Remington R51: Range Report

Break in

I'm told that Remington Customer Service suggests a 200–400 round break in period (this is not mentioned in the Owner's Manual. YouTube reviewers/detractors didn't bother with that, some even stated their opinion that a gun should work first time out of the box. regardless of what the manufacturer says and went straight to the range without an initial cleaning and lubrication. They are wrong. Unless a manufacturer specifically makes that claim, it should not be expected, amd even if the claim is made, I will always clean and lube a new gun just to make sure there are no metal savings left from manufacturing that can screw things up. 

The manual states at the bottom of page 14 that the gun is designed for use with Remington or Barnes brand ammo and Remington is not resposible for the results of using any other ammo. Since all of the failures to chamber so far have been with other brands, this might be something to keep in mind, but with erratic ammo supplies, many shooters just have to shoot what they can get.

So lets get started.

Range Report

At the range I had a few problems with a magazine as noted below. Otherwise the gun ran fine. It is soft shooting and recoil is very controllable for a gun of this size and weight—almost as good as my HighPower. Accuracy is good. I can hold 2" at 10 yards if I really try. (I may do better after my next cataract surgery.) 115g shoots low, 124g is dead on. The target on the left is the R51 7 yards, 21 rounds firing as fast as I could. The target on the right is 39 rounds rapid fire from my BHP, same distance.

Total round fired: 214

• 50 rounds Rem-UMC 124g FMJ: 2 FTF. These rounds all pass the plunk test
• 50 rounds Fed American Eagle 115g: 3 FTF, 1 FTE. Plunk OK lands engrave slightly.
• 100 rounds MBC 9Cone 125g /4g W231: 4 FTF, COL 1.090 Plunk PASS.
• 14 rounds MBC 9Cone 124g /5.6g PowerPistol: 5 FTF 2 FTE, COL. 1.125 Plunk FAIL, lands heavily engraved. These are low pressure loads.

NOTE: FTF = Fail To Feed, FTE = Fail To Extract/Eject. Plunk test: PASS: a round dropped into the chamber will fall out easily.

All FTFs in the first 200 rounds were with the same magazine. I'll have to take a look at that one. The other mag was fine except on the last 14 rounds where it had two of the FTFs. All of the FTFs took the same form, with the bullet nosediving into the feed ramp. A sharp rap on the butt of the magazine cause all but two to feed. On these two, I had to drop the mag as the nose of the bullet was caught under the front lip of the mag. Both of these were with the Fed AE.

The cases all show the scuff marks from the rough chamber walls that seem to be a signature of this pistol. The primers of the first 200 rounds were normal except for a "pimple with a dimple" where the metal fire formed around the firing pin and firing pin hole.

On the 14 +P loads, the dimple was gone and the pimple somewhat flattened. There were no bulged primers or bulged cases.

On cleaning, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I found no metal shavings and only one new wear mark on the frame.

Grip screws and sights stayed tight and in place, as did all of the pins. Some dry silicone lube seems to have cured the sticky mag but a Teflon follower would be more permanent.

All in all, Except for the way the chamber is cut, I'm happy. After another 200 rounds or so, I expect it ro run even smoother.