Rich Grassi, one of the reviewers who shot the original, hand-fitted, pre-production R51's, has a short review. He writes that he did not have enough time to run many rounds and will give more effort to it.
Quite interestingly he writes, "Trying the Pedersen 'self-aiming' ergonomics I worked on some Applegate point from seven yards. I was surprised how well that worked – I'm no 'instinctive' shooting type."
I remember reading some reprinted copy regarding that. I stumbled across an article on Point Shooting by Col. Charles Askins from 1955 in which he specifically mentions the Model 51 for its natural pointing properties.
http://www.shootingwire.com/features/231078
Peace favor your sword,
Kirk