We have some more information to add to the page on the Reising light rifle prototype today. A reader in Brazil send us a series of color photos of an example of this design, slightly different than the Aberdeen example in our other pictures.
This was one of the prototype rifles submitted to the trials program which would eventually produce the M1 Carbine. Many of the leading designers of the day submitted designs, and we have information available on most of them in the Vault.
Going back to the Resigin design, we also have an article on the carbine written by Sgt. Gary Paul Johnson, who had the opportunity to test fire this prototype (reprinted with his permission – thanks Gary!).
Reising’s .30 Caliber: Almost an M1 Carbine
You can see the whole new gallery of photos as well as the rest or our information on the Reising / H&R Light Rifle Prototype page in the Vault.
Nice gun !
I think the H&R Reising and the Hyde Bendix got short shift, as they both appear to have been excellent designs. One of the things I kept saying when Winchester was going out of business was “Why didn’t they produce a 50th anniversary M1 Carbine?” They were already in production by IAI in Houston, if Winchester had simply stamped their name on it, and done the final assembly, they would have sold quite well.
Likewise, when H&R was going out of business in the late 70’s and early 80’s, why didn’t they produce THIS as a commercial rifle? I think the American public has been hungry for tacticool guns for decades before the AWB ended, but the industry just ignored what people wanted, and gave them cheaper, lower quality variants of the same stuff they sold their grandfathers, and GREAT grandfathers! Lever actions caught on because they were tactical, not because they were practical. Same with pump shotguns.
dead link to “Reising / H&R Light Rifle Prototype”