My Marine's Reising Johnson Blog

Lets take a look at two lesser known, but very interesting U.S. military firearms from World War II. Might as well just jump right in!

M1941 Johnson Self-Loading Rifle
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(my M1941 Johnson rifle in untouched condition with generic WWII sling)

U.S. Service: 1941-1945
weight: 9.5 lb
length: 45.9"
barrel Length: 22"

The M1941 was the brainchild of Melvin Johnson; and more than that, really he was its sole designer. It has often been reported that the M1941 Johnson lost out to the M1 Garand when the US military was conducting trials to select its first standard self-loading service rifle. This is simply not true. In fact, the M1 Garand had already been adopted before more than a very few basic prototypes of Johnson's rifle had been created. That said, around 1940 when many were critical of the Garand, some believed that the Johnson should be adopted to either suppliment or replace it. Johnson himself only aspired to see his creation accepted as a "substitute standard", though he did hold out hope that the U.S. Marine Corps would select it as its general issue rifle as he was a Captain in the USMC Reserves.

Melvin Johnson's rifle used a unique short-recoil operating system, with an eight lug rotating bolt. When it was fired, the pressure would force the barrel to travel rearward for a short distance, which would then allow the bolt to unlock. The bolt would complete its travel rearward, ejecting the spent cartridge and stripping a fresh one from the magazine. Meanwhile, the barrel returned to its forward position on spring pressure. This arrangement had no gas system of any kind. It was designed so that the rifle could fire a wide range of ammunition types and loadings, and to avoid the long OP rod found in the Garand. Also, the barrel assembly was quick-removable via a spring loaded release catch.

In 1936, Johnson had a few prototypes manufactured at a small machineshop. These firearms were very simple and were built just to test the concept of his self-loading system. He applied for his first patent in April of that year, which was a full three months after the Garand had been adopted as the M1. From there, Johnson contracted with Marlin Arms to build for him several more prototypes; some of which fed from standard M1918 BAR magazines. It was also around this time that he began showing his design to those in the military, taking it to Quantico and Aberdeen. The Marines seemed rather impressed, while the Army was not terribly kean. During one of its very first endurance tests at Fort Benning, the rifle fired 4,000 rounds with 86 malfunctions. The Army blamed the design, however Johnson himself showed that the ammunition and BAR magazines (both supplied and loaded by the Army) were defective and thus at the root of the problems. The early BAR version was again tested in 1938, this time at Aberdeen. Again, it did not perform satisfactrally; and again Johnson blamed the magazine used, saying it was wornout/defective.

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(illistration of the Johnson cylindrical magazine)

In 1939, the Johnson Rifle's now familiar 10 round cylindrical magazine was introduced. It was designed by Johnson shortly after the Benning test and was inspired by the old M1896 Krag. Many at the time did not especially like the M1 Garand's 8 shot, en-bloc fed magazine. It was necessary though, as the Army was insistant that the magazine be flush with the bottom of the stock. The cylindrical design not only held two more cartridges and did not require a special clip, it could also be topped-off in the field with either loose rounds or standard M1903 strippers. More prototypes were built, this time by Taft-Peirce who assisted Johnson in developing effective mass production techniques for his rifle.

Around the same time, an article in American Rifleman by F.C. Ness was published. It discussed a private range session, which pitted a standard production M1 Garand against a prototype Johnson Rifle, and concluded by favouring the Johnson. The test was conducted by USMC Captain George Van Orden, who was a friend of Captain Johnson's. In a followup article, Ness himself took both rifles to the range, and he too favoured the Johnson rifle. While he was not a friend of the designer, Ness was an early apponant of the M1 Garand, so it is difficult to view him as a non-biast evaluator either.

In December of 1939, a cylindrical magazine equipped Johnson was tested, again by the Army at Aberdeen. They really ran it through its paces too. It fired 5,000 rounds in an endurance test, and another 1,200 to test for accuracy. Over an eleven day period, the rifle was dropped, jumped on, filled with sand, rolled in the dirt, and tossed into mud. In all, this most recent and updated prototype had 22 failures/stoppages. The Ordnance Department sent a report to Johnson early in the next year. It praised his rifle's overall reliability, accuracy, quick-removable barrel, unique internal magazine, disassembly procedure, and ability to endure dirt and mud. The review board thought the rifle was a half pound too heavy and did not like the fact it could not take the standard US military blade bayonet. Also, it had concerns over the durability of the magazine, relatively short handguard, reliability of the manual safety, and quality of the trigger group. Despite this mostly positive report, the Army opted to forego any further testing. Nevertheless, the Johnson by this time had gained several supporters scattered throughout every branch of the military. Many in the public were also in favour of the rifle, and even wrote to their Congressmen.

