Wow, an all metal subcompact with a 1911 trigger, for just over $400? This was too tempting.
I’m in even after reading some poor evaluations and watching some poor videos. My normal instinct is to totally disregard any dude that picks up a gun, cycles the slide a couple of times and says the gun has quality issues.
While in GM last week I inquired about the R51. The clerk said they just got two in. After fondling the one from the display case I asked how many magazines it came with. The clerk smelled a sale, went to the back room and, brought out the other one in its box.
Well, it is all metal, small but not a subcompact (my opinion), and the 1911 trigger/firing system misses the most important feature of a 1911 trigger (again my opinion). It followed me home.
After reading through the manual I set to taking it apart. The manual recommended cleaning the barrel prior to firing. After cycling the slide a few times, I realized this was not going to be easy.
During cycling the slide hung up several times, on the return to battery, as in the photo.
It seemed to be at the point the breech block transitions. I was unable to reproduce this after a trip to the range. As the slide is moved to the rear, there is increased resistance, and not as you would expect from normal spring compression. I’m not sure why it increases, but I am guessing it is the breech block cocking the hammer along with breech block movement in the slide.
This thing is thin at only one inch wide. The only part that breaks the 1 inch wide profile is the slide stop. While is very thin the gun isn’t uncomfortable to grip, due to the way you have to grip the gun to disengage the safety, plus the trigger reach.
Back to the tear down. As with most of the handguns I own, you line up a notch and push the slide stop out. The main spring is pretty stiff making it difficult, for me, to hold the breech open with one hand while removing the slide stop with the other. Not too difficult after figuring out how to hold the slide retracted with one hand so you can push the slide stop out with the other hand. I couldn’t hold the slide as shown in the manual so I fiddled with a small clamp and was able to accomplish the task but was unhappy with it. I finally found that by pulling the slide back I could stick my index finger in the ejection port and pull on the breech block to hold the slide in place to remove the slide stop.
To remove the slide you pull the barrel forward, out of the slide about a half inch, this unlocks the breech block, and then pull the slide forward off of the frame. The barrel has circumferential grooves to assist in this task. I found I could not grip the barrel with enough certainty to remove the slide in this fashion. I resorted to using the clamp to assist.
With the slide still held forward the breech block drops free. With the breech block out of the way you pull the spring bushing forward to line up with the clearance notch in the slide.
Lifting the barrel you can pull it free while the bushing is trapped in the notch.
With the barrel removed the bushing and spring come out easily.
I cleaned the barrel as suggested in the manual, and wiped the slide down, leaving as much of the white grease as possible intact. Reassembly is just a reverse of the disassembly process.
This gun has one safety. The safety is the back strap type similar to a 1911 safety. Travel is about 1/8 inch and results in an audible click as the detent is made.
I could not make it fire without fully depressing the safety. Pulling the trigger without depressing the safety will not allow the trigger to fire. Holding pressure on the trigger then depressing the safety slowly allows the trigger to move to a hard stop, and then continues to travel and fire the gun as the detent is made.
At the range I wanted to see if the gun had preferences with the ammo I had on hand. I fired Winchester white box, Armscor, Federal and, Barnes +P. I started with the Winchester and ten rounds on paper at 25 yards. Then loaded the Armscor only to find the gun decidedly did not like this ammo and failed to feed several times. In fairness, it may have operator error in loading the magazine. I didn’t check. I’ll try it again during the next trip to the range. The Federal ammo operated fine. After about 30 rounds my son, who was spotting for me, said my shots were going left. Another mag and they went way left.
Frustrated I looked over the gun and found the front sight had moved. I didn’t get to the Barnes +P, I was done for the day. It’s going back to GM.
My opinions: Don’t forget what they’re worth.
This is a great gun designed for a specific purpose. Yeah the front sight came lose. So what? I attribute that to engineering/manufacturing a low cost gun. It is an issue that can be easily rectified by most semi proficient shade tree gunsmiths. This is a quality gun and nicely designed for the intended purpose. I am amazed they can produce it to sell at $400 retail.
With that said I do have a couple of issues with the gun. This gun is supposed to be a 7 round gun. I found that loading more than 5 rounds was extremely difficult and even painful when trying to get number 6 and 7 loaded without assistance.
I found the mag release difficult to operate, if not impossible; with the shooting hand to perform any type of speed reload. Maybe more use will fix this for me.
A possible problem area exists in the extractor. It appears to be pinned to the breech block and necessarily very short. This may or may not be an issue. Time will tell.
