I was contacted by the gentleman who is doing the hard chrome application to my RM380. He called to advise that, when he began to disassemble my pistol, he notice a crack at the rear of the slide on the left side. He immediately sent me pictures, and they confirmed his findings. I had somehow missed it...my near vision isn't great, and I'm presuming now that I may have dismissed it as a tiny scratch in the finish. But it is pretty significant...it wraps from the left side right around to the rear, right where the frame ends (about halfway up the height of the hammer, as viewed from the rear) and according to the gunsmith is all the way through.

The gunsmith has already contacted Remington directly for me...he's hoping to have them accept the pistol directly from him so I can avoid paying the shipping charges back to me (and then once more to him, after the repair). No word yet from Remington, and I'll probably call them myself on Monday if the gunsmith hasn't heard back yet.

I'm devastated by this news. After a lot of searching, and a lot of experimentation with other micro .380s, I thought I'd found my answer in the RM380. Now I'm not so sure. I'm hopeful that Remington will do the right thing, but I wonder if I'll ever really trust it again...and certainly never as a range gun.

I'll keep everyone posted....

how old is it and how many rounds through it? what kind of ammo do you run through it?

I'm gonna guess about 500-600 rounds.

I bought it slightly used in Oct 2016, but based on its condition when I got it I would be surprised if the original owner had put even 50 rounds downrange.

I should mostly SD loads, maybe 1/3 FMJ range ammo like Blazer. I've primarily shot Hornady Critical Defense, but have also used Speer Gold Dots, Black Hills XTP, and Underwood Extreme Defender.

i hope Remington takes care of you. would be surprised if they didn't. ii have complete faith in my RM380's.

Well, if you look at the letter of the warranty, I am out of luck (purchased used over two years ago).

But you'd think the spirit of the warranty, any firearm warranty, for that matter, would cover a slide cracked through-and-through in the first few years of ownership.

I guess I'll find out soon enough.....

Okay, I've got a bit of progress to report.

After the refinishing shop's initial contact with Remington, I reached out to them this past Monday and actually spoke to the CS rep. He was very cordial and professional, and we went over the information he already had in the system. We reconfirmed that the pistol was mine but that, if possible, the shop would be handling the pistol's return to Remington.

Ten minutes after our phone call, I was cc'd an email from Remington to the re-siding shop providing instructions on how Remington would be handling the return of the pistol for service.

Fingers crossed, I've grown more optimistic that this story may have a happy resolution.

Stay tuned....

Glad I have my S&W CS-9. 3 inch barrel and very compact too. Who needs the BS.

mauser9 wrote:Glad I have my S&W CS-9. 3 inch barrel and very compact too. Who needs the BS.

Beautiful gun.

But it is very similar to my Kahr MK9--which is also sturdy, utterly reliable, and pretty!--a gun which fills a very different niche for my EDC needs. The Kahr also weighs around 24 oz, which is just about exactly half the heft of my RM380. For days when I go without a belt, or even might just be wearing track pants because I'm going to work out, the Kahr just isn't feasible.

So, the latest update:

Remington contacted the finish company (they said they couldn't reach me ) to say that Remington WOULD NOT be covering any repairs to my RM380. They say I voided the warranty when I had the slide refinished, and also claimed that I have wear in "the inernals" from aftermarket parts. WTF?? The wear to my pistol occurred within the first 200 rounds of shooting...I got some burring/peening along the underside of the slide, which I only noticed after giving it to a local gunsmith when the slide was hanging up returning to battery when cycling by hand. The gunsmith just polished the area in question, and it never hung up again. This wear has been noted by other RM380 owners here on the forum...didn't and one guy sent it in only to be told by CS that it was "normal wear?"

To add insult to injury, they have offered me 40% off on a replacement. That is approximately $210, when I can buy one for under $200 shipped on several web sites, including Bud's.

So I spent my morning firing off a scathing email (they won't read it until Monday, but it made me feel better). The Metalife owner was shocked at their response...he said he expected a different outcome, assuming that Remington would stand by their firearms, especially for such a catastrophic failure.

I"ll provide an update once I hear back from Remington, but I don't think this one is going to end well.

Anxious to hear. Already scared me out of buying even if I was interested. Just a thought but if you want something small and light a S&W 442 snubby might fill the bill.

Well, my email exchange with Remington didn't go well today. They disregarded my rebuttal points and are sticking to their insulting offer of a new pistol for an above-market price.

I've asked them for a quote on a replacement barrel so I can just get my pistol back to whole and sell it. Awaiting that price now.

As always, details to follow.

I was able to talk to a fellow RM380 owner, who reached out to me on another gun forum. He had bought it from someone who tried to do a trigger job and damaged the trigger and hammer, and this gentleman bought it off him as a project gun. So he was very surprised and disappointed when Remington told him that he couldn't buy the parts he needed from them! Really dedicated to their customer base, huh??

Anyway, he agreed to sell me his slide at a decent price, and so I called Remington to tell them to just send the damn pistol back to me, and that I'd deal with the repair.

I really love the RM380, but I've really come to loathe Remington.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufa ... -rem/rm380

jth737 wrote:https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/remington/auto-pistols-rem/rm380

Thanks. Let's just say that the slide I found cost me significantly less.

Nice to know that the RM380 parts are available, with no need to ever contact Remington again.

boscobarbell wrote:

jth737 wrote:https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/remington/auto-pistols-rem/rm380

Thanks. Let's just say that the slide I found cost me significantly less.

Nice to know that the RM380 parts are available, with no need to ever contact Remington again.

That replacement slide is almost what I paid for my RM380 after rebate!

Sorry that Remington didn’t make it right for you. My RM after 850 rounds has significant frame wear. I’m giving it a rest and carrying my Kahrs now.

I did buy and install the new Galloway trigger for it but haven’t had it to the range yet.

DavidR22 wrote:

boscobarbell wrote:Sorry that Remington didn’t make it right for you. My RM after 850 rounds has significant frame wear. I’m giving it a rest and carrying my Kahrs now.

Wow, that's not good to hear. It's a shame, because I really enjoyed taking my RM380 to the range. If I keep my RM380, it will be regulated to a carry-some-but-not-shoot-much pistol.

Lucky, I also have my Kahr P380 and a couple of other micros that will get a lot more use.