In 1940 with continuing mixed feelings surrounding the M1 Garand, Congress pressured the Army to re-examine the Johnson. In May, four Garands were tested against a single Johnson prototype at Fort Belvoi. Several Congressmen and Senators attended the firing demonstration too. It was concluded that both rifles had proes and cons, and were therefore roughly equally well suited for military use. However, the M1 Garand was already in full scale production, so the Army decided to stick with it.Once more, it declared it had no further interest in the Johnson Rifle. The USMC however, was not so quick to make a decision. At that time, it had not yet officially adopted the Garand and was still relying on the M1903 bolt action rifle. In November, it conducted its own trials, pitting the two designs against each other. The results were very close, with the Garand slightly outperforming the Johnson; but again remember it was still a prototype, while the Garand was by that time fully developed and in fullscale production. Nevertheless, the Marines decided to not adopt any semi-automatic rifle of any type at the time.

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(stock photograph of a Dutch contract M1941 Rifle)

Back in August of that same year, the Dutch Netherlands government in exile ordered 10,200 rifles from Mr. Johnson at a unit cost of $125. These firearms were to be sent to the nation's colonies in the East Indies. So finally, Johnson had a major order, but there was one problem...he did not actually have a factory to build them in. Oh and he had zero prior experience in either large-scale manufacturing or managing a factory of workers. After negotiations, he purchased the abandoned Cranston building, reworking it into the Johnson Automatic Rifles Co...and creating a workforce from scratch too.

The Dutch M1941 featured the patented Johnson recoil operating system, cylindrical 10 round magazine, and 8 lug rotating bolt. It had a protected front sight blade, small bayonet lug (which accepted a lightweight spike bayonet), 22" long quick-removable barrel, fully adjustable peep rear sight mounted on the receiver, and manual safety located in front of the trigger. It was fitted with a wooden stock, which could house a cleaning kit (though the buttplate had to be unscrewed), short wood forearm, and ventilated barrel shroud. It took a standard US GI sling; either leather or cotton. The sheet metal magazine assembly could be easily removed for cleaning, via two pins. It had a single stage trigger, a somewhat unique feature for a military rifle of the day. It fired the standard .30-06 Springfield cartridge, designated as 7.62x63mm by the Dutch.
By April of 1941, actual production of the rifle was ready to begin, and it received the Dutch military designation of M1941. However, only a few rifles had been successfully delivered to the East Indies before the Imperial Japanese Army overran the Dutch colonies. As a result, hundreds of M1941 rifles were never shipped out and were left setting on a San Francisco dock.

In October of 1941, Mr. Johnson loaned 23 M1941 rifles to the USMC for further testing. Most were used during jump trials (along side the M55 Reising as it happened), where they prooved very successful as a paratrooper's weapon. The removable barrel allowed it to be made compact for a jump, and could be installed in seconds once the soldier hit the ground. While the USMC Paratroopers did officially adopt the LMG version of the M1941, they never did so with the rifle. After war broke out and since they were there on the dock already, it seems the Marines just helped themselves to around 750 M1941s. They would take these rifles into combat all over the Pacific, where they were generally well regarded. For example, at least 100 were used to good effect at Guadalcanal. The Marine Raiders had another two dozen with them when they went onto Gavatu as well. It was later used during the invasion of Bougainville, and at the same time during the Choiseul Island raid. The rifle was also used to good effect by Marine snipers on multiple occasions.

In 1942 the war forced the USMC to finally adopt a semi-automatic rifle and it selected the M1 Garand for logistical reasons. A year earlier, the M1's performance had been greatly enhanced when the original gas trap gas system was replaced with a short-stroke piston. Ironically though, the M1941 saw actual combat first. The Marine Paratroopers continued to use their Johnsons until they were disbanded in early 1944. Most Johnsons were pulled from frontline service and were replaced with the much more standard M1 Garand. Still, at least a handful of the M1941s were used on Iwo Jima in March of 1945. Some even remained with the Marine Raiders until the end of the war and made it back to the USA.

Eventually, the Dutch military did receive most of the rifles it had ordered. It was even able to issue them to its troops in East Asia, as it had originally planned to do. Soon after the war, the Chilean Army purchased 1,000 rifles, requiring them to be chambered for the 7x57mm Mauser cartridge. The M1941 was produced in blocks beginning with 0000 and ending with 9999. Then a prefix would be added to continue the series. An exact production number is unknown today. Estimates range from 21,500 up to around 26,000. It is clear though that the 'B' block was the final prefix. In 1946, the Cranston factory bought back roughly 100 M1941s from the USMC. It refurbished these, but kept them in true military configuration. These were sold on the civilian market in the late 1940s. Then in 1949, Johnson Automatic Rifle Co. went out of business and its assets were sold off. Mr. Johnson himself went to work for Armalite for a few years in the 1950s, before dieing in 1965, at the young age of 55.

