Last Saturday my 23 year old grandson, Mike, tried out the R51 against the S&W Shield and the Honor, all in 9mm Luger. I had him shoot on a sheet that had 5 bull's-eye targets. The 1st target was shot using the R51, the 2nd target was shot using the S&W Shield and the 3rd target was shot using the Honor. He repeated the full clip per target shooting sequence on the same targets to make sure his first efforts were not different due to unfamiliarity with the guns.

During his first attempt to shoot the R51, he kept locking up the trigger after firing a round. I found he was trying to shoot fast and pulled the trigger for the second shot before the R51's action had cycled. I explained what happened and told him to keep the trigger depressed until the gun finished recoiling and was coming back on target. He did that and had no further problems with the trigger.

These 3 Automatics are similar in size and we used Magtech 115 grain FMJ commercial ammo. Mike felt the R51 was the best looking, felt it had the most comfortable grip when firing, was the easiest to rack, and the lightest kicking of the three guns. He was also the most accurate when shooting the R51. He preferred the S&W Shield because the slide was farther from his hand than with the R51. He has fat hands that expand when he grips the gun and there was a grease line over his hand where the slide had made contact.

I had problems with my R51 at first due to the low grip I held to avoid contact with the slide. This caused some inconsistent feeding problems. I got a pair of thin shooting gloves the keep the skin of my shooting hand out of the way of the slide when I use the highest grip possible. I shoot much better with them because I don't need to worry about getting hit with the slide when firing. Wearing gloves for me is not a problem since I only plink and target shoot with my R51.

I was surprised Mike had his initial trigger problem. I forget that many people unfamiliar with handguns are unaware of the special requirements that different types of actions can have. With revolvers you must let the trigger fully release to reset. This requires a movement of much greater distance than with automatics. The salesman had mentioned it was a problem with the R51, but I had not heard of it until my grandson experienced it. I consider it a non-problem, but I can see how a novice shooter would be discouraged by it.

My R51 shot 4" to 6" low with all the different weight ammo I put through it. I remember reading a post from another member in this Forum who had the same problem and corrected it by using a shorter front sight from Dawson Precision. I have used their fiber optic sights on other guns and liked them a lot, so I went ahead and got one and had it installed on my Remington. I need to tell you that Dawson's website has a calculator that determines the change in front sight height required to change the point of impact. I used their calculator and ended up with the same sight height the other member used. It ends up being a Novak cut, .130" tall,  .125" wide, ramped fiber optic front sight.  I had difficulty removing the original front sight, even using a tool provided by Dawson as part of their front sight kit, so I had my gunsmith install it. Now it hits where I aim it.

As I said I would do in my previous post, I cleaned and re-lubed my R51 using Rem Oil. I used  Cherry Balmz "Black Rifle" grease on the rails and rubbing flat surfaces on the slide, receiver and breech block. It worked well. The effort to rack the slide is somewhat lower and certainly smoother.  My only feed problems were with some of my old 147 grain LRN reloads. There were 3 failures to eject (stove piping) out of 75 rounds fired, while there were no failures of any kind using 50 commercial 115 grain FMJ ammo from two different manufacturers. Both my magazines worked with 7 rounds and one in the chamber. I did clean and lubricate my magazines before I used them and recommend to everyone that they clean and lubricate their magazines. I found out the hard way what happens when you don't on my .22 LR Ruger automatic. Lots of feeding problems when they were not cleaned and lubricated regularly.

The reason for the three failures appears to be related to the reloading process I used, judging from the inconsistent case ejections I observed with the reloads. The following explanation is somewhat technical but is applicable to any reloads that fill almost all the available case space with powder.

I used some old reloads that were made using a fixed volume powder dispenser. This feeds powder consistently, but I need to change the OAL by changing the bullet seating in order to fine tune the pressure curve. I find I get some variation of the bullet seating over time if I am not carful during the reloading process. Also, I had not sorted my pistol brass in the past. The loads I use for the 9 mm Luger fills the case to over 90% capacity. Any variation in the actual available case space can cause a significant change in the amount of pressure generated when fired. The pressure variation at this level of loading is not linear, but is geometric. A 1% change in volume will create a greater than 1% increase in pressure. The result can be seen in differences in the case ejection patterns. 

