Gman, that is very interesting that your smoke model has the serial number H014XXXR51.  Supposedly there were about 65,000 total units produced.  It is hard to get information from Remington on the production because of the recall and other litigations.  The list that I have of known serial numbers is only 195 owners long, but a good sampling from Prototypes, NC Gen 1s, NC Gen 2s, Huntsville Gen 2s, and Huntsville Smoke models.  I haven't tried calling customer service since the sell off, so I don't know if it is an option anymore, but you used to be able to call and they would tell you the production month and year of your R51.  Your serial number would suggest a spring 2017 production.  Maybe your lower frame was held over until the fall of 2017 when smokes were sold.  Or it could be an early test design that was proposed before the actual run happened.  That would be very cool, the prototype smoke model! 

I have never seen a lower frame marked "HSV", but ALL smokes are from Huntsville.  I would be very interested in your co-worker's gun digest book pages.  You should post the scans for all to see.

Just curious about your purchase, did it come in the original Remington box?  Was the box marked with material #96234?

Sebvox,

Yes mine was a complete box with everything in there except for the red wire lock and was bought at a gun store.  It was marked and was classified as a 96234-Blemish according to worker and on a label put over the original label.  It was put over on the used gun side out of sight.  They had a R51G1 from NC and this one.  You can see in picture it has a slight mark that made it not perfect so I assumed it was why it couldn't be sold as a brand new gun. I actually went that day trying to buy a 45 1911 gun made from Huntsville from an add the store put out stating last ones from Huntsville. He said he would go check and hunted for the 45 1911 but said walking away that a few days earlier they all sold out quick even before the add came out.  I was about to walk away and decided to asked if he had any 9MM just for the heck of it, because that's what I have wanted all along.  He said, we have one classified as a used Blem.  I was excited even if it was a used return and wanted to take a chance and I did.  I cannot seem to find a good enough mark inside the chamber to think it's even been shot and my co-worker believed that also.  Either way, the small mark is not enough to really detract me from grabbing it, and it could possibly be a put together from spare parts or something from the factory.  I'm not sure but unless it doesn't fire or work I'm happy and wanted a Huntsville gun.  I'm not an expert on these but I still need to take apart and check wear and get to know the gun and run some rounds through it to verify.  Ammo is crazy high these days and puts a strain on just shooting for fun for testing.  I will scan the page from my co-workers book and mention the actual name of the book etc. I need to verify anyway if all G2 smokes are made in Huntsville or not and if it was actually written in the digest.

2nd photo

Even though all manufacturing was moved to Huntsville in March of 2015, frames marked Charlotte were still being used up through December 2016 in Huntsville.  The first frames marked Huntsville start in January 2017.  All Smoke models are indeed made in Huntsville as they were introduced in September 2017.  Also, just because an R51 is marked Charlotte does not make it a G1.  G1s had a couple identifiers: R51 logo on the slide is in a different location and the sights do not have set screws.

I think that you are right that at the end of the production run they started using any and all extra parts to assemble guns and get them out the door.  I also think that your pistol could very well be the factory prototype model for the "Smoke" color variation.  This could explain the out of sequence serial number, blemish and used status.  Either way, it is going to be difficult to verify any information on the gun now.

No doubt at the end of production, Remingtons assembly line was probably very similar to Walther’s at the end of the War: use what parts you have left and get something functional out the door. It would be very interesting if your smoke model is indeed a factory prototype. The out of sequence serial number would suggest that as Remington might have pulled the frame from the line and set it aside for some reason. Thanks for posting!

Whoa! Very cool!

Glad to help.  The gun itself does not need any work, except periodic maintenance.  The only modification you need to make is to the magazines.  So no need to worry about modifying the gun.  First make sure that you have the revised Gen 2 magazines, which I'm sure you have.  Here is the video to fix the magazines, he demonstrates exactly what you are describing.  By the way, where (what general location) did you purchase the gun and have you asked them where they got it from?  Just curious how far away from Huntsville it traveled.

It's from a very well know gun dealer/store in Huntsville that's been there forever. When I asked him where it's from he didn't think it was from an individual and said it's  from a dealer or factory sell from what he thought.  This gun store buys lots of bulk stuff and sells a ton of stuff.  He was just one of 20 workers in the store.  I was just trying to get my hands on a Huntsville gun and I mentioned on above post that I was there for the 45 from Huntsville first because of a flyer he put.  They were gone instantly, so I asked if they had a 9mm by chance since I missed out many times before and he laughed and said no way but then started to walk to next customer and went wait, yes, we have two used ones.  I thought to myself, it's a return because of the issues they have but wanted to look at them and never thought about what he said earlier from a dealer or factory sell.  One was a black Gen 1 version that was not built in Huntsville I then picked up the smoke and asked if it came with anything else.  He told me it did have a box and another magazine, so I bought one more to make three.  When he handed me the box walking out the door, I then noticed it had blemish typed on his sticker over the factory sticker.  I thought that was odd because it was a used gun and of course it might have a scratch on it but maybe he did it that way to show it on box to not confuse any workers it was not new because except for a slight scuff mark it's hard to tell from box or gun that's it's used.  It still could have had lots of rounds through it getting tested then put new magazine in box or scratched from photo shoots.