In the 1950s, Winfield Arms purchased 16,000 surplus Johnsons from the Dutch government and imported them back into North America. Some were left in military configuration, but many were turned into sporting rifles with the addition of a new stock, barrel, and polished blued finish (not to mention target sights, different calibers, and removal of the bayonet lug). Most of the ones found in the USA today came from Winfield. Even those left in military configuration were often reparkerized and had their furniture refinished or replaced.

Also in the 1950s, it seems that the then young nation of Israel got its hands on some M1941 rifles. This probably occurred when it obtained the M1941 LMG, which is a historical fact today. Finally, it seems that some of the Cuban Freedom Fighters trained for the Bay of Pigs invasion were either given, or obtained for themselves an unknown number of Johnsons. And, that was about it for the weapon's entire military service. Honestly pretty remarkable if you think about it. Mr. Johnson first thought of his operating system in 1935, and by 1941, he had a military grade rifle ready for fullscale production. He basically designed the M1941 single handedly, even doing most of the marketing, testing, promoting, and financial backing himself. Feeling he hadn't done enough still, he then bought a factory, found skilled labor to staff it, and managed to obtain tooling and materials to build rifles at a time when resources were extremely restricted due to the war. Most importantly though, the end product was a very capable and viable military rifle. True maybe it was not better than the M1 Garand, but it was close to its equal. Plus if you compare the M1941 to other military semi-automatics of the day, it was clearly superior to some such as the German G41 or Russian SVT38. Oh and Mr. Johnson did all of this with no formal education in engineering or business management. He was a young lawyor, and reserve Marine officer; not exactly fields which would have prepaired him to develop a cutting edge military firearm. If nothing else, even if you don't much like the rifle; you have to admire the man behind it.


M50 Reising Submachinegun
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(my M50 carbine built from an original kit on a semi-only receiver tube. Shown with both types of magazine and extended compensator.)

U.S. Service: 1941 - 1953
Weight: 6.8 lb (M50) 6.2 lb (M55)
Length: 34.3" (M50) 31.3"/22.3" (open/folded M55)
Barrel length: 11.0" (M50) 10.0" (M55)
RPM: 500 to 550

Eugene Reising was a gunsmith and smallarms designer of considerable note in the USA back in the 1930s. As a young man he was an understudy to John Browning, and even worked on the team at Colt responsible for final development of the M1911 pistol. After WWI, he worked on several designs for the civilian sporting/hunting market. In 1938, Reising decided to develop a submachinegun to compete with the M1928 Thompson, which was at that time the only weapon of its type available on the American market. Or for that matter, one of the very few SMGs available in the world period. It was reliable and durable, but also very expensive to produce and rather heavy. Reising thought he could do better and could create a more affordable and lighter alternative for both law enforcement and military customers. Also as he was a target shooter and sportsman himself, he hoped to engineer something with greater accuracy. With decades of firearms experience already under his belt, he set to work on the eve of the second great war.

In June of 1940, Reising was granted a patent for his new SMG design. Next he submitted a prototype to Harrington & Richardson for evaluation and possible production. It was soon accepted and a licensing agreement was signed between the two parties. Reising's new design went into production as the H&R M50 in March of the following year. The basic fixed stock M50 was soon joined by the folding stock M55, and later by the semi-automatic only M60 Carbine. in the autumn of 1941, the Marine Corps Paratrooper division became the first military unit to field test the new SMG (which it did along side the M1941 Johnson).

By the standards of the era, the Reising SMG had a lot to recommend it. It was much less expensive and much easier to mass produce compared to the Thompson. The Reising was made from many stamped steel parts, and was built on a simple tube type machined receiver. This also made it considerably lighter than the Thompson by as much as 4 lbs. It had better balance too. It was select fire and fired from a closed bolt. It utilized a lever-delayed blowback operating system, with separate firing pin striker. This contributed to greater range and accuracy. The Reising had a unique cocking method. There was a cutout on the underside of the forestock, and the user put a finger inside to retract the charging piece. This had the advantages of being out of the way and not requiring the user to remove his off hand from the forearm or trigger guard. Interestingly, in 1941 the M55 was the most compact, lightest, and most accurate production SMG in the world. Finally, the Reising was a fraction of the price. Where as the Thompson came to market at around $200, the Reising's introductary price was only $62. After manufacturing was streamlined and H&R received a few large orders, the price dropped down to as low as $50 per SMG. So when WWII began, the M50 was all set to take the SMG world by storm.

