[Clyde]

Wintertime when I am wearing a jacket, a 1911A1. Summertime when lighter clothing is needed, my Remington 51.

 

[Clyde]

That's a classic, Clyde. Is she in .32 or .380? I have a Sig P225/P6 that I keep in my car when I'm not at school, otherwise concealed carry is verboten. I'd like to upgrade to a HK USP Compact in .45, a CZ-75 Compact in .40 or a Sig in .45, though.

380. Feeds modern HP ammo well. A bit heavy, compared to some, what with being all steel but very flat, nothing to catch anywhere and reliable. And points perfectly and insinctively. Much better hang in the hand than the little Colt or Browning pocket autos (which ain't abd - but the Remington is better - noticeably better). Somebody ought to copy its shape and configuration in alloy or titanium, or maybe a polymer frame and a titanium upper. You can do the insides and disassembly better than Pedersen did, but I'd leave it single action with the grip safety. Maybe make the safety lever a bit easier to flick (it is sport of small), but try to change things as little as possible. GOT to keep that perfect balance and shape.

 

[Clyde]

To provide a bit more info on Mr. Chaney's question about the Remington 51: it's a golden oldie designed by John Pedersen who brought you the Remington .22 pumps, the Remington 14 centerfire pump rifles, the Pedersen device for the 03 Springfield of World War I fame, the Remington Model 10 pump shotgun, etc. I forget when the 51 was discontinued: prior to 1930 I'm sure. Pedersen was a very active and successful designer and if I recall right, the US Navy was considering during World War I possibly adopting one of his designs in lieu of the Model 1911 Colt. Mostly because M1911 production was so backlogged. Remington was sort of late getting into the pocket pistol market which was actually strongest prior to the US entry into World War I and they never sold as many as Savage or Colt (the biggest player in the field using Browning's patents). But many more than the Smith and Wesson .35s or even rarer .32s which were a design licensed from the Belgian Clements company.
Another uncommon thing about the Remington 51 was that unlike the Colts or Savages, there were more .380 Remington .380s made than .32s.
Never have seen all that many of them. Neat guns. I'd imagine getting parts for them could be problematic should anything ever break.

Yeah, parts are a problem, but it is possible to find them. You wouldn't want to shoot it a whole lot, just enough to make sure it feeds the selected ammo and a reasonable amount of familiarization to keep your hand in. But mechanically good but worn finish examples are to be found in reasonable quantity and so - I carry mine when (small) size is important.


Beyond the other things mentioned in re Pedersen's design history, his semi-auto design (a toggle-locked design) was the competition for John C. Garand's design at Springfield for the new battle rifle for the US Army in the 1920s and for much of the period of competition was actually rated ahead of the Garand.