Picture of a Remington 51 from collection of article originator. Serial Number Digitally concealed. Released to Public Domain.
Model 51
Type	Pocket Pistol
Nationality	America
Era	Early 20th Century
History
Date of design	{{{date}}}
Production period	{{{prod_date}}}
Service duration	{{{serv_date}}}
Operators	George S. Patton
War service	WW II (Informal)
Specifications
Type	Pistol
Calibre	380 ACP / 32 ACP
Barrel length	{{{barrel}}}
Ammunition	Round-Nosed only
Magazine	Box
Action	Semi-Automatic
Rate of fire	N/A
Muzzle velocity	{{{muzzle_vel}}}
Weight	{{{weight}}}
Length	{{{length}}}
Variants	No Major
Number built	30-60,000?

A small 'pocket pistol' of the early 20th century. Designed by John Pedersen, made and manufactured by Remington for the American civilian market. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (816x612, 154 KB)Remington Model 51 pistol. ... George S. Patton, Jr. ... The word caliber (American English) or calibre (British English) comes from the Italian calibro, itself from the Arabic quâlib, meaning mould. ... John Douglas Pederson was a prolific arms designer from Wyoming. ...

Description

Basically, the design is similar in layout to a Walther PPK blowback style with a stationary barrel and recoil spring surrounding the barrel. The Remington Model 51 uses an internal hammer and features a single-action trigger. A unique combination lever on the rear of the grip-frame acts as a safetly, bolt hold-open device, and bolt release. Another unique and defining feature is the use of a separate bolt inside the slide. This is a tilting bolt that locks into recesses in the frame on either side of the magazine. When 'locked' the bolt is actually a fraction of an inch forward of the frame recesses. When the gun is fired, the bolt and slide move together a short distance. During that time, the gun is acting as a blowback. When the bolt lugs contact their mating surfaces, the slide continues rearward with the momentum it acquired in the initial phase. This allows chamber pressure to drop to safe levels while the bolt is locked and the cartridge slightly extracted. Once the slide moves back far enough, it lifts the bolt from its locking recess, continuing the firing cycle. This is a truly locked breech. One can insert a dowel in the barrel and push on the bolt. It will move a fraction of an inch and stop against the lugs. Retracting the slide opens the gun as you would expect. The Remington Model 51 was the only production pistol to utilize Pedersen's type of operating system. Walther PPK The Walther PP and Walther PPK are two pistols made in Germany and the United States (PPK). ...

Advantages

• Fixed barrel for accuracy, reliability, and simplicity of construction.
• Ability to handle greater pressure than a blowback yet without the size and weight penalty of other locking systems.
• The recoil spring can surround the barrel instead of occupying space below the barrel for a shorter profile gun.
• Due to its semi-blowback system, the gun handles a wider range of load pressures from light to heavy without malfunction.
• Lower actual recoil due to lighter recoiling parts.
• Less felt recoil due to lower bore axis.
• Greater accuracy due to stationary barrel.

Disadvantages

• The frame needs to be either made from steel, or contain a steel insert of some sort in the locking recesses.
• Machining the bolt and slide is difficult and takes many more operations than a traditional system.
• More expensive to manufacture than a blowback pistol.

History

The designer, John Pedersen, worked in concert with John Browning to design the Remington Model 17 which survives today as the Ithaca 37. He also designed the 'Pedersen Device' that converted the US Model 1903 into an autoloading intermediate caliber rifle! What he's probably most remembered for is providing the competition to John Garand with a toggle-bolt semi-auto rifle. This rifle used lubricated cases and a toggle-bolt system much like the Luger (pistol). John Douglas Pederson was a prolific arms designer from Wyoming. ... John Moses Browning (January 21, 1855–November 26, 1926), born in Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of weapons which were used in the U.S. military for decades in the 20th century. ... // Description The Ithaca 37 is a pump-action shotgun made in large numbers for the civilian, military, and police markets. ... Garand points out features of M-1 to Army generals John Cantius Garand (January 1, 1888 - February 16, 1974) was a designer of firearms most famous for creating the first semi-automatic rifle to be put into active military service, the M1 Garand. ... M1900 American Eagle Commercial A Luger (Pistole Parabellum), is a toggle lock pistol based on principles by Hiram Maxim. ...

The Remington Model 51 enjoyed limited success. Made in 32 and 380 calibers, it was marketed as a pocket pistol. It was more expensive than the Browning designed competition and not overly much smaller. While Pedersen was brilliant, he also tried to flaunt it with this pistol. The many safety features included a grip safety that operated as a slide release and many other novel ideas. The grips were held on with spring-tensioned studs and not a single screw in the whole gun. The market reaction seems to imply that he over-designed the Model 51.

The pistol was sound-enough in design to be accepted as a substitution for the 1911 during the First World War as the scaled-up Remington Model 53. It offered many advantages in size and shootability over the 1911 but was never produced beyond the prototypes; production on the 1911 kept pace with wartime demands and a substitute wasn't needed. Because of the lower bore axis and lighter slide, the Remington 53 boasted half the felt recoil of the M1911 and was said to be much more accurate attested to by noted expert Julian Hatcher.

In the 1970's and 80's, an inventor named Ross Rudd attempted to market another 45 pistol based on the Pedersen design. This gun failed mostly because of a lack of business sense on the inventor's part.

See Also

• Pedersen device
• Ithaca 37