Has anyone yet tried the "New and Improved" R51?

DWalt

DWalt

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I'm curious about the "New" R51 as to whether the initial design deficiencies have been overcome. I am halfway (actually about 40%) thinking about buying one if a good buy comes along. I am normally not very interested in new guns (the last time I bought one was over 10 years ago), but I am a fan of the original Remington Model 51 (I have four of them, .32 and .380). My interest is for that reason only. Does anyone have firsthand experience and comments?
 
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I was hoping for just a bit more info. Will be watching the thread for some more informative replies. Surely someone has one of the "new and improved" R51 guns.
 
Yes. I had one of the version 1 models and failed to get 8 rounds successfully through it. Remington did make it right, refunding my total cost. A few weeks ago I found a deal on the latest version. Call me a masochist, but I couldn't pass it up. So far, about 500 rounds through it without a single hiccup. Not one ftf, fte, anything. Strictly 115 grain ammo at this point, but every manufacturer I have, including Perfecta. It digests all of it.

I really like this gun. It was designed for concealed carry and it will make its way into my rotation. A few hundred more and I will have as much confidence in it as any other gun I carry, maybe a little more.

It is definitely easier to rack than my Shield. I also believe it has lighter recoil than my Shield, but that may be my imagination, I need to do a direct comparison. I do know I shoot it better.

And as a bonus, I contacted Remington regarding the magazines. The new version has a different follower and base plate. I had two from my first version and wanted to buy replacement parts for them. Remington told me no. They said send us the two magazines you have and we will replace them with the new version free. I did and they did. Very nice customer service.

I am very happy with it.
 
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Having never even held one of the R51s in my hand, what sort of action do they have - anything like the the original Model 51 locked breech mechanism? How about the difficulty of disassembly? While the original Model 51 is not too difficult to tear down, it is not entirely intuitive as to how it's done for the first time. What kind of barrel rifling? I hope not octagonal. As some may know, there were some Remington .45 ACP pistols built using the same basic action back in the WWI era for military trials, so for certain it should be adequate for the 9mm. Now that would be neat - an R51 in .45.
 
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I can't offer any comparison to the original R51 model. I have never even held one. I will say take down and reassembly are not a problem. Very easy to do, just different. There are several YouTube videos describing the process. Seems kinda weird to grab the barrel and pull the whole slide assembly off, but that's how you do it. Like I said, very easy field stripping.
 
I have an R51. It has the Pedersen delayed blowback action with an internal hammer, no trigger safety.

I have shot 150 rds, 100 115gr UMC and 50 124gr UMC, FMJ.

I had one failure very early on, the first time I tried 7+1 the 2nd round FTF. Since then the gun has been perfect in function. I could have made an error in topping off the mag when it failed, 7+1 has worked every time since.
It is easy to rack the slide.
The three dot sights are good. For me, the sights are regulated low with 115 gr., slightly low with 124 gr. In any case, for self defense purposes it's close enough with either.
Trigger is crisp and I would say moderately heavy. The grip safety takes a definite squeeze to make the gun hot. Both features IMO are desirable for a single action CCW.
I have put 3 shot into an elongated hole at 10 yds freehand, and shot proportionate groups at 25 yds. I can't ask for better performance from a compact autoloader.
Fit and finish are very good for the purpose, the internal surfaces are well finished.

Now field strip and assembly, I watched the videos and read the manual, and I still had a steep learning curve getting this thing apart and back together. After a few times doing it I got it down to minutes instead of fractions of a hour but it will never be Glock easy. Barrel has conventional rifling. Expect it would shoot cast fine.

I bought an R51 because I wanted a 9mm (first one) and I was bored with tilting barrel actions. Very satisfied with it and will shortly get a carry holster.

Would recommend to a friend? Yes
 
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DWalt said:
From this, the locking mechanism seems to be the same principle as the original Remington Model 51. It's fairly unique, I don't know of another handgun which operates in the same way.
Click to expand...

Keltec's PMR-30 is similar. I have one.

