Anyone remember or care about the R51?

[Joe in PNG]

I am actually shocked that is has 4.1 stars for 131 reviews. I remember when these first came out and all of the nightmares that came with it. Apparently they have worked out some of the bugs and have a budget level gun that seem to function.

Not for me though....never....I would collect cans off the highway and save up before I would ever get one of these.

Then again, there's a lot of reviews that are of the "I just got this today, and it's sooo AWESOME! I can't wait to shoot it!!!" variety.

[opmike]

A quick sampling of some of the "reviews."

I got mine from buds today, 2 days after order, amazing. After a quick clean I put 6 mags through it, flawless in every way. This gun runs as good as it looks. A great gun at a great price. (5/5 Stars)

Thanks for the gun, I love it but I wasn’t able to get my ammunition if there’s some on sale let me know! (4/5 Stars)

It\\\'s a beautiful gun! Fast delivery. So far I have no chance to shoot due to the virus situation, so I can\\\'t say it functions good or not, I will write another review after shooting. (4/5 Stars)

This pistol caught my eye with it's looks. I also liked the price and purchased it. I have yet to fire it. It is a bit different to break down and I would suggest watching a video showing how before getting into it. My first time was a real challenge. (5/5 Stars)

[ECVMatt]

I have a buddy who is a fireman and is also the cheapest person I have ever met. It baffles me because at work he demands the best equipment, but at home the cheapest is the best. He takes great pleasure if finding odd gun purchases and then flaunting them in front of the rest of us as though we are wasteful over-spenders. I doesn't seem to matter if the gun doesn't work, is inaccurate, or even somewhat broken, if it is cheap then he is satisfied. While I do have a couple of nice guns, the majority of my handguns are Glocks (which I would not classify as expensive to begin with). For fun, I will point him in the direction of the R51 and see what happens. In retrospect, after reading some of those reviews, it appears as though he might have already bought one!

[Borderland]

I wouldn't mind having one of the original model 51's. The model 53, a scaled up version in 45 acp was tested with the 1911 and proved to be more reliable. It was never produced due to military demand and tooling already in place for the 1911. The original 51 must have been a pretty good pistol. The R-51 must have been a pretty bad pistol.