I picked up a 311 this week for $250. I'd like to spruce it up a bit. The wood is ok, it's the rest of it that I'd like to bring back to life.

I'm also curious as to what the general cleaning and maintenance procedures.

DO NOT dry fire it withouth snap caps.

A good soaking in a bucket of kerosene ( of course with out the wood) action and barrel and spraying out with air hose works wonders.  When I get one in my shop for  cleaning that what I do before I dissassemble it for a detailed cleaning,  except I use a parts washer and a little pan inside it.

The butt is held on with a through bolt and the forend wood with a couple of screws.


CEW

Clean the barrel like any other shotgun, but twice since there are two barrels

Get some Hoppes No. 9 solvent and a pick/brush set from Wal Mart (total will be around $10 bucks total). Use the picks to get any stubborn material and use the brushes to get rid of fowling. If there is rust, use some steel wool (i have heard stainless steel wool doesn't scratch bluing - I do not know if this is right and would not suggest it unless advised by a creditable gunsmith). I have heard that break-open shotgun guys like to use a special grease to lube their shotguns. This can be found at a gun shop.

Beautiful gun BTW, that is just like one that I want to get someday and convert it to a coach gun

I suppose if I shot one very much I'd take the time to find out what they use, but IMO, nothing is going to beat nickel or copper based anti seize paste from your local autoparts store.

I think there is a vid on youtube from midwayusa that talks about it.