Referencing above comment, the Navy wanted to adopt the Pedersen 45 but the military already had a "boat"load of 1911's leftover from WWI.
 
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UPDATE

Update...
Just got back from the range. Another 200 rounds through the R51. Had some problems this time. Experienced some failure to feed issues. I was a little concerned. Spent some time isolating the issue and figured out it was a single magazine. The first 3 or 4 rounds would not feed properly. It also happens to be one of the two replacements Remington sent me as noted above. Isolated it and the gun continued to function perfectly.

Back in my man closet (too small to be called a cave) I disassembled the bad magazine and could see where the follower was binding inside the magazine. By process of elimination, swapping parts with a good one, I confirmed it was the follower. Started working on it with a Dremel and I believe I have it fixed. The follower moves freely now. I will confirm it in the next few days.

Bottom line - the R51 continues to perform perfectly. I will keep an eye on one of the magazines.
 
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Have any of you owners seen wear on the internals of the gun? The shoulder in the frame that breech block locks against is aluminum, so i wonder how it will wear with regular use.
 
I found exactly ONE R51 at the local gun show yesterday, priced at $380+tax. Another dealer said he sold the only one he had on Saturday for $325. This is the first time I have actually seen and held an R51. It's somewhat larger than I thought it would be, and that disappoints me a little. It indeed does have the unusual breech lockup mechanism very similar to that of the original Remington Model 51 pistol. I asked the dealer if the breech locked into the aluminum alloy frame notch (see above mentions), and he said that he didn't know anything about its internals. And he wouldn't disassemble his.
 
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I was looking at a new R51 at my local gun shop last week and my dealer
said that the new models were no better than the first models they still
had a lot of problems also the gun is not as nice as it looks in the pictures
of it
 
onebilly43 said:
I was looking at a new R51 at my local gun shop last week and my dealer
said that the new models were no better than the first models they still
had a lot of problems also the gun is not as nice as it looks in the pictures
of it
Click to expand...

Not sure what to make of this comment. You state that you were "looking at a new R51" at your local gun shop. You also say the dealer said it is "not as nice as it looks in the pictures". Those are confusing statements. He evidently had one in the shop. They look exactly like they look in the "pictures", whatever pictures he was referring to. Here is mine. Given that I don't have professional staging and lighting, I think it looks exactly like the other "pictures" I have seen.

412819679.jpg


You want to talk about something not looking like the advertising pictures, look at the burger you get at any fast food restaurant and compare it to their ads. :mad:

As far as performance, all I can say is mine has been 100% through about 500 rounds. The first version was a total piece of garbage. I am very happy with version 2. It will soon make its way into my EDC rotation. I have seen no overwhelming dissatisfaction with the new version posted anywhere on the web. A few unhappy owners, but no more than I would expect statistically for any other firearm. I believe your LGS owner is offering opinions rather than fact. JMO
 
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I'd forgotten about it, but one thing that bothered me is what seems to be a plastic trigger. I couldn't tell for sure, even from feeling it, but it seemed like plastic It's probably fine, but I'd rather have a metal trigger. I've not seen exactly what changes Remington made in the R51 to overcome the previous problems. Does anyone know?
 
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DWalt said:
It's somewhat larger than I thought it would be, and that disappoints me a little.
Click to expand...

True, not a pocket gun, but that little bit of heft and comfortable grip encourages range practice as the recoil won't beat you down. Certainly, it would be easy to conceal IWB or OWB.

The steel barrel is constrained by the steel slide stop - the barrel isn't rigidly fixed like a conventional blow back action but it's movement is minimal.
 
Saw the first one in the display case at the LGS today. The guy behind the counter knew nothing of the controversy surrounding this pistol from 2 years ago. Makes me wonder about him.

They're selling it for $50 less than the Glock 43. I think they almost have to since they're so late to the market. I've also heard that disassembly is a pain.

In spite of all of that, I have to say that I like the idea of this gun and the low price does make it tempting.
 
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