Remington R51 experience?

ACORN

ACORN

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Local pusher has a used R51 in the case @ $250. I have to admit I like the "lines" of it. They remind of the guns in the old gangster movies. I resisted temptation and went home to see what kind of deals are out there. Lo' and behold Bud's has them for $298 + free shipping along with a $100 Remington rebate. With CC fees and insurance it's about $310, after the rebate $210 + $20 FFl fee. I have $100 from Santa so..............I caved.
I hope they have the bugs out of them.
Anybody else have one? Experience/opinion?
 
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I've not handled one and don't plan on it. IMO too many issues the first time around. I've seen photos where the front sight was mounted backwards.

I hope you got a good one.
 
I wanted the first model but happened to wait. Then the 2nd one came out. I was visiting my folks and happened to drop by a LGS and they had a new one, I asked to handle it and he said "Hey, why don't you try it out?"
They had a range and range gun I could rent.
I still kinda want one, but after 50 rounds, my hand was a bit sore, kicks pretty hard (well a bit) for a smaller 9mm. But, I still like the lines of it....
 
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I had 2 of them. First generation was not reliable and would fire slightly out of battery. Remington bought it back. Fast forward 2 years, decided to try again. This gun shot as much as 10" high at just 10 yards. POA vs POI. Went back to mother ship, came back after about 3 weeks and was still off by about 8". It is gone.
Like the looks and feels of it. It is somewhat of a PIA to dis-assemble and re-assemble for cleaning. The whole experience has left me with a low opinion of Remington products.
Hope you have better luck.
 
I have a friend with one of the new 9mm R51s, and I have personally fired about 100 rounds through his. No malfunctions and at least at 25 yards it seemed to group OK for me. I'd buy one at the right price, except I already have five other 9mm pistols and do not need another. Its somewhat odd mechanical design is very similar to that of the original Remington Model 51 (made in .32 ACP and .380), except the latter is somewhat more compact. I have two of those. The American Rifleman had a pretty good writeup on the R51 not too long ago.

BTW, disassembly of the R51 was not that difficult for me, as I did it one time. However I was already very familiar with how the earlier Model 51 came apart and went back together, and the R51's procedure is very similar, even though not exactly the same. I can understand the difficulty for someone without much prior experience. Sort of like the Ruger .22 semiautomatic pistol. Everyone complains about how tough it is to disassemble and reassemble a Ruger, but in fact it really is simple to do if you know a few tricks and practice them a bit.
 
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I had a malfunction or 2 in first couple of hundred rounds (might have been one of the magazines) but now mine runs well. So happens that 115 gr standard pressure shoots low for me, zest up the power level to 124 +p and it probably is dead on at 10 yds.
Part of the fun is learning to field strip the thing. It gets easier after a few hundred rounds as the parts lap in with each other.
Enjoy.
 
I got one this month and after 300 rounds am thinking it might work out. During the last 100 rounds the only malfunctions were the slide locking back with a round still in the magazine about 3 mags out of 4. I took the mags apart and cleaned them and hope that helps. The gun gets filthier faster than any other 9mm I've owned or shot, but it is accurate and easy to shoot well once you get used to the grip safety.

I want it to work. I want to like it. I want to carry it. We'll see.
 
I'll pass. In today's crowded 9mm compact market space firearm manufactures have a very brief and precise time to make a good impression with gun consumers. Remington failed and failed miserably with the new Model 51 which I moved on never to look back at it.
 
As I posted in an earlier thread...

I bought the version 1 as soon as it was available. BIG mistake. To their credit, Remington did make it right, full refund including shipping and transfer fee.

Fast forward 18 months or so. I purchased the version 2. The difference is like night and day. I love this gun, perfect for EDC. Easy to conceal, all metal, easy to manipulate the slide, designed for CC.

I have about 800-1000 rounds through it without a single failure. I mean that, not ONE failure of any kind. It is in my EDC rotation.
 
Had both a version 1 and a version 2. Comfortable and accurate to shoot, but impossible to keep them running.

I just can not recommend the R51.
 
"The gun gets filthier faster than any other 9mm I've owned or shot, but it is accurate and easy to shoot well once you get used to the grip safety."

The single time I disassembled and cleaned the R51, it had fired about 200 rounds. I don't remember it being abnormally dirty. In fact, as the R51 uses essentially a locked breech design (albeit an unusual one), it should be somewhat cleaner in its operation than any blowback, and no worse than any other locked breech action pistol. I'd expect that excessive mechanism dirtiness would be more related to the specific ammunition fired or the propellant used (in reloads) than to the R51 pistol's design.
 
DWalt said:
"The gun gets filthier faster than any other 9mm I've owned or shot, but it is accurate and easy to shoot well once you get used to the grip safety."

The single time I disassembled and cleaned the R51, it had fired about 200 rounds. I don't remember it being abnormally dirty. In fact, as the R51 uses essentially a locked breech design (albeit an unusual one), it should be somewhat cleaner in its operation than any blowback, and no worse than any other locked breech action pistol. I'd expect that excessive mechanism dirtiness would be more related to the specific ammunition fired or the propellant used (in reloads) than to the R51 pistol's design.
Click to expand...

From what I read in the Rifleman article, the R51 action opens slightly before it locks. Strikes me that this feature is bound to increase the likelihood of the gun getting dirty. How much will depend on the ability of the ammo in use to maintain obturation during the initial unlock part of the cycle.
 
LVSteve said:
From what I read in the Rifleman article, the R51 action opens slightly before it locks. Strikes me that this feature is bound to increase the likelihood of the gun getting dirty. How much will depend on the ability of the ammo in use to maintain obturation during the initial unlock part of the cycle.
Click to expand...

Not quite. Upon firing the breech piece (a separate component) goes rearward a tiny fraction of an inch and then locks into a notch in the frame. The barrel does not move. The cartridge case remains in the chamber, sealing it until the barrel pressure drops. The inertial movement imparted to the slide then unlocks the breech piece and the entire slide and breech then continues through the case extraction, ejection and reloading cycle, similar to any other semiautomatic pistol. It has been described as a "hesitation lock" and that is a fairly accurate description. But the breech is nonetheless locked and the chamber sealed during the entire time during which there is pressure in the barrel. That ingenious design by John Pedersen allows the gun's weight to be reduced to an absolute minimum. Back in the WWI period, Remington made a fully functional and practical pistol in .45 ACP using exactly the same locking principle for possible adoption by the U. S. Navy, but the Navy could not get funding to order it. Those very few existing examples of the Remington .45 pistol are extremely valuable.
 
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