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rm380

We happened to run into some of the Remington boys at dinner last night, including one of the guys responsible for their new RM380 pocket pistol. And a nicer group of guys they could not have been. Even to us! So when the doors opened to the NRA exhibit hall this morning, I made my way to their booth to check out the new pocket pistol. Yes, it’s a little late to the .380 party. More than a year later than the G42, which was almost universally dinged for being late when it intro’d last year. But maybe that’s because they took the time to get this one right . . .

The RM380 feels good in the hand (especially with the pinky-extension mag). The slide works smoothly and surely. Best of all, the trigger feels pretty great for a mouse gun. It’s a long, very smooth pull to a nice break. Think Kahr’s revolver-mimicing striker-fired trigger, although the RM380 is a DAO design.

And that’s about all I could tell from playing with it at the booth. Rest assured we’ll get our hands on one — one way or another — and give it a full and fair review. But given that you never get a second chance to make a first impression, the RM380 managed to get off on the right foot.

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37 COMMENTS

  1. Good, no sharp edges that can hang up on pocket, form follows function… KISS.
    Looking forward to the review.

  2. The R51 looked good at shows too; lets get an in depth torture test review. Big Green will have a lot of work to do before they earn any business back from me.

    • Yes. Light and compact enough to be comfortably concealed and carried all day usually equals unpleasant recoil. I’d much rather shoot a full sized .45 or .357 as my airweight j frame with hot .38 loads.

    • Although it has more recoil and muzzle flip than a 4″ Springfield XD 9mm, my Kahr 9 mm CW9 (3.5″ barrel and a three finger grip) has significantly less recoil than my compact Kimber .45. In fact, the first time I took it out after purchase, I shot through its whole 200 round mfr recommended break-in without issue or fatigue. Try one, you’ll see. It is definitely not a punishing gun to shoot.

  3. Isn’t this just a Rohrbaugh? Rem bought them about a year ago.

    It would take some serious effort to screw this one up, since Rohrbaugh had already done the development work for them!

    However, Big Green seems to have a special talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, so I’m not going to get my hopes up.

      • I’d hazard a guess the price point is lower because it doesn’t have to handle 9x19mm. Lots of corners can be cut with the decrease in pressure/velocity/bullet weight.

        • The Rohrbaugh was the same price in 9 and .380. I’m wondering if Remington is going to also produce the 9mm version, and if that will kill off the R51.

  4. KISS. That was my knee-jerk, first -sight thought, too. Aesthetics are nice, but a veeery distant second on an EDC tool.

  5. Anybody else think that mag base plate might be a bit much for pocket carry? Just looks like something that’s asking to get hung up on the corner of your pocket to me.

  6. Sorry if I get another pocket pistol in 380 it will be a Taurus TCP. Had one and wish I still did. Perfect trigger and ran great…for 200bucks. And there are LOTS of other 380’s to choose from that aren’t Remington…

    • To be completely honest, I continue looking to replace my TCP with something from a “respectable” brand just for appearances sake. However, nothing I’ve shot — and I’ve shot most of ’em! — has been as good. My TCP keeps running and running and running, it has one of the smoothest triggers out there, and it’s freaking accurate. Plus skinny and lightweight. And can be had brand new for under $200. If it had a different logo on it, I’m not sure anybody would buy anything else.

      • I believe it was a TCP that the old guy used to shoot up the 2 punks trying to rob the cyber cafe in Florida. TTAG covered that one pretty thoroughly.

        His TCP worked like a charm.

        • Oh yeah. 0% concerns that it won’t function. The pistol is rock solid for me. However, should I ever be involved in a situation like that, I’d sure as hell rather be seen in the news with my HK P7 than with my TCP 😉

        • That P7 is a hellava gun. But it’s mighty weighty. It might get left behind in favor of the TCP or other, more convient, pistol to carry.

  7. “And a nicer group of guys they could not have been. Even to us! ”

    Do you think that it might, just *might*, be sinking in that deliberately antagonizing the press just might not be a bright thing for a company to do?

    Ad Week has a page on adapting what’s commonly known as “Greener’s Law” (the saying on picking fights with someone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton).

    http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/ink-by-the-barrel-on-the-internet/252889

    “Never pick a fight with someone who buys their bandwidth by the gigabyte. (From Darrell Patrick)
    Never pick a fight with someone who gets more than a million uniques a month (From Lewis)”

    • Yes, these high speed low drag operators will indeed be brave and true. We will be thanking them for their valiant service to the gun buying public. Looks very dangerous, you go first!

