The Reising Submachine Guns...

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Here's another future article for review - as always, comments welcomed!

John

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The Reising Submachine Guns

REISING_MODEL_50-1280_zpssbx32pea.jpg

REISING_MODEL_55-1280_zps0cbgh3n9.jpg


As World War II began for the United States, the country scrambled to equip its ground forces with suitable weapons for combat. Submachine guns were instantly in demand, and both the Thompson and M3 SMGs were widely used and have been written about by many, including myself. However, one submachine gun that we adopted and employed has been largely ignored – relegated to a footnote in the weapons history of WWII. The Reising submachine guns were actively used in combat, particularly by U.S. Marines in the Pacific Theater of operations. Today, they are little known and not commonly encountered. There are quite valid reasons for that. I'll pull the veil aside a bit here so we can take a closer look at these interesting firearms.

The Reising was the design of Eugene Reising, a talented engineer who had designed some civilian firearms and had once worked under John Browning. Reising had been involved in the final design of Browning's M1911 .45 ACP pistol. In 1938, sensing that war was imminent, he began work on a new submachine gun. He wanted it to be lighter, cheaper to manufacture and more accurate than the Thompson M1928A1s then currently in use.

In 1940 he submitted his design, which used many less-expensive metal stampings in the action, to the Harrington and Richardson Company in Worcester, Massachusetts. They accepted it, and in 1941 began to manufacture the Model 50. This was a conventionally-stocked selective fire weapon chambered for .45 ACP. It had a delayed-blowback action and fired from a closed bolt. This contributed to accuracy compared to the Thompsons, which fired from an open bolt. The advantage was that there was no jar from a heavy bolt slamming home when the trigger was pulled. Twenty-round magazines were used. A few months later, the Model 55 was produced. It differed by lacking the Cutts recoil compensator used on the muzzle of the Model 50, and had a wire stock that could be folded against the left side of the weapon. Barrel length was 11 inches for both versions. The Model 50 measured 37.8 inches long, while the Model 55 was 31 inches long with the stock deployed into position for firing. Weight for the Model 50 was 6.83 pounds, with the Model 55 coming in a bit lighter at 6.2 pounds. Both had a bolt cocking lever under the forearm. A sliding selector switch on the right side of the receiver had three positions – safe, semiautomatic and full automatic.

The U.S. Army tested the Reising in November of 1941, but due to some parts failures it was rejected. A second test was conducted in 1942, but a bolt failure again resulted in rejection by the Army despite 3500 rounds being fired successfully. Desperate for submachine guns, and with Thompsons being in short supply due to startup delays and British contracts, the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard began ordering Reisings in 1941. Each USMC division was allocated 4,200, with 500 going to each infantry regiment. These weapons, lighter than Thompsons, were mostly slated for officers and non-commissioned officers, as the M1 carbine had not yet been issued. The folding-stock Model 55s went mostly to Marine paratroopers and armored units. Semiautomatic Model 60s (with 18-inch barrels) were used by the USMC for training, guard and non-combat uses.

Reisings first saw action with the First Marine Division in the battle for Guadalcanal in August of 1942. Marine Raiders also used them at the same time when they invaded the islands of Tulagi and Tanambogo. Marine paratroopers were equipped with Reisings when they hit Gavuto Island, facing heavy Japanese resistance and enduring incredible casualties.

Combat experience with the Reisings showed that they had serious deficiencies. The folding stock of the Model 55, in particular, had a reputation for unwanted folding and instability. The close tolerances and many complex parts of the delayed-blowback action fouled easily and did not react well to the sand, salt water and dirt found in the Solomon Islands. The bolt delay recess in the receiver quickly fouled, preventing the bolt from closing fully. When this happened, the disconnector prevented firing completely. The 20-round magazines were double-stack, single-feed, which was the worst possible configuration for reliability. Later-designed single-stack 12-round magazines worked more reliably, but the penalty was reduced capacity. Rust was inevitable. Field stripping was complex and not easily learned. Jams were frequent and often occurred at the worst possible moment. The fragile firing pins broke regularly. Inasmuch as the guns were mostly hand-fitted at the factory, spare parts also required individual final finishing. This was beyond the scope of hasty field repair. In short, the Reisings became despised within the Marine Corps as combat weapons. Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson, commander of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, ordered that his unit's Reisings be thrown into Guadalcanal's Lunga River, and that the old reliable M1903 Springfield rifles be used in their place.

As soon as M1 carbines became available in 1943, the Reisings were removed from issue with the Fleet Marine Force, and relegated to stateside guard duty. The government also farmed many of them out to the OSS (CIA forerunner) and to allied nations as lend-lease weapons. Some were provided to resistance forces in enemy-occupied areas. They ceased to be carried in U.S. armed services inventories in 1953. Many Model 50 Reisings finally found homes with U.S. law enforcement agencies, where they fared a lot better than in rough and tumble combat.

Nearly 120,000 Reisings were made during WWII, most of which were used by the Marine Corps. They continued to be produced by H&R for domestic law enforcement use until 1949, with over 3,000 made in the immediate post-war period. Because of their low cost, demand rose for them again, and production was resurrected from 1950 through 1957, with 5,500 more being made. After that, a 1960 foreign contract resulted in the manufacture of an additional 2,000 units, which constituted the final production run at Harrington in Richardson. H&R went out of business in 1986, and the Numrich Arms Corporation purchased their remaining inventory. Some Model 50s were produced by Numrich, utilizing original receivers and spare parts. These weapons will all have an "S" preceding the serial number.

The Reising submachine guns have a checkered past, and their reputation for unreliability in combat dogs them to this day. In fairness, kept clean and in good repair, they are decent guns. They do currently find themselves pretty much at the bottom of the SMG collector pecking order. They remain mostly curiosities – little known, but still an important chapter in U.S. military equipage.

(c) 2016 JLM
 
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Awesome weapons. The local S.O. procured a couple of them. I was lucky enough one day for one to show up on our range. It was a blast.......
 
John-- I don't think of your articles in terms of humor, but this is truly funny: "Colonel Merritt A. Edson, Commander of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, ordered that his unit's Reisings be thrown into Guadalcanal's Lunga River, and that the old reliable M1903 Springfield rifles be used in their place." I would like to have met Col Edson.
 
My local PD had 18 Reising Model 50's and 2 Thompson SMG's way on into the 1970s.
They were given to the PD by the Home Guard after WWII.
Interesting guns.
 
My old department, the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office, had some. I found this out when I visited an aircraft museum near Phoenix in the early 1990's. They had a very nice small arms exhibit. I was looking at a Reising under the glass and noticed that the side of the fixed buttstock had my department's property marking burned into the wood, the same way they were marked on our shotguns. I've got a photo of it around here somewhere.
 
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I've read quite a few were sent to Russia under Lend-Lease, but not much is known about those. H&R made a semiauto version after WWII. I fired one of those once, long ago.
 
Excellent info! My agency still has a Model 50 purchased in the early sixties. Kept clean and lubricated it was very reliable and a blast to shoot.

The first agency I worked for had three Reisings in the armory. We got to shoot them a couple of times. They were a lot of fun to shoot!
 
I had minimal training with the Reising in 1955 wit the U.S. Border Patrol. We were never issued the gun, only familiarized with it. From my experience they were hard to keep on target. We used to call them 'Rising guns' since they had a tendency to rise upwards from the target.
 
I have never fired a Reising SMG, only saw them behind glass.
I did have a M60 for awhile. It was in good shape and functioned
well. Accuracy wasn't bad for what it was. I have read several
articles of the SMGs poor performance in the South Pacific. The
reason they were dumped in the river, was they caused Marines
to get killed, when they failed in combat. I also had a look alike
H&R 22 rifle, I forget the model.
 
The Reising would have been much better suited for use in a cleaner environment than the battlefield where it didn't have to contend with mud, sand, dust, etc. The semiauto version I earlier referred to was called the M60, and was made principally for use by police. I don't think very many were made. My experience firing one was sometime in the early 1960s. At that time, at least where I lived, one of my major gun trading events was at the weekly local cattle auction. In the parking lot, there were always five or so guys who traded and sold guns out of their car trunks, and they often had some fairly interesting items. A friend and I went there every month or so to see what was new. One time, one of the traders had a Reising M60. My friend just had to have it, and bought it for, as I remember, about $50. We fired a few boxes of .45 through it later that day. It was very pleasant to shoot. I don't know whatever happened to it. I don't remember seeing another.

H&R did indeed make a .22 semiautomatic rifle that looked much like the Reising SMG. I haven't seen one of those for a long time.
 
I mentioned this article to some guys at Legion. None of the
WW2 combat vets could recall them, no USMC, but one guy
had been in Army in S.Pacific campaigns. A Navy vet who went
in at end of war, and was involved in pulling Nationalist Chinese
out of China said that they had the Semi automatic version in
ships armory. He served on a transport ship. He said they were
used on deck watch.
 
My old department, the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office, had some. I found this out when I visited an aircraft museum near Phoenix in the early 1990's. They had a very nice small arms exhibit. I was looking at a Reising under the glass and noticed that the side of the fixed buttstock had my department's property marking burned into the wood, the same way they were marked on our shotguns. I've got a photo of it around here somewhere.

I believe the museum display you are talking about was at Falcon Field in Mesa for awhile. The primary exhibit items were Thompson SMGs from the J Curtis Earl collection. Sadly the exhibit is long gone and relocated somewhere else.
Jim
 
Excellent article, as always, but there were US 9MM SMGs of that era.

Indeed there were. There was a 9mm conversion kit for the M3, and also the United Defense M42 was chambered in 9mm. I don't think either saw very much action. Offhand, I can't think of any other US SMGs in 9mm, but there may have been prototypes made up in 9mm.
 
H&R did indeed make a .22 semiautomatic rifle

DWalt not sure if this is the one you mean
but it is an H&R model 700 deluxe chambered in 22mag.
Pretty neat gun that hasn't jammed once for me with all types of ammo

 
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