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M50 S/N Question


StrangeRanger
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Your M50 was made in 1957. This is the last known year of production. A total of 907 M50's were made in 1957 ( serial numbers S4700- S5607). Many of the S prefix serial number M50's were sold thru Numrich Arms when H&R went out of business. I suggest you buy Frank Iannamico's excellent book UNITED STATES SUBMACHINE GUNS for more info on the Reising submachine gun and other WW2-post war US SMG's. Todd in Oregon

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In addition, Frank has a book dedicated to the Reising submachinegun and the semi automatic models.

 

Title of the book is: “The Reising Submachinegun Story.”

 

Not sure if it is still available.

 

Purchased it from Frank years ago at a Thompson collectors event...

 

Fun guns...

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The Numrich ‘S’ prefix numbers seem to be all military model repros built on commercial model numbered registered Reising receivers. I’ve brokered quite a few of these guns over the years and have yet to come across a commercial Reising with an ‘S’ prefix.

The Numrich military repros are very well done, in my experience, with all correct military parts and correctl6 parkerized. Buyers will pay a premium for these repros sometimes and at other times want a discount to a commercial value. FWIW

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

As posted above the S prefix designates a 1957 manufacture date, post war production used letter prefixes.

There has been speculation that the S-prefix Reisings were all assembled from parts by the Numrich Corp. This MAY be true to some extent as they bought a lot of H&Rs inventory after the asset reduction sale of 1985. However, during research for my revised M14 book I found out a lot of info about the H&R demise, through court documents and newspaper articles. It has often been thought that there was a bankruptcy auction. Not true, they did file Chapter 11, and there was an asset reduction sale in 1985 approved by the court so the company could keep operating and pay employees. I obtained a ATF transfer form dated 1985, (they closed the doors in 1986) the form had 66 M16A1s, 29 M14s, T48s HK clones, and a number of S-PREFIX Reisings. The guns on that particular form went to one individual from the Philadelphia, PA area John (can't recall the last name) but he was a mysterious guy, I spoke with several people who knew him, and did business with him, BUT I could NOT get anyone to talk about him. He apparently had some connections with Colt as well as H&R, a lot of Colt parts came through him. I visited a gun shop near Philadelphia, that had some association with this guy, a few years ago and spoke with people who knew him BUT would not talk about him. Last I heard he had dementia and passed away. If you knew this guy (Black River Bob?) I would love to hear from you.

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In addition, Frank has a book dedicated to the Reising submachinegun and the semi automatic models.

 

Title of the book is: “The Reising Submachinegun Story.”

 

Not sure if it is still available.

 

Purchased it from Frank years ago at a Thompson collectors event...

 

Fun guns...

I have several copies of the Reising book and others PM if you are interested, I shutdown my website.

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Just purchased a Reising M50 serial number 2031 . What if anything does that number indicate about the origin/history of my gun?

It also has a decal with San Patricio County 0675 on the stock.

Reising Dates of Production

 

1941 Serial Numbers: 101-8500

1942 Serial Numbers: 8501-73600

1943 Serial Numbers: 73601-114317

 

1950 Serial Numbers: K101 to K973

1951 Serial Numbers: L101 to L3589

1952: No production

1953 Serial Numbers: N111 to N327

1954-1956: No production

1957 Serial Numbers: S4700 to S5607

 

Marine Contracts:

 

NOm 33387 - 2 February 1942: 2,000 each Model 55 Reising submachine guns.

 

NOm 33660 - 26 February 1942: 11,500 Model 55, and 11,500 Model 50 Reising submachine guns.

 

NOm 36828 - 13 July 1942: 20,000 Model 55, and 5,000 Model 50 Reising submachine guns.

 

NOm 37893 - 13 October 1942: 30,000 Model 50 Reising submachine guns (plus a 3,000 overrun).

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In all of the postings I've read here the M50s have numeric values only in the S/Ns. Mine is S48XX. What if anything does that number indicate about the origin/history of my gun?

Reising Dates of Production

 

1941 Serial Numbers: 101-8500

1942 Serial Numbers: 8501-73600

1943 Serial Numbers: 73601-114317

 

1950 Serial Numbers: K101 to K973

1951 Serial Numbers: L101 to L3589

1952: No production

1953 Serial Numbers: N111 to N327

1954-1956: No production

1957 Serial Numbers: S4700 to S5607

 

Marine Contracts:

 

NOm 33387 - 2 February 1942: 2,000 each Model 55 Reising submachine guns.

 

NOm 33660 - 26 February 1942: 11,500 Model 55, and 11,500 Model 50 Reising submachine guns.

 

NOm 36828 - 13 July 1942: 20,000 Model 55, and 5,000 Model 50 Reising submachine guns.

 

NOm 37893 - 13 October 1942: 30,000 Model 50 Reising submachine guns (plus a 3,000 overrun).

