R-51 currently in production 2016

GunFrogg · July 22, 2016, 03:32:28 PM

The Remington website now has the R51 on it and states august 12 it will be on shelves.

neilin · July 26, 2016, 02:43:51 AM

I wonder which selves they will be on? The wholesaler or the retailer? I wanted one of these R51's in 2014, then Remington did the total recall. It was really surprising to me that they had so many mechanical problems.
Hopefully, all is well. I plan on buying or trading for one soon. The R51 is a beautiful pistol, and reminds me of the Remington 51 .380 I once owned. It was a fine pistol that recoiled like a .22.
The manual for the R51 can be downloaded from Remington.com.

SPRic · July 26, 2016, 02:54:23 PM

It looks like Remngton has done a lot of redesign work before releasing the Gen 2s.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/07/24/breakingremington-announces-new-r51-now-sale-local-gunshop/

neilin · July 26, 2016, 09:17:10 PM

I checked with my local dealers (4), and only one has a distributor who has the R51 in stock. However, he has to buy $3,000 of merchandise before they will sell him an R51.

neilin · July 29, 2016, 01:33:51 AM

Some good information here on the field testing, etc. Glad to find out about the firing pin spring, use snap cap when dry firing, and that Remington is providing good customer service. I do not know when I will find one. Sounds like this forum is the one to stay tuned to.

P.S. From what I can determine, it seems that the pistol Remington is competing against is the Ruger LC9s. They have their work cut out for them, for the LC9s is a mighty fine pocket 9mm. A range test between these two pistols would be interesting to read!

ComingCurse · August 01, 2016, 11:52:24 PM

I had a gen 1 R51, and currently have an LC9S pro. Short story is the r51 had less recoil, better sight picture, and was more comfortable in my hand. The LC9S has a very narrow grip, And the R51 felt more like a ppk. Just my 2 cents.

neilin · August 02, 2016, 12:12:34 AM

ComingCurse it is good to know the R51 has less recoil than the LC9s. Price check at a local shop is $355.00 for the R51 when they get them in stock. They currently sell the LC9s for $365.00.

lklawson · August 02, 2016, 10:13:20 AM

Yes, it's true that the R51 is competing against the LC9s. It's competing against any 9mm gun within a $75 range, plus or minus (or less sometimes), with roughly similar dimensions. It's competing against the Kel Tec PF9 (and P11, for that matter). The Kahr CW9. The Bersa BP9CC. The Beretta Nano. The SCCY CPX guns. The M&P Shield. The Taurus 709 and PT111.

Even if you only count single-column magazine guns, there's still quite a few. It's a fairly crowded market. After the dreadful first Gen experience in the public consciousness, the Gen 2 will have to be flawless. But there's already a lot of misinformation and even disinformation. I was listening to the Firearms Radio Network - This Week In Guns podcast from July 22. The topic of the reintroduction of the R51 came up and one of the hosts claimed that a friend of his ordered the new Gen 2, against the advice of the LGS, had it delivered, and then had immediate problems with it. One of the other hosts asked, "The new reegineered version?" to which he replied, "yes." Wrong. They're not available yet. Only those who have been waiting for their returned service-work guns.

However, ComingCurse is quite correct about the comfort of shooting the R51. On my Gen 1 - The trigger pull was pretty good. The racking force of the slide was very nice. It was very comfortable in the hand. The sights were good; easy to pick up. And, most impressively, it had the felt recoil of a full-sized, all-steel pistol.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

ComingCurse · August 03, 2016, 02:07:24 PM

Kirk, there may be some reason concern with the gen 2, as seen with s some posts on here, as well as the YouTube channel from RyeOnHam - he unboxes, disassembles, and shots his replacement R51. I'll still buy a gen 2 (despite the plastic trigger), and hope for the best.

lklawson · August 03, 2016, 02:28:36 PM

Quote from: ComingCurse on August 03, 2016, 02:07:24 PM
Kirk, there may be some reason concern with the gen 2, as seen with s some posts on here, as well as the YouTube channel from RyeOnHam - he unboxes, disassembles, and shots his replacement R51. I'll still buy a gen 2 (despite the plastic trigger), and hope for the best.

Richard Mann discusses one of the RoH complaints: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUAPd-3GW5M

Gunblast: http://www.gunblast.com/Remington-R51v2.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS3HZwBt-bs

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

ComingCurse · August 10, 2016, 09:50:30 PM

Glad to see other reviewers chiming in! How have you found your gen2 Kirk?

lklawson · August 11, 2016, 09:23:40 AM

Quote from: ComingCurse on August 10, 2016, 09:50:30 PM
Glad to see other reviewers chiming in! How have you found your gen2 Kirk?

My LGS has one but I just had a Central Air Conditioning repair suck away my funds. I've pretty much decided to sell the 1911R1 which Rem sent me in order to fund the R51.

lklawson · August 15, 2016, 12:03:27 PM

Found some funds that I forgot I had. Bought my R51 on Friday afternoon. Took it to the range on Saturday. Had the range all to myself. 250 rounds, the two new magazines and the one original magazine I kept. 2 feed failures, both of which were off of the original magazine. I conclude that the advice from Remington to not use the original magazines for anything except range spares is spot on.

Before I took it to the range, I broke it down and cleaned/lubed with Breakfree CLP. After about 200 rounds, the gun got "sticky" feeling. I relubed it with a few drops of oil on the rails, which cleared that up.

Sights are pretty good. They stayed in place the whole range trip.

Recoil is just as pleasant as the Gen 1.

The plastic trigger looks cheesy but worked without any problems.

I believe that the recoil spring is heavier than the Gen 1's.

I stoked it with some Hornady Critical Duty and CCed it. It carries comfortably.

I'll do a full review for another forum which I participate on.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk