×
Aircraft / Aviation Vehicles & Artillery Infantry Arms Warships & Submarines Military Pay Chart (2023) Military Ranks
Advertisements
HOME
INFANTRY
MODERN ARMIES
SPECIAL FORCES
COUNTRIES
MANUFACTURERS
COMPARE
BY CONFLICT
BY TYPE
BY DECADE
COLD WAR
KOREAN WAR
WORLD WAR 2
Infantry Small Arms / The Warfighter

Reising Model 50 (M50/M55)


Submachine Gun (SMG) / Carbine [ 1941 ]



The M50 Reising had a relatively short American military history, being too susceptible to environmental factors to be used as a frontline military firearm.



Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 05/10/2019 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]
Advertisements
Before the arrival of the various classic American firearms of World War 2 such as the M1 Thompson, M1 Garand and M1 Carbine, the United States pressed into service many lesser-known firearms that proved both available or promising. This opened up the field to various talented gunsmiths to extend their wares and expertise in attempting to fill the vast inventory requirements of the United States military. Of course, the lesser-name firearms failed the US standard in some way - being too delicate in the field, too expensive to produce in the numbers required or too faulty in their general design to be of much military service. For the Reising Model 50 (M50) series of submachine guns, the undoing proved to be its complex internal arrangement and function which led to many stoppages in the heat-of-battle. As such, the weapon received a relatively short service life in American frontline hands.

Design of the Reising (attributed to Eugene Reising, having worked at once point with legendary gunsmith John Browning) began prior to American involvement in World War 2 in 1940. Reising secured a patent for his new weapon the same year and partnered with Harrington & Richardson Arms Company to produce it, the weapon to bear the name of "Reising" for its life. The firearm utilized a close-bolt mechanism which required multiple internal functions to work properly in succession following each press of the trigger. The internal working components were housed in a metal frame which was further set within a wooden service-rifle-style body integrating the pistol grip and shoulder stock. The frame was partially exposed along the top of the wooden body which gave access to the sights and ejection port. The barrel sported cooling fins to help prevent overheating and was supported throughout its length underneath by the wooden body which continued forward as the forend for the supporting hand. A long Cutts compensator capped the muzzle end of the barrel. The magazine was fed through a bottom well directly under the ejection port and well ahead of the trigger unit. The trigger was conventional, seated under the rear portion of the receiver and ahead of the pistol grip within an oblong trigger ring. A cocking lever was seated in a slot under the forend, hidden from view. The weapon was chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge, the same as in the Colt M1911 semi-automatic pistol and the M1 Thompson, and fed through a 12- or 20-round detachable box magazine. The gun measured an overall length of 35.75 inches with an 11 inch barrel and sported a weight of 6lbs, 12 ounces. It was a select-fire weapon capable of semi- and full-automatic modes. An optional adjustable shoulder sling could be fitted for ease of transport.

Production of the Reising began in late 1941 and the type was adopted for service as the "M50" with the United States Marine Corps (the US Army had rejected the Reising after trials due to its maintenance requirements). Manufacture spanned through to the end of the war in 1945 under the Harrington & Richardson Arms Company (Worchester, Massachusetts) brand label. Performance included a rate-of-fire of 550 rounds per minute and the .45 ACP cartridge was a proven man-stopper while the general appearance of the weapon was sleek.

While the M50 was a serviceable weapon in a controlled environment, its complicated internal arrangement was wholly inadequate for military frontline use. It was quickly found - through American US Marine actions at Guadalcanal and Bougainville - that dirt and debris, unavoidable in the field, could jam the action and general fouling caused by the breech-locking process could furthermore render the weapon useless at the worst possible times. Problems with the weapon proved so persistent that many service members gladly dropped their Reisings in favor of whatever other weapon became available during the course of the fighting. As other, more refined, firearms became available in useful numbers (primarily the M1 Carbine), the Reising was retired from frontline use and relegated stateside for security and policing for the duration of the war. In this role, lacking the abuse inherent in a battlefield setting, Reisings performed as expected.

For the short time that the American military made use of "Paramarines" - marine paratroopers - Reising attempted to sell a lightened, shortened and modified form of their Model 50 as the "Model 55". The Model 55 brought about use of a folding wire stock and shortened barrel assembly lacking the Cutts compensator. The wire stock folded over the left side of the body while the pistol grip was well-formed for ergonomics and formed vertically in its appearance. The result was a 31-inch long weapon with a lowered rate-of-fire of 500 rounds per minute. All other facets of the Reising design remained including the complex internal working. As such, the weapon was not really an improvement over the original and inherited all of its existing limitations. Like the Model 50 before it, the Model 55 was no more a commercial nor military success. As an aside, the US military establishment eventually dropped its dedicated marine paratrooper force before the end of the war in February of 1944.

A pair of semi-automatic fire only forms emerged from the Model 50 line and this included the M60 and M65. The Model 60 was intended as a carbine rifle-type implement and chambered for the .30 Carbine cartridge. The Model 65 was a training version of said carbine, chambered for the .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge.

The Reising M50 and M55 served until 1953 and some 100,000 examples were produced until 1945. Stocks of Reising submachine guns were also sold to the United Kingdom and issued to the Canadian Army. The Soviet Union received the type under the Lend-Lease agreement. Other operators went on to include Iceland and the Philippines.©MilitaryFactory.com
Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.
Advertisements

Specifications



Service Year
1941

Origin
United States national flag graphic
United States

Classification


Submachine Gun (SMG) / Carbine


Harrington and Richardson - USA
(View other Arms-Related Manufacturers)
National flag of Canada National flag of Iceland National flag of the Philippines National flag of the Soviet Union National flag of the United Kingdom National flag of the United States Canada; Iceland; Philippines; Soviet Union; United States; United Kingdom
(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)


Overall Length
959 mm
37.76 in
Barrel Length
280 mm
11.02 in
Empty Wgt
6.83 lb
3.10 kg
Sights


Rear Notch; Front Blade.


Action


Delayed Blowback; Closed-Bolt

Blowback Operation
Gas pressure from the rearward movement of the ignited cartridge case provides the needed bolt movement, ejecting the spent case and stripping a fresh case from the magazine.
(Material presented above is for historical and entertainment value and should not be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation - always consult official manufacturer sources for such information)


Caliber(s)*


.45 ACP; .30 Carbine

Rounds / Feed


12- or 20-round detachable box magazine
Cartridge relative size chart
*May not represent an exhuastive list; calibers are model-specific dependent, always consult official manufacturer sources.
**Graphics not to actual size; not all cartridges may be represented visually; graphics intended for general reference only.
Rate-of-Fire
550
rds/min
Muzzle Velocity
920 ft/sec
(280 m/sec)


M50 - Initial Production Model; select-fire; solid wooden body with inegrated stock and grip.
M55 - Select-fire model intended for US Paramarines; shortened form; wire folding stock; wooden pistol grip; sans compensator.
M60 - Carbine form; chambered for the .30 Carbine cartridge; semi-automatic only.
M65 - Carbine training rifle form of the M60; chambered for the .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge; semi-automatic only.


Military lapel ribbon for the American Civil War
Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft
Military lapel ribbon for the Cold War
Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War
Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft
Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War
Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War
Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1
Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2


Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective campaigns / operations.

Images Gallery



1 / 7
Image of the Reising Model 50 (M50/M55)
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
2 / 7
Image of the Reising Model 50 (M50/M55)
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
3 / 7
Image of the Reising Model 50 (M50/M55)
Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
4 / 7
Image of the Reising Model 50 (M50/M55)
Image from the Public Domain.
5 / 7
Image of the Reising Model 50 (M50/M55)
Image from the Public Domain.
6 / 7
Image of the Reising Model 50 (M50/M55)
Image from the Public Domain.
7 / 7
Image of the Reising Model 50 (M50/M55)
Image from the Public Domain.


Advertisements




Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Cookies


2023 Military Pay Chart Military Ranks DoD Dictionary Conversion Calculators Military Alphabet Code Military Map Symbols

The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com.

Part of a network of sites that includes GlobalFirepower, a data-driven property used in ranking the top military powers of the world, WDMMA.org (World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft), WDMMW.org (World Directory of Modern Military Warships), SR71blackbird.org, detailing the history of the world's most iconic spyplane, and MilitaryRibbons.info, cataloguing all American military medals and ribbons.


©2023 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • Content ©2003-2023 (20yrs)