I have about 200 rounds through my new R-51, several times the 2nd round in the magazine did not feed. It was "nose dived" in magazine. I notice others report the same problem. Is this another major problem? Thanks from a new member.

I had those nose dives in only my 2 old magazines. But it would be the 1st round on down. Never had it with the new mags.

My magazine are the new type.

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I've had the same issue. Had mine for a couple of months and 500 or so rounds now. I figures it was mostly a break in issue, so I've broken it in and also cleaned it scrupulously after every shooting session. On the most recent 100 rounds, all FMJ 115gr WWB, it worked perfectly until the last five rounds. Then I got a nosedive. My initial conclusion is that the bolt/hesitation block has to be cleaned, along with the rest of the pistol, to keep it running. I'm wondering if a stronger recoil spring might make a difference as well. The only other fix I think I'll try is to buff the inside of the front of the magazine to help keep it nice and slippy so rounds won't want to catch there. I'm interested in any other thoughts or fixes people find as I really like the pistol for accuracy, ease of use, manual of arms. The only drawback has been this nosediving issue and the complexity of takedown for cleaning.

Some on the web have said hotter loads work better. Have not tried yet.

Yeah, saw that too Paul. I've tried the Winchester 124gr NATO ammo, which is supposed to be a little hotter, and found that this gun generally likes that better than the 115gr, but I'm looking for the way that lets me shoot the cheap 115 gr stuff for practice. I'm carrying this pistol from time to time with 124gr FMJ. I suspect it would be more problematic with hollow points, but just haven't tried those yet.

Paul7177 wrote:I have about 200 rounds through my new R-51, several times the 2nd round in the magazine did not feed. It was "nose dived" in magazine. I notice others report the same problem. Is this another major problem? Thanks from a new member.

I found that if I open the slide, insert the magazine and pull the slide back and release it, I have
no feed problems. Gun goes bang every time. If I insert the magazine with a closed slide,
either the slide will not open, or if it does, when I release it, the rim of the cartridge drops under
the breech block. So now, when I am at the range, I eject the empty magazine, Leaving the slide open
insert a full one, pull the slide back and let it snap forward. I can shoot all day, any ammo. FMJ, JHP, ARX Poly Case or steel case (Winchester USA Forged) I love it.

This is an update and my observations from yesterday. Took my R-51 to the range and ran ~300 rounds through it. Now have about 500 total through it.

I have 8 magazines - I started with 124 grain ball ammo and had nosedive only in 1 magazine, all 7 others fed well. I separated that magazine from the rest and tried it again with 124 grain and 115 grain ball, result nosedives in that 1 magazine.
Tried 147 grain ball in 7 remaining magazines and all fed well, then went to 115 grain ball in the same magazines, all fed well.
Then switched to 115 and 147 grain hollow points. 147 grain functioned flawlessly, the 115 grain had failures to feed. The 115 grain had a wider cavity and hung up on the front of lip the magazine that is bent inward, the 147 grain had a narrower cavity.
Conclusions - nosediving is due to a faulty magazine. Have to be careful of which hollow points to choose.
Another comment, R-51 primer strikes appear to be light, may not be reliable with harder primers. I wonder if a stronger firing pin spring is warranted?
Tried 7 + 1, seems R-51 does not always like that, had 3-4 times the top round in the magazine would not feed.
Have much more confidence in my R-51 than I had previously, but need to know all the pitfalls to avoid.
Problem magazine is being sent to Remington.

Hope this helps and thanks for any comments and helpful suggestions.

Interesting results from recent shooting Paul. I took mine out yesterday after a slight tweak.

I took the mags apart (I just have two) and smoothed that metal indentation that the bullet tip tends to snag on. I used a small fine file and finished it shiny with a piece of 1200 grit sandpaper. The edge was sharp to the touch before the tweak and quite smooth after. I took care not to remove any metal from that indentation--that's what holds the follower in the proper position in the mag when it's empty.

Didn't get to shoot it a lot, but so far, no more nosedives. It makes sense to me that this would at least partially solve the problem. Haven't tried a stronger mag spring yet because I haven't found one, but if the problem reoccurs, I probably will.

