So long as it's not being made by a plant full of workers aware they're about to be shut down & laid off, the success of the gun becomes a possibility.
"MIM parts" --were among the better made portions of the R51, because --surprise-- they were contracted out to an outfit that
wasn't about to be shown the door
"Great big laser contraption that adds weight, adds complexity, and eats up grip area.
No thank you.
Great big rooster-tail on the magazine floorplate that eats up pocket space without adding capacity.
No thank you."
Sheesh, at least give Remington credit for having accessories available upon release; when's the last time a gun that wasn't identical to an existing offering able to claim the same? Heck, the R51 had grips, laser sight, night sights, and like three holsters ready to go, had Pineville not dropped a steaming torpedo in the shipping crate, marked "A-OK." That silly slide-release is a much dumber idea (seriously? Your gonna be doing tactical reloads from your 380 pocket piece? Won't you practically drop the gun if you reach back that far with your thumb?
)
"After the fiasco with the R51, Remington needs a home run"
I agree, but this is no home-run no matter how you slice it. It's a belated entry into a mature (i.e. profit-less) market with many competitors, and given Remington's capabilities, will
at best be a functional low-end offering (i.e. even lower profit margins) that will do little to enhance the brand name. I mean, look at it; it's about the ugliest finish for a pocket gun I've ever seen, and pocket guns seem to be one of those things folks typically prefer to look somewhat classy. I just don't think Remington knows their market, yet (I think Para does, but that they aren't the ones shot-calling marketing/R&D decisions)
The 'home run' was the R51. By every measure, Remington truly did swing for the fences with that project (or rather, they pointed the bat over the uprights
). A highly-secret internal project fast-tracked into full-scale production in the space of six months, to use an update of an operating system not explored for a century, and leveraging their marketshare to convince a number of third-party manufacturers to collaborate on a number of aftermarket accessories that were to be available out of the gate. And all to jump head-first into a market niche they have absolutely no experience with (1911's don't count, since that was Para's experience). I seriously can't think of another handgun with such an ambitious game plan. Certainly not for decades (most of the time, it's a glorious success if they have
magazines by the time the first units ship, and have been hamming-up the gun mags for a solid year)
But, some resource-manager in charge of divvying up production screwed up big time, and put a highly-sensitive, conspicuous project with a ton of moving parts and steep learning curve, in the hands of a plant that would literally be shut down once the last crate of the first shipment was delivered, and everything that entails as far as facilities support (tooling), worker morale, and professionalism. Not unlike a bone-headed decision by a Soviet Politburo to have slave-laborers on a shoe-string budget build missile components (no coincidence that they had so many rocket failures, despite having some of the world's best scientists with boundless resources)
TCB