Eugene Reising
{{Short description|US firearm designer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eugene Reising
| image = Eugene G. Reising, August 1911.png
| alt =
| caption = Performing a pistol demonstration in 1911
| birth_name = Eugene Gustavus Reising
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|11|26}}
| birth_place = Port Jervis, New York U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1967|02|21|1884|11|26}}
| death_place = Worcester, Massachusetts U.S.
| death_cause =
| other_names =
| occupation = Firearms designer
| employer =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
- Frances Rose Reising
- Alice V. Fohlin
}}
| children =
| awards =
| alma_mater =
}}
Eugene Gustavus Reising (November 26, 1884 – February 21, 1967){{Cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/GB613504A |title=GB613504A – Improvements in automatic firearms |publisher=Google Patents |date=1943-01-27 |access-date=2020-04-02}}{{Cite web |url=http://ssdmf.info/by_birthdate/18841126.html |title=Persons born 26 November 1884 in the Social Security Death Master File |access-date=2013-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929165150/http://ssdmf.info/by_birthdate/18841126.html |archive-date=2012-09-29 |url-status=dead }} was an American inventor who designed the M50 Reising submachine gun in 1938.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/02/22/archives/eugene-g-reising-inventor-of-a-submachine-gun-dies.html?sq=inventor%2520dies&scp=239&st=cse |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Eugene G. Reising, Inventor Of a Submachine Gun, Dies |date=February 22, 1967 |url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2224928 |title=US2224928A – Firearm |publisher=Google Patents |date=1938-04-26 |access-date=2020-04-02}} Reising was a ranked competitive target shooter. An ordnance engineer, Reising was the recipient of more than 60 firearm patents. Following his work with Harrington & Richardson, he designed semi-automatic rifles for Mossberg & Sons, Marlin, Savage, and Stevens.
Biography
Of Swedish ancestry from a family that came to Delaware in 1635, Reising was born in Port Jervis, New York.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47891512/eugene-reising-dies-designed/ |title=Eugene Reising Dies; Designed Submachine Gun |newspaper=Hartford Courant |page=43 |date=1967-02-22 |access-date=2020-04-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/lilsubmachinegundidnt/index.asp |title=The Little Submachine Gun that...didn't |first=R. Ted |last=Jeo |website=Surplus Rifle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012214109/http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/lilsubmachinegundidnt/index.asp |archive-date=2007-10-12 |url-status=dead |access-date=2020-04-02}} He was the son of a railroad engineer who died when Eugene Reising was an infant. Reising attended Lehigh University for three years, then worked as a cowboy in Texas and Mexico for a few years. On returning to the U.S. he went to work for Colt, testing and selling guns. He worked with John M. Browning on the development of the Colt Model 1911 pistol.{{Cite magazine |url=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/latest-submachine-gun-is-designed-for-mass-production/ |title=Latest Submachine Gun is Designed for Mass Production |magazine=Popular Science |page=73 |date=April 1941 |access-date=2020-04-02 |via=Modern Mechanix}}
In 1911, Reising served in Company A of the Connecticut National Guard, winning a championship in expert riflemanship and giving demonstrations of the rapid reloading of semi-automatic pistols.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47889655/court-martial-by-major-edward-lamb/ |title=Court Martial by Major Edward Lamb |newspaper=Hartford Courant |page=2 |date=1911-01-13 |access-date=2020-04-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47889468/spills-21-leaden-death-pills-into-a/ |title=Spills 21 Leaden Death Pills Into a Target in 28 Seconds |newspaper=Times Leader |location=Camp Perry, Ohio |page=12 |date=1911-08-22 |access-date=2020-04-02 |via=Newspapers.com}} In the same year, he demonstrated a 9.8-mm version of the Colt pistol, which was adopted as the M1911 by authorities in three Balkan countries, but two years later, he was fired from the company for using a Luger pistol at a target shooting competition.{{Cite web| title=Eugene reising’s firearm designs | url=https://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ASOAC-EDITION-119-ALBERT.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808085314/https://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ASOAC-EDITION-119-ALBERT.pdf | archive-date=2022-08-08}}
In October 1925, Reising was indicted for violating the Sullivan Act after supplying pistols and Maxim Silencers to a member of the Cowboy Tessler gang, a group that was captured after a string of robberies and a gun battle with police in New York.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47893458/470000-bail-holds-five-holdup/ |title=$470,000 Bail Holds Five Holdup Gangsters |newspaper=New York Daily News |page=163 |date=1925-10-23 |access-date=2020-04-02 |via=Newspapers.com}} He pleded guilty to unlawful possession of firearms and was sentenced to fifteen months' imprisonment on Welfare Island.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47894009/4-in-cowboy-gang-up-for-pleading/ |title=4 in Cowboy Gang Up for Pleading |newspaper=New York Daily News |page=2 |date=1925-10-28 |access-date=2020-04-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47894165/reising-gunmaker-faces-new-charge/ |title=Reising, Gunmaker, Faces New Charge |newspaper=Rutland Herald |agency=Associated Press |location=Hartford, Connecticut |date=1927-05-09 |access-date=2020-04-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1938, Reising began work on a new submachine gun. He submitted his design to Harrington and Richardson, and in March 1941, they started manufacturing it as the Model 50.{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1349 |title=The U.S. .45 Model 50 and 55 Reising Submachine Gun and Model 60 Semiautomatic Rifle |first=Robert |last=Ankony |magazine=Small Arms Review |pages=64–67 |date=July 2008 |access-date=2020-04-03}} Approximately 100,000 of these were made, and many were used in World War II.
His wife, Frances Rose Reising, died in Hartford on April 26, 1947.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47891134/mrs-eugene-reising/ |title=Mrs. Eugene Reising |newspaper=Hartford Courant |page=36 |date=1947-04-27 |access-date=2020-04-02 |via=Newspapers.com}} He remarried, to Alice V. Fohlin.
Eugene Reising died in Worcester, Massachusetts, on February 20, 1967.
References
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External links
- {{Find a Grave|124329949}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reising, Eugene}}
Category:20th-century American inventors
Category:American male sport shooters
Category:American people of Swedish descent