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(an M55 Reising SMG)

The three variants were very similar and were built mostly from the same parts. The M50 was the basic/standard model. It featured a 11.0" ribbed barrel with Cutts style compensator, and was installed in a traditional looking full length rifle stock. The M55 was identical, except its barrel lacked the compensator, so it was a bit shorter at 10". It was installed in a wood forend, with pistol grip and simple wire folding buttstock. The M60 used the same receiver, but it lacked the automatic fire assembly. It had a 18" (the legal minimum length for civilians in the USA at the time) smooth barrel, and came with either an M50 stock or a special sporter version which was longer and might lack sling swivels. There was also the M65, a so-called Reising Trainer chambered for .22 LR and based on the M60.

In late 1941 and early 1942, the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps all tested the new SMG. It was during this time that its shortcomings started to reveal themselves. After trials at Aberdeen, the Army immediately rejected the M50. A board said the weapon was not reliable enough or durable enough to meet its needs. The Navy and Marine Corps though could not afford to be as picky. Both needed more SMGs, and neither had the budget to purchase more Thompsons. The Reising was evaluated at Quantico, where the staff concluded it was acceptable if kept clean and well maintained. Both branches adopted the M50 as a substitute standard and also purchased smaller numbers of the M55 and even M60. The U.S. Coast Guard also selected the weapon to be carried on its boats. The exact numbers of the initial orders are unknown today, but they were for tens of thousands to be sure. The new SMG was also purchased in small numbers to equip guards stationed to protect American factories and other key installations.

The Marines first took the M50 into combat on Guadalcanal in August of 1942. At the same time, it was in use by Marine Raiders on Tulagi and Tanambogo. The M55 went in with Marine Paratroopers on Gavutu; again during the same time period. Originally when supplies were limited, they were issued mostly to officers and Non-Coms. This was a harsh prooving ground, and many weapons failed there including the Reising. However soldiers did begin to complain about some issues which were clearly design flaws. Then when the SMG was used in other Solomon Island campeigns, its reputation as undependable became common knowledge. To be sure the vulcanic sands there were hell on even bolt actions such as the M1903A3, but the Reising's performance was simply unacceptable. Some soldiers even resorted to throwing their M50s into the sea so they could be issued something, anything else. So what was so wrong with a seemingly good design from a respected firearms inventor?

The Reising's action was simply too complicated, with overly tight tolerances, and there were too many small pins and springs. This made it highly succeptable to dust, dirt, sand, and mud; all of which were in great supply in the Pacific. This also meant that disassembling for cleaning (and reassembling afterwards) was time consuming and required a good deal of attention to make sure no small part was lost. The situation was further complicated by the fact that many parts were hand fitted at the factory, and thus parts from one SMG could not be used in another. Parts commonality has been a standard in the US military since as far back as the Civil War. It was a true requirement for any WWII issue weapon.

There were some specific issues as well. For one, the long and thin firing pin could rather easily break and as it was made from bare steel, it was prone to premature rusting. A screw driver was required to remove the takedown pin. On the original SMG, the mag catch had to be pulled rather than pushed to release the magazine. This is obviously not terribly ergonomic or quick. Many of the stamped parts were made of too thin/weak metal, and they would bend easily during hard use. The barrel compensator was also made of thin steel, and its ribs could easily break off. While the cocking method was innovative, it did lead to a few issues of its own. For one, due to where the front sling swivel was placed, the sling could fall in such a way that it blocked the cocking slot. Not a big deal to a civilian user but it did cause some soldiers to waste precious seconds trying to charge their weapon in a fire fight. Also, the cocking piece reciprocated with the bolt, so if a stray finger slipped into the slot it would get banged up pretty good. Additionally, the first Reisings had a blued finish, which would rust when exposed to even small amounts of salt water or other moisture. Specific to the M55, the folding stock was a simple piece of wire, which was not sturdy at all. The latch itself was weak and even could sometimes fold due to recoil.

However, of all of the Reising's issues, it was its magazine that was the largest and most detramental. The Thompson used a double stack, double feed pattern which was both easy to load and quite reliable. Originally, it had a 20 rounder and later an extended 30 round model came into use. These in addition to the Thompson's drum obviously. The Reising though came out with a double stack, single feed type mag, and only the one size of 20 rounds was available. So it was both of an inferior design and lower capacity. Further, the mag lacked a bolt hold open device and was more difficult to load fully. If it became damaged, dented, or even dirty; it would cease to function properly.

