Reising: the wannabe Thompson
This post is part of two others, about a recent range outing with some very historically interesting small arms, the DeLisle commando carbine, the M50 Reising submachine gun, and the Russian PM1910 Maxim heavy machine gun. All of these are NFA items (either Class III or suppressed) and the owner was extremely kind enough to take me out and blow over a thousand rounds through his small arms.
The M50, M55, and M60 Reising gained an infamous reputation during World War Two as the sort of little train that really couldn’t. The design and production were finalized in 1938 by Eugene Reising, working for Harrington & Richardson. Interestingly enough, Reising worked alongside John Browning the early 1900s and even contributed to certain design aspects of the 1911. The .45 ACP submachine gun was originally intended to be a competitor against the then M1928 Thompson. Compared in cost and length of time spent in production, the Thompson was no match for the Reising, being relatively complicated to produce. In actual operation on the range, they were almost equals as well, with the Thompson being perhaps the easier of the two to be controllable on full auto (the Thompson was almost 11 pounds compared to the Reising’s almost 7 pounds). However, once the two got in theater, the contrast in quality was horribly evident. The U.S. Army never had a need for the Reising because of the logistical priorities, but the Marines couldn’t get enough Thompsons so bought the Reisings as a sort of stop gap in the early parts of the island hopping campaign. The results were abysmal, with malfunctions and jams galore among the new submachine gun. There are reports from Marine units wherein a unit received a shipment of Reisings, and rather than issue them out to Marines, they instead dumped them in the nearest water source.
The problem was that the Reising as a submachine gun in use in the United States, didn’t have much of a problem when used by Coast Guard units, Law Enforcement, and other authorities. But when the gun was introduced to the heat and temperatures of the tropics where it hadn’t been thoroughly tested, or designed for, all sorts of problems ensued.
Three versions of the submachine gun were produced, the standard M50 with full length wooden stock, the M55 with folding wire stock and shorter barrel, and the M60, a Law Enforcement civilian legal version with a 16.5 inch barrel and available only in semiautomatic. Towards the end of the war, the Reising saw less and less action as supplies of Thompsons, especially the M1 and M1A1 variants became more readily pressed into service. Post war the Reising saw success with many police departments in the United States, until adoption of more modern submachine guns and rifles replaced it. Today you can own an original Reising for as little as $10,000 and speed reload to your hearts content with magazines that cost $100 a piece! This is why you don’t see me dropping them in the video…
Everything about the Reising almost screams out “No” when it comes to where controls should be and where they aren’t. For example, the selector switch is nowhere near readily accessible by a flick of the finger without breaking your grip. The magazine release is this awkward lever located on the magazine well itself, that almost seems to work counter intuitively when trying to pull out a magazine. In addition the magazine just begs to be held as a forward grip, which is probably a common cause for feeding problems because of hand pressure on the exposed magazine. Another point is that unlike the Thompson with a choice of either 30 or 20 rounds, the Reising almost short shifts itself by only having a 12 or 20 round choice of capacity. The charging lever can’t be locked to the rear and is located underneath the barrel, through a slot in the stock. Imagine was happens when the barrels gets hot? Yeap, your itty bitty finger is sliding right up next to it!
But, I did enjoy shooting it. The submachine gun functioned very well on full auto and on semiautomatic, grouping nicely at 50 meters. True to its reputation it suffered a malfunction or two, but nothing that really hung the gun up. Recoil was significantly more than a Thompson, but nothing that you couldn’t control using forward pressure and short bursts. We mag dumped a couple magazines of 20 so it really wasn’t all that bad. One point I did admire was how quick it was able to clear a malfunction or charge the closed bolt, with just a swipe of my finger instead of bringing my hand off the gun.
Given its performance in the jungles of the Pacific, I wouldn’t want to be an NCO or officer with the thing as my primary weapon system. Maybe if I was in a support capacity as a radio operator, the lighter folding stock M55 would be a better choice over the .30 caliber M1 carbine with its diminutive round but only in a defensive position and not as an offensive one.
Infantry Marine, based in the Midwest. Specifically interested in small arms history, development, and usage within the MENA region and Central Asia. To that end, I run Silah Report, a website dedicated to analyzing small arms history and news out of MENA and Central Asia.Please feel free to get in touch with me about something I can add to a post, an error I've made, or if you just want to talk guns. I can be reached at miles@tfb.tv
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In the '70s we called that the poor man's machine gun. They were treated with such disdain that nobody would buy them, and the prices were ridiculously cheap. It is hard to believe a West Hurley M1928 Thompson only cost 425 dollars back then, Them was the days!1
I looked at a Reising Rewat in 1985 and could not see paying more in Form 4 transfer tax ($200) than the vendor was asking for the gun, a registered DEWAT that had been reactivated. It was the only WWII SMG in my price range, other than a kit built Sten. Then came the 1986 Hughes Amendment freezing the NFA registry ....
Reading U.S. proving ground tests on the Reising, I learned that the Reising's accuracy was great on semi-auto; field strip disassembly and reassembly time compared to Marlin UD42, Thompson M1928A1 and British Sten Mark II was horrible. What is a big red flag: none of the testers could disassemble and reassemble the Reising blindfolded.
Bad points: Lotsa small separate parts, complicated design, and the internal parts were hand fitted in manufacture, not all made to the same spec interchangeable without fitting. There is no empty space in the action for fouling or dirt to be pushed out of the way. Issuing that weapon to U.S. Marines who were fighting in salt water, sand and mud in the south Pacific was stupidity (or desperation). White glove inspection clean the Reising works and would be better than a broomstick with a bayonet until it stopped shooting. Must have been desperation.
I have read about a few sets of people who used the Reising successfully:
_ police who have an armorer to maintain the guns in perfect condition to be issued as needed for brief guard or riot duty;
_ Army commandos for raids of less than 48 hours duration (compared to an 11 pound Thompson, a 6.2 pound M55 allowed one to carry 5 pounds less or 5 pounds more of something else);
_ Marines assigned to ships for duties like guarding POWs.
Just an old gun buff who misspendt his youth browsing WHB Smith "Small Arms of the World" in the 1950s and 1960s.