I just purchased an 11-87 that says special purpose on it and has a wood stock with blueing. What does it mean by Special Purpose?

It's Special Purpose is Duck Hunting...

From Gun Tests magazine...

Remington 11-87 Special Purpose

This $644 shotgun ships with a 28-inch barrel and I/C, Modified, Full chokes. It employs the company’s familiar pistol grip stock found on the Model 1100 style that has been around for decades.

The sand-blasted, blued-steel barrel and receiver make this a very good choice for any type of hunting, in our opinion. It doesn’t shine like the other models. The gun’s rib was also blasted to a dull finish. Ditto that on the woodwork. Our test gun had a satin-finished, straight-grain walnut stock and forend with cut checkering. Its dull appearance is a plus in the field, we think. Also, all of the woodwork execution was crisp and helped control the gun.

One of the best features of this test gun was the ease of loading ammo into the magazine tube. Our other test guns have a bolt release located on the side. Remington’s is located on the shell carrier. This allows the hunter to drop a shell into the open action, and then shove another shotshell into the action, simultaneously releasing the bolt, charging the chamber, and putting a round in the magazine. This is a very fast, safe procedure.

The gun measured 48 inches in overall length and weighed 8.5 pounds, making it the heaviest of our test guns. Its length of pull was 14 inches, with a 1-inch rubber field pad. Most shooters will find this stock length fits them well, particularly when wearing heavy clothing. However, long-armed shooters will find their heads creep up the stock too much when it’s seated properly in the shoulder. These shooters will need to replace the recoil pad to get the right length of pull. (In our experience, a good replacement pad is the Decelerator by Pachmayr.) Stock drop at the comb was 1.5 inches and 2 inches at the heel. The stock had no cast, which meant lefties could also shoot it comfortably.

Another plus with the 11-87 is that the stock and magazine cap are equipped with quick-detachable sling swivel studs. The gun also comes with a sling. This allows the hunter to carry the gun on the shoulder, freeing his hands for decoys, coolers, and the like.

This gun comes with 3-inch chambers and 1-inch forcing cones, The bore on this gun measured 0.728 inches. The Improved Cylinder choke measured 0.719 inch (0.011 inch of constriction), the Modified choke measured 0.710 inch (0.018 inch of constriction), and the Full choke went 0.691 inch (0.037 inch of constriction). All of the pattern percentages were acceptable, with all three chokes yielding the highest pattern percentages of all three test guns. Point of impact was within factory tolerance.

Thank you for the reply, what choke would you use for deer slugs in this gun?

Here is a whole article on understanding shotgun chokes I wrote a year and a half ago...enjoy !!

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