OT: USMC Paramarines and the M55 Reising
Rob Arndt
An odd USMC group issued with an odd US SMG (which was a POS).
Interesting reading tho'
Rob
Dan
originally made. Reising was used by many law enforcement agencies after
the war with no complaints. The reason it was issued to the USMC in WW2
was to fill the shortage left by the Army having priority on Thomsons.
The same thing happened with the Johnson rifle. I have shot both Reising
and Johnson and neither is, as you put it a "POS." Neither should have
been sent to combat, but the same could be said for many firearms.
Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired
renab...@aol.com
SNIP
The Reising has been described as "an American Chauchat" - while
not as gruesome as that infamous clunker, the USMC got rid of them as
fast as possible (legehnd has it that the CG of the 1st Marine Division
had them collected and sunk in Iron Bottom Sound, telling his G4 to
lreport them as lost in combat). The surviving M50's and M55's were
given to police departments and to groups such as security guards at
defense plants, joining semi-auto M60's already purchased by those
groups. Budgets being what they are, if you live in a small town or
rural area, they my still be in the local constabulary's gun racks..
Doesn't that make you sleep better?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the other USMC horror - the Johnson M1941 rifle (adopted in
the absence of the M1 while production built up). Once described to me
as, "A nice sporting rifle that didn't belong on the
battlefield".
Caliber: .30-06 (7.62x63mm)
Action: short recoil operated, rotating bolt
Overall length: 1156 mm
Barrel length: 558 mm
Weight: 4.3 kg empty
Magazine capacity: 10 rounds
Melvin C. Johnson, an American arms designer, developed his
semiautomatic rifle by the mid-1938, and submitted it to the US Army
trials. Trials and development of the rifle continued until the early
1940, when the Army Ordnance Board finally rejected the Johnson rifle
as being too long and heavy, and potentially unreliable with the
bayonet attached.
Same year Johnson submitted his rifle for trials to the US Marine
Corps, where it was tested against M1 Garand rifle. First tests results
were good for Johnson, but later on the M1 Garand rifle was found
superior to it. In 1941 Johnson named his rifle as "Model 1941", and
the same year the Dutch Government ordered 70 000 rifles from Johnson
for its West India colonies, fearing invasion from Japan. For this
order Johnson created the Johnson Automatics Mfg plant. At about the
same time USMC parachutists forces became interested in Johnson rifle,
as it was easy to take down for compact carry during parachute drop,
and then easy and quick to reassembly. As the Dutch colonies were
already occupied by Japan, USMC procured many of M1941 rifles, made to
Dutch order. Compared to M1 Garand, M1941 Johnson rifle had some good
and some bad features. Good features were good accuracy, lesser recoil,
and bigger magazine capacity with capability for reloading partially
full magazine with loose cartridges. Bad features were a number of
smaller parts which were easily lost during field stripping, and less
available spare parts. Overall, about 30 000 of M1941 rifles were
produced during the WW2. After the war, USMC returned all remaining
rifles to the Netherlands Purchasing Commission.
Johnson M1941 is a short recoil operated, semiautomatic rifle. Barrel
is locked by the rotating bolt with eight locking lugs, engaging into
the barrel extension. On recoil stroke, bolt head is rotated to
disengage from the barrel, and then barrel is stopped and returned into
forward position with its own spring; bolt continues its way back to
extract and eject the spent cartridge case and then to chamber fresh
cartridge on its way forward. Return spring is located in the
buttstock. The rifle is fed from fixed rotary magazine, which holds 10
cartridges. Cartridges can be loaded into the magazine via the loading
port in the magazine at the right side of the gun, using the standard
M1903-type stripper clips (2 clips with 5 rounds each) or loose rounds.
