Does anyone remember when Remington tried to get into handguns? They had a few 1911s that seemed mostly fine. Then they had the disastrous Remington R51. The R51 absolutely demolished Remington’s handgun reputation and most people totally forget about the RP9 and RM380.
The RP9 was basically a GLOCK clone. A polymer-framed, striker-fired 9mm. It would give most of us the biggest yawn imaginable today. The RM380, however, was a bit different.
Freedom Group, the private equity holding company that owned Remington in the bad old days, was great at two things — recalls and buying companies. In 2014, they purchased Rohrbaugh, a company known for producing the extremely tiny 9mm handgun, the R9. They also produced the Rorhbaugh 380, which was often overshadowed by the 9mm model.
Remington acquired the company in 2014, the same year they released the catastrophically flawed R51. When they bought Rohrbaugh, they didn’t seem too interested in producing the 9mm version, which would directly compete with the R51. Remington didn’t have a .380, though, so they built the RM380, based on the Rohrbaugh.
The RM380 – Remington’s Forgotten Pocket Rocket
Remington modified the Rohrbaugh pistol to make it easier to mass-produce and likely lower the price. Rohrbraugh handguns weren’t cheap, and still aren’t. The RM380 had an MSRP of $417 which, compared to Rohrbaugh’s $1,100 price point, was downright cheap.
Beyond making mass production easier, Remington added a few touches to make the little gun more appealing to the mass market. The original Rohrbaugh guns were incredibly simple, purpose-built pocket pistols. They lacked a slide release and used a heel magazine release.
The RM380 added an ambidextrous magazine release and a slide lock. Remington also kept the metal frame, making it one of the few modern pocket .380s to use one. Maybe the only one.
For a pocket pistol, I’m not utterly convinced those changes were necessary. The heel mag release kept the pistol’s profile smooth and simple, and if I’m packing a pocket gun, I’m not convinced I need a slightly faster reload. The slide release and lock are nice, not downsides by any means, but not necessary.
The gun uses a long, smooth double-action-only, hammer-fired design. The magazine holds six .380 ACP rounds and the gun originally came with two magazines. One featured a finger extension and one sat flush. My used model came with only the finger extension magazine.
Internally, the gun uses the tried-and-true Browning short-recoil tilt-barrel design. It’s much better than something like straight blowback. We get a lot less recoil overall, which is critical for a micro-sized .380.
Speaking of micro-sized, the RM380 weighs 12.2 ounces, it’s .95 inches wide, 5.27 inches long overall with a 2.75-inch barrel. It’s quite small, just a hair bigger than something like the Ruger LCP.
At the Range With the RM380
I didn’t expect much from the RM380. It’s a Remington handgun and I still have a bad taste left over from the R51. Color me surprised, then, that the RM380 worked. With 300 rounds of .380 down the pipe, it’s largely reliable. Will it break over long-term use? Maybe, but compared to the R51, it’s a big step above in basic reliability.
The RM380 has micro-sized sights built directly into the slide. They aren’t great, but better than nothing. Under tinted eye protection, I had a hard time finding the front sight. I’m not an old man (yet), but I need something more than just a nub to be fast and accurate.
The sights need a little dab from the old paint pen at the very least. At ten yards, I could produce a 2.5-inch group off-hand. That’s not terrible at all for such a small gun. At 25 yards, I could hit an IPSC-sized steel target more than I missed. It just took a real careful sight picture and slow trigger pull to make those hits.
Speaking of the trigger, it’s long — really long — but surprisingly light and smooth. Like, perfectly smooth without any grit or grind. It’s actually approaching Seecamp levels of decent double-action trigger pulls.
What happens when you combine a long double-action trigger with a small trigger guard? Well, you don’t get a whole lot of room. I don’t ride the reset, but man, you’re best off just slapping your trigger finger into the front of the guard to get ready for the next shot.
I Hate Pocket .380s
I’m also shocked that the recoil doesn’t suck. I hate — and I mean hate — pocket .380s. Outside of the Bodyguard 2.0, pocket .380s are painful and difficult to shoot for the most part. Making accurate follow-up shots is hard. That’s why I carry a KelTec P32.
The RM380 isn’t your typical .380 pocket pistol. It doesn’t suck to shoot. In fact, it’s downright comfortable. The recoil isn’t intense enough to shift the gun in your hand, it doesn’t give you arthritis, and you can make fast follow-up shots. I can do a three-second Bill Drill from the low ready, but man, I just barely keep all six rounds in the A-zone.
The metal frame and three-quarters-of-a-pound weight help, as does the short-recoil design. Plus, the design incorporates a dual nested recoil spring to tame recoil even further. The grip is decently textured, but Remington missed the mark by not adding a little texture to the rear of the grip.
Ergonomically Well Made
The magazine release works well. It’s not overly tight or difficult to press like some other small gun ambi release designs. The slide release sits super-tight to the frame, but it’s surprisingly easy to use. I expected more resistance, but there’s hardly any, and the slide releases with ease.
The grip is short but features a good trigger guard undercut that lets you get a decent hold on the gun, especially when paired with the pinky extension mag. I’ve got big hands, but the RM380 fits me quite nicely.
Even with dual nested recoil springs, the slide isn’t difficult to rack. In fact, it’s easy compared to similar-sized .380s. The gun’s very ergonomically inclined.
The Little RM380 In Pieces
Taking the RM380 down is…interesting. Do the norm: drop the magazine, clear the chamber, and retract the slide about a quarter of an inch. That aligns that weird hole in the slide with the internal lock pin. Typically, it just falls out, but you can press it out with a punch, pen, or whatever.
Once the pin is out, slide the slide off the frame. From there, you remove the recoil spring and barrel. It’s fairly simple once you remove that pin.
Almost Great
Man, maybe if Remington hadn’t destroyed their reputation with the R51, the RM380 would have been a popular pistol. They could have discontinued the R51 and introduced the RM9, and had another winner.
The RM380 is spretty soft-shooting, accurate enough, and surprisingly refined for a Freedom Group Remington. Oh, what might have been.
The R51 was horrible. The Gen 2 fix did fix some of the issues and it didn’t fire out of battery any more and it became a little more reliable but overall still basically unreliable.