NMMC Reisings

[GUNGUY45]

Last month our family went to the National Museum of the Marine Corps to find my Father in law's "brick" that he donated.

He was a Sergeant, landed at Inchon, and was wounded coming out of the Chosin Res.

He was a bit upset when we found out that his brick hasn't been laid as yet, even though he was notified that it was.

It was our 2nd trip to the museum, if you get a chance to go, do it.

 

Here are photos of the M50, & M55 they have on display;

 

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/gunguy45/NMMC2011/DSCN2280.jpg

 

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/gunguy45/NMMC2011/DSCN2278.jpg

 

As you can see they have no slings attached.

I couldn't see the S/N on the M50, due to the height of the display.

I was hoping that the M55 S/N would be visible in the photo, as I forgot to write it down.

The M55's reciever is marked "M55" I believe it is a 4 digit S/N.

 

Pete A.

Edited November 5, 2011 by GUNGUY45

[emmagee1917]

Is it me or is the peep on the rear sight on the M55 broke off ? I would say it is not a 4 digit S/N . It looks to have the late bbl , mag catch and safety selector and is parked. The stock also has the late triggerguard and mounting nut. I would guess it's between 50-60,000 and 94,000-ish range.

Chris

[GUNGUY45]

Is it me or is the peep on the rear sight on the M55 broke off ? I would say it is not a 4 digit S/N . It looks to have the late bbl , mag catch and safety selector and is parked. The stock also has the late triggerguard and mounting nut. I would guess it's between 50-60,000 and 94,000-ish range.

Chris

 

Were any M55's made with "early" features?

I have heard there were M55's made with recievers marked M50.

Were the M55 S/N ranges the same as M50?

Too many questions not enough data. Hopefully I'll get back down to verify the S/N on the gun, unless someone else is close by and remembers to write it down. (That wasn't my first priority that day)

S/N could have been higher, my memory's not what it once was......

Anyone near Quantico want to check it out? The museum is free.

 

Pete A.

 

 

edit in red

Edited November 8, 2011 by GUNGUY45

[emmagee1917]

The first batch of M55s had the muzzle brake ( and were prob'ly marked M50 ) , the second batch and beyond did not. M55's were in the early and late production time periods and so can have all the variations of the M50. They were numbered with the M50s. There was a war on , if they needed to fill an order for one model and only had recievers marked the other , they used them to make what they needed , but these are exceptions. After around 94-95,000 or so , they dropped the M55 marking and just used the M50 for both.

Chris

[GUNGUY45]

Well, we finally got back down to see my Father in Law's brick.

 

I didn't have a whole lot of time in the museum, but I did get the M55's Serial Number!

 

M55 S/n 62818, so I stand corrected.

 

I didn't think to double check the other features. The M50 is still mounted too high to see the S/N.

 

Pete A.

[emmagee1917]

That's right in the range for it's features . It could be all original.

Chris

[GUNGUY45]

I would bet that it is original.

The note at the end of the description says it was gotten from the US Army collection(?). Kind of odd.

I don't think they were rebuilt after the war, like other arms.

Edited June 26, 2012 by GUNGUY45

[GUNGUY45]

Well, We got back to the NMMC, My Father-in-Law is 89 years old, & he said he wanted to visit his brick again.

 

Took a good close-up of the M55's serial #.

 

Still can't get high enough to see the M50's.

 

Yes, I know it's quite the necro-thread

[GUNGUY45]

Brick photo, & our family.

[Frank Iannamico]

 

Is it me or is the peep on the rear sight on the M55 broke off ? I would say it is not a 4 digit S/N . It looks to have the late bbl , mag catch and safety selector and is parked. The stock also has the late triggerguard and mounting nut. I would guess it's between 50-60,000 and 94,000-ish range.

Chris

Were any M55's made with "early" features?

I have heard there were M55's made with recievers marked M50.

Were the M55 S/N ranges the same as M50?

Too many questions not enough data. Hopefully I'll get back down to verify the S/N on the gun, unless someone else is close by and remembers to write it down. (That wasn't my first priority that day)

S/N could have been higher, my memory's not what it once was......

Anyone near Quantico want to check it out? The museum is free.

 

Pete A.

 

 

edit in red

 

Yes, there were M55's with early features, and some with compensators.

There also were M50 receivers used on a few M55s

Although my Reising book was published as an inexpensive "gun show" book. There is a lot of good info in it to include a lot of Marine documents, contracts, serial numbers etc.

Much of the research was done at Quantico, and there are a few more M50 and M55's in their vault on the base. The there is a list of military Reising serial numbers are in the book, but unfortunately not all of them are from Quantico. Most of the features of the 2nd Model (often referred to incorrectly as the "Military Model" ) were the result of USMC recommendations.

[horsemarine]

Thanks for posting

.Keith

[Frank Iannamico]

I would bet that it is original.

The note at the end of the description says it was gotten from the US Army collection(?). Kind of odd.

I don't think they were rebuilt after the war, like other arms.

The Army Infantry Board tested Reisings several times. I have an early Reising, I did a FOIA request. The original owner was a Army National Guard unit in Texas.

 

The British also tested the Reising. During a second British testing of the Reising in 3/41; the firing pin broke after 101 rounds, after 3500 rounds the action bar failed. Mr Reising stated the the action bar failure was due to an excessive 1000 pound hammer blow during forging, as a result the forging blow was reduced to 600 pounds. There were no comments on the firing pin failure.

 

 

(the US Army and Brit reports are in the Reising book)

[Frank Iannamico]

Many of the early 2 and 3 digit serial numbers were purchased by the PA State Police, and many were shipped to French Indochina (Vietnam) before US involvement.