The M1941 Johnson Thread

I was told by my grandfather that in the 60's they were sold through a catalogue. He told me there was a .303 model, was their actually?
 
Grandpa might have been thinking of the Globco 555 which was being offered around the same time: .303" conversion of the SVT.

Hey, it WAS 50 years ago.

Me, I can't even remember IF I had lunch, never mind WHAT I had!
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Rifle has a rotary 10-round magazine, looks pregnant or something but it works fine.

MG used 20-round single-column curved stick mags.

Fair bit of parts commonalty between rifle and MG. Under field conditions, you could keep an MG running with spares from rifles.

Brilliant design, really.

Fritz ripped of the trigger mech for the FG-42: semi on closed bolt, FA on open bolt.

ALSO: it can be made in just about any decent machine-shop AND it is extremely tolerant as to ammunition performance and headspace issues. In the tests at Springfield they mixed 100 rounds of ammo, everything from Proof rounds mixed in with seriously-underpowered stuff. Rifle ran perfectly, didn't care what it was eating as long as it got fed.

The multi-lug Johnson bolt is with us today in miniature form; look at an M-16. Johnson did it better, though.
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The Netherlands Armed Forces apparently ordered the Johnson Rifle to equip the Netherlands East Indies Army, not too sure if the rifles ever made it to the East Indies before they were attacked and overrun by the Japanese
 
I got to handle my friends Johnson, he made me promise I would be gentle with it first. NO WAIT...I meant...!! :S

They are pretty cool. The barrel actually reciprocates back and forth when you fire.
Changing the barrel on one is as easy as a C6, you just lift a little metal tab and the whole barrel pops right out. Pretty awesome design all around. Ugly as sin, but that's what makes it so cool! :rockOn:
 
x westie said:
The Netherlands Armed Forces apparently ordered the Johnson Rifle to equip the Netherlands East Indies Army, not too sure if the rifles ever made it to the East Indies before they were attacked and overrun by the Japanese
Click to expand...

The Dutch had an order for 70.000 Johnson Rifles, as far as I know the production was completed but onlysome were delivered, but not many. I've seen a few in Museums in the Netherlands. Most of the rifles went to the USMC.
 
I'm resurrecting this old thread but only because I feel dirty and wanna show you guys my Johnson:



Just got her and don't know if I wanna keep her or sell her. I know that if I take her to the range and try her out, I'll likely fall in love ;)
 
Wow I'm jealeous!!

Like most collectors a Johnson rifle is on my list but the price of one would probably keep me from ever getting one!! Oh well, Smellie has one and I figure maybe one day he'll let me shoot it if I as really nicely!!
 
Smellie has to go to the machine-shop and get a couple of special tools made first, Tinman. THEN the thing can be rebarreled with this here brand-new-in-wrap Springfield 2-groove. I have great hopes for the rifle, once that is done; the rest is in fine shape.

Right now, an 8mm slug will drop right through the bore, accelerating all the way!

NOT conducive to the finest in accuracy, one might say.

Friend DALEK sure got a nice one, though!
 
anybody ever seen one of the 270 sporters that winfield arms was advertising back in the 50's?
 
The .270s had box magazines like the Johnson Model V, new woodwork. Very pretty rifles.

I think they were rebuilt Dutch East Indies rifles, