The Remington R51 was probably the most hyped pistol going into the 2014 SHOT Shot, creating even more buzz than the Glock 42 (by that point we knew the G42 was a disappointing .380, instead of the single-stack 9mm most people seemed wanted).

When the R51 didn’t show up for Media Day at the Range and the samples in the Remington booth felt cheap, many in attendance at the show got the feeling that there might be something wrong with Remington’s new/old design.

The shoddy quality of the R51 in this video isn’t helping that perception, and raises the possibility that the glowing reviews of the pistol from a handpicked group of gunwriters in the latter part of 2013 came from hand-fitted guns, not representative production models.