Last week I posted an update from Remington Consumer Relations where they indicated again that they were told the R51 is in production and the new versions were scheduled to ship to those that had participated in the voluntarily recall sometime late September. My conclusion was to not get your hopes up until I reported back that I had received a delivery Tracking Number. Well, my conclusion was more right than I hoped it would be. This unsolicited email was just received at 5:02 yesterday:

Mr. shoT3.....I just wanted to give you an update from my previous email.
We were informed late today of the status of the R51. Currently we don't have a timeframe for the re-introduction of this firearm but our Huntsville R&D center is working to have it back on the market as soon as possible.
We appreciate your patience as we continue our efforts to re-launch this item. Please let us know if you would like to have your money refunded.

Best regards,
Consumer Services

It seems every time there is a shred of vision that the once great Remington is going through a resurgence to turn their company around to become the real leader that they once were, they bash my expectations. There are six emails that I have received from them over the past year where they indicated or implied that the R51 was either getting ready to go into production and the delivery dates were on schedule or the R51 was already in production. Here are some of them that I have saved - 10/22/14 The R51's are in production and are scheduled to start shipping the end of October - first of November. , 10/30/14 I was informed after I sent you an email that the R51's are just now going into production....for shipment sometime the first of 2015. , 5/12/15 The R51s are in production and scheduled for release the latter part of June. , 7/8/15 We have been told the R51 is going into production in August and hopefully will be shipping out late September. , 8/17/15 We are being told the R51's are in production and should be shipping out end of Sept to the people who sent theirs in under the recall. , and now this last one yesterday.

I have always in the past tried to come up with some form of positive closure to my posts on this forum. Sorry. Cannot come up with one this time. I sent a letter to the R&D Engineer to see if someone there will be honest and let us know if there will actually be a generation 2. If I get a response I will let you know.
Respectfully,
shoT3

OK...keep us in the loop.

Holy cow.... it's still in the hands of R&D?

This was the reply from R&D:

Mr. shoT3

I forwarded your email to my boss, who is a Sr. VP with Remington. She is in a much better position to understand and comment on Remington's current efforts in processing R51 replacements. Her response is below (BTW, LinkedIn would not allow me to include your original content in this response to you; too many characters):

Mr. shoT3,
"I am so glad your experience with the R51 pistol was positive. We have heard similar comments from others.

Remington is committed to getting it right every time, and in the case of the R51, we're just not 100 percent there yet. In light of this, the most recent note from customer service is the best information I can pass along. If a more comprehensive update becomes available, I'll certainly let you know.

Thank you for your continued support and patience."

What do you think of this kind of response coming from their Sr. VP, after all of the other statements these past months from their Consumer Relations Dept. saying the R51 was already being fabricated?

Thoroughly Disgusted,
shoT3

Just wish they would get it done! Forget the RM380 and finish the R51!

Listen Guys I have been following this thread for over a year just to see if I made the right decision in 2014, I opted for a full refund. With a response like the above I would be if I was a believer that the R51 will be made right and waited all this time I would seriously consider bailing and opting for a refund or the exchange option.

Hey draight, I'm with you on that one. I sure am enjoying shooting the 1911 R1 that I received for the 1st one of my R51s. I lost the 2nd R51 to my son. But, as I've stated before... When the R51 Gen 2 makes its name "reliable" by reports from Gen 2 owners, I'll buy another one.

I had a chance to fire an original Model 51 at the range the other day...and it worked just like a clock.

Not bad for a firearm last produced in the late 1920's...

Told the guy about the troubles with the new one, and he just smiled and said Remington had it's day, and has settled into riding on it's old reputation...which is slowly diminishing.

He then unloaded the original M51's magazine into the target...

Well Shooter, I can support his statement. The Model 51 was produced from 1918 through 1927 in .380 AUTO, and .32 ACP only in the latter 4 or 5 years of its short production life. My Model 51 in .380 was built in September, 1919. It has been my sweet carry pistol and reliable sidearm for 55 years or more. It is extremely accurate, even without visible lands in the barrel due to wear & use, and has never had a hiccup, misfire, or malfunction. To this day, every part inside and out is the original 1919 assembled factory part. The prohibitions of the 20s and the following Great Depression that followed is one factor in the short life of Remington's Model 51 program. General Patton carried one as his back-up pistol that he wore on his ankle. His experiences with the old 51 were about accuracy, reliability, and readiness. And believe me when I say, the old 51 is always ready and you can ALWAYS depend on it. In fact, I'll be taking it to the range later this week to see if it still outshoots my Sig P938.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOGPZyI ... ploademail

I find it incredible and quite embarrassing for Remington.

I've been following the R51 debacle for a long time now, because the design philosophy of the pistol seems to be a good one.

Here's a question. Why don't they just do a remake of the original Model 51 in .380? I mean, duplicate it with no design changes at all. Just like the 1917 version. It seems to me that the machining would be easy with today's modern methods.

It makes me sad because by the time they work out the bugs, I'll probably have passed away.

Tater wrote:I find it incredible and quite embarrassing for Remington.

