Hi everyone, I thought some of you would enjoy hearing about a recent project I have finally completed that I started earlier in the year with just a concept. Like many that are familiar with the Reising family of firearms (M50, M55, and M60) you are probably aware that one of the BIGGEST complaints is magazine availability - there just aren't a lot of magazines around. This problem planted a seed that turned from just a concept in my head to an actual product (that works!). I wanted something that would solve the issues of trying to find some original magazines (good luck, and not to mention the price) or trying to jerry-rig a modern magazine to fit in the original magwell and hoping that it will function reliably. I present to you - my Reising to Uzi magazine Conversion Magwell.

This magwell is CNC machined from a solid piece of steel and later hardened for superior durability. I set out with the goal of creating a magwell that will not only run (and run and run) but will also utilize modern machining and heat treating processes to make a product that will last - compare this to the nearly 80 year old original H&R magwells that are just blued steel or parkerized. While comparing, you will see that the magazine release is also much improved over the original factory method of releasing a magazine. Simply press the button with your left thumb and pull out the magazine - as it should be. This is especially true on the earlier Reisings where you had to pull back the magazine release lever and then pull down the magazine.

With the issue of magazine availability (and parts for that matter) at the forefront of this project, I carefully considered what magazines I wanted to make as the foundation of this project. I settled on newly manufactured .45 Uzi magazines from ProMag. From all of my testing I have not had a single malfunction induced from the magazines - and I tested quite a few. Not to mention that ProMag also offers a lifetime warranty on each magazine! Once this magwell is installed, it is essentially "Plug-and-Play" - you can just insert a standard .45acp Uzi magazine without modification and you're ready to go. As you can see the advantages over the original H&R magazines that are almost all 80+ years old is something significant to consider. Aside from that, the parts used in the magwell assembly themselves are widely available if someone wanted to pick up some replacements (it uses standard military issue Uzi parts; mag release button, mag release button pin, mag release button spring, and 2 6/32 stainless set screws you could probably find at any hardware store). Really any original Reising replacement parts are difficult to come by so again this is a significant improvement for anyone that owns a Reising. Again, with wanting to design a durable magwell, I also increased the thickness on the portion that contacts the bottom of the action bar itself. With this, I have also redesigned the taper pins that connect the magwell to the action in the instance that I had to fit the pins to the specific action (ALL Reisings vary slightly in tolerances so this was another hurdle that I had to overcome). On that note;Thank you to all of the members here that provided me with dimensional feedback from their own Reisings!!! The pins that attach the magwell to the action are also precision CNC machined and made out of 300 series stainless. All together, this magwell is about 3x the weight of the original factory magwell (~13.5oz vs ~4.7oz), the added weight under the action does add to enhanced recoil mitigation which is another positive in itself.

Here is a video of it being demonstrated (sorry it's just semi - my range doesn't allow for FA fire)


From all of my testing I have NOT HAD A SINGLE MALFUNCTION! That includes with the action feeding or extracting and with the actual magazines themselves. Other Reising owners that have used these have reported similar results back to me (once tuned to their specific gun). I do want to reiterate that there may be some minor fitting involved to get the magwell tuned to your specific gun. The most common issue I am seeing so far seems to be with the newer ProMag Uzi magazines having feedlips that are not as wide as the older magazines that they produced. This is an easy fix that only takes a minute to slightly bend them outwards so they are wider, this lets the bolt strip off the round easier to feed. Once this is done performance should be flawless. If you have a question about this please see the below link to a guide on how this is done that was created by a customer. I recommend running some of the dummy rounds to make sure the magwell is compatible with your specific action before altering your stock. I will try to update this paragraph with any potential issues as I gather feedback from other users. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about these magwells, my inbox is open.

How to adjust feedlips (post 6&7): https://www.uzitalk.com/forums/index.php?threads/reising-to-uzi-magazine-conversion-magwell-a-fun-project-i-completed.99746/#post-874237

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed seeing my project - I spent a lot of time bringing it to reality. Stay tuned, I plan on continuing to develop and produce other exciting upgrades for the Reising in the future.

Very cool, and a clever idea. Got a pic of it with the magazine installed?

That's a good question! Other than the demo video, I don't think I do. I can stick one in and take some pics this weekend if anyone wants to see..

Looks good! Very similar to what I've been working on and testing!

The Uzi mag conversion isn't as difficult as people think.

Nice design. I was thinking of an Uzi grip cutoff insert vs replacement conversion but never finished working on it.

@stahlgewehr762


How are these?

I was wondering if there was a .45 uzi drum someone made. I was actually reach out to them and ask.

I like it; looks really cool, and best of all, it works!

@chas8008

What I would like is someone to make a Sten mag tower for the Beta 9mm so I can use it in  my M11 Sten mag Lage setup.

The biggest magazine I have are Lanchester 50 rounders but I want to use a Beta 100 rd mag.

Forgot to say, nice machining BTW.

Ty

Sounds like the kind of project I would take on

There is this guy that makes Grease Gun/BRP U45 drums using a Thompson drum and a grease gun mag as the tower.  No reason the same thing shouldn't work with an Uzi .45 mag as the tower.

BRP 45 Drum

There's a lot of hate for promag but I was pleasantly surprised to find the HK93 mags and Saiga12 drums to be good to go.

They may not be as nice as say factory HK mags, but for range type use they are more than adequate.

There are quite a few people in that dilemma of not wanting to convert their Craig Wheatley STEN mag converted M/11s back to normal mags as they are heavily invested in STEN mags already and there is only the 50 rd Shockwaves and nothing else.

I am 100 percent sure if we talk some more, I can get ten people or more on Uzi talk to get in on it as a group buy.

To the MODS, I am willing to get this switched if needed if its going beyond tech talk.

I'm not a Reising owner, so my comments can be considered gratuitous.  The concept is very reminescent of the long ago discontinued (c. 2008) VM HyTECH unmodified Uzi magazine adapter for the AR pattern magwell.  From my experience with the VM HyTECH product (that I still have and occasionally use), I'll note that IMI Uzi .45 ACP magazines have a bit smaller cross section than ProMag Uzi .45 ACP magazines.  As such, IMI mags (if one has any) might have a wobbly fit in the subject Reising to Uzi magwell adapter.

As for the repurposing of a ProMag 1911 pattern drum goes, the bolt clearance and feed angle would need careful consideration.

Best of luck.
MHO, YMMV, etc.  Be well.

I'm not too familiar with the specifics of M/11's and sten mags, but I'm sure if we talked more maybe I would have an idea on some sort of solution

If Promag doesn't get back with you, I have a contact I met at SHOT this year, she was quite helpful & promptly replaced a 30 rnd Beretta 92 mag.

Another user;