I have now installed a continuously adjustable volume powder dispenser. I can fine tune the pressure curve by adjusting the powder feeder. I have tested this feeder and it is more consistent than my current digital scale is. I need to add a more sensitive scale that is accurate to 0.02 grains. This will allow me to select a load to an accuracy of 0.5 grains and use a fixed OAL that optimizes reliable feeding in my R51. This will take some time, but I will post my results with the expectation that my 147 grain reloads will operate as reliably as the commercial ammo currently does.

None of the gun manufacturers seem to publicly support using reloaded ammo, but Remington did tell me that the R51 was designed to work with the commercial 9 mm Luger ammunition that is available. I had contacted Remington about getting a spring with a different power rating for the use of a 147 grain bullet, since changing the spring rate is a common practice for 1911 users when changing the weight of the bullet used.  9mm Luger ammo that I have found available comes with 115 grain, 124-125 grain and 147 grain bullets, so I should be OK using a 147 grain bullet. This bullet has demonstrated superior accuracy in 9mm pistols. That is why I like it.

My new Remington R51 (Gen. 2) 
I purchased an R51 the other day for $329.00. I took it home, disassembled and cleaned it and reassembled it. Took it to the range today and found it to be accurate at 5 yards shooting with its iron sights.

During the disassembly and assembly I found that the return spring was more powerful than I had thought. In Remington's video, the presenter had no trouble compressing the spring and keeping it compressed. I found it was harder to do than it looked. I had read the manual and watched the video, but was not prepared for the force I had to apply.

The slide stop was hard to push out because it is flush with the right side of the gun. I used a small screwdriver to get it out far enough to be able to pull it out from the other side.

Reinstalling the barrel was much harder than it looked in the video. It took a fair amount of force to get the barrel down far enough into the slide in order to insert the breech assembly.

Reinstalling the slide assembly took some patience and effort, but that was visible in Remington's video.

When I got to the range today, the slide locked up after each shot. I was worried until I remembered that the insertion of the slide stop required that the bottom ledge be inserted under an exposed leg of a spring. I pulled the slide stop out part way and saw I had not installed it correctly. I made sure the slide stop was rotated all the way down when I pushed it back in. This solved the problem and I went through about 25 rounds without a problem. I used a full mag with a round in the chamber and fired without a problem and used the mag release in each direction when releasing the mag.

Shooting this gun is a very pleasant experience. The recoil is noticeably less that in my Springfield Range Officer in 9mm, even though this gun is smaller and lighter. Unfortunately the muzzle blast is significantly louder when firing. This is due to the barrel being an inch shorter in the R51 than in my 1911. The trigger does break cleanly, but the 1911's trigger is better. Trigger control (keeping the sight on target when firing) was very good. I have more trouble with trigger control with my revolvers than I did with this automatic, even though they all have pivoting triggers. The white dot sights are highly visible and very easy to see. I am very happy with this gun.

I remembered all the trouble I had learning how to assemble and disassemble my 1911 until I had done it several times. The R51 is actually much simpler and after just one attempt I am now comfortable breaking it down and reassembling it.

An unusual and interesting piece of information was in the owners manual. It said to use only non-congealing lubricants. They recommended using Rem Oil which is what I had used. I know what the word congeal means, but I have never seen a lubricant specification for congealing. I called Remington's Customer Service for more information. They said some products like Frog Lube will congeal. I asked them if a grease I wanted to use (Cherry Balmz) would congeal. They checked and said it would be OK to use. I was impressed that they apparently had a chart of which lubes congeal and which lubes don't.

I will field strip the gun tomorrow and use some of Cherry Balmz Black Rifle grease when I reassemble the gun. I like the Cherry Balmz product because it is the only product that lets my Marvel .22LR adapter feed reliably (450 rounds without cleaning). This is the most accurate .22 I own (5/8" group for 5 rounds @ 50 yards). I have had it 5 or 6 years but have always had trouble with unreliable feeding. One coat of this stuff cured the problem. I was concerned that a grease would impede the timing of the action of my R51, and did not want to take a chance of inducing a problem in a gun that has had a poor initial history of reliability. I'll find out how well it works in the R51 this week.

I saw the new r-51 at a Remington exhibit at Proshots indoor gun range in Rural Hall, NC a few months ago. There were 4 of them, some with the laser option and some without. I could handle them and dry fire them, but I was not allowed to fire them. A few days ago I emailed Remington about the status of the r51 and this is what I received today:

Service Ticket Response

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Good morning , the r51 is not out yet, with no exact date of production as they are still in testing.Shouldnt be much longer ,Thank you.



Thank you and best regards,
Remington Customer Services

I have other guns to shoot and reload for, so I can wait for this guy a little longer.