 

Reisings in storage at the Quantico Marine base (2019)

 

MODEL 50:

154

11372

15696

53097

113539 (Documented in your book)

 

MODEL 55:

13189

15296 (Documented in your book)

44531

62230 (Documented in your book)

62934

62818

 

Model 60:

1333

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  • 3 weeks later...

As posted above the S prefix designates a 1957 manufacture date, post war production used letter prefixes.

There has been speculation that the S-prefix Reisings were all assembled from parts by the Numrich Corp. This MAY be true to some extent as they bought a lot of H&Rs inventory after the asset reduction sale of 1985. However, during research for my revised M14 book I found out a lot of info about the H&R demise, through court documents and newspaper articles. It has often been thought that there was a bankruptcy auction. Not true, they did file Chapter 11, and there was an asset reduction sale in 1985 approved by the court so the company could keep operating and pay employees. I obtained a ATF transfer form dated 1985, (they closed the doors in 1986) the form had 66 M16A1s, 29 M14s, T48s HK clones, and a number of S-PREFIX Reisings. The guns on that particular form went to one individual from the Philadelphia, PA area John (can't recall the last name) but he was a mysterious guy, I spoke with several people who knew him, and did business with him, BUT I could NOT get anyone to talk about him. He apparently had some connections with Colt as well as H&R, a lot of Colt parts came through him. I visited a gun shop near Philadelphia, that had some association with this guy, a few years ago and spoke with people who knew him BUT would not talk about him. Last I heard he had dementia and passed away. If you knew this guy (Black River Bob?) I would love to hear from you.

Edited by Colt Chopper
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H&R never used the nomenclature's commercial and military Reising models. Someone made that up to differentiate between the two. The Marines bought and fielded both variations.

I found a lot of H&R and Marine material at the National Archives. A more accurate description would be first and second model (also never used by H&R).

The Marines bought a lot of the "first model" blued Reisings. Problems in the field resulted in it evolving into the "second model" around 1942-43. There are copies of many of the Marine documents in my Reising book that back this up.

 

1. Rust of the bluing evolved into Parkerizing

2. Larger take-down screw that doesn't require a tool

3. Fewer fins on the barrel to make the barrel more rigid

4. Re-Design the selector lever to be used with muddy or wet hands

5. A second detent pin to secure the end cap

6. Re-design the trigger guard for more lateral strength

7. Adjustable windage front sight

8. Redesign the magazine catch

9. Eliminate the fixed hammer spring guide on the end cap (subject to breakage)

 

These Marine suggestions resulted in an "improved" second model Reising; an accurate description would have been Reising M50A1, but that didn't happen.

 

Marine Contracts

NOm 33387 - 2 February 1942: 2,000 each Model 55 Reising submachine guns.
NOm 33660 - 26 February 1942: 11,500 Model 55, and 11,500 Model 50 Reising submachine guns.
NOm 36828 - 13 July 1942: 20,000 Model 55, and 5,000 Model 50 Reising submachine guns.
NOm 37893 - 13 October 1942: 30,000 Model 50 Reising submachine guns (plus a 3,000 overrun).



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  • 2 months later...

Based on your production dates and figures, is it safe to assume that 10529 was manufactured in January of 1942?

You can always do a FOIA request. I did one on mine back in the early 2000's, took a couple of months.

I hear now some folks are waiting years, & not seeing info, but it's worth a shot.

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Based on your production dates and figures, is it safe to assume that 10529 was manufactured in January of 1942?

You can always do a FOIA request. I did one on mine back in the early 2000's, took a couple of months.

I hear now some folks are waiting years, & not seeing info, but it's worth a shot.

I have FOIAs on most of my guns. I will do one on this one if I keep it. I am waiting for the eForm 3 to clear. Can't wait to shoot it.

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  • 2 months later...

Does the rest of the configuration match the ultra-low S/N? The early guns had quite a few different parts from the later ones and a "correct" gun would obviously be worth more. I'm not going to venture a guess as to how much more.

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I didn't want to be so cryptic in my last post but I didn't have access to Frank Iannamico's Reising book when I posted.

Per his book here are the differences in the earliest guns:

 

Blued rather than Parkerized

Barrel – 28 fin rather than 15

Front sight – staked in place, no set screw

Rear sight – no reinforcing ribs or retaining screw

Selector lever – ends turned down not up

Connector lever – sharp corner on front end no radius

Action bar – t-shaped slot for connector

Bumper plug – one piece

Mag well – 20 round flat sided stepped at rear to match rib on magazines (rare)

Mag release – one piece

Stock- 27” OAL and slot for action bar runs all the way to the front end (rare)

Trigger guard – 2 screw

Takedown screw – slotted for screwdriver not knurled

 

I may have missed something in which case someone else will jump in

Edited by StrangeRanger
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