Looks like the R51 is a bust. Can't say this surprises me.

[g527]

Well I talked to 2 dealers yesterday who I knew & the first said he had seen & shot the R 51 & they were out, but hard to get. The other dealer is a good friend & called his distributor who said he had no listing on them yet. I have one ordered from him.

I got an email from Academy & they have them listed for $399. They say call back in 3 or 4 weeks. You figure it out. I think they will be another month before you might be able to buy one, but who knows.

[g527]

Well I finally thought to call Remington about the R 51 & a very nice girl told me they would be in dealers shops by mid March. I guess you could say that's straight from the horses mouth ( maybe).

[Uncle Malice]

They're already out. Academy had a few in stock the other day.

KY Gun Co has them available to buy - but on backorder. $389 - http://www.kygunco.com/remington-r51...-handgun-71847

[MarkCO]

As for the OP, I agree with others that I would not put much stock in Foghorn's review. I know the guy and I have read several of his reviews that did not pass muster. Just a guy making money off of you all reading his opinion.

[barnbwt]

Wow, the gun must be absolutely fantastic if it's been out on store shelves (even in limited quatities) for days, and no one's thrown one up on Gunbroker for 2X MSRP. Every owner must be so enamored it outweighs all greed . So enamored they can't even post pictures of the gun they bought or saw in the glass case . Based on the responses I've gotten by asking around, I fully expect that no one knows exactly when these guns are coming or to whom (same mysterious distributor discretion as we saw during the Banic last year), but that store owners are getting practiced at tossing out red herring explanations so they can get back to paying customers

The local Bass Pro told me they won't get them for a month, since they are store #36 and the older stores get the guns first. Yeah, that stands up to scrutiny . I'm sure the volume of guns sold at each location won't factor at all.

TCB

[Cirdan]

Scheel's in Sparks NV had two at $399.

I really like the idea of an R51, but am not sure about getting a brand new design, first production run, gun.

[Uncle Malice]

Wow, the gun must be absolutely fantastic if it's been out on store shelves (even in limited quatities) for days, and no one's thrown one up on Gunbroker for 2X MSRP

There are a bunch on Gunbroker.... try a search.

http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=r51

[Mike Irwin]

One of them is pushing $560.

That's insane.

[Tom Servo]

It's really no more insane than the $600 Glock 42's or the $1500 Kel Tec KSG shotguns out there. When a product is new and scarce, the people who have it take advantage.

[Mike Irwin]

Less insane, more insane, just as insane.

I don't give a damn which it is, it's still insane.

[Cheapshooter]

Well, I thought the new Remington would be one of the first in a long time purchases of a newly introduced handgun. The other a long time ago was a S&W 645. But as much as I like the R51, I can't see paying a premium price for it. Plenty of others in the safe.

[Mike Irwin]

It's going to be a newly introduced handgun for at least a year.

It's not going to command that kind of premium for anywhere near that long.

[Cheapshooter]

Not another Kel Tec PMR30!

[carguychris]

FWIW for those of you who want a smallish 7-8rd single-stack fixed-barrel delayed-blowback 9mm with a short-action trigger, but are annoyed by the lack of a manual thumb safety and/or the grip shape on the R51, it looks like your complaints have just been addressed... by Walther.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=543096

They're multiplying!

[barnbwt]

"It's not going to command that kind of premium for anywhere near that long."

Only because Remington actually has the facilities to back up new products and match market demand. Had KT come out with this, it'd be just as obscure and 'elevated' as like half their product line is these days. It's like their innovative stuff is so good they can't help but make cheap/easy pistols instead

"They're multiplying!"

Not quite; the Walther's a gas delay (I suppose the P7/GB patents must've just expired ). That means it'll either A) be hugely popular only after it's gone, and be lamented during it's production as a hot n heavy pig, or B) be covertly produced by Jimenez Arms for a test production run and they will utterly ruin the design's reputation before it gets out the gate

Looks like a crapton of slide/frame over the grip for a "compact" gun (note the three finger grip, too). Somehow, the bore axis looks higher than a tilt barrel setup, which leads me to believe they cribbed the HKs gas piston/guide rod scheme, which is a wonderfully efficient way to increase the volume of the operating mechanism. It'll by definition run dirty, and run harsher and harsher as things clog up (no 'torture' tests here). If Walther has at last discovered a way to make the system easy to clean* and cheaper to produce, that will be a true achievement for gun-kind, though, applicable to all sorts of guns big and small (a gas delay 223 would be pretty kewl, too)

From the CCP thread ("CCP" --sounds like some sorta commie gun! )
"The CCP is a bit larger than the PPS in every direction, most notably in terms of width. It has the same magazine capacity. It has a manual safety, whereas the PPS does not."

*"Finally, the pistol can only be stripped if it is decocked, and a stripping aid is supplied in each package."
Good luck with that; Leghorn et al. will have a fit! Hope it's got a 'tacti-tile reset' trigger

TCB

[Uncle Malice]

Here's a quick video by our long time member Sturm. Still having issues with this gun.

http://youtu.be/jQ65wbjq6t0

[TunnelRat]

Saw that yesterday, pretty sad. I wish I could say I'm surprised, but it matches my experience with Remington QC lately. If the 870 I had was a problem child, and that was their bread and butter for years, I think I'd wait a bit on this one to see if they can get it ironed out.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

There's chatter about a Remington 380 also.

