Greetings from VA

[GerryR]

Hello from VA.  I'm a "mostly" retired automation engineer and a gunsmith who recently acquired, and fell in love with, an R51 pistol.  They became available through a wholesaler, so I picked one up, as I was very interested in the Petersen design and wanted to handle one and get familiar with an actual physical piece.  I wasn't in anyway disappointed in the R51, and in fact, after pumping several magazines of ammo through it, I ordered a second one, which will probably become a safe queen.  While browsing this forum, I have already picked up some valuable info about the R51, and hopefully, as I get more familiar with its internal workings, I may be able to contribute to this forum.
Most of my work to this point involved Sigs, 1911's, Browning HP's, S&W revolvers and various other handguns, so feel free to ask any questions you might have; if I can answer them, I will, and if I can't, I will tell you so, and then hunt for an answer for you through some of my contacts.  Well, I'm looking forward to some fun with the R51 and this forum.  Be well and be vigilant and safe. 

[R51Fan2017]

Welcome aboard! Glad you found us!

[Zenshot]

Welcome Gerry!  Good to have a gunsmith here on the forum!  One question I have is about the magazine design.  Do any other gun magazines have the follower stop on the front of the mag like the R51?  It's puzzling to me why it would be designed this way.

[GerryR]

David, I don't recall other mags being designed that way.  I don't think it is just to stop the follower, as the follower will, and does, also stop where the feed lips bend in.  If you place the magazine in the pistol with the slide pulled back, you will see that the front of the magazine can "bump" a round back to put it back from the barrel feed ramp.  If that wasn't there, the round could be forward enough to catch on the ramp.

I've read somewhere on this forum, I believe, that some people take pliers and straighten that out.  I personally wouldn't do that, but I'm not having any feed problems with my pistol.

[Zenshot]

I've thought about the function of the front indentation to bump the round toward the back of the magazine.  If so, the question then becomes why the magazine is not shorter, front to back, so that the round does not need to be pushed back? 
There has been some speculation that maybe the magazine was sized to work with 45acp for a potential R51 offering in that caliber.

[GerryR]

That's a possibility.  It may also be that there design tolerances of the frame were on the "tight" side, and they compensated by modifying the the magazine rather than the more expensive frame.  But, I like your idea better and hope that they do come out with a 45 version... that would be really nice!!