I decided on the Reising to round out my collection of modern MGs due to its WWII history and classic look with the wood stock.

1) Im looking at a couple different models for sale at the moment. The first is an early production model from 1941 that has the earlier “less refined” features with an blued finished. The second is a late “S” prefix model made in 1957 and has all the “upgraded” parts with a parkerized finish. Both are in excellent condition.
Which would you choose?

2) What price point do you consider to be a must buy? Seems like $9,000 is pretty common price these days but I’ve seen them pop up on occasion for quite a bit cheaper.

3) mags are stupid expensive, like $200 for the 20 rounders. And I saw a 30 rounder sell for $500. How many mags do owners typically have?

4) what’s your overall opinion on owning a reising?

I'm not an owner and don't claim to be an expert, but I did consider the Reising and decided against purchasing.  From what I understand, many Reisings are former corrections facilities guns and were probably not abused or subjected to use in harsh environments as is the case of many former military and law enforcement agency firearms.  Another consideration is that a Reising owner has recently developed and is selling an adapter so that ProMag (or IMI) Uzi .45 ACP mags can be used in the Reising, so one is not limited to high price, original mags.  The Reising has a delayed blowback action which may provide some benefit for competition shooting (as well as bragging rights when compared to a direct blowback firearm).
Some negatives are that the rate of fire is pretty high and apparently most easily adjusted by choice of ammo.  One must take care as bolts can break (a few years ago someone had replacement bolts made, but I don't know the current availability and cost).  Similarly, one or more malfunctions that crack the receiver can also occur.

Hopefully, some subject matter experts/owners will provide corrections/comments and more usable, credible information.

FWIW, I ended up getting a former law enforcement 1928 Thompson that looked to be a office display gun that never saw field use.  I later sold that to help fund the purchase of an arsenal rebuilt M1A1 Thompson that I later sold to help fund the purchase of a former law enforcement 1921 Thompson that apparently did see a lot of field use.  Until a few years ago, surplus WWII era Thompson stick magazines and parts were available at fairly reasonable prices.

Best of luck with whatever you pursue.

MHO, YMMV, etc.

My personal choice was that I wanted an earlier gun with the finned barrel and blued finish.

For me I liked the look of the early guns with the blued finish, the 28 finned barrel, and the stock that went right up against the compensator so that is what I went with.  

I think it really comes down to what you personally like, similar to "Are you a 1921/28 or M1/M1A Thompson person?".  Again for me I like the looks of the 28 Thompson over the M1 so that is what I bought for essentially aesthetic reasons alone.  Now if I was a grunt in the jungle of WW2 I would probably go the other way on both guns.

However, unlike the Thompson versions, there really isn't any difference in the internals and how they operate between the early Reisings and the later Reisings.  The difference are more of a cosmetic nature than a functional one.

The major differences between early commercial and later mil is you have the blued vs. parked finish, the 28 vs 14 fin barrel, the mil stock forearm is slightly shorter and the trigger guard is "3" vs "2" screws type, the takedown screw is the low profile slotted screw type or the larger knurled wheel type, and there are some minor differences on the sight, selector, and mag release.

As for magazines I have "9" total.  I have "5" of the factory 20rd mags and "4" of the Ken Christie produced 30rd mags.  My original goal was "6" of the factory 20rd mags and one or two of the 30rd mags.   I ended up on a good deal for the "4" 30rd mags ($1000 for all four) and now at this point unless a cheap OEM 20rd mag fell into my lap,  I don't think I would bother with another sixth factory 20rd mags.   Honestly,  its probably a bit overkill in the mag department and I would probably be just fine if I had half that number of mags as I have only actually shot 3 or 4 of those 9 mags.

