On Friday, July 25, Remington, America's oldest firearms manufacturer, announced that its production models of the new R51 pistol had "performance issues" and that they would cease shipping until solutions were found [Remington Clarifies R51 Status]. Production of the R51 is scheduled to come back online in October. In the meantime, those who bought the R51 can send it back for a replacement later this fall in the company's unofficial recall. It was not a good day in the land of Big Green where not only were they disappointing customers but also outdoor writers who tested the early "prototype" version at SHOT Show and were now feeling burned...especially if you had the gun featured on the cover of your magazine at the same time the non-recall recall was announced, a la the September issue of GUNS. Now compare that to just two weeks later when Smith & Wesson, the other big gun maker with deep roots in the American gun making culture dating back over the last 162 years, introduced their new M&P22 Compact pistol. S&W announced the pistol on Tuesday, August 12 and had what one source termed "significant inventory" sitting on distributor shelves ready to ship to dealers for sale on Wednesday to eager consumers all across the country. While the M&P22 Compact might not seem like a new product as much as a line extension for those of you familiar with the earlier M&P22 introduced back in 2011, the pistol is in fact a new model and being made in-house by Smith & Wesson, and not for them by their previous manufacturing partner Walther. More importantly, Smith & Wesson chose to introduce the gun when it was ready and not at the industry's trade show when gun makers had traditionally introduced their new wares. The old model of product introduction was based around SHOT Show where official public announcements would be made in hopes of generating excitement among distributors, dealers and consumers in order to plan actual production going forward. For many companies this could mean the spaghetti approach of throwing a few new models, in prototype form, against the wall to see which stuck, then hope to ship something later down the road. Taurus had been famous, or infamous, for this approach which often didn't result in an actual product shipping for as long as two, maybe three years. Read Jim Shepherd's feature, The Chasm Between Prototype and Production, for his analysis on how the prototype model as PR tool tripped up Remington. As companies came to realize that excitement generated on day one of SHOT Show couldn't be sustained for months (or years) on end, they adjusted their marketing model. The new paradigm in product introductions came with the October 18, 2007 release of Ruger's SR9 pistol. Kept under wraps and sold sight unseen to distributors - being Ruger has its privileges, after all - the rollout of the new gun redefined how companies in a new internet era release a product outside the confines of SHOT Show. Smith & Wesson replicated the Ruger template and improved upon it with its introduction of the M&P Shield (along with a variety of complimentary accessories from other companies) on Friday, April 13, 2012 during the first day of the NRA Show in St. Louis. They used the same process earlier this month when introducing the M&P22 Compact, though without the 73,000+ consumers going hands-on. For Smith & Wesson and Ruger, new products are launched on their terms and at a point on the schedule whenever they wish. Even Taurus, under the leadership of former President and CEO Mark Kresser, was announcing new products the same day they were shipping - and in significant quantity. Unfortunately for Remington, when it comes to handguns the company seems to still be figuring out its way to a successful product launch. Even with its first new handgun, the R1 1911, the process was drawn out over a lengthy period of time starting when Jim Shepherd broke the news in the Friday, November 20, 2009 edition of The Shooting Wire that Remington was indeed entering the handgun market. The new 1911 was expected to show up at the 2010 SHOT Show but wasn't formally introduced for another fours months when it was unveiled on Friday, May 14, 2010 at the NRA Show in Charlotte, N.C. Four years later the Remington website boasts just seven variations of the R1, despite the 1911 being one of the most popular handgun platforms with consumers. Even with a 1911 product development roadmap laid out for other gun makers to follow by Ron Cohen from his time as President of Kimber (now President of Sig Sauer), and the supposed synergies derived from Freedom Group's January 2012 acquisition of 1911 maker Para USA, the R1 1911 doesn't seem to have yet made its mark among the wide array of 1911s on the market. Looking back on the slow growth of the R1 line may have provided some insight as to what we've witnessed with the R51 rollout, but hindsight is always 20/20. Of course, the crazy spike in gun sales could have left Remington at capacity with no room for new R1 models. If that's true, the return to normalcy should pave the way for a flurry of new variations that the company has had in the can waiting for the right moment to release them. Moving forward the big questions for Remington revolve around whether or not the company can find its footing when it comes to manufacturing handguns. Can they fix the R51 issues and meet that promised October shipping deadline? And, can they successfully repair the damage done to the company's image with disgruntled consumers and those gun writers who feel burned? Considering that Cerberus Capital Management, current owners of Freedom Group, had been looking to take the company public in 2009, and then sell it off (as yet unsuccessfully) following the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, getting the handgun component of their business firing on all eight cylinders is probably more important than most realize when it comes to the future value of the company. The juxtaposition of the R51 "clarification" with the M&P22 Compact launch puts into stark contrast how vastly different the industry's two oldest gun makers bring new products to market. Smith & Wesson's successful efforts with recent new models clearly shows that an old dog can learn new tricks. Now it's up to executives at Remington to demonstrate that after 198 years Big Green hasn't run out of tricks of its own. - Paul Erhardt, Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network Got shooting sports news? Send us an email at info@shootingwire.com.