Sweet! Remington has announced a new handgun...

[skizzums]

just glad to see another reputable company joining the budget nines

[Knightsofnee]

I've got a buddy who camps in an Airstream trailer. He's going to love this.

[Tom Servo]

just glad to see another reputable company joining the budget nines

The weird thing is, this is a more complex and refined gun than the other "budget" entries.

I'm not complaining one bit about the price, but this certainly appears to be a nicer gun than others in its range.

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

I've not been impressed with Remington quality the past few years. I handled a R1 the other day and it was a rattletrap. As for the R51, it looks like a neat little pistol. It does seem to give you no more than the Sig 290 or the Shield though. I was kind of hoping it'd be a pocket pistol. Clearly it's not. Given size, weight and reputation, I think I'd rather have the 290.

[tahunua001]

hello all.
I'll put it all out there at once.
1. I am not a fan of cerberus/freedom arms/whatever you call them
2. Remington does not have a very strong presence in the handgun community.
3. it's a brand new model based on a 32 auto so it may or may not have issues if they try to expand the line to 40.
4. I can't figure out whether it's the coolest looking handgun to be released in a long time or if it's the ugliest thing since hipoint.
5. it's essentially a competitor with the ruger LC9 which does not have the best track record so it's difficult to tell whether it'll be a major hit or a royal flop.

so what are your opinions? hopes? reservations?

[Skans]

It's certainly different looking I will give it that.

It looks a lot like the Ruger LC9 to me. However, I've read that this is basically a single action as opposed to another DAO. It will be interesting to know how the trigger feels out of the box....and what improvements can be made on it!

[lee n. field]

The only thing that strikes me as off aesthetics wise is the rear sight. The dots for the rear sight are actually forward in the dovetail. It looks like it was done to make them less likely to snag, but it's pretty much the opposite of most pistols on the market.

Because what we're all used to seeing in the cool kids' guns are rear sights sloped on the forward side of the sight. Which does nothing at all about whether one can shoot through them well. Sight picture is unaffected.

Internal hammer. Interesting. "Retro" -- something one sees mostly in older guns.

And, people will be whining about the grip safety in 5, 4, 3 .....

[Uncle Malice]

I didn't see anyone post this yet. Jeff Quinn released a review for it today as well.

http://www.gunblast.com/Remington-R51.htm

[Spats McGee]

Ah-ha! I just KNEW that the R51 looked familiar!

[Tom Servo]

And, people will be whining about the grip safety in 5, 4, 3 ...

Somebody's bound to claim it resembles a 1911, which will then spark a discussion about how it's not anything like a 1911. Then we'll have a gripe fest about the fact that it's not a .45, which is the One True Knockdown Cartridge. Then someone will pronounce that it's somehow not as perfect as the Glock, thus dooming any hope the gun has for market viability.

Oh, the humanity.

[southjk]

Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. My first reaction was, Wow that's a good looking gun. Looking at it for awhile longer it looks even better. How can I not buy one at that price?

[Uncle Malice]

Honestly it looks like it's probably going to feel pretty good in hand. The low bore axis, undercut trigger guard, and thin metal frame seem like it will feel good in hand.

I think it's the muzzle end that just looks so goofy to me. I hope they function well. That's really the biggest concern.

[Tom Servo]

The low bore axis, undercut trigger guard, and thin metal frame seem like it will feel good in hand.

Is the frame metal? It looks like polymer to me.

If the ergonomics are as good as the original, it should point very naturally. BTW, the threads at the muzzle are to aid in disassembly.

[southjk]

Is the frame metal? It looks like polymer to me.

According to gunblast.com it is not polymer.

The R51 is constructed of aluminum and steel; no polymer frame on this one

[Uncle Malice]

Is the frame metal? It looks like polymer to me.

Per Jeff Quinn:
The R51 is constructed of aluminum and steel; no polymer frame on this one.

I got clarification from Jeff in his review but I assumed it was either aluminum or stainless with those grip panels that are screwed into the side.

It's not the threads that throw me off I think it's just the round nose and curved lines. I'm just so used to the Glock(and other modern pistols) squared off front ends it's just different.

The rear sight bugs me only because the actual sight is so far forward due to the backwards slope. In a smaller gun like that, I'd prefer to maximize sight radius and push those rear dots as far back as possible.

[SHE3PDOG]

This thing looks kind of space-aged. I'm not sure if it's cool or not, but I kind of want to see one so I can find out.

[Tom Servo]

The R51 is constructed of aluminum and steel; no polymer frame on this one.

Nice! It looks a bit like polymer, but that could be the pictures.

[Skans]

FWIW, I like the rear sight - it's more snag-proof that way. Plus it looks cool with the design of the gun.

I haven't seen much about the gun's dimensions - how does it compare in size to the:

Ruger LC9
Boberg XR9-S
Rohrbaugh R9?

[zincwarrior]

Quote:
And, people will be whining about the grip safety in 5, 4, 3 ...

Somebody's bound to claim it resembles a 1911, which will then spark a discussion about how it's not anything like a 1911. Then we'll have a gripe fest about the fact that it's not a .45, which is the One True Knockdown Cartridge. Then someone will pronounce that it's somehow not as perfect as the Glock, thus dooming any hope the gun has for market viability.

Oh, the humanity.

Tom Servo, successfully paraphrasing half the threads on any gun site...

[Ruger45LC]

Fugly.

However, more new products is a great thing.

[lee n. field]

Somebody's bound to claim it resembles a 1911, which will then spark a discussion about how it's not anything like a 1911. Then we'll have a gripe fest about the fact that it's not a .45, which is the One True Knockdown Cartridge. Then someone will pronounce that it's somehow not as perfect as the Glock, thus dooming any hope the gun has for market viability.

Oh, the humanity.

Yeah, we've all been around the block a few times in GunForumland.

[Sparks1957]

I can't wait to get my hands on one of these. I really like the looks.

[TunnelRat]

Because what we're all used to seeing in the cool kids' guns are rear sights sloped on the forward side of the sight. Which does nothing at all about whether one can shoot through them well. Sight picture is unaffected.

That wasn't my point at all. My point was the placement of the dots being as far forward in the rear sight as they are. I don't get what the point in having that rear sight extend backward if it isn't pushing the dots back to add something to the side radius. It may very well just be styling or to prevent snagging, it just seems a bit awkward.

[RX-79G]

Remington is just getting back into the handgun business with guns that it has previously produced - the 1911 and the 51.

Take a look at the Wiki article on the original. There was a .45 version that the military PREFERRED to the 1911, but the price was too high. So scaling up to 9 and .40 is not really a big deal - they gun was already made in a large caliber.


I had not heard of this action before - it is essentially locked blowback. Kind of the equivalent of a short travel tappet gas piston. The ability to absorb recoil may spawn a new era of handguns that previous fixed barrel systems, like the HK roller delay, were too expensive to generate the interest.

[TunnelRat]

I've not been impressed with Remington quality the past few years. I handled a R1 the other day and it was a rattletrap.

My lgs has a few of them. They seemed decent to me, nothing overly spectacular but they weren't rattlers. I know some of the early production run had some machining marks.