Sent problem magazine back to Remington, received email today saying that they are sending me a couple of replacement magazines.
Nothing said about what was wrong with the magazine.

BlackJack wrote:Yeah, saw that too Paul. I've tried the Winchester 124gr NATO ammo, which is supposed to be a little hotter, and found that this gun generally likes that better than the 115gr, but I'm looking for the way that lets me shoot the cheap 115 gr stuff for practice. I'm carrying this pistol from time to time with 124gr FMJ. I suspect it would be more problematic with hollow points, but just haven't tried those yet.

Black jack,
I use all brands of ammo, ARX, Winchester USA forger, Winchester white, and others.
I think I figured out how to beat the magazine problem. After the pistol locks open,
remove the empty mag, insert the new loaded mag, grab the rear of the slide, pull back
and let go. Don't ride the slide down. I do this and in the last three sessions, I have not had
one single malfunction. I am carrying the weapon now.

Read somewhere that a user changed out the magazine spring, but cannot locate it now.

This board has been much too quiet! Does that mean that there are NO comments or problems?

I also have noticed that this forum as well as others has been real quiet regarding the R51.
FWIW on most of my bottom feeders I will did-assemble the mags and clean up any rough edges on the follower and then I will lube the follower, spring and the interior of the mag body with DRI Graphite, (powder). My R51 mags did have some rough edges on the mag followers.

My R51 is still trucking using the method I posted on the other day. When the slide is locked open,
insert the mag, pull back on the slide, and let it slam forward. I can shoot all day that way.
If I want to carry, I top off the mag with 1 more, and I am good to go.
FWIW, I have not yet found an ammo brand (U.S. Made) that this little gun will not eat with gusto.
That includes, Ruger ARX, Winchester USA Forged, any hollow points and FMJ. Ruger ARX
is my ammo in all my carry guns.

I will concur that hotter ammo cycles better. I loaded up a few different titegroup loads behind 115gr fmj from just below min to max load. the low power loads you could almost feel the individual movements of parts in the gun and it seemed to barely cycle. mid and top loads the gun cycled in one smooth motion with no problems. Keep in mind the gun is rated and designed for +P.

Keep in mind that the auto-loading portion of the gun is powered by the recoil energy, the spring is only a container for the energy. Light loads won't have as much energy thus won't push the slide back as far to compress the spring, imparting energy to it: going to a stiffer spring won't gather any more energy from the round and will cause the slide to travel less given the same recoil energy. You need to be fully cycling the action to start with to benefit from a stiffer spring.

Paul7177 wrote:This is an update and my observations from yesterday. Took my R-51 to the range and ran ~300 rounds through it. Now have about 500 total through it.

I have 8 magazines - I started with 124 grain ball ammo and had nosedive only in 1 magazine, all 7 others fed well. I separated that magazine from the rest and tried it again with 124 grain and 115 grain ball, result nosedives in that 1 magazine.
Tried 147 grain ball in 7 remaining magazines and all fed well, then went to 115 grain ball in the same magazines, all fed well.
Then switched to 115 and 147 grain hollow points. 147 grain functioned flawlessly, the 115 grain had failures to feed. The 115 grain had a wider cavity and hung up on the front of lip the magazine that is bent inward, the 147 grain had a narrower cavity.
Conclusions - nosediving is due to a faulty magazine. Have to be careful of which hollow points to choose.
Another comment, R-51 primer strikes appear to be light, may not be reliable with harder primers. I wonder if a stronger firing pin spring is warranted?
Tried 7 + 1, seems R-51 does not always like that, had 3-4 times the top round in the magazine would not feed.
Have much more confidence in my R-51 than I had previously, but need to know all the pitfalls to avoid.
Problem magazine is being sent to Remington.

Hope this helps and thanks for any comments and helpful suggestions.

