Original Item: Only One Available. The .45 Reising submachine gun was manufactured by Harrington & Richardson (H&R) Arms Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, and was designed and patented by Eugene Reising in 1940. The three versions of the weapon were the Model 50, the folding stock Model 55, and the semiautomatic Model 60 rifle. Over 100,000 Reisings were ordered during World War II, and were initially used by the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and the United States Coast Guard, though some were shipped to Canadian, Soviet, and other allied forces to fight the Axis powers.

This is a very rare Reising Model 50 non-firing display submachine gun, built from original parts and reassembled onto a beautiful non-firing BATF compliant non-firing dummy receiver. As the receiver is completely inert, with sections made from solid steel, that makes this 100% legal to own without a license of any kind. Some deactivated internal components were placed inside to complete the look. The barrel is also welded to the front of the dummy receiver on the left side.

The display gun is finished in the correct gray "parkerized" phosphate finish, and comes complete with an original magazine, which will be deactivated where required. The trigger still pulls a bit and it has the rear sight present, though it is missing the adjustment fitting. It has the correct 14 fin barrel, which does show a good bore, but we assume that it was deactivated at the chamber due to the welding on the left side. The magazine fits securely, and is easily removed by pulling back the magazine release.

The wooden stock is in lovely condition, and even has a yellow stenciled MARINE DETACHMENT on the left side of the butt stock. This indicates use by the U.S. Marines who were stationed onboard the larger capital ships during WWII. The members of the MarDet performed various functions onboard, including manning one of the secondary gun turrets on Battleships.

Condition is very good, looking like a gun that saw some use during the war, but then was relegated to second line service, as with almost all of the Reising M50s. A lovely deactivated example of one of the hardest to find submachine guns from WWII, only the second that we have ever had!

The Reising submachine gun was innovative for its time, and in comparison to its main rival, the famous Thompson Model 1928 submachine gun, it possessed similar firepower, better accuracy, excellent balance, a lighter weight, plus a much lower cost and greater ease of manufacture. But the poor combat performance of the Reising contrasted with favorable combat and law enforcement use of the Thompson forever mired the weapon in controversy. Reising was an assistant to firearm inventor John M. Browning, and in this role, he contributed to the final design of the US .45 Colt M1911 pistol. Reising then designed a number of commercial rifles and pistols on his own, when in 1938, he turned his attention to designing a submachine gun as threats of war rapidly grew in Europe.

Two years later he submitted his completed design to the Harrington & Richardson Arms Company (H&R) in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was accepted, and in March 1941, H&R started manufacturing the Model 50 submachine gun. Months later, production began on the Model 55 (identical to the Model 50 other than having a folding wire buttstock, no compensator, and a barrel half an inch shorter); and the Model 60 semiautomatic rifle that also resembled a Model 50, but had a 7.75 inch longer barrel without cooling fins or compensator.

After the outbreak of WWII, shortages of the Thompson Machine Gun in the Pacific led to the USMC to look for alternatives, and the much cheaper Model 50 Reising proved to be an attractive alternative, on paper at least. Unfortunately, the tighter tolerances of the design caused it to quickly develop issues when used in jungle warfare in the Pacific Theater. The weapon did not deal well with dirt or moisture, and need to be kept very clean to function correctly. Another serious issue was that H&R's manufacturing tolerances were still not up to the level of interchangeable parts, with many components still hand fit at the factory. Marines would usually clean their weapons as a group, where parts might be swapped at times. This wouldn't work with the Reising, leading to increased cleaning times.

Further issues resulted from the magazine design, which was originally a 20 round "staggered" column "single feed" design, which also did not handle dirt well, or any type of damage to the feed lips. The solution was to replace it with a 12 round single stack design, which while functional, seriously reduced the amount of ammunition the Marines could carry.

When the M1 Carbine Arrived in the field, it quickly proved itself superior to the needs in the Pacific Theater when compared to the M50 Reising, as well as the Thompson M1928A1. It was made the primary weapon, and the Reising was withdrawn from Fleet Marine Service in 1943, and assigned to stateside guard and ship detachment duties, where the issues with dirt would be much less of a liability. They were also sent to countries as Lend-Lease and used in areas unlikely to deal with the dirt and corrosion issues. When their service was finished most were scrapped, which has resulted in Reising Submachine guns of any type being very rare.