Magazine can be refilled at any time either with the bolt open or
closed. Magazine loading port is closed by the spring-loaded dust
cover. It must be noted that pre-war Johnson rifles were available
either with rotary or box magazines, but box magazine versions
apparently are very scarce, as very few of these were produced. Rifle
is fitted with two-piece wooden stock, steel handguards were integral
to the receiver. Military rifles were equipped with proprietary
detachable lightweight spike-shaped bayonets, as the standard knife
bayonets were too heavy and affected the reliability of a
recoil-operated mechanism. These bayonets had no separate "handle" and
were hardly useful and provided only to fulfill military requirements
More
The Johnson rifle's main drawback was the inability of it to function
in extreme conditions. Dirt and debris of unacceptable amounts and size
were easy to enter the weapon through loading area. Combine that with
the fact that most soldiers fire from the prone or supported positions
and the Johnson loads from the bottom, you have a recipe for malfuntion
Still Moe
Johnson M1941 had it's issues also, including a Fragile sheet metal
rotary magazine which if dented would not let the rounds feed.
inability to launch Rifle Grenades, use a Bayonet, Archaic rear sight,
Length of the reciever,etc. here is a quote from the 4th Marine Raider
bn. on the johnson;" the Raiders did a full field evaluation during
training & operations on New Georgia- feed problems regarding the
ammo/magazine were noted,ammo issued was in 5 rd. clips, but had to be
loaded singly. One Raider was wounded when his rifle discharged during
cleaning( the barrel had been removed, but was still loaded- you wont
find that happening with a Garand). the exposed barrel required careful
carrying to protect it from damage, Rifle will not cycle consistantly
with Bayonet affixed
Yel More
The M1941 rifle used the energy from recoil to operate the rifle. As
the bullet and propellant gasses moved down the barrel, they imparted a
force on the bolt head that was locked to the barrel. The barrel,
together with the bolt, moved a short distance rearward until the
bullet left the barrel and pressure in the bore had dropped to safe
levels. The barrel then stopped against a shoulder allowing the bolt
carrier to continue rearward under the momentum imparted by the initial
recoil stage. A cam arrangement then rotated and unlocked the bolt to
continue the operating cycle. The Johnson rifle utilized a 10 round
rotary magazine and utilized a two-piece stock.
This system had some advantages over the M1 Garand, including less
perceived recoil, greater magazine capacity, and the ability to load
the rifle while it was in battery. Unfortunately, the Johnson's
recoiling barrel mechanism resulted in excessive vertical shot
dispersion that was never fully cured during its production life, and
was prone to malfunction when a bayonet was attached to the
reciprocating barrel. The Johnson also employed a number of small parts
that were easily lost during field stripping. Partially because of lack
of development, the M1941 Johnson was less rugged and reliable than the
M1 Garand, though this was a matter of degree and was not a universal
opinion among those that had used both weapons in combat.
History
Melvin Johnson campaigned heavily for the adoption of the Johnson rifle
by the U.S. Army and other service branches. However, after limited
testing, the U.S. Army rejected the Johnson in favor of the M1 Garand
rifle developed by Springfield Armory. The M1941 Johnson was ordered by
the Netherlands for issue to its troops in the Dutch East Indies, but
the Japanese invaded the islands before the rifles could be shipped
from California. At this time, the U.S. Marine Corps found itself in
need of a modern fast-firing infantry rifle, and acquired some rifles
from the East Indies shipment for issue to its Marine Raider and
Paramarine battalions then preparing to deploy for action in the
Pacific theatre. By all accounts, the M1941 Johnson performed
acceptably in combat with the Marines in the early days of the Pacific
fighting.
Despite repeated requests to adopt the rifle by the Marine Corps.[1],
the Johnson rifle also lacked the support of US Army Ordnance, which
had already invested considerable sums in the development of the M1
Garand and its revised gas operating system, then just going into full
production. Johnson was successful in selling small quantities of the
Johnson Light Machine Gun to the U.S. armed forces, and this weapon was
later used by both Para-Marines and the Army's First Special Service
Force.[
A modified version of the LMG was built is Israel as the Dror but was
quickly superseded by better designs
www.israeli-weapons.com/.../dror/Dror.html
Both rifle and LMG turned up with Castro's rebels and the Fifties and
then the Cuban exiles bought (mnore likely, the CIA provided out of
weapons kept in store post WW Deuce) some for their operations against
the Bearded One in the Sities
More on Rifle
http://www.olive-drab.com/od_other_firearms_rifle_m1941johnson.php3
.
