stage, with significant creep, and a break at 11 pounds. It was workable, but again we would have liked a better trigger. The bolt handle folded just like the .308 version. The sights were similar to those of the .308, with the exception that the unmarked 100-yard sight was not an aperture, but an open V sight. We used the 200-yard aperture for our test shooting. The forend, a small, sloped assembly of black poly, was loose on the gun. It was held to the piece by a single hand-removable pin, and by a clip at the back. It might be easy to tighten the guard, but we left it alone. One more item we liked was the secondary magazine release. You could use either a button on the right side of the

Courtesy, Gun Tests

The rifle came with 30- and 40-round magazines. Shown is the 30. Note the one-piece trigger housing and pistol grip. This rifle needed a trigger job.

Our test fodder included Russian surplus Wolf 55-grain FMJ ammunition, 62-grain FMJ fodder by Black Hills, and a box of low-priced, commercially reloaded ammunition with 75-grain plastic-tipped bullets. We chose to shoot at 50 yards, because the rifle was sighted to print 9 inches high at that range with the 200-yard aperture, way too high. As noted, we couldn’t adjust the rear sight without the required tool. The sight appeared to be adjusted about as low as it could go. If that was indeed the case, a taller front blade would have to be fitted to get the rifle centered.

Our best results were with the fine Black Hills ammunition, which gave consistent groups of just over an inch, which translates to 2-plus-inch groups at 100 yards. The junk ammo gave us our worst group, nearly three inches at 50 yards. The Russian Wolf ammo went around 1.4 inches on average, or less than 3 inches at 100 yards. Clearly this rifle would pay dividends to a “best-ammo” search.

We inspected the inside of the Vector following our shooting tests, and we found the innards were much blackened with powder residue from our firing. This was in startling contrast to the inside of the .308 version, which was not very dirty. The blowback blackened everything inside of the rifle to an alarming extent, we thought. Would extended shooting sessions tend to clog the rifle? We would have liked to shoot this rifle extensively without cleaning to see what, if any, effect this would have on reliability. However, we’re sure the maker has done just this, and we doubt we’d have problems, other than a major cleaning job, if we did such a test. And we suspect the choice of ammunition would make a big difference on how much dirt was put into the action. With one exception, we had perfect reliability with this rifle and ammo. The exception was one of the commercially reloaded cartridges, which failed to feed because the bullet collapsed into the case. On inspection, several other rounds of that low-priced ammunition had loose bullets, so we don’t hold the Vector responsible for not feeding junk ammo.

Reader Comments

Why buy this gun when it is clearly inferior to an AR-15 and clones?

Comment by: MichaelDolin | December 11, 2008

Many years back you could get a genuine HK 91 & 93 rifles that were magnificent combat rifles! They had polygon rifling, and no bolt catch when the magazine ran dry, somewere around the last 5th-3rd round there was a tracer that would tell the shooter that he was low, and the charging handle was on the left front of the rifle, and stayed folded down till needed, and if you wanted the bolt to stay open you would draw it to the rear and turn it into its notch. As for our future "muzzle first"!!

Comment by: lotoofla | December 11, 2008

actaully, you should have shot this rifle with the 77 grain sierra match king bullets in the black hills blue (reloaded) box. 1 in 7 twist is for heavier bullets.

Comment by: Cava3r4 | December 11, 2008

actaully, you should have shot this rifle with the 77 grain sierra match king bullets in the black hills blue (reloaded) box. 1 in 7 twist is for heavier bullets.

Comment by: Cava3r4 | December 11, 2008

You have not answered my comments as to why anyone would buy this rifle when it appears inferior to the AR-15 and clones. The fouling of the operating mechanism has not proved significant in combat situations when reliability is paramount as long as the operator keeps his rifle clean. I hav extensive experience with the MAS 49-56 rifle converted to 308. It has also a direct gas impingement operating system like the Ar-15 but has no problem with fouling as it has a rear locking falling bolt system as opposed to the front locking rotary locking system of the AR-15. Also the volume of gas used in the 308 version of the Mas 49-56 is much greater than in the Ar-15 which tends to blow out fouling. AR-15 guns with gas piston systems are now available with no gas entering the bolt locking area. I doubt that this is really necessary as you change the location of fouling from the bolt locking lugs to the gas piston. I have a lot of experience with FALs and they must have their gas pistons cleaned regularly if they are shot with a large amount of ammo they can have enough gas piston fouling to affect adversely the operation of the gun. The answer is keep your rifle clean and it will take care of you. The French used the MAS 49-56 in the Algerian War in the desert of North Africa chambered for the 7.5mm French military round and it perfromed well and was very reliable. Even an AK will stop functioning when the piston develops excess fouling .So what ever you shoot have a regular regimen of cleaning the rifle or you will be sorry. M. Dolin

Comment by: MichaelDolin | December 11, 2008

I don't know if its inferior. I have AR's in 5.56 as well as 7.62. I love these weapons, but lets remember that a direct gas impingement is a bitch to keep clean. If the AR is kept clean, and in good repair, it is a great weapon, but I would not call it a superior platform. I prefer an M1A to an AR, but I am certain many people would say it is inferior due to the extra weight. You cannot say that the AR is as reliable as any other type of action out there. That would be a matter of opinion rather than fact. I have owned many top quality AR rifles, and currently own AR 10's. These rifles are in .308, and run very well even dirty, but all the ARs I have ever owned in 5.56, got a bit sticky after 200 rounds or so. I have fired a crap AK for well over 500 without a cleaning and it did not get sticky. I am not sure how far it would shoot before it got sticky, I simply ran out of ammo to shoot. I have owned 3 FAL's, and still own a DS ARMS SA 58 rifle, as well as an STG 58, which is a parts gun from Austria. These Fals are superior in as far as reliability to my AR 15's. They can also be surpressed, without changing any springs, and will shoot subsonic rounds. The point I am trying to make is that the AR 15 fits a bill very well as an accurate light weight weapon, but you can not say that the direct gas action is superior action with regard to reliable feed. Before the AR there was this type of gun, and they were battle proven and still are in demand. Besides, the man with the most toys wins.

Comment by: Lawdawg | December 12, 2008