When it comes to firearm assessment, the main ingredient should be reality, even if it is found sandwiched between product reviewers with bad intentions and manufacturers’ hyperbole. It is just getting more difficult to identify reality, as expressions of opinion and/or promotion are often mistaken for truth, insight and competency.
Some writers find success and a following by diminishing products and the associated companies. Others find success by basking in a company’s marketing messaging. The first type fails to fully insert a magazine, or uses ammunition specifically excluded by the firearm’s manual, and blames the firearm when it malfunctions. The second group skips specifications and objective assessment and goes directly to metrical structure, promising ownership will thicken thinning hair and garner respect and adulation from friends and loved ones.
A less imaginative perspective on the Remington R51…
This Remington R51 has been in the Real Guns’s shop for several months. It has seen dedicated range time for structured assessment of accuracy and reliability. It has gone to the range as a treatment for writer’s block and/or terminal boredom. It has been taken to the woods and used in self-defense against multiple attacking tree stumps. It has seen rapid and slow fire with every popular type of ammunition. In return, it has provided quite an education.
The Remington R51 manual defines suitable ammo as, “Remington recommends that only ammunition be used in your new pistol that meets the guidelines set forth by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer’s Institute, SAAMI. Remington highly recommends the use of Remington or Barnes branded ammunition products“. I have found no additional passage that suggests the use of cheap, Russian made, chamber gumming, lacquered steel cased Brown Bear ammo with hard to strike Berdan primers.
Brass casings require less pressure than steel to chamber seal. Boxer primers take less force to compress than Berdan primers and less firing pin penetration is required. Firearms designed for Berdan primers will often pierce Boxer primers and firearms designed for Boxer primers will not reliably ignite Berdan primers. If an R51 does not reliably function with Berdan primed ammo, that is because it is being fed incorrect ammo.
| Ammo | Bullet Type |
Bullet weight Grains |
Rated FPS |
Actual FPS |
50 ‘ 5 Shot Group” |
| Hornady Critical Defense | FTX | 115 | 1140 | 1082 | 2.2″ |
| Remington UMC Range | FNEB | 124 | 1100 | 1037 | 1.8″ |
| Remington Ultimate Defense | BJHP | 124 | 1100 | 1007 | 1.7″ |
| Hornady Critical Duty +P | FlexLock | 135 | 1115 | 1024 | 2.1″ |
| Winchester Train & Defense | JHP | 147 | 950 | 915 | 1.9″ |
|
All groups shot from a steady rest. |
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With each outing, the pistol felt more familiar and its function more intuitive. Approximately one hundred rounds of each type noted above were shot through the R51. There were no failures to fire and there were no failures to cycle. There were two occasions when the pistol did not fire, however, the cause was my failure to fully seat a magazine and both occurred early on in the assessment.
Early on, there were several occurrences of excessive trigger pull resistance. All were traced to me gripping the pistol low and not using a firm grip. This caused the grip safety to not fully release. Two or three magazines into live fire and I learned to hold the pistol properly; high and with a firm grip and there were no further instances of excessively heavy trigger pull.
There were three instances of jamming the pistol when attempting to manually cycle from a closed breech and full magazine condition. I caught myself short stroking the slide and dragging its release which stuck the bullet’s nose at the bottom of the feed ramp. This was left hand slide operation, with the slide pinched between my thumb and index finger, palm of hand over the slide. The problem was cause by me being too casual with slide actuation. In fact, I am so talented, I was able to do the same with my right hand. The problem was resolved by slapping myself awake and by reminding myself all pistols do not feel like 1911 types in use.
Wear and tear on the aluminum frame was minimal. Once contact points wore in and surface finish wore off, they remained about the same for the duration.
Initial shooting imprinted a pattern on some of the breech block’s matte nickel boron surfaces, but after a decent number of rounds were fired, there was no sign of penetrating wear through surface coatings or material significantly deforming at stressed contact points. I’ve heard this condition described as galling, however, galling is cold welding where excessive force pulls material from one surface to another. Does not apply here. Seating or wear in are probably more applicable terms.
Remington R51 disassembly and reassembly are not my favorite things, but it gets easier with practice. The gripping rings on the barrel slicked with oily fingers and holding the barrel forward in the slide under spring pressure got old quickly. A short piece of sling trim, rough on one side, made holding the barrel in position easy work.
Last impressions…
The Remington R51 is a slick, easy to conceal, good shooting 9mm semi auto pistol. Used as intended, it is accurate and reliable. By the same token, it does not respond well when used incorrectly, as covered in prior explanation, but then what does? It is a pistol I would not hesitate to carry, but it is not a pistol I would hand to a novice that was not working toward proficiency.
I like the pistol’s heft and I like the aluminum rather than polymer frame and the pistol has a good feel when shooting. I suspect they will be showing up with custom leather and fancy grips as more are in shooters hands and in wider use, building a positive reputation. I think somewhere between satanic reviews and angelic reviews is a place to be fair.
Remington’s Newly Released R51 9mm +P Part 1
Remington’s Newly Released R51 9mm +P Part 2
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