Remingtons have passed through my hands in numbers I forget over the years: several 870s, all 12 gauge, 700 BDLs in .222 and .22/250 when prairie dogs were a weekend diversion and a Model 11 project gun that broke me of cursing inanimate objects. They all worked as advertised, but I never got attached to any of them. Possibly because a worn folding stock 870 was my midnight companion, I viewed them as tools. Each night I checked the oil in the engine, the air in the tires and the buckshot in the Remington. In time they each reached the status of trading stock and disappeared. I doubt if I had $200 in the most expensive of them.

My bride, on the other hand, owns exactly one shotgun, a LightWeight 20 gauge 870 which I gave her about a year before the wedding. She thinks it's beautiful. For about 10 years it was the only Remington in the safe.

Within the past 3 years it has been joined by 2 RM380s (his and hers) a 16 gauge Model 11 Sportsman (the poor man's Sweet 16) and (gasp) an R51.

After initial disappointment over faulty magazines and a longer than expected break in period I had an enjoyable day at the range with the R51 today. Big Green replaced 3 of my 4 magazines free of charge. For a $178 (after rebate) 9mm, I'm growing fond of it. It fits the same Walther PPK holsters I used with a Bersa Thunder .380 and packs way more punch. It dutifully plunks SIG V-Crown 124 gr HPs in the 10 ring with monotonous regularity at 10 yards. As the most vilified new handgun of the past 20 years, nobody will want it in trade, so it will probably stay with me.

The Sportsman shoots so well I may sell off my doubles and Ithaca 37.

The RM380s just work. I gave both of them my normal 200 round shakedown before we started carrying them. Neither needed it.

Remington has fallen on hard times before, having been bailed out by Union Metallic Cartridge and Winchester in 1888 and by DuPont during the Depression. I expect it to survive, which I can't say of the R51.

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I need ammo, not a ride.