Remington .380 semi auto pistol

[mmills]

Can anyone tell me anything about this particular pistol. On both plastic grips are "Remington UMC". On the barrel is stamped ".380 cal".

Thanks,
Mike Mills

[Mike Strietbeck]

In 1913, John D. Pedersen began working on a new autoloading pocket pistol. He filed for a basic patent on this pistol on July 30, 1915, but the war in Europe would soon put a halt to his efforts. He revised his application after the war on July 17, 1919, and he was eventually issued U.S. Patent #1,348,733 on August 3, 1920, although the pistol was in full production at Remington’s Ilion Works at that time. In all, Pedersen and other Remington designers such as Crawford C. Loomis, G.H. Garrison, H. Askler and C.B. Dygert were issued twenty-nine U.S. patents for improvements on the Remington Model 51 pistol over a ten-year period.
Developmental work by Pedersen, which had been halted during the war, resumed in 1919, and Remington tooled-up to manufacture this autoloader for the civilian market. After months spent changing over military production machinery, the first Model 51 pistols were ready in September 1919, selling for $36.30 each. This hammerless pistol had the distinction of being the first new firearm developed and sold by Rem-UMC after the war. The action is a unique combination blowback-recoil system--a hesitation or impinging action. Initially these 7-shot autoloaders were chambered for the .380 REM AUTOLOADING cartridge, and full production was in effect by 1920.
Remington introduced a .32 ACP version of the Model 51 pistol in August 1921, with an initial selling price of $25ºº. The magazine held eight rounds, one more than the .380 pistol magazine.
Remington announced on August 18, 1926 that they were discontinuing the Model 51 autoloading pistol. In all, 64,796 pistols had been made in only seven years of production.

Mike Strietbeck