Remington 51 - Development

Development

John Pedersen designed or helped design many firearms for the Remington Arms Company. He had worked in concert with John Browning to design the Remington Model 17 which served as the basis for the Remington Model 31, Ithaca 37, Browning BPS, and Mossberg 500. He designed the Pedersen device that converted the M1903 Springfield into an autoloading intermediate-caliber weapon. Pedersen later worked for the US Army and provided competition to John Garand building an autoloading rifle to fire a full-power rifle cartridge. His design used lubricated cases and a toggle-bolt system much like the Luger pistol but eventually lost out to the M1 Garand.

Made in .380 ACP and later in .32 ACP caliber, it was marketed as a pocket pistol. While the European market embraced small-caliber pocket pistols, the American market favored revolvers. More expensive than the Browning-designed competition, the Model 51 was not much smaller. Furthermore, Remington was a company known for their long guns; their handguns had previously been limited to revolvers forced to play second fiddle to Colt in terms of sales.

Due to these factors, the Remington Model 51 enjoyed only limited commercial success. If competing with cheaper single-action blowback autoloaders made sales difficult, the stock market crash made sales nearly impossible. Impending autoloading pocket pistols like the Walther PPK ended any chance of further success by Remington pistols. For the smaller calibers it was made in, blowback operated pistols were cheaper, only slightly heavier, and did not produce excessive recoil. While the locking mechanism is still superior in many respects, the disadvantages in its complex trigger and safety mechanisms made the pistol difficult to sell. In many respects, the pistol came too early. In the 1980s and beyond, companies like Glock promoted their pistols' multiple, intuitive safety systems and advanced human engineering. These were both features Pedersen had pioneered over half a century prior.

General George S. Patton owned a Remington 51 and was thought to favor the weapon. Despite critical praise, no government or private agency is known to have adopted the weapon for use. Some examples are seen today with inventory numbers, however their origin is unknown. An anchor proof marking on some pistols has led to the mistaken belief that they were US Navy pistols bolstered by the fact that the Amry did indeed recommend a .45-caliber version for adoption.

In the 1970s and 1980s, an inventor named Ross Rudd designed and prototyped a .45 ACP caliber pistol based on the Pedersen layout but with an inclined surface in place of the locking surface. This served to delay the opening of the breech rather than locking it. The pistol was planned for manufacture, but was never produced. The Italian firm Benelli produced limited numbers of B76, B80, and B82 pistols similar to the Rudd pistol however utilizing a lever-delayed blowback system.