There is also the new Promag 45 Uzi magwell option as well that another member is selling.    I didnt buy one as I already have Reising mags and while its a great idea/invention I am not a huge fan of how it changes the looks of the gun and that it then can't use OEM Reising mags. IMHO, it just looks too long which I get as it has to be long enough for the mag latch to reach the OEM mag catch slot in the Uzi mag.  Personally, if I used Promag Uzi mags in my Reising I would rather have sleeves on the Promag Uzi mags and keep the OEM magwell that doesn't change the look of the gun while also retaining the ability to use Reising mags.  Again I get if you are just starting out it may be worth it to just go all in with Promag Uzi mags only and live with the aesthetics of the conversion magwell and its inability to use OEM Reising mags.

Pricewise, I think you can still find a Reising in the $7000 to $8000 range without too much trouble.  I think $9000 unless its coming with a bunch of mags or spare parts is pretty high in todays market.  Bob Naess has two for sale right now for $7250, (one mil/Numrich gun and one H&R commercial.)  However at this price point I would just buy the gun you want, with the features you want, in the condition you want even if you "overpay" by $500 to $1000.   Its not like a Thompson market where the high and low end of the market is separated by $10,000 to $25,000.

I really like my Reising and it was one of those machineguns purchases where I was expecting it to not be all that great and it turns out to be really enjoyable shooter.  I have probably shot the Reising more than my Thompson over the past couple years.

Good luck with your search for the right Reising.


My personal gun below:

I'm not an owner or expert but I do have time around the Reising.

The mag situation is interesting. A dude here and on UZI talk released what I understand as a replacement magwell to use UZI mags. That's nifty.

I have adapters I've been using on a buddies Reising for a little over a year now and I have a side in adapter that goes in the Reising magwell for UZI mags that has been sitting for almost a year due to my buddy focusing on other things and e haven't had a chance to test it much. Mine works with IWI and promag from testing.

There are folks doing things to make cheaper mags a reality.

I'm not really a fan of the Reising. They are neat but as far as a shooter there are better options. I'm not really a fan of how they handle. Lots of other sub guns that handle better for me.

I bought a Mac 10/45 for all the Lage goodies. Mac prices have gone nuts though. My Mac with a Lage upper is a better my mannered gun than a Reising to me.

I believe blued is older and parked is newer. That's the biggest differences I can think of offhand with my buddied Reising.

Reisings really get a bad name for it self due to the Marine's cleaning method. They threw all the parts into a bucket for cleaning and didn't realize that each Reising was pretty much hand fitted. This is why you hear they are suited for guard duty, and police since they would likely get cleaned one at a time.

Any case if your on a budget, then I think this is a fine SMG. Mine shoots well and I haven't had much of any problems with it. I can't say it is my favorite SMG but I have no qualms shooting it.

As for magazines.. yes they are crazy expensive. Definitely $200 is common pricing. Not sure what the craze is. I hope Keystone puts out some more reasonably priced magazines.. I have a few and all of the ones I shot had zero issues.
On Sturm there is a guy who made a replacement magazine block. You remove the original and put in one that was designed to hold Uzi magazines. I think this is very creative and cool. However I am not going to buy it since I have enough magazines for mine that I don't need to use Uzi mags. Plus I don't want to risk losing original parts from the original gun in case I want to sell.

Pricewise on the Reising it self.. I see them above $7k now, 2 years ago they were about $6500. Usually I now see people on Sturmgewehr sell them for around $8500. In fact I think I saw a nice one there right now. I have no relationship with the seller.. just happen to see it the other day.

If you do decide to buy one, I can recommend a couple of things to do to them. The main one in mind is the inertia firing pin. Note that the Reisings have a known issue of breaking firing pins, but with the inertia mod, it stops this issue. If you don't want to do the mod then buy extra firing pins from Keystone.

GD thread:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/2695152_Reising-to-Uzi-Magazine-Conversion-Magwell-a-fun-project-I-completed.html

Tech thread:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_22/548918_Reising-to-Uzi-Magazine-Conversion-Magwell-a-fun-project-I-completed.html