Colt made something like 9 of the 1903 32's and 2 1908 380's for every Remington M-51 of whatever caliber. 572,000+ 32's and 138009 380's were serialized, not to overlook the occasional lunchbox gun that came out without an official serial number. Oh, and Colt made another 5,000 or so recently. (which, I'd love to have, but at $1,500.00 bucks or more, I fear I am going to live with out one.) Even the Savage pistols out sold the Remington's--Mine is serial number 201,xxx.

The Remington's fate was partly determined because they were late to the party. Colt had a 17 year start over the Remington, Savage had a 12 year head start, and both had sold hundreds of thousands by the time 1920 had rolled around. Potential rivals such as the H & R Copy of the Webley and Scott pistol, the forgettable "Infallible," and a great number of imports from Spain, Belgium and elsewhere were already on the market. But after WWI, the availability of war surplus and a general repugnance towards war and its implements saw the markets flooded with cheap imports while interest declined. After a few years, both Savage and Remington, faced with declining sales of pistols decided to focus their energies on Rifles and Shotguns. H&R decided to stick with selling inexpensive revolvers, Davis Arms went out of business. Colt, being a handgun manufacturer, couldn't pick and choose, but welcomed the loss of competition and continued to make their excellent pistols up to and through WW II, assembling the last of the breed in 1946.

Still, the Remington was an excellent choice. My brother had one and I hope to find one, one of these days.