I'm one of those guys who had the first R51. I let them have it back for a refund a couple of years ago. I bought a new R51 on Sept. 23. This morning was my 4th trip to the range. None of the trips were flawless, but none of them were as frustrating as those with the Gen 1 R51. I still get the dimpled primer, but it doesn't trouble me. Most of the failures I've experienced were a failure to feed on the last or next to last round of a magazine.

After 264 rounds, I deem her "broken in." For the last 8 consecutive magazines, there has been no failure1!

My R51 is pretty accurate. Muzzle flip is minimal. Every round so far has been 115gr FMJ. Next up will be JHP ammo.

So far, I've had no luck with the Gen 1 magazines.

Awesome...glad to hear all is well !!

I also had one of the first R 51's from 2014. Many problems and it went back to Remington. After a couple of months, I requested and received a refund. Fast forward to this year on Sept 23rd. I purchased a second gen. R51. The gun has operated perfectly for over 500 rounds. It did however have an accuracy problem in that it would not "group" no matter what ammo was used. It was more like a shotgun pattern. It went back to Remington and in about 3 weeks it came back to me with a new slide. It does "group" now but it is 4 to 6 in low at just 15 yards, again no matter what ammo is used. Remington's repair facility indicated that the front sight is a standard novak cut and I could replace it with a different height front sight. At this point I am not sure if I will replace the front sight, or sell/trade in the gun. I had wanted this to replace my Colt Defender 9mm for EDC. Do not think this will happen.

Electraclyde, if it was me, I would try a couple of things before I gave up. Let someone else you know shoot it. Shoot from a rest. And maybe try different weight bullets. You also might consider shooting at 25 yards just to see....
If it still shoots that low, at least it is consistent. So a new front sight might be a pretty easy fix. No other pistol will feel like the R51. You are just one step away from having exactly what you want.

I have shot this gun from a rest at 25, 15, and 10 yards. The results from 25 had a are 8" low. I also have fired 115gr, 124gr, and 147gr bullets.
Best accuracy is with Critical Defense 115gr. Worst is Remington Golden Saber 124g.
I have not had the chance to have a friend, a former police instructor, fire this gun. When this does happen it will likely determine what the future holds for this gun and me.
FWIW, I am 71 years old and have my share of arthritis and I have no problems field stripping, cleaning, and re-assembling this gun.

You've done just about everything I can think of. I sure hope it works out for you. Keep us posted, please sir....

six inches at 15 yards is not that bad for a concealable self-defense gun. If you ever have to use it in self-defense much beyond 5 yards, I imagine you'll have some 'splaining to do.

boomerbaby wrote:six inches at 15 yards is not that bad for a concealable self-defense gun. If you ever have to use it in self-defense much beyond 5 yards, I imagine you'll have some 'splaining to do.

Six inches at 15 yards is unacceptable. I can do much better with a Ruger LCP, and a lot better with a S&W J-frame revolver.
Today 3 of us shot this gun offhand at 10 yards. (one person is a former police instructor) We were all consistently an average of 3" low. We then shot a Springfield XDs 9mm and a Colt Defender 9mm. All three shooters had the same results. The R51 shoots low and the others do not.
I agree that a defensive shooting will most likely be at 5 yards or less and under those circumstances I would not be using the sights at all. I would be "point" shooting. I still require any gun I carry to have a better POA/POI than this gun.
I will be contacting Dawson Precision tomorrow to see what they may have available in a lower front sight.

Went back to the range and ran 127 rounds of Federal American Eagle 115gr FMJ. I had 12 failures to feed. Not good!! Only 6 full magazines ran perfectly. The last round will not chamber and locks the action open with the bullet pointing straight up. I have submitted a request for repair to Remington. I'll let them spend their time figuring this out. And I'll keep y'all posted...

That IS unacceptable...Remington needs to step up.

Good news, since my last post I ordered and have received a front sight form Dawson Precision. I ordered a sight .130" tall. I installed it last night. Today at the range I fired offhand from 10 yards. POI is about perfect with MOST ammo using a 6 o-clock hold. I fired 100 rounds today and actually enjoyed shooting this gun for the first time.
Removing the orginal front sight was difficult. A steel punch and a large hammer were necessary. Fitting and installing the new sight was very easy.
Shiner John, the live round stovepiping you describe is probably the ammo. I did have that problem early on with Golden Saber ammo and with Sig Sauer ammo. My gun does not like those. The tech I spoke with when my gun was in for repair said that these guns would not function well with MOST 115gr. ammo. He suggested 124 or 147 and plus P for best results.

Electraclyde, great news about your front sight! When the R51 is working, it is a joy to shoot!
Of the 450 rounds, 350 was Federal American Eagle (pre-Obama 2008), 50 rounds Blazer Brass, and 50 Sellier & Bellot. I had the live ammo stovepipe with all three brands. I think Remington has a real problem when their handgun doesn't like their own ammo (Golden Saber). We'll see what they tell me. They should have mentioned the ammo restrictions in the manual and in their advertising IMHO.
Thanks for the update!

SHOOTER13 wrote:That IS unacceptable...Remington needs to step up.

True statement.

Remington's authorized service center (Mark's Outdoors in Birmingham, AL) received my R51 on Oct. 26. In the mail today, I received a post card from them asking for my phone number. When I called them, they said my pistol was on its way back to me and should be delivered tomorrow. They said it was the magazines. One mag was "corrected." The other mag was replaced. That's pretty quick! I'll let you know....