See other photos in album titled Remington R51 including size comparisons with a Hi Power and Mustang Plus II.
gstanley102's Album: Remington R51
I’m in even after reading some poor evaluations and watching some poor videos. My normal instinct is to totally disregard any dude that picks up a gun, cycles the slide a couple of times and says the gun has quality issues.
While in GM last week I inquired about the R51. The clerk said they just got two in. After fondling the one from the display case I asked how many magazines it came with. The clerk smelled a sale, went to the back room and, brought out the other one in its box.
Well, it is all metal, small but not a subcompact (my opinion), and the 1911 trigger/firing system misses the most important feature of a 1911 trigger (again my opinion). It followed me home.
After reading through the manual I set to taking it apart. The manual recommended cleaning the barrel prior to firing. After cycling the slide a few times, I realized this was not going to be easy.
During cycling the slide hung up several times, on the return to battery, as in the photo.
It seemed to be at the point the breech block transitions. I was unable to reproduce this after a trip to the range. As the slide is moved to the rear, there is increased resistance, and not as you would expect from normal spring compression. I’m not sure why it increases, but I am guessing it is the breech block cocking the hammer along with breech block movement in the slide.
This thing is thin at only one inch wide. The only part that breaks the 1 inch wide profile is the slide stop. While is very thin the gun isn’t uncomfortable to grip, due to the way you have to grip the gun to disengage the safety, plus the trigger reach.
Back to the tear down. As with most of the handguns I own, you line up a notch and push the slide stop out. The main spring is pretty stiff making it difficult, for me, to hold the breech open with one hand while removing the slide stop with the other. Not too difficult after figuring out how to hold the slide retracted with one hand so you can push the slide stop out with the other hand. I couldn’t hold the slide as shown in the manual so I fiddled with a small clamp and was able to accomplish the task but was unhappy with it. I finally found that by pulling the slide back I could stick my index finger in the ejection port and pull on the breech block to hold the slide in place to remove the slide stop.
To remove the slide you pull the barrel forward, out of the slide about a half inch, this unlocks the breech block, and then pull the slide forward off of the frame. The barrel has circumferential grooves to assist in this task. I found I could not grip the barrel with enough certainty to remove the slide in this fashion. I resorted to using the clamp to assist.
With the slide still held forward the breech block drops free. With the breech block out of the way you pull the spring bushing forward to line up with the clearance notch in the slide.
Lifting the barrel you can pull it free while the bushing is trapped in the notch.
With the barrel removed the bushing and spring come out easily.
I cleaned the barrel as suggested in the manual, and wiped the slide down, leaving as much of the white grease as possible intact. Reassembly is just a reverse of the disassembly process.
This gun has one safety. The safety is the back strap type similar to a 1911 safety. Travel is about 1/8 inch and results in an audible click as the detent is made.
I could not make it fire without fully depressing the safety. Pulling the trigger without depressing the safety will not allow the trigger to fire. Holding pressure on the trigger then depressing the safety slowly allows the trigger to move to a hard stop, and then continues to travel and fire the gun as the detent is made.
At the range I wanted to see if the gun had preferences with the ammo I had on hand. I fired Winchester white box, Armscor, Federal and, Barnes +P. I started with the Winchester and ten rounds on paper at 25 yards. Then loaded the Armscor only to find the gun decidedly did not like this ammo and failed to feed several times. In fairness, it may have operator error in loading the magazine. I didn’t check. I’ll try it again during the next trip to the range. The Federal ammo operated fine. After about 30 rounds my son, who was spotting for me, said my shots were going left. Another mag and they went way left.
Frustrated I looked over the gun and found the front sight had moved. I didn’t get to the Barnes +P, I was done for the day. It’s going back to GM.
My opinions: Don’t forget what they’re worth.
This is a great gun designed for a specific purpose. Yeah the front sight came lose. So what? I attribute that to engineering/manufacturing a low cost gun. It is an issue that can be easily rectified by most semi proficient shade tree gunsmiths. This is a quality gun and nicely designed for the intended purpose. I am amazed they can produce it to sell at $400 retail.
With that said I do have a couple of issues with the gun. This gun is supposed to be a 7 round gun. I found that loading more than 5 rounds was extremely difficult and even painful when trying to get number 6 and 7 loaded without assistance.
I found the mag release difficult to operate, if not impossible; with the shooting hand to perform any type of speed reload. Maybe more use will fix this for me.
A possible problem area exists in the extractor. It appears to be pinned to the breech block and necessarily very short. This may or may not be an issue. Time will tell.
See other photos in album titled Remington R51 including size comparisons with a Hi Power and Mustang Plus II.
gstanley102's Album: Remington R51