  8. Since the R51 debacle remains unresolved, the involuntary skepticism and mistrust of informed prospective buyers for any Remington firearm, especially a new borrowed design pistol, is well earned by Big Green and will linger for some time. The “so far so good” optimism from anyone at Remington doesn’t evoke much confidence. A year or two down the road we’ll know if Remington is actually capable of mass producing the slightly modified and greatly economized Rohrbaugh pistol design marketed as the RM380. The devil is in the details of Remington quality control in the production process and it will take some time for those details to be revealed.

  9. Shotguns and rifles Remington. Stick to what you know. Your reputation in the semi auto pistol relm is too damaged for anyone to trust in your product

  10. Cerberus Capital Management.

    Isn’t Remington still owned by this company? The same company run by a bunch of bean counters and politicians (think Dan Quayle) who drove Chrysler into the ground. If you want a quality gun, it needs to made by people who love guns.

  11. On 11/01 I was told by my LGS, they’d have one on Tuesday 11/03, they sold it 1 1/2 hours after it hit the sales floor. I’ll let you know what I think of the little bugger after I get er cleaned up and take it out; hopefully this Sunday. Looks nice, feels nice and the price was reasonable too; $50 less than MSRP. Hopefully it won’t need the re-strike capability, like the Sigs I’ve owned did . . . . yep P232 and P290RS, both with re-strike and both needed it many times. Anyway, I’ll post an update on the RM380 after I take er out and blow its’ brains out . . . hee hee . . . .

  12. Wholesalers claim to be shipping in-stock guns according to the flyers I’m currently receiving. However, I have yet to find a pocket pistol that meets all the requirements I believe many handgun owners and potential handgun owners desire in a carry pistol (particularly those who have weak or sensitive hands): reliable; snag-free and small, but not too small to hold comfortably; adequate punch (380 and up); decent sights; light weight; low recoil; reasonable price; comfortable grips (ribbed neoprene would be nice), light DAO type trigger, and in the case of semi autos, an easy to rack slide. This last feature appears to be particularly important to women. To date I have found only one design that adequately meets this final requirement, the Sig P238. The P238 is SA, which is fine for those who shoot regularly with it and use an adequate holster, but for the majority of people who do not, it may not be the best option.

    • I am sure the P238 is nice, however it does seem a bit pricey for a 380, so I opted for the P938 with the Hogue replacement grips and the extension mag that holds 7 rounds. It’s an excellent shooter for a small size carry gun and can be purchased for a reasonable price if you look around. My only complaint with it, one day my guide rod popped out! Didn’t realize it’s a two piece threaded unit; good thing I wasn’t shooting it the day that happened! Since the I have reassembled it using pliers (cloth wrapped) and adjustable wrench to tighten it up. Took it out today and ran about 50 rounds through it, all appears to be a ok.

  13. Picked up one of these on November 3rd, cleaned it last night by candlelight, my power was out for almost 24 hours! Today while the power was still out, I went to the range and shot this little pocket piece. Before I go to far, with regard to disassembly, not too bad; the little pin came out with the aid of a plastic WD40 straw, going back in, not quite as easy. It was being very difficult, so I had to kind of jiggle the slide and pin at the same time, to get it to slide the last 1/4 of an inch in.

    Back to the range; loading up the magazine was a piece of cake (unlike a prior P290RS I had). I didn’t shoot any with the magazine that is flush, this time, as I don’t ever see myself using that one; the one with the mag extension is great, 3 fingers on the grip and the pinky curled under (just like my LCP w/extension). First shot took longer than I imagined. It’s one long trigger. After the first two mags I already seemed relatively accustomed to it. By the time I got to the 5th mag, I was pretty used to the sighting and it appears to very accurate, at least out to 7.5 yards. Generally do most of my practice between 5 and 10; which is about as far as you should be if shooting in self defense (unless they of course shot at you from that distance). That’s another debate though. Did not have one failure to feed, eject, or hang up of any sort at all. I only ran through 78 rounds, but I am confident this will be a reliable unit. I had another new toy to try out too, and don’t like to shoot for more than 1 1/2 hours at a time. Gets a bit rough on the joints the older you get, late 50’s already. The RM380 is much more friendly on the hand and fingers than the LCP is (if you don’t have the Hogue grip upgrade). I am sure much is due to the fact that it weighs more, being an alloy rather than polymer gun; but it is only 2.5 oz extra (equates to 25% more) it is also wider by .14 inches or 18%. It all adds up to a nicer experience. If it had a rubber replacement grip panel, it would be even better and rumor is it will in the not too distant future. This will most likely be added to my backup carry piece rotation, after I’ve put another couple hundred rounds through it.

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