ShinerJohn - Were the magazines 1st or 2nd generation? Wonder what the correction is?

They were both 2nd generation mags. I kept my old ones here. I'm thinking "spring." One of my new mags was marked by me. I swapped springs with one of my old mags. It will be interesting to see if I get the marked mag back.

Got my pistol back this evening. The note said they replaced one magazine and did extensive test firing with no problems. I got the marked magazine back. I didn't test that mag with the gen 1 spring before I sent it in. It was just a hunch I had that the new style magazine might work with the old style mag spring.
First chance I get, I'll head to the range....

I finally made it to the range yesterday. The first 3 magazines worked perfectly, 7+1, with the marked magazine they returned to me. The ammo was Remington FMJ 115gr and 124gr and American Eagle 115gr FMJ. Then I tried Fiocchi 124gr JHP and had a live ammo stovepipe on the next to last round. Had the exact same problem with Magtech Guardian gold 124gr JHP. I switched back to the Remington 115gr FMJ and had still another stovepipe. Switched to Rem 124gr FMJ and had a stovepipe on the last round. I switched to the new magazine they sent me using Rem 115gr FMJ and had another stovepipe on the last round. Pretty damn frustrating!
I've cleaned the R51 and magazines and I'm betting if I went to the range now, I would run 4 or 5 mags without a failure. After 3 mags yesterday, I was amazed at how dirty the pistol was! I have noticed that it seems to run a bit smoother with 7 rounds in the mag rather than 7+1 with one in the chamber.

I know of nothing else to do but report it to Remington again....

So, I am one of those original R51 owners who couldn't out-wait the factory, took the moneyback and recently got one of the "Gen 2" R51's. Like Electraclyde, mine shot low, so I followed his lead and got a new sight (mine is a night sight) from Dawson and put it on. Took it to the range today, and the elevation issue is resolved to my satisfaction at 10 yards, where I generally practice. FWIW, my experience is similar to several other reports, but there are a few wrinkles.
I find the pistol even harder to reassemble than the original -- not impossible but difficult, especially ensuring that the little spring is sitting over the tab on the slide release. I broke the gun down and cleaned and lubed it well before I took it to the range for the first time. I have cleaned it three times to-date (and it is dirty again from today's range time). I do use some gun oil in addition to the recommended REMOIL. The gun has run well -- I broke it in using mostly 124 gr. NATO ammo, plus 124 and 147 JHP, and tried some 115 gr today. So far only two FTF (one nose dive and one stovepipe). I have both old and new mags, with one FTF in each. My trigger is pretty stiff -- it started out around 7.5 lbs. pull, and after approx 240 rounds it does seems like it is coming down a bit. Interestingly, my gun seems to prefer the 115 gr. ammo -- it was grouping tighter today with the lighter (non +P) ammo.
Anyway, it has been helpful to read other users' experiences on the forum, so THANKS EVERYONE! I will keep checking in, and post future progress reports.

CharlieW, I'm glad to hear that yours is working well. I'm waiting for my Tyvek envelope to return my R51.

ShinerJohn wrote:CharlieW, I'm glad to hear that yours is working well. I'm waiting for my Tyvek envelope to return my R51.

I hope they get it fixed for you this time!!

Well, I went back to the range and put another 30 rounds of cheap steel-cased 115 grain ammo thru the R51. Had one round that failed to feed when the mag came loose -- probably operator error for not smacking it in. I noted that the base plates on the new mags are thicker than the originals, so maybe the issue was that I didn't get the mag seated. Anyway, it ate the crappy ammo just fine, but the same ammo would not run through my 9mm 1911 (Armscor/Rock Island) at all. That gun is normally not ammo sensitive, but it would not extract the steel ammo. The "USA Forged" ammo seemed a little hot, and the cases were sticking in the 1911 chamber. The R51 ran well, even though I purposely had not cleaned it since the last range visit.

One of my buddies at the range is a former R51 owner, and he thought that the new gun was a lot smoother to rack than the old one, but he felt that although the trigger pull was shorter it felt like it pushed against the grip safety at the end of the stroke. I'm not sure. I keep checking back in to the forum to see what is going on with other folks' R51s. Keep those posts coming

I received my R51 via UPS around noon today. This was the second trip back for repairs. On the last or next to last round in a magazine, it would stovepipe the live round rather than chamber it.
Their note said they "swapped magazines and test fired using recommended 124 grain ammo. Gun functioned fine."

I took it to the range with the new mags and my two Gen 1 mags. I didn't clean the pistol prior to firing it. Using one new mag and one old Gen 1 mag, I ran 85 rounds of 124gr ammo and 50 rounds of 115gr ammo with NO failures. I'm very pleased with that!

With the other two mags, I simply could not load more than 4 or 5 rounds. Ugh! Everything is clean now and I'll try all 4 mags again soon - hopefully before this weekend's Arctic cold front blows in.

Let us know how you fare John...

I went back to the range this afternoon using only the two mags that failed yesterday. I fired 66 rounds of Remington 124gr FMJ with nary of problem. At about 12 feet, it fired to point of aim.

I fired 50 rounds of Federal American Eagle 115gr FMJ and had some minor problems. I could not always load 7 in the mags. I could not successfully run 7+1 with the AE. When I tried to fire beginning with one in the chamber, the next round out of the magazine would sometimes nosedive.

I now have just under 700 rounds pushed down range. Every problem I've had seems to be magazine related. I think I'll see if Remington will send me another magazine...