Remington’s New R51 9x19mm Plus P Semi-Automatic Pistol

by Jeff Quinn

photography by Jeff Quinn & Boge Quinn

January 2nd, 2014

 

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Grip safety.

 

 

 

 

Ambidextrous magazine release.

 

 

 

 

Slide lock.

 

 

 

 

About three weeks ago, I was shooting with a few other writers and some of the folks from Freedom Group out at Gunsite in Arizona. Gunsite is one of the top training facilities in the world in which military and civilians can learn to fight with a firearm. The first two days were dedicated to firing rifles and shotguns, but on the third day, Remington introduced to us their new R51 semi-automatic pistol.

The R51 is based upon the Pederson design, as was the original Remington Model 51 of many decades ago. The original was chambered for the 32 and 380 ACP cartridges, but the new R51 is redesigned to handle the pressures of 9x19mm Plus P ammunition, making it much more effective as a fighting pistol. The R51 is constructed of aluminum and steel; no polymer frame on this one. It is thin, utilizing a single-stack magazine. The R51 is compact, yet large enough to handle the recoil of shooting 9mm +P loads all day long. In fact, at Gunsite, I most likely put between 300 and 400 rounds through one of these pistols, as well as running a couple of magazines through several others. In total, the writers present ran several cases of 9mm ammo through about ten pistols. These were pre-production pistols, but problems were minimal, and quickly alleviated with a light cleaning and lubrication. The R51 is easy to shoot, and easy to shoot well.

Look for a full review soon on Gunblast.com, as soon as a production pistol arrives for a thorough evaluation.

Check out the R51 and other firearms, ammunition,  and accessories online at www.remington.com.

Jeff Quinn

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Gunsite Raven.

 

 

 

 

Shooters on the line, giving the R51 pistols a good workout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barrel is not threaded. The grooves are for grasping the barrel for disassembly.