Things I’ve learned thus far...

[NH_Shoots]

First difficulty I encountered in taking the R-51 down for cleaning was an amount of nuance in the manual.  The instructions tell you to simply "pull the slide rearward until the Slide Stop is opposite the disassembly notch." There's a tiny nub on the Slide Stop that catches on the slide until you hold the slide back just the right way, with a bit more pressure to hold back the slide, and then the Slide Stop will wiggle out easily.  On my gun at least, there's an actual slide lock position not mentioned in the manual that even without a magazine inserted appears to be where they want you to be able to remove the Slide Stop, but it won't come out no matter what.  I have to move my slide just past this point to disassemble.

Second difficulty I just learned how to solve, thanks to lklawson (thanks Kirk) was in putting the slide back onto the frame.  I had a heck of a time getting the Pederson block past the Front Rails of the frame.  Despite the Remington Video, I just couldn't figure out how to make that happen.  I resorted to holding the barrel back against the recoil spring completely , which is very difficult to accomplish what with the sharp edges near the feed ramp end, and the difficulty in holding the barrel all the way out against the spring.  With Kirk's note that I don't actually have to hold the slide and another review of the video ("wiggle the slide") I tried a few more times.  Turns out I can do it as long as I make sure the Pederson Block is set in the slide snugly and push a little harder and the slide goes back on.  No more figuring ways to hold the barrel against the spring pressure to reassemble!

Third difficulty I had was trying to load 7+1 or even load 7 at all with certain rounds.  I trimmed the bottom of the magazine followers on my magazines as suggested, and even resorted to the slingshot method of slide release for a bit of extra oomph, but certain hollowpoints were just nosediving on rounds 7 and 6.  I polished the feed ramp with a Dremel, and even polished the odd lips on the fronts of the magazines, but no luck.  I finally resorted to emailing Customer Service and they sent me a reply that they'll send 2 replacement magazines.  As noted elsewhere, the part number of these replacements (F305402) doesn't correspond to the one in the manual.  Could it be that Remington is addressing this issue after only a year?
Overall I would say the gun is easy to rack, and fun to shoot with a little bit of a learning curve (grasp the grip safety and keep the web of your hand away from the slide). 

Thanks for all the tips and learning.

[1911SHOOTER]

First difficulty I encountered in taking the R-51 down for cleaning was an amount of nuance in the manual.  The instructions tell you to simply "pull the slide rearward until the Slide Stop is opposite the disassembly notch." There's a tiny nub on the Slide Stop that catches on the slide until you hold the slide back just the right way, with a bit more pressure to hold back the slide, and then the Slide Stop will wiggle out easily.  On my gun at least, there's an actual slide lock position not mentioned in the manual that even without a magazine inserted appears to be where they want you to be able to remove the Slide Stop, but it won't come out no matter what.  I have to move my slide just past this point to disassemble.

Second difficulty I just learned how to solve, thanks to lklawson (thanks Kirk) was in putting the slide back onto the frame.  I had a heck of a time getting the Pederson block past the Front Rails of the frame.  Despite the Remington Video, I just couldn't figure out how to make that happen.  I resorted to holding the barrel back against the recoil spring completely , which is very difficult to accomplish what with the sharp edges near the feed ramp end, and the difficulty in holding the barrel all the way out against the spring.  With Kirk's note that I don't actually have to hold the slide and another review of the video ("wiggle the slide") I tried a few more times.  Turns out I can do it as long as I make sure the Pederson Block is set in the slide snugly and push a little harder and the slide goes back on.  No more figuring ways to hold the barrel against the spring pressure to reassemble!

Third difficulty I had was trying to load 7+1 or even load 7 at all with certain rounds.  I trimmed the bottom of the magazine followers on my magazines as suggested, and even resorted to the slingshot method of slide release for a bit of extra oomph, but certain hollowpoints were just nosediving on rounds 7 and 6.  I polished the feed ramp with a Dremel, and even polished the odd lips on the fronts of the magazines, but no luck.  I finally resorted to emailing Customer Service and they sent me a reply that they'll send 2 replacement magazines.  As noted elsewhere, the part number of these replacements (F305402) doesn't correspond to the one in the manual.  Could it be that Remington is addressing this issue after only a year?
Overall I would say the gun is easy to rack, and fun to shoot with a little bit of a learning curve (grasp the grip safety and keep the web of your hand away from the slide). 

Thanks for all the tips and learning.

NH,
     Can't wait to see what type of mags you get from Remington.   Probably be a while due to Harvey.   Depending on where you hail from.
Blackie

[DUTCH Van Atlanta]

Third difficulty I had was trying to load 7+1 or even load 7 at all with certain rounds.  I trimmed the bottom of the magazine followers on my magazines as suggested, and even resorted to the slingshot method of slide release for a bit of extra oomph, but certain hollowpoints were just nosediving on rounds 7 and 6.  I polished the feed ramp with a Dremel, and even polished the odd lips on the fronts of the magazines, but no luck.  I finally resorted to emailing Customer Service and they sent me a reply that they'll send 2 replacement magazines.  As noted elsewhere, the part number of these replacements (F305402) doesn't correspond to the one in the manual.  Could it be that Remington is addressing this issue after only a year?

Thanks for all the tips and learning.

Did they give you any idea of when they would send them?  I got a similar email from them on 8/30, but they said they were back ordered.  Nothing since.

[NH_Shoots]

Same here.  They emailed on 8/21, saying that the magazines were back ordered.  Part number of the magazines in the parts order pdf they sent is the new number.  No word since. 
I may call in a while to see if I can get more info.

I'll let you know what I learn.