MNWalther Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 (edited) So I took the m50 to the range today. I was shooting MagTech brass, not the nicest, most the worst. Had a 30 round Christie’s magazine. Would load the mag, insert into the gun, rack it in, first round would go off but have a failure to feed. Sometimes it was getting stuck on the round, other times it was pulling the round in put not all the way in place, in some instances the next round was getting caught under the bolt. I tried loading 30 rounds, 10 rounds and 20 rounds but still could not get it to cycle and gave up. Thoughts on what could be wrong? Was going to try swapping out springs on mags and gun and see if that helps, if there is any ammo concerns good to know too. From what I was told the reising eats most everything fine. Hoping for some direction before I start taking it apart too far or go downs a rabbit hole. Thanks in advance! Edited March 28 by MNWalther Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyboy Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 Sounds like it could be a magazine issue. Are you sure it’s a Christie mag and not one of the later Keystone manufactured mags? The later Keystone mags frequently need the feed lips adjusted when new in order to properly present the rounds at the correct angle for feeding. You can tell if it’s a Keystone manufactured mag by looking at the bottom round count hole which will be square instead of round like the others above it. It’s easy to adjust the feed lips if they’re out of tolerance by gently spreading them with a wooden dowel or closing them up my pressing the lips firmly against a piece of wood like a 2x4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bartlett Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 I'm not an expert and some may disagree with me, but I found that 3 things were keeping my Reising from running well... the gun springs, the mag springs and the firing pin. Mine came from a local LEO with 4 original mags and apparently the original springs in the gun. They actually let me shoot it before I bought it. It wasn't the most reliable, but it was cheap and came in a Fed Labs hard case. That was 20+ years ago. Some people hate Wolf springs but installing a new Wolf kit made the gun run better. Back then, Christie was still in business, so I called and spoke to Ken Christie himself and bought a couple of his 30's. He also sold me some 30 rd springs to replace the springs in my 20's. You have to cut the 30 springs to fit the 20's, but now the 20's are super stiff to load but they feed much better. Finally, the original Reising firing pins are problematic. They're too long and tend to break. Sometimes they don't break but the tip sticks out of the bolt face and jams just enough to stall the next round feeding. I've turned a few of my own from 4140 alloy and 17-4 stainless with some success, but they cost me nothing more than my time. BTW, mine used to run great with the cheap steel cased Wolf ammo years ago. Mine is not perfect but like any Reising, they're great fun when they run. Overall, mine runs much better than it did that day 20 years ago at the local LEO range. Keep us informed. Kevin in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNWalther Posted March 28 Author Report Share Posted March 28 (edited) Just checked the mags, both have the circles, no squares. I tried cycling rounds through the other that was sitting here too and experienced the same issue. I’ll have to try and track down a H&R 20 rounder and see if it’s having the same issues. Mags were my first thought too, but from what I had read the Christie mags were a primo job. Appreciate the insight on the bolt face, figured I’d tear it down and give it a good cleaning tomorrow, I’ll check the back and make sure everything is as it should be. Edited March 28 by MNWalther Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeRanger Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 Be sure to thoroughly clean the INSIDE of the bolt. A lot of crud accumulates there and can cause the firing pin to jam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank I Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 I agree it sounds like a magazine problem, I have some of the original Christie magazines they are not 100% reliable. As for the firing pin breakage, here is a fix for that, although the pictures are no longer there. It involves shortening the back of the firing pin. https://www.machinegunboards.com/forums/index.php?/topic/8854-paulfs-pictorial-guide-to-how-i-made-my-reising-run-great/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNWalther Posted March 28 Author Report Share Posted March 28 Took it completely apart, all looked good, sonic cleaned the small parts and put it back together. The pin that goes through the bolt holding the firing pin in place was a real tough one. Even with a good punch it didn’t want to come out/in and get it to go below the “bolt line”. I will say there was quite a bit of burnt powder in there but I have seen worse and fired fine, so not sure if that was it. Going to try and get my hands on an original 20 round mag and see what happens.to be continued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd.bush Posted March 29 Report Share Posted March 29 If you have dummy rounds available, then try feeding by hand without the hammer and it's spring. Try it slow and faster to see what is going on. You may see something that is not clearly visible when feeding with spring in place. Feed ramp on barrel might be the issue, since it wasn't working correctly when first test fired. Reisings are like commercial shotguns in that they work great when all original parts are in place, when parts are replaced, they may require some degree of fitting. They are not truly "military grade" as parts are not held to same standard. Not knocking them, when properly set up they run great. Their bad rap mainly comes from how Marines cleaned guns at the time. Put a poncho on the ground and put parts there and when putting them back together all original parts did not always make it back into the same gun. When users only had one gun, never an issue. At ARMEX we got just over 1,100 Reisings which we sold as both guns and as "kits, so have some experience at playing with them. ". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNWalther Posted March 30 Author Report Share Posted March 30 Had talked with a reputable smith and he said to make sure the mag well was good and tapped in. Ensured that was tight but getting the same issue. Have been experimenting further and when the mags are locked in and empty experiencing the same thing. The bolt does not want to slide forward, but when no mag is in it works just fine. If the mags are sitting just slightly lower and not locked in it will function. Not sure if this is a mag problem or an issue with where the mag housing is sitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank I Posted March 30 Report Share Posted March 30 (edited) It could be an issue with the catch hole in the mag being cut too low. Do all your magazines have the same problem? Edited March 30 by Frank I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNWalther Posted March 30 Author Report Share Posted March 30 Both magazines have the came cut hole, they’re the 30 round mags which I believe were the both Christie mags. Have someone who has offered to let me try an original 20 rounder. If that works then I’ll have to hunt down some USGI mags, if it doesn’t then I guess the gun is off to get serviced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftiv Posted March 31 Report Share Posted March 31 I have never seen a Christie mag. I assume that they are made from Thompson mags. The back plate of the Thompson mag will slide up and down to change where the mag catch hole is in relation to the feed lips. It doesn't slide easily, but it does slide. It sounds like you need to adjust where your feed lips are in relation to the bolt/gun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank I Posted April 2 Report Share Posted April 2 Ken Christie magazines were made from dies he had custom-made back in the 1980s-90s, I remember him telling me that the dies were really expensive, and that the company that stamped the magazines and parts owned them, even though he paid to have them made. The magazines were $25.00 each new, parkerized or blued. He advertised them in the defunct Machine Gun News magazine. At one time, Ken's specialty was selling Reising parts. Later, he and his son started making and selling parts for Ruger 10/22 rifles He often set up at Knob Creek, he was from Ohio, but the last time I spoke with him he was retired living in Florida. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNWalther Posted April 4 Author Report Share Posted April 4 Good news! An original H&R 20 round mag functioned just fine, mags not the gun. Figure I’ll try and sell these mags to someone who wants to putz and try to track down a couple 20 rounders. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abody71 Posted April 4 Report Share Posted April 4 How would you want to trade one 20 for a 30. Never use my 20. H&R Magazine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank I Posted April 4 Report Share Posted April 4 (edited) I'm glad to hear you found the problem, it is always helpful to get a follow-up on how a problem is solved. Edited April 4 by Frank I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNWalther Posted April 9 Author Report Share Posted April 9 I appreciate all the help, was just glad it’s a simple enough “fix”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abody71 Posted April 10 Report Share Posted April 10 I traded a 20-round mag for a 30-round mag with him. The mag ran fine in my M50. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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