SN for Model 55

[vern21]

Does anyone know what the latest sn an M55 could have? Looked at one that was in the 500k range. SN was sharp but the rest of the markings on the receiver were weaker.

 

Jim

[dalbert]

500K? Are you sure it wasn't 50K?

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

[emmagee1917]

Fuzzy area , that .

Early "M55" s were built on "M50 " marked recievers .

Later M55s were built on recievers marked M55 , but in the same ranges as M50s being built at the same time .

Now the fuzziness . If they needed to build M50s but only had M55 marked recievers on hand , they shipped out M55 marked M50s . If they needed to build M55s and only had M50 marked recievers on hand , well , they built M50 marked M55s .

Because of this , or maybe the M55 stamp broke , in the mid- 90,000 range the marked both M50 only . ( remember in '44 , dies were so hard to get that some ammo manufacturers ground the "3" off the " 43" stamps to leave just a "4" to use on 44 produced cases ) .

 

So , in summation , M55 marked receivers can be found in in the 12,000 to 95,000 range , but could have left the factory either way , and factory built M55s in that range could be on M50 marked receivers . All post 95,000 - ish M55s will be on M50 marked receivers .

 

HTH , Chris

[vern21]

Thanks guys. I have a M55 receiver with a 0 stamped over the second 5 that is in M50 configuration. The sn is in the 54k range. Looks factory as it is aligned perfectly and does not look like a hand stamp.

 

The M55 in question was a 500k sn. Not an "S" either. I looked it over very carefully, in fact almost bought it except the sn seemed too high. When I spoke to the owner about shipping to a C&R, he mentioned that there might be another name besides H&R on the Form 4. When I thought about it, I felt it might have been re-numbered and registered.

 

Jim

[dalbert]

Thanks guys. I have a M55 receiver with a 0 stamped over the second 5 that is in M50 configuration. The sn is in the 54k range. Looks factory as it is aligned perfectly and does not look like a hand stamp.

 

The M55 in question was a 500k sn. Not an "S" either. I looked it over very carefully, in fact almost bought it except the sn seemed too high. When I spoke to the owner about shipping to a C&R, he mentioned that there might be another name besides H&R on the Form 4. When I thought about it, I felt it might have been re-numbered and registered.

 

Jim

 

 

Sounds like it was not an H&R gun. The serial number is ~400,000 above the serial number range for Reising Model 50's and 55's. The highest serial number we should expect would be around 120,000.

 

I suppose it could have been a serial number modified with an additional digit by a registrant, and amnesty registered, but I've never seen one like it. There are some other reproduction "Reising" receiver tubes out there, and I don't know what their serial numbers look like.

 

David Albert

dalbery@sturmgewehr.com