[Coltman 77]

Here's a quick video by our long time member Sturm. Still having issues with this gun.

http://youtu.be/jQ65wbjq6t0

Wow.

Glad we have plenty of other choices.

[Tom Servo]

I had a chance to handle one today. Sturm is correct about the slide issue. The one I held felt like something was sticking.

Additionally, the grip safety has some sharp edges on the sides that don't sit quite flush with the frame when it's depressed. I worry about that biting the hand.

[barnbwt]

"Functionally, this thing seems to be something of a mess"
"No, I haven't shot it yet"

Yeah, I know what Sturm's trying to say, but still... I also congratulate him for having as respected a voice in the gun community as he does. Last week, a couple really positive reviews came out from people braking in their pistols*, but it seems like the wheels came off over the weekend after MAC's video. Maybe coincidence (my money's on this; there've still only be a half dozen reviews or so) maybe slighted owners were given the confidence to squawk it.

If Sturm hadn't shot the gun, had he even taken it apart? Apparently Remington shipped some early guns with oil instead of grease on the bolt; the guns apparently don't like oil, especially when their wearing in their rough-hewn surfaces. Causes the exact same sticking issue in the slide shown in the video. Other guns (that work) apparently have their bolts slathered liberally with grease. The action works by binding (mechanical disadvantage), to an extent, and binding of steel/aluminum without proper lubrication causes galling, or sticking. Anti-seize lubricants tend to be much thicker than oils. Not defending Rem's unanimously crap quality on these guns, just positing a potential cause for the early 'teething issues' we're seeing.

If anyone here actually has one of these, have you determined exactly what surfaces are binding (use some Sharpie )? Also, how polished are the locking surfaces of the bolt/frame, as well as the inside of the slide that cams the bolt up/down? I am curious if tooling marks on these surfaces may be causing binding and the gravel-ly slide action I keep hearing about.

"Additionally, the grip safety has some sharp edges on the sides that don't sit quite flush with the frame when it's depressed. I worry about that biting the hand."
I dream of getting one of these and refinishing it to a polished blue or chrome; I think I may start by tearing the whole gun down and tossing it in the tumbler with some pea gravel for a few hours (you know, how Remington's shop should have in the first place?)

TCB

*All were disappointed in quality, but functionality seemed to be largely positive --just crude

[Unlicensed Dremel]

That painfully bad article only managed to inform me that a semi-literate and ill-educated Glock owner—straight from General Glocking—owns a blog.

Sticks the web of his hand into the way of the slide travel.
Is a big fan of the range gimmick called "riding the reset," and can't figure out a different accommodation for a different gun when given 500 chances.
Can't discern the vast operational differences between the R-51 and the Luger.
Is befuddled by a simple machine's field strip and reassembly, just because it is a little different than what he is used to.
Thinks a fat-arsed Glock is the "same size" as a single stack 9mm pistol.
Uses phrases like "rocking awesome."

A chimp with access to an indoor range and a typewriter may well have done better.

Gats Italian - you sir, just won the internet - truth, ha ha!

[marine6680]

I can confirm the sticky slide issue. Feels rough overall when pulling the slide back. You can feel every stage of the Peterson action... I am sure there is supposed to be some added resistance after the initial fraction of an inch, where the breech block contacts the stop, but other areas feel rough as well.

This gun feels like it NEEDS a break in to work well.


The example I seen did not feel bad around the safety, one side was a little sharper than the other when feeling with my finger, but the safety did not go so far that I felt the sides would pose a problem with possible hurting of the hand during firing. Overall it felt comfortable, but heavy... It is a steel gun after all.

Interesting, but I feel it needs to go through the first production run tweaking first before I would consider getting one. But I don't have the money to blow on one "just for funsies" if it does turn out to be a problem gun.

[Armybrat]

Well, guess I'll be happy to stick with my 85 year old M51 in .380.

[Cheapshooter]

Got to see, touch, and feel one today. Remington has a promotional trailer set up at a new Gander Mountain grand opening in my area. I went in expressly to look at a R51.
I've read the thread about problems, and am aware, so no need to mention that.
My impression of the new Remington is simple....It just jumped to the top of my short list. Reported problems or not! The more I saw pics of it, the morw I liked it. Now I've had a chance to actually hold one it has sealed the deal.
It is heavier than the plastic wonder guns, and has a "real gun" feel. It holds very naturally in my hand, although being a slim single stack the grips feel a bit narrow. The trigger is crisp, and what feels like a perfect pull weight. What some have been calling a rough, or gritty feel of the slide to me just feels "mechanical". Not the silky smooth fell of some highly polished precision instrument, but rather the feel of a piece of machinery ready to work. The grip safety, the only external safety, was easy, and natural to operate. No odd contortions of my hand needed. One note, I see why there is no other manual safety on the gun....It just doesn't need one! The grip safety has a tactile feel with more movement, and pressure needed than any of my 1911 style pistols, or Springer XD I have. An almost audible "click" when it is pressed to the "fire" position. So in my mind, it does have a manual safety. You just operate it with the web of your hand, not your thumb.