On our June cover, we ran the Remington R51 9 mm semi-automatic pistol. The coverage was provided by our Ammo Editor, Richard Mann, one of the foremost gunwriters on the planet. I'm not going to give away what he said about the pistol. What I'd like to discuss is the virulent hatred this pistol has engendered on social media.
Many of the comments on our Facebook page when we provided a photo of the R51 from the magazine accused us of running "just bought and paid for advertising," only positive reviews and selling out to advertisers. I understand the sentiment, since sometimes we do review firearms made by advertisers, but that is not what drives our coverage.
I don't think anyone would dispute the R51 is worthy of coverage. It is an interesting design from one of the oldest and largest gun makers on the planet, and it is that company's first pistol chambered in 9 mm. You needn't like a gun to think it worthy of attention.
What's more, by covering a gun, we are not demanding you go out and purchase one. We provide one person's opinion of the single example they received for testing, along with shooting results using an apples-to-apples protocol so the gun in question can be compared to other similar guns we review. As a more famous entity says: "We report, you decide."
Simply put, the R51 was a major introduction for 2014 worthy of coverage by any outlet. We provided an honest review from someone who knows what he's writing about. If other individuals experienced difficulty with their R51s, that is certainly something they should report, but again, the reason they are reporting on it at all is because the gun is interesting and worthy of coverage.
I am confident we provided an honest review of the R51 based on Mann's testing. Others may have had a different experience. That's fine. No gun is perfect, and nowhere do we say the R51 is perfect.
We report honestly, and do so whether a company advertises with us or not. Period.
