Author Topic: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...  (Read 3944 times)

Offline DDGator

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Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« on: July 16, 2014, 10:38:58 AM »
See this link:  http://gunssavelives.net/gun-industry/remington-scrubs-almost-all-mention-of-r51-pistol-from-their-website/#

You all may recall some controversy surrounding this pistol launch.  It made a big splash at the SHOT Show, but was not available for shooting on media day.  A select group of writers got to shoot it at a special event, but other test guns have been hard to get.  Reviews of a few guns in the wild were not good.  Now, it appears the gun has disappeared off the Remington website.

I have mixed feelings about this.  I don't jump to the conclusion that Remington was trying to mislead the public by selling a crap gun and limiting access to it...  That doesn't make any business sense.  I do think the gun may not have been ready for prime time at SHOT, and they felt pressure to get it out.  However, given the time since SHOT it seems a little foreboding that they haven't worked out the problems yet.  Maybe this is going to be a false start for them.  Perhaps there was a reason that pistol design had fallen to the dustbin of history...

However, the fact that they would quietly ditch a pistol design that they put a lot of R&D and marketing into, without even so much as an announcement, is a bit scary to us R-9 afficionados...

« Last Edit: July 16, 2014, 10:41:13 AM by DDGator »
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Offline tracker

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Re: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2014, 11:01:59 AM »

I was quite surprised to see one for sale yesterday at an Academy store. The price was $399.xx

Offline Svarog

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« Last Edit: July 16, 2014, 03:54:37 PM by Svarog »

Offline C0untZer0

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Re: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2014, 11:38:22 PM »
It makes me worry that they don't have the people to make a high-quality R9.

Offline DDGator

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Re: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2014, 10:30:55 PM »

Well, they started with a questionable, vintage design.  At least they have a better start on the R-9.  However, point taken.

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Offline DDGator

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Re: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2014, 11:36:53 PM »

http://www.gunsandammo.com/2014/07/25/remington-r51-pistol-update/

Interesting development.  They are definitely stepping up by providing a new pistol, two extra magazines, and a Pelican case to the unfortunate early adopters.

Interestingly, they explain away the discrepancy with the initial review units by blaming it on production problems in the transition from prototype to production models. 

The promise of starting production in October would put it around the same time as R-9 production--and would be consisted with what I have heard about lots of new CNC machines being delivered to Pineville.
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Offline the_skunk

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Re: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2014, 12:44:28 PM »
I can't abide by 'Jam-a-matics', no matter how niffty they look. I got a plastic LC9 (pure butt-ugly, and rough construction) but the gun works, and that's 99% of the battle

Offline tracker

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Re: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2014, 12:51:32 PM »

There is more than a strong rumor that Remington is moving everything, including Para USA, to Huntsville AL. If this is true I don't understand all new CNC equipment moving to Pineville. A Para USA employee told me that they are moving to Huntsville but without him.
 

Offline DDGator

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Re: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2014, 11:21:05 AM »

Based on new information I have heard -- I think both things are true and that the new CNC machines may have been moved yet again.  Nothing about this seems very organized.

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Offline DDGator

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Re: Remington R-51 seems to have disappeared...
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2014, 11:24:18 AM »

Here an update from Richard Mann, one of the early reviewers who praised the R-51:

http://ramworks.net/blog/the-tale-of-and-the-truth-about-remingtons-r-51/

Richard is a stand-up guy, and all of the above makes sense to me.  I can believe that Remington had unexpected issues with mass production that were not present in the more hand-fitted media prototypes.

I still don't think Remington has handled this very well.  The response isn't bad, it was just a LONG TIME COMING.   Sound familiar?   ???
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