We’re friends with a lot of people who, just like us, test new firearms. And the view among those who we trust and know to be credible is that Remington’s new R51 has been a disaster. What we’re hearing now from those with knowledge of the situation is that buyers who have returned their R51s to Remington for repair, hoping that Big Green can fix them aren’t getting much satisfaction. After repeated calls to Remington asking when their guns will be repaired, Remington has reportedly stated that there currently is no time frame because. . .
They haven’t managed to engineer a fix yet.
Here’s one anecdotal example from the Remington forum:
When I first contacted them they indicated an 8 day turnaround time. After they had had my gun for 10 days I contacted them again, and was told that the turnaround time is 2 weeks from the time they received the gun. After 15 days I contacted them again and was told that they are waiting on “updated” internal parts before they send any returns back. It would probably be “several” more weeks.
I do not care for being an unpaid part of the research, development, and testing department for anyone.
Big Green is reeling from the tens of millions of dollars they’re having to spend on the Remington 700 trigger recall. So if they’re aware of an issue with the R51, they sure as heck aren’t likely to admit it publicly. Another costly recall on a brand new gun and yet more money spent fixing engineering issues? You can imagine why Remington Outdoor’s president was recently canned.
If what we’re hearing is true, Big Green has another big problem on its hands.