Possibly the First Remington Model 51?

[hipwr223]

I have recently come into possession of a Model 51 that might be pretty special . I has a handwritten note stating that is came from a Remington Employee named John Conklin Day and given to his son, Edward Day in 1916 and was eventually sold by Everett Day, son of Edward to John D. Wiley in 1975. It recently came to the market and could very possibly be serial number 1 or even a prototype.

I am no expert on Model 51's but it does have the early features with the peculiar feature of having the shell ejector as part of the magazine feedlips.

I'm all ears so if there are any experts here please chime in. I will try and post some pics...

[ChuckD]

hipwer223

Donald M. Simmons published an article on "Remington Model 51 Prototypes" in the May/June issue of Man at Arms. While the ejector magazine is a feature of the prototypes,it could be exchanged, and thus not a guarantee of a prototype. While there were several differences from the production Models, the easiest seen differences are the absence of a frame ejector and a magazine safety. The lack of these would indicate a prototype.
Also some of the known protos. didn't have Remington markings on top of the slide.
According to Remington factory records, 25, M-51's were first issued in 1918. However, John D Pedersen patented the M-51 in 1915, so yours could have been made in 1916.

I'm nor sure who might be conducting M-51 research now, but you might want to fill out the survey form found here:
https://www.remingtonsociety.org/reming ... k-hammond/
You may very well have a rare one.

ChuckD

[hipwr223]

Thanks for the survey link. I filled it out. Sadly there does not seem to be an overwhelmingly active collector interest in these fine old pistols. It will be interesting to see if I can find any useful history on this one none the less.