Remington Model 51 Issue

My Model 51 Remington does not shoot groups - it shoots patterns even at close range (ca. 15 feet). The barrel is held to the frame with a single "takedown" pin and is "held" in position in the slide by the action spring and collar.

I have observed that the barrel has a lot of slop; that is it can be wiggled from side-to-side and up-and-down while in battery, and when dissambled, there is a lot of freedom of motion between the barrel and frame. Is this how it is supposed to be, or is the barrel supposed to lock rigidly into the frame?

This pistol has a reputation for good accuracy and I am trying to get mine to where it will live up to its reputation.

John

My first thought is that many of those I have seen have bad barrels, the result of the (probably) first owner firing a few shots then tossing the gun, uncleaned, in the bureau drawer.

Jim

Not the case here. The barrel is in very good condition internally, with only a slight frosting in the grooves. The lands are smooth and the crowwn is in good shape as well. That is why I am looking at a loose barrel as the cause of scattering of my shots.

Do you have the action spring bushing in the right place and facing the right way? In spite of what some diagrams make it look like, the bushing goes to the rear of the action spring with the partly closed (tight) end to the back where it fits tightly on the barrel, with its sloped inner surface fitting the sloped surface on the barrel ahead of the chamber. (Look at those surfaces carefully to confirm this.) The rear of the recoil spring (action spring) fits inside between the barrel and the bushing.

Jim

That is exactly the way things are assembled. I can take my finger and put it on the barrel crown and run the barrel around a circle when the slide is in battery. While I understand that some free play may be necessary for the pistol to cycle, what I am seeing seems intuitively to be way too much.

The pistol functions fine; I just would prefer to actually hit something than to scare it off with a bang and a whistle as the bullet flies by.

John

Having ruled out wrong assembly, I have to conclude that there is something wrong with that slide. Normally, the barrel is a very close fit in the slide. If it is that loose, then someone messed with the slide (or the barrel). You don't say what caliber yours is, but AFAIK, the barrel OD is the same for both calibers, so that shouldn't be an issue. At this point, we need pictures, including a closeup of the muzzle and the barrel and anything else you think might help.

Jim

I put two fine beads (ca. 1 mm) along the side rails where the barrel beds onto the frame and locates into the slide. Once I had filed and stoned them down to size (probably .1mm high and wide, the barrel fit snugly into the frame and fit with no play into the slide. When assembled, no play at the muzzle.

Then to do the final check, took it to the range. Started off at 5 yds, then moved to 7 and finally 10 yds. All shots within the 8 ring on a standard silhouette target, so I guess the problem is solved and its good to go.

For those who may worry, I used very low heat input GTAW welding, and Hastalloy rod. Boy is that stuff difficult to file down. Only evidence of heating was along the weld HAZ, didn't extend onto the chamber or barrel.

John