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Military Reising Model 50


wcwarren
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I am interested in purchasing a Model 50 for my collection. I would like to have one that served in the Military. From the research that I have done the military used both blued and parkerized models. That H&R made the changes and created the Military Model on suggestion made my the USMC. That the term given to Model 50s as being Commercial or Military was given by collectors not by H&R or the Military. Is there any true way to tell? I have ready that Proof marks on the barrel was a good sign and swivels on the stock. Or is it a safe bet that all parkerized models that don't have a Letter in the serial number were part of a military contact to either USMC, Navy, or Cost Guard.

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Really no way to tell unless there is documentation, like a FOIA document. I had a first-blued model that went to a Army Reserve unit in Texas in 1943.

 

Not having a letter prefix is not verification of a military Reising. Federal Laboratories of Pittsburgh sold a LOT of Reisings to police departments in the 1940s.

 

Just about every PD in western PA I have been to had several of them in their inventories.

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Frank,

 

I have attached two photos of the Reising that I am looking at. I just purchased you book last night off Amazon on the Reising. I know that later model 50s were modified to take only the 12 rd. magazine. Without the modification, will all model 50s take both the 12rd and 20rd magazines. The dealer I talked to said that this one comes with a 12rd but it will take both types.

 

William

post-262737-0-89995900-1588612931_thumb.jpg

post-262737-0-34190300-1588612944_thumb.jpg

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WC,

I think I'd recommend passing on the gun pictured.

The area where the barrel butts to the receiver looks like an amateur rebarrel.

The gun would have been blued when new, now its parkerized.

It has a late style safety/selector, not original.

When new the gun would have had a 28/29 cooling fin barrel. What is the count on this gun.

Jim C

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..and a late type sight as well.

It appears to be a late 15 fin barrel; I can count 15 in the picture andit appears that the one on the extreme left is the last one

Whatever it is it may or may not be a "shooter" but it's not original and mix and match Reisings can be problematical

Take Jim's advice, find a better one. There are a lot of them out there at the moment.

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I found the ad on GB, it has the wrong barrel (15 fin), the wrong stock, the wrong takedown screw, the wrong mag release etc. etc. for an early receiver gun This thing is a Frankenreising and they can be problematical. Reisings were never intended to have interchangeable parts

Edited by StrangeRanger
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Yes, the double stack mag well (without the modification) will accept 12 round and 20 round magazines As well as the aftermarket 30 round mags

 

Frank,

 

I have attached two photos of the Reising that I am looking at. I just purchased you book last night off Amazon on the Reising. I know that later model 50s were modified to take only the 12 rd. magazine. Without the modification, will all model 50s take both the 12rd and 20rd magazines. The dealer I talked to said that this one comes with a 12rd but it will take both types.

 

William

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Jim, it has 14 fins. Thanks for the info guys its really appreciated. The book I purchased off Amazon want be here until the end of the week. Does anyone know off hand when the serial numbers changed from the blued guns to the parkerized?

 

William.

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Jim, it has 14 fins. Thanks for the info guys its really appreciated. The book I purchased off Amazon want be here until the end of the week. Does anyone know off hand when the serial numbers changed from the blued guns to the parkerized?

 

William.

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Per Frank's book pg. 23 there were "transitional" guns that incorporated some of the 2nd generation improvements but the transition was complete somewhere in the S/N 40,000 to 50,000 range. The highest WWII S/N gun he found was in the 114,000 range. Based on that your best bet for a "true" military gun would be a gun with all the 2nd gen features with a S/N between 50,000 and 114,000 that also had a "P" mark and sling swivels. Still no guarantee but without FOIA or other provenance it's as good as you're going to do. AFAIK the H&R records are lost to history and the USMC records probably exist somewhere, but who knows where.

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Here are two pictures of a Model 50 that I am interested in. Its blued with 28 fins. Made in 1942. Seller says it has the P mark on the barrel and it has the sling swivels.

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post-262737-0-86799800-1588691686_thumb.jpg

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Is 7704 the S/N?

 

If so the finish, sight, selector switch, mag release, trigger guard, takedown screw, stock type, sling location and 28 fin barrel all appear to be appropriate to that S/N. The rest of the gun is probably correct as well. It does look a little rough in the pix.

 

You should consider that virtually all the changes made between the first and second generation guns were improvements in ergonomics and/or reliability. The Gen 1 guns aren't bad but the Gen 2 guns are better.

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I would think a USMC Reising would have the sling swivels on the bottom. I know my Reising that has the bottom swivels did not fit the felt covered wood block layout of a Fed Labs hard case. My very late Reising 111,0XX that had bottom located swivels required a swivel removal to fit the Fed Labs layout. One of the reason I sold off my hard case.

Frank I., any official documentation regarding swivel location?

Edited by Bridgeport28A1
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