Paul, open your slide, insert a full (7) magazine, pull the slide rearward, and release, let it slam
forward. I started doing this and have not had any more problems.
Actually, I believe the magazine is a 6 round mag, 7 rounds are pushing it.
If you are getting light strike on the primer, I think either a lighter firing pin spring, or a heavier
hammer spring would do the trick. Is this ammo reloaded?
Blackie

Just for everybody's info, I found this video on the web.
Notice that the shooter "slingshots" every reload. He does not attempt to rack the slide
on a full magazine.
Could we even imagine having that many loaded mags to shoot?

1911 SHOOTER wrote:Just for everybody's info, I found this video on the web.
Notice that the shooter "slingshots" every reload. He does not attempt to rack the slide
on a full magazine.
Could we even imagine having that many loaded mags to shoot?

Dang, I forgot the URL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxyYcPOswW0

Unread postPosted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 11:13 am

Paul7177 wrote:
This is an update and my observations from yesterday. Took my R-51 to the range and ran ~300 rounds through it. Now have about 500 total through it.

I have 8 magazines - I started with 124 grain ball ammo and had nosedive only in 1 magazine, all 7 others fed well. I separated that magazine from the rest and tried it again with 124 grain and 115 grain ball, result nosedives in that 1 magazine.
Tried 147 grain ball in 7 remaining magazines and all fed well, then went to 115 grain ball in the same magazines, all fed well.
Then switched to 115 and 147 grain hollow points. 147 grain functioned flawlessly, the 115 grain had failures to feed. The 115 grain had a wider cavity and hung up on the front of lip the magazine that is bent inward, the 147 grain had a narrower cavity.
Conclusions - nosediving is due to a faulty magazine. Have to be careful of which hollow points to choose.
Another comment, R-51 primer strikes appear to be light, may not be reliable with harder primers. I wonder if a stronger firing pin spring is warranted?
Tried 7 + 1, seems R-51 does not always like that, had 3-4 times the top round in the magazine would not feed.
Have much more confidence in my R-51 than I had previously, but need to know all the pitfalls to avoid.
Problem magazine is being sent to Remington.

Hope this helps and thanks for any comments and helpful suggestions.



Paul, open your slide, insert a full (7) magazine, pull the slide rearward, and release, let it slam
forward. I started doing this and have not had any more problems.
Actually, I believe the magazine is a 6 round mag, 7 rounds are pushing it.
If you are getting light strike on the primer, I think either a lighter firing pin spring, or a heavier
hammer spring would do the trick. Is this ammo reloaded?
Blackie

No, ammo is not reloaded, have stayed with factory ammo for now.

This gun is a waste of your time and money. It's supposed to be a carry gun. for crying out loud, and it ain't any more reliable than my ex-wife! I would not EVER bet my life on this disaster of a pistol!

My observation that is causing the nose dive appears to be two issues. Load up magazine to capacity insert magazine with slide closed. What I found was the top round moves forward about eighth of an inch or more. What I found was the hestiation block has a slight ramp behind the top round and moves the round forward. The second round under the top round is cocked inside the magazine, when this occurs. If you slide the top round out, the second round hits the front of the magazine and stops the feeding. The ramp in the block needs to either be set back so it doesnt hit the top round, and the magazine needs just a bit of a cut in front. The culprit is the hesitation blocks under slope or ramp is too far forward.

That is my observation too! I believe you have hit the nail on the head.

I think Remington needs to take a hard look at this before this gun goes bust again. It seems like an easy fix and it seems that this is really the only issue with the R51. I shot my gun with all kinds of ammo including Winchester forged steel cased and my only issue was with Hp's and this nose dive issue. It's not just the magazine, it's that ramp which has to be milled back. I really think it will solve the problem. The top round in a full magazine should not be moving forward when you seat it fully into the pistol. This also causes the magazine to go into position a lot harder. Remington if your out there and read this, check this issue "PLEASE" before too many pistols are built. You could always send new hesitation blocks out to customers, easy fix.

Well took my r51 to the range and it did not go well. Way too many problems with this design. The malfunctions were so numerous it was not a pleasent trip. I called Remington, going to send the gun in. I took pic's with my I-phone on malfunctions and wrote up a long letter on the problems. Copies of pic's are going to them. At this point I really don't see how this model will survive.