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Title:	GUN, SUBMACHINE -  HARRINGTON & RICHARDSON SUBMACHINE GUN M50 .45ACP SN# 79878
Maker/Manufacturer:	REISING, EUGENE G.
Date of Manufacture:	C 1941
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 1687
Measurements:	OL: 90.8CM 35 3/4" BL: 35.5CM 14" w/compensator 7 lbs. 14 oz.

Object Description:

HARRINGTON & RICHARDSON SUBMACHINE GUN M50 .45ACP SN# 79878
Manufactured by Harrington & Richardson, Worcester, Ma. - Standard Harrington & Richardson M50 submachine gun. Blowback operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed, with select switch. Equipped with compensator. Muzzle velocity 920 pfs. Cyclic rate of fire 450-500 rpm. Weapon weighs approximately 6.75 lbs. unloaded and 8.15 lbs. loaded.


Markings:
Receiver: MODEL 50 - H&R REISING - CAL.45/HARRINGTON & RICHARDSON ARMS CO./WORCESTER, MASS . U.S.A. PAT. PENDING. (Right): 79878.
Wrist: H/20 hand painted in red.

Weapon listed as overage found on post in Museum area and accessioned into Army collection. Weapon transferred to the Museum on 27 April 1960.

Notes: "The Reising is another first generation gun with a full rifle-style wood stock. It garnered a reputation for unreliability when issued to the Marine Corps during World War II.
As a police carbine, the Reising is, at least, as good as a modern Marlin Camp Carbine, but on full-auto, it is a jam wishing to happen. Also, the old-fashioned stock produces a dispersion pattern considerably inferior to a modern weapon with straight-line stock.
A friend and former Marine was issued a Reising during the 1965 Watts Riot when he was a Los Angeles sheriff's deputy. He gave it back in favor of a shotgun. When he broke off the shotgun's stock while butt-stroking a looter, he replaced it with an M-1 Carbine courtesy of the National Guard. He carried it for the duration, wearing crossed bandoliers over his uniform like Pancho Villa." - David E. Steele

"The Reising submachine gun was patented on June 28, 1940, by arms designer Eugene G. Reising. Although little is known about Reising today, he was a well-known gun designer of his era. A biographical sketch of Reising was included in a 1942-vintage Harrington & Richardson manual: 'The H&R Reising Submachine Gun and the H&R Reising Semi-Automatic Rifle are among the latest developments of Eugene G. Reising (pronounced 'rise-ing'), an outstanding Ordnance Engineer and holder of more than sixty patents on improved designs of firearms of all types.
A practical shooter as well as a designer and engineer, Reising knows guns in both theory and application. In his own words, he has 'a distinct advantage over other designers in that instead of being merely an 'officer engineer', I get out in the field in competition and get to know my gun and what it can do. Also, by mingling with the fellows who do the shooting, I get first-hand comments and criticism, of my gun as well as other guns.'
Proof of Reising's prowess in the field is his collection of some 150 medals, cups, and other trophies won in revolver and rifle tournaments, national and international. Among these is the U.S. Government Distinguished Medal for Marksmanship, awarded to the shooter who wins National Competition for any three years.
Reising is of Swedish stock that came to Delaware in 1635. Born in Port Jervis, New York, son of a railroad engineer, he attended Lehigh University, punched cattle in Texas and Mexico, and then returned east to join in the further development of the gun he packed as a wrangler, the Colt Automatic Pistol, caliber .45. As an assistant to the late John Browning, Reising contributed to the final design of the Colt Automatic Pistol, caliber .45, M1911, which has been the standard sidearm of the American military and naval services for over thirty years. Among his other achievements were successful designs for repeating and self-loading rifles for Mossberg, Marlin, Savage, and Stevens, and a semi-automatic caliber .22 pistol, considered by many experts to be the finest pistol of its type ever produced.'
As can be seen, Eugene Reising was far from a novice arms engineer and designer when he brought his submachine gun to the Worcester, Massachusetts, firm of Harrington & Richardson. By this time, the Second World War was raging in Europe, and American arms makers received many overtures from friendly foreign nations for the production of military weaponry. Harrington & Richardson wtively involved in World War II the same month....
The U.S. Marine Corps had previously adopted the Thompson submachine gun, but the U.S. Army and foreign aid requirements had a higher priority. Since the Marines were unable to obtain sufficient numbers of Thompsons, the Corps was forced to seek other sources of submachine guns. Harrington & Richardson was only too happy to offer its new Reising submachine gun for consideration by the Marine Corps. The Corps tested the Reising, and although the official transcript of the tests has not been discovered, the weapon apparently impressed the Marines sufficiently to result in an order for 66,000 Reising submachine guns from H&R. However, it is apparent that the Reising's most useful attribute at the time was that it was available when other submachine guns, such as the Thompson, were not." - Bruce N. Canfield, MAN AT ARMS, April, 2000.

References:
Lewis, Jack. Ed. THE GUN DIGEST BOOK OF ASSAULT RIFLE. DBI Books, Inc. Northbrook, Il. 1993.
Nelson, Thomas P. THE WORLD'S SUBMACHINE GUNS. T.B.N. Enterprises. Alexandria, Va. 1977.