More on Light MG
http://www.olive-drab.com/od_other_firearms_mg_m1941m1944johnson.php3
Photos
M1941 Rifle
http://world.guns.ru/rifle/johnson1941.jpg
M1941 Bayonet
M1941 LMG (M1944 was very similar - the major difference being a
uttstock composed of two over and under metal tubes and the location of
the bipod
Rob Arndt
Dan,
You are probably thinking to yourself this is another of my
"Anti-American" remarks about US weapons.
It is not.
Almost every authority on submachine guns published has stated the same
thing, including the US SMG experts Timothy J. Mullin and Kevin
Dockery. The main complaint is that this police-type SMG was
overcomplicated, prone to jamming and fouling, and had parts that were
not interchangeable. Thus, it was practically useless in combat. At
Guadalcanal the Marines actually threw away their Reisings for any
salvagable weapon they could find on the battlefield!
And if you really wanna argue about that, then ask the Russians who
received imports of them from the US as well. I don't think anyone will
argue the fact that Russia made the best SMGs of WW2 overall and they
considered the Reising worthless as a combat weapon.
When issued to police in the 1950s the Reisings were OK b/c they were
not under combat conditions and after that... they simply became
collectors pieces.
No doubt it was issued due to lack of Thompsons but it proved a
liability in combat as its complicated mechanisms made it vunerable to
just about everything. No one has a good word to say about it in any
published small arms authority, compendium, encyclopedia, etc...
Rob
Dan
<snip>
> Johnson M1941 had it's issues also, including a Fragile sheet metal
> rotary magazine which if dented would not let the rounds feed.
> inability to launch Rifle Grenades, use a Bayonet,
In order for the rifle to cycle the bayonet had to be as light as
possible. I have one in my collection. The bayonet is higher in utility
only to the spoke for the mk4 Enfield in that it makes a better tent stake.
Dan
renab...@aol.com
correct one (I hope!)
http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/small_arms/dror/Dror.html
This is an excellent site covering evrything from small arms to spaxce
systems - it even gas AIRPLANES! ! (grin)
Andrew Chaplin
The bayonet for the No. 4 is useful in that it is useful for opening cans of
engine oil of the time. The slot made by most bayonets of the period was too
small.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)
Dan
> "Dan" <B2...@aol.com> wrote in message news:PihWg.6190$eZ4.2121@dukeread06...
>> renab...@aol.com wrote:
>> <snip>
>>> Johnson M1941 had it's issues also, including a Fragile sheet metal
>>> rotary magazine which if dented would not let the rounds feed.
>>> inability to launch Rifle Grenades, use a Bayonet,
>> In order for the rifle to cycle the bayonet had to be as light as
>> possible. I have one in my collection. The bayonet is higher in utility only
>> to the spoke for the mk4 Enfield in that it makes a better tent stake.
>
> The bayonet for the No. 4 is useful in that it is useful for opening cans of
> engine oil of the time. The slot made by most bayonets of the period was too
> small.
I had forgotten that use.
Rob Arndt
Dan,
You're right.
I shouldn't have called it a POS; rather, "unreliable in combat" as the
"experts" most often state.
Rob, retired
Dan
> In article <RlfWg.6185$eZ4.1608@dukeread06>, Dan <B2...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Reising was used by many law enforcement agencies after
>> the war with no complaints.
>
Now SWAT uses select fire weapons such as M-16 and Mini-14. After
WW2 law enforcement used thompson or reising SMG types because the
federal government was disposing of them. As for being employed I can't
say how often.