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(an early production M50 with blued finish & original features)

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(and a late production M50 with parkerized finish & other improvements)

When reports of the issues came back to H&R, it did attempt to improve the M50. A number of changes were introduced in 1942 and 1943. For one, the finish was changed from bluing to milspec parkerization to better resist rust. A new pattern of mag catch was designed which could either be pulled or pushed to drop the magazine. The stamped trigger guard was made stronger and attached with a third screw. The single piece recoil guide was replaced with a two piece design, which improved reliability and prooved to be more durable. The small screw type takedown pin was replaced with a larger one with a checkered edge. It could be removed with either a screw driver or by hand (if not tightened down too much at least). A few improvements were also introduced, which included a drift adjustable front sight, more secure rear sight, a selector with raised edges to improve traction, and a switch from 28 to 14 barrel ribs for strength and to speed up production. All of these changes were positive and improved the weapon's reliability and handling, so what about the largest issue, the magazine? H&R did attempt to address this, and the results were mixed. What it did was to simply convert the double stack, single feed design into a single stack, single feed. This was done by pressing vertical ribs into each side of the body and using a flat follower. The new pattern of magazine was much more reliable. It also only held 12 rounds, which was not terribly useful in single shot, and downright pointless for full automatic. The new magazine was parkerized, rather than blued as was the case with the original. The M60 received the same upgrades as the other models. Also, some late production carbines had a dimpled magwell designed to only accept the 12 round magazine. Today collectors often refer to the earlier blued guns as "commercial" and the later parkerized ones with the upgrades as "military," however this is not true and the military used both styles along with everyone else.

By the latter half of 1943, the Marine Corps began withdrawing the some 80,000 M50 and M55 SMGs it owned from frontline service. Most of the time, the SMG was replaced by the then new M1 Carbine (and M1A1 for the M55). Also, larger numbers of the Thompson were becoming available thanks to the wartime simplified M1 variant. The Navy continued to carry the M50 onboard many of its vessels, where it was kept clean and seldom called upon anyway. After it decided it no longer could use the SMG, the Marine Corps gave thousands to guard units stationed state-side. When H&R had additional orders ready to ship and was told the Marines wouldn't take them, they were rerouted to the Lend-Lease program. Thousands were sent to Canada, Russia, and other Allied nations. The O.S.S. even acquired a few M55s for use behind enemy lines, where its compact size and lightweight were appreciated. Also where heavy firepower was not required and the weapon could be kept away from mud and saltwater.

After the war, the U.S. government sold off most of its remaining Reisings as surplus to local law enforcement at very low prices. It is worth noting that when used as a police sidearm, the M50 was much more appreciated and earned a solid reputation. Not surprising really, as a police officer is called upon to use an automatic weapon rarely, especially back in the 1950s. That and he has more time to clean and maintain it, compared to a Marine under fire in a foxhole.

In 1945, H&R ceased manufacturing of both the M50 and M55 after approximately 120,000 had been produced. M60 semi-automatics continued to be built and offered in the company's catalogue until 1949; where the line ended at around carbine number 3,000. At that time, H&R sold off its remaining inventory of Reisings to police departments and the prison system; offering very low prices just to clear everything out. The company dropped the entire series, and it began to disassemble the production line.

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(my old H&R M60 Carbine, which I sold awhile back. As far as I know, it was used by a local P.D. back in the day.)

However, the machines were not idle long. H&R soon realised there was a demand for a low cost SMG; both from domestic and overseas customers. So it put the Reising back into limited production. From 1950 through 1957, around 5,500 additional M50 and M55s were built. The company's last run for the Reising was a batch of 2,000 semi M60 Carbines for a foreign buyer, which was completed in the early 1960s. Even then, the firearm's story wasn't quite over yet.

In 1986, the H&R factory closed its doors and everything it still had left pertaining to the Reising was purchased by Numrich. Among the various parts and documents, Numrich found some registered, transferable receiver tubes. It built these up into working select-fire SMGs and sold them to the public throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Numrich Reisings were built mostly with original H&R parts, though some newly made components such as stocks and sling swivels were also used.

In the end, the best one could say would be that the SMG was modestly successful. Eugene Reising was a skilled gunsmith, designer, and was very familiar with firearms. However, for most of his career he worked with sporting and hunting type guns. So when he designed his SMG, he applied those principles, making something that was highly refined, accurate, and lightweight. He did not think much about durability, parts interchangibility, ease of disassembly, or the ability to operate without regular maintenance. He came up with something that was very well suited for law enforcement and civilian use, but was very far from what any military could honestly call acceptable.



So there you have it folks, cheers.