I've been following the R51 debacle for a long time now, because the design philosophy of the pistol seems to be a good one.

Here's a question. Why don't they just do a remake of the original Model 51 in .380? I mean, duplicate it with no design changes at all. Just like the 1917 version. It seems to me that the machining would be easy with today's modern methods.

It makes me sad because by the time they work out the bugs, I'll probably have passed away.

EXACTLY!!! The original Pedersen action was (is still) perfect and flawless. However, aluminum for 'impact' surfaces like they did on the R51 just won't live long. The size-to-weight ratio of the original Model 51 is a perfect balance and has beautiful anti-rotation character, not to mention that it has a super high quality feel to it just holding it. Aluminum would be ok if the rails, ramps, & stops were made of a good quality steel anchored deeply on top of the frame.

Why change what works...!?

Hmm. Posted a couple days ago, no mention of eta though...

And please, no bad mouthing Travis. He's a machine on the range, national/world champ and a Veteran.

Gallery of Guns TV - Remington RM380: http://youtu.be/BxJk6T30AfQ

No one gets trashed here...

Even Wikipedia is following the R51 saga closely.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_R51

Not good for Remington...

Have any of you considered that Remington is waiting it out for people to opt for the refund or the R! ? My reasoning how can Remington make a profit going forward on the R51 ? Who is going to buy it after this fiasco except die hard Pedersen action fans.

draidt wrote:Have any of you considered that Remington is waiting it out for people to opt for the refund or the R! ? My reasoning how can Remington make a profit going forward on the R51 ? Who is going to buy it after this fiasco except die hard Pedersen action fans.

Once they get it back working, they'll have lots of people doing reviews, probably have Travis do a big video, lots of YouTubers will make videos, etc.

They'll do some big publicly thing for it.

Once it's proven, it'll be easy to get sales on a msrp of $420ish. It's a really nice setup for concealed.

I can't wait to get one personally

If Remington is diligently working to correct the problems with the R51, then time isn't an issue with me. I'll just buy another one when it has evolved into the reliable piece we all had hoped it would have been over a year and a half ago.

Die hard Pedersen Action fan... I like that term draidt. You can add me to the list of one of those. It is by far one of the most comfortable actions of any gun I've ever fired. That hesitation-locking breech block in conjunction with the low bore axis is a combination that can't be beat for controlling rotation (muzzle-flip). I'd love to see a Hybrid... Pedersen Action incorporated into a true 1911. A 1911 in .45 ACP is already a mild & tame shooter. With a Pedersen hesitating block, a 1911 would feel like a .22 Magnum. Sweet concept in my book!

If anyone ever gets an opportunity to fire (or own) an original Model 51 from the 1918-1927 build in .380 ACP, that's what the R51 is supposed to feel like. But... it doesn't because of its lighter power to weight ratio between 9mm PARA and 9mm Short (.380 ACP). The R51 also had a harsh, raspy feel to its cycle in both blow-back and return directions. That is because of the aluminum's interaction with the steel block's locking shoulder (ramp) and the widened grooves that the slide travels in. The aluminum frame also made it feel top-heavy. Steel-on-steel is all it will take to smooth it out, along with the dimensional corrections that caused the multitude of other problems.

I'm with Rick 51 on this. I took the R1 in trade and plan to buy another R51 if they ever get it right. Similar story with the Remington RM380, nothing but dead air or crickets is all we hear about it. Not one word since April of this year. I do think Remington way over estimates peoples patience in this. There are too many new toys out there for folks to spend their money on. BUT some folks will NEVER buy from Remington again because of the way this has come down. I guess I am a Pedersen Action Fan....PAF, I like that !

Yes...it does seem like they put the R51 on the back burner for this new RM 380...which is still as scarce as hens teeth around my neck of the woods...

I said I wouldn't buy the Gen 2 R51 after my frustrations with the first, but then again curiosity may get the best of me and I'll end up with one to try, and why not? If I don't like it, I'll sell it. Still hard for me to turn a cheek on an American company that uses 100% American parts (to my knowledge) vs. one that has their guns made in other countries, but that's just me. In the meantime I have been bringing back to life a '68 1100 and a '75 Wingmaster in way of a complete restoration.

I would ask Santa for a new R51 but I think even he knows better.

HA !!...............

remmy wrote:I said I wouldn't buy the Gen 2 R51 after my frustrations with the first, but then again curiosity may get the best of me and I'll end up with one to try, and why not? If I don't like it, I'll sell it. Still hard for me to turn a cheek on an American company that uses 100% American parts (to my knowledge) vs. one that has their guns made in other countries, but that's just me. In the meantime I have been bringing back to life a '68 1100 and a '75 Wingmaster in way of a complete restoration.

I would ask Santa for a new R51 but I think even he knows better.

About the same here. I have an 1100 almost that old, it looks almost new but has fired thousands of trap loads. I cannot think of any other shotgun I would want to shoot. Even the o-ring is original, I use Armorall on it when cleaning. I hope Remington makes the R51 Gen2 and the new RM380 as good as the 1100.