Went to the range this morning and shot 100 Winchester White Box 115, 50 Remington 115 FMJ, 7 Hornady Critical Defense, and 14 Remington Golden Sabers (147s).

I had two failures to feed (Winchester White Box and REmington FMJ, one each) BUT only on the initial rack of the slide using the lever. Both were easily cleared by racking the slide. Both of the failures were with the new mags. I used all four mags I had in rotation and did not see any difference.

On my original R51, the mags dropped out at random times while firing. Not today though. I guess I should try the new mags in my original pistol just to see. Maybe later, I'll bet they drop.

Because I'll carry the pistol in a 7+1 configuration, I doubt I'll have this trouble once the first round is chambered. Still, I won't carry it yet, not until I shoot at least 500 rounds on the range.

Speaking of the range, I did not get a slide bite per se but eventually the slide removed a small patch of skin (no blood) just in front of my lowest thumb knuckle. I have the same problem, btw, when shooting my PPK/S, so it just may be my particular hand structure. I would not call the R51 a range gun; but that's not what it's designed for either.

Other than that I had no problem running the pistol in slow fire or rapid fire. Two or three hulls hit my chest but most flew to the right. I checked the fired hulls and found a centered strike mark.

Accuracy at 7 yards (two-hand and one-hand holds only, I'll try sandbags later) was consistent with sub 3" groups at times. However, the sights shot low and left (about 1" low and 2" left). I won't fiddle with the rear sight until I shoot off of sandbags.

Interestingly, the Hornady Critical Defense ammo shot nearly to point of aim. There was no appreciable accuracy difference between the Winchester and Remington FMJs. Both were consistent as well ( low and left ). I like the Critical Defense anyway and use them in .38 and .45, so they will likely be my 9mm load as well.

All in all, I was pleased. Like many, I really want this pistol to work. In a week or so I'll post accuracy results off of sandbags.

Good range report...thanks !!

I did a ton of research and if you like Critical Defense, go with Duty instead.

I've carried Z-max rounds forever in .45, they're the same as Defense, just with a zombie green tip. ( they were $3 less per box and I got 3 boxes )

I'll probably be going with the +P myself. Rated for it, why not, right?

https://youtu.be/5mpXZCQhh7s

I too found mine shooting low left, I also had the same "slide bite" issue. Thanks for the report!

Thanks, I'll check that ammo out.