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Remington R1 750 round range report

4K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  D MAN 
#1 ·
I'll start by saying if you're on the fence about the Remington R1, just try one out. These are full of potential and just tight enough not to rattle, but still offer good accuracy.


I bought this gun on my birthday, 50 some days ago. I had three complaints right out of the gate. The short pad trigger just didn't fit my hand, but the flat mainspring housing did. So I fitted a long pad trigger from Wilson Combat. The group size tightened up, but the gun was still shooting way to the left of where I was aiming, that was cured with a simple sight adjustment. The last real complaint was a bit harder to nail down. When cycled empty and slowly by hand, the slide would hang about 1/8 to 3/16 from full battery. Turned out to be the barrel hood dragging on the slide, hard. A tiny dot of valve lapping compound and lots of hand cycling slicked it up. The last 500 rounds have been trouble free.


The first 500 rounds were all FMJ flat point Winchester ammo. With the slide issue there were a few (4) instances of failure to feed early on. Once I figured out what was going on, and cleared that up, I haven't seen that show up in the last 500 rounds. At first the gun wanted to run wet, now it doesn't seem to care, wet or dry it just runs. Speaking of running, this thing has fed 230 grain hollow points, 230 grain flat point and 185 grain LSWC without a hitch. My hand load consists of 185 grain lswc over 5.x grains of W231. With that load I am able to "machine gun" the R1 and keep all shots from 4 mags in a 12 inch circle at 7 yards. As far as pure accuracy goes, I am able to regularly hit a 7 inch steel plate out at 50 yards, off hand, standing, braced against a tree. At 20 yards, slow fire, I can hold a 2 1/2 inch group, and double taps at 7 yards ( with what ever I feed it) fall into 5 inch pairs (one low and left, one high and right).


So overall I'd say the Remington is a diamond with a few rough spots. A great value priced (mid range priced as it runs about 600 bucks) 1911.
 
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#3 ·
With reports like this, we could all make informed choices. Thank you

BF
 
#5 ·
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My 1911R1 ran flawlessly, right out of the box - bought new, about 6 mos after they were first introduced.

I too, used FMJ's for the first 500 rounds, then have only used FMJ's for practice - about 3K worth.

For CCW, I used JHP's, which also feed flawlessly.

The only change I made was to swap out the long spur hammer for a Commander-type rowel hammer from Caspian Arms ($35), just because I prefer the rowel-type hammer.

Two years ago, I gifted it to my oldest Grandson (he's 25 years old), who continues to run 200-300 rounds per week (w/o any issues), target shooting (I started him on shooting .45 cal 1911's when he was 11 years old) - and IIRC he swapped out the issue grip panels for some sort of "zombie" (?) grips that he liked. (There's no accounting for "taste" ::) )

The only thing I wasn't really satisfied with, regarding the 1911R1 was the issue Remington black metal coating ILO the polished bluing I prefer (I don't care for stainless 1911's - especially after I bought/tried a stainless Springfield Champion ( made in Brasil ).


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#6 ·
In recent times, we are finally able to leave a gun shop with a quality 1911 without going custom. My reason for customizing, a thing I don't do anymore, is for accuracy. I've come to believe one-hole groups are not an advantage in anything but competition. No practical value on the street, in the field, or in the woods. An out of the box Remington or Ruger may not shoot quarter size groups, but after very little break-in, you will hit what you shoot at. I had to grow up before I understood the goal of absolute accuracy is not worth pursuing. Being able to hit a man size target at 50 yards and a rabbit at 25 is plenty good enough. Neither target will know your pistol is not cloverleaf accurate.
 
#7 ·
I've come to call it practical field accuracy. You are correct you don't need bench rest accuracy for hunting or self defense. I do expect to hit what I shoot at so long as it is within reasonable range for the firearm in question
 
#8 ·
My R1 went back to Remington after 30 rds. broken firing pin, replaced and sent back. Have had no issues since. Only wish I had the time some of you do to run the amount of rounds through her that you do.
 
#9 ·
HWB13 said:
My R1 went back to Remington after 30 rds. broken firing pin, replaced and sent back. Have had no issues since. Only wish I had the time some of you do to run the amount of rounds through her that you do.
My time off work changes weekly, here lately I haven't even been able to fire my 22's on my backyard range.
 
#10 ·
I got one of the R1's a short time after they came out and really like it. I changed out the hammer to a a Commander style and the Factory grip safety to a beaver tail style. It has been perfectly reliable. I believe it has been money well spent. Might have to give the Commander versions a look.

Steve...........
 
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