Leading into SHOT Show 2014 just over a year ago, the Remington R51 generated tremendous buzz.

Pre-production models of 9mm concealed carry pistol had run like clockwork in the hands of a number of gun writers invited to test the new pistol, and the retro-modern design and price point seemed to ensure that “Big Green” had a winner on it’s hands… and then reality intruded.

As engineers will be the first to tell you, building a product on a small scale is easy, but ramping up from prototypes to commercial production can cause all sorts of headaches. The first batch of commercial R51s that went out the door had numerous, serious problems, and many were quickly recalled. Others ran like a top.  We reviewed the R51 here at Bearing Arms last year, and despite the problems we encountered with our test gun, we saw potential in the design.

Rumors have flown off and on for months that Remington was simply simply going to drop the R51 from their line due to last year’s botched launch, but when the doors opened for SHOT Show 2015, a revised R51 that reportedly addressed not only the mechanical reliability issues but some of the more common gripes, such as smoothing out the “hitch” in the Pedersen action and creating a discernible trigger reset point that was missing in the 2014 version.

Did Remington correct all the issues in the 2014 and add enough enhancements to make the 2015 R51 the concealed carry pistol we hoped it would be last year?  We’re sincerely hoping that they did, and hope to start seeing these showing up in the hands of reviewers soon.