A fast-coincidence scintillation spectrometer has been developed for thermal-neutron capture-gamma studies at the Livermore 1-Mw pool-type reactor. The added-neutron binding energy in V 51 was measured as 11.1 ±0.1 Mev. Cascade radiations for V 51 * were observed and a decay scheme is established which verifies a previously proposed (p,p') level scheme. Spin assignments for most of the V 51 (p,p f ) reported levels below 4.0 Mev are proposed and the level order for the (I/7/2) 3 proton configuration levels is established as 7/2" (ground state), 5/2", 3/2~, 11/2", 9/2",' and 15/2~ spin with excitation energies of 0.32, 0.93, 1.61, 1.81, and 2.70 Mev, respectively. Of the various nuclear force assumptions that can be made, the short-range force approximation (5-type interaction) and weak surface-coupling effects for V 51 * configuration states appear to give the best match between theory and experiment. A previous calculation using experimentally measured splittings of the j 2 configuration together with tabulated coefficients of fractional parentage gives excellent agreement with experiment. Evidence is also found for (l/V/2 2 )o2^3/2and (l/ 7 /2 2 )ol/5/2-proton single-particle levels at 2.41 and 2.55 Mev, respectively, as well as for additional low-spin states between 2.70 and 3.38 Mev which possibly represent even states resulting from excitation of a lower shell proton to give a (l/V/2 4 )o configuration plus a proton hole in the vacated shell. Experimental results suggest that the V 51 * 20-28 core is a more rigid structure than the Ca 43