Big Green is going “Glock”: Remington is finally introducing its long-in-development polymer handgun. The new handgun is a tilting-barrel striker-fired affair, but it possesses some unique features that hint at a wider family of Remington striker-fired pistols. The pistol will come in two varieties, the first to be launched will be the RP9 followed by the RP45.

UPDATE: Read our first impression review here.

TFB Editor Phil White Shoots the RP9

One of the most distinctive features of the RP9 / RP45 is its heavily chamfered barrel surface. Most tilting-barrel recoil operated Browning guns use a slight chamfer on the barrel to allow it to pass underneath the slide, but the RP9 / RP45 has a much more extreme chamfer than normal. This has led some to speculate that the RP9 / RP45 might represent a unified slide and frame design that will be used for 9mm and .40 S&W variants in the future, in addition to the .45 ACP version just released. They also appears to feature an internal serialized chassis – a key feature of pistol’s designed for the US Army’s Modular Handgun System program.

It seems possible that the RP45 / 9 may have come about – like the Ruger American pistol – as part of a planned Modular Handgun System bid by Remington, or it may just be Remington’s belated attempt to get in on the popular law enforcement and commercial striker-fired pistol markets.

Our own Richard Johnson has also written an article on the new pistol over at his site Gunsholstersandgear.com.

UPDATE: Read our first impression review here.