Quote from: R51Fan2017 on August 16, 2018, 10:34:01 AM
Howard,

I re-watched your video, and it just now clicked with me that I have never tried 7+1 before. I have always loaded a full mag, cycled the first round, and got down to work. Maybe that explains why I have never had a malfunction! If I try 7+1 this weekend, I think I may have problems. I will have to give it a try.

Please let me know how it goes.

HRF

Thanks John. Hopefully the fix for my pistol will be as simple as replacing the magazines. I'm a little skeptical, however, as Remington already sent me two replacements and that did not solve the problems. I have no idea how new or old the mags were that they sent to me, so maybe I'll get lucky and some newer/redesigned versions will do the trick.

Howard

Quote from: shinerjohn on July 29, 2018, 11:43:40 PM
Last Friday I took a quick trip to the range. I wanted to share my results with the group.

My Charlotte R51 had the runaway mag release pin issue described in other threads. Remington returned my repaired pistol Thursday. After firing 107 rounds, the replaced pin stayed at home.  So far so good!

Firing at 7 yards with a 6 o'clock hold, my R51 hit where I aimed!  Mine did not shoot low like some others have.

I recently ordered a new magazine from Remington. With this mag I was able to load 7+1. Every single time without fail! This is the only mag I've had that would work as advertised.  It worked with 125gr hand-loads and 115gr and 124gr manufactured FMJ.

Everything I tried worked without fail!  I sure was surprised!!   

Hi John! I just shipped mine back to Remington yesterday. When you were shooting your, did you load it with a round in the chamber and a full 7 round magazine? That is the time mine is having problems. It fails to feed that first round out of a full magazine almost every time. If I run it with 6 in the mag, then it seems to run pretty well.

Thanks,
Howard

Quote from: R51Fan2017 on July 23, 2018, 08:47:06 AM

Quote from: Hrfunk on July 23, 2018, 08:07:34 AM
I'll keep that offer in mind! Actually I am getting the same malfunction with all of my magazines. If I run the pistol with 1-round in the chamber and 7-rounds in the magazine (i.e. 7+1) it malfunctions almost every time on the first shot. If I download it by 1 round (6+1) the malfunctions go away. As a carry pistol, I want to be able to use it with 7+1 rounds, I don't want to download it. I realize you are correct when you said the "pistol" is working. Still, the pistol and its magazines are a system, and they need to work together. If I send my R51 back to Remington, and all they do is sort through a pile of magazines to find two that work with my pistol, that is fine with me. I would prefer that to having them send me pair after pair that still don't work.

Howard

The magazines are the heart and soul of an automatic pistol. Also, I one hundred percent agree with you on capacity. What's the point of having a 7 round mag when you can only have 6 in it? I hope Big Green will get you fixed up this time. I can't believe there is such a difference in quality in comparison to the R1 and RM380 lines. You would figure since the 51 is a "heritage" pistol for them, they would have taken more pride and time in their work to make sure every aspect (especially the magazines for it) would be 100%. Best of luck to you!

Sean

Thank you! As an FYI, I just got off the phone with Remington. They are springing for the shipping and even sending me the packaging to ship the R51 back to them in. The one thing I will say for them is that all three of the Customer Service Representative's I've spoken with have been friendly and helpful. At least that's one positive.

HRF

Quote from: R51Fan2017 on July 22, 2018, 10:52:59 PM
Howard,

You are one devoted man to be shooting in the rain. I would have packed up and gone inside! Also, right when you clipped the spring, and said if it would work or not, I blurted out "Yes!" and right on cue you said "NO!". Darn it! I would be so tempted to send  you mine with my mags for you to do a video with. I have 420 rounds in mine and not one flub up. She eats everything just fine....yes, even hollow points. All I can say is that at least you have one mag that works! Sorry to see it still hiccuping like that. Not trying to be nit picky about your grammar or anything, but when you said "send it back to Remington to fix the PISTOL (emphasis added)", my first thought is......the pistol obviously works. That one mag you have proves that. Unfortunately, you just keep getting stuck with FUBAR mags. My personal opinion is that it is a waste of time sending it back to Remington. I don't think they are capable of even fixing their own pistol. Sad isn't it? I have to laugh to keep from crying.    I'll take that smoke frame off your hands for $50! 

I'll keep that offer in mind! Actually I am getting the same malfunction with all of my magazines. If I run the pistol with 1-round in the chamber and 7-rounds in the magazine (i.e. 7+1) it malfunctions almost every time on the first shot. If I download it by 1 round (6+1) the malfunctions go away. As a carry pistol, I want to be able to use it with 7+1 rounds, I don't want to download it. I realize you are correct when you said the "pistol" is working. Still, the pistol and its magazines are a system, and they need to work together. If I send my R51 back to Remington, and all they do is sort through a pile of magazines to find two that work with my pistol, that is fine with me. I would prefer that to having them send me pair after pair that still don't work.

Howard

Well, they say the thrid time is a charm! I headed out to the range today for the thrid time with the R51, and I did a little more "on the range" gunsmithing. To see how it went, follow the link below!

Howard

https://youtu.be/L3UlG1lskoo

Quote from: mr220v on July 18, 2018, 09:03:42 PM
That front lip was causing me issues.  I bent it forward a bit, and suddenly wolf was reliable.....although it might have been keyholing.  It was still decently accurate.

Hope you find a way to like the gun.  If nothing else, it will make good material for many more videos.

There is going to be another chapter with the R51 coming soon. It may yet redeem itself!

HRF

Here's a video link to my second range test of the R51. At this point, I've taken on this little pistol as a bit of a project to see if I can make if run reliably. If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know!

HRF

https://youtu.be/r4HUNEfr-j0

I just got off the phone with Remington CS. Two new magazines are inbound. The representative I spoke with also suggested cutting one to two coils off the mag spring to alleviate the problems I'm experiencing. Since I've got two new mags coming, I might just give that a try on the ones I already have. He also confirmed that the R51 magazines are vender supplied. He didn't identify the vender, but I think they might want to look for a new one.

Howard

I agree. The problems are occurring with both magazines, so hopefully a couple of new ones will cure the issues. We shall see.

Howard

Quote from: R51Fan2017 on June 29, 2018, 11:21:16 AM

Quote from: Hrfunk on June 29, 2018, 10:05:39 AM
Thank you! Just as an FYI, I haven't given up on the R51, and your comment about the magazines are precisely what I thought was causing the feeding problems I experienced. You are also correct, there were only 2 failures to feed out of about 130 rounds of ammunition I fired the day I made the video. But, I only had 15 rounds of the Speer Gold Dot ammo, so the fact that both failures occurred with that ammo is a bit of a concern.

I did call Remington Customer Service, and the representative told me that the springs in their magazines are essentially "over-powered", and that they will relax with time and use. That was also consistent with my surmise, because both of the malfunctions seemed to be a result of the cartridge escaping from the magazine (or actually from the control of the feed lips) prematurely. He recommended I work with the pistol a little more to see if the mag springs relax a bit and the FTF's stop. Since that conversation, I have left my magazines fully loaded and alternated keeping them inserted in the pistol's mag well (just to put a bit more pressure on the top round as it bears against the bottom of the slide). I have not fired it since I made the video, I was waiting until this weekend to see if there is any change to the performance.

Do you suggest any other magazine modifications at this point?

thanks again,
Howard

Howard,

I made these mods before I even fired the gun. Have had zero issues with them. I simply bent the lip out straight on the front of the magazine. That solved all nosedive issues. Then to make it possible to rack the slide on a full mag, I took about 1/16" (exactly how much I can't remember) off the follower legs. Just those two mods on my mags have pretty much solved any potential problems. However, I am beginning to think that these mods are only needed on a case by case basis. That being said, it appears like you are not having nose dives, rather you are having the opposite problem of having the round eject nose first out of the mag. That I am strongly suspecting is caused by the excessive spring tension. And of course the only way to solve that is to shoot it more and limber it up. You may want to try Hyrda-Shok rounds in yours though (mine eats them all day long  ). Little bit better quality ammo. If it is still doing it on those, then we just know yours just doesn't like hollow points. Keep shooting, and maybe it will just go away with time. You wouldn't be the first one on here that has had to do that.

Best as always,
Sean

Thank you Sean!

I took the R51 out again this past weekend, and actually had more problems with it than I did on the first outing. I am now getting routine malfunctions with ball ammo as well as with the JHP's. I tried the mod to the magazine follower legs, and that did not seem to help. One thing that is consistent is the fact that the failures all seem to occur on the first shot from a full magazine. Most of the time, the failure comes from the magazine loosing control of the cartridge as it is trying to feed. Sometimes, I get that odd malfunction where the top cartridge is completely jettisoned from the magazine and caught between the top rear surface of the ejection port and the rear of the barrel hood. A couple of times, the top cartridge actually ejected with the spent case and the next cartridge in the column fed properly into the chamber! I also had another of the "bullet straight up" misfeeds. Oddly, the pistol itself seems to be running fine. The only actual pistol related malfunction was a single failure to eject, BUT that occurred on the first round fired (as in the cartridge in the chamber with a full 7-round magazine underneath it). That being the case, I suspect the pressure of the top round in the magazine bearing against the bottom of the hesitation block may have retarded the movement of the slide. So that malfunction too might have been magazine related. I also had my first "nose down" stoppage when a round of FMJ ammo nose-dived into the front of the magazine.

One good thing that came from my shooting this weekend was the change in point of impact on the target. By shifting may aim to coincide with the dot on the front sight vice the top of the front sight, the bullets struck more or less point of aim.

At this point, I don't think I'm going to do too much more work on the R51. Instead, I'm going to see if Remington will make good on their lifetime warranty.

Howard

Thanks guys!

Thank you! Just as an FYI, I haven't given up on the R51, and your comment about the magazines are precisely what I thought was causing the feeding problems I experienced. You are also correct, there were only 2 failures to feed out of about 130 rounds of ammunition I fired the day I made the video. But, I only had 15 rounds of the Speer Gold Dot ammo, so the fact that both failures occurred with that ammo is a bit of a concern.

I did call Remington Customer Service, and the representative told me that the springs in their magazines are essentially "over-powered", and that they will relax with time and use. That was also consistent with my surmise, because both of the malfunctions seemed to be a result of the cartridge escaping from the magazine (or actually from the control of the feed lips) prematurely. He recommended I work with the pistol a little more to see if the mag springs relax a bit and the FTF's stop. Since that conversation, I have left my magazines fully loaded and alternated keeping them inserted in the pistol's mag well (just to put a bit more pressure on the top round as it bears against the bottom of the slide). I have not fired it since I made the video, I was waiting until this weekend to see if there is any change to the performance.

Do you suggest any other magazine modifications at this point?

thanks again,
Howard

Hi all! Last weekend I purchased a brand new R51 at a local gun show (for more on that story, check out my post in the new members introduction section). I've had a youtube channel for several years that is devoted to firearms and shooting related topics, so I was looking forward to recording how the R51 performed. If you're interested in seeing the performance yourself, just click on the link. Also, be sure to share your thoughts as well (on both the video and the pistol). I always welcome feedback.

HRF

https://youtu.be/daY7W0Zl_Jc

Hi folks! I just joined the forum and I'm a new R51 owner. I've been intrigued by the R51 a since it was first unveiled by Remington back in 2014, but due to the reported problems with it, I held off on purchasing one. Last weekend I happened across one of the Smoke/Gray versions at a local gun show, and the price was $289. That was enough to prompt me to take the plunge and see how the R51 performs in it's current iteration. I'm going to post a link to my youtube video under the R51 general discussion sub-forum. If you would like to see how the new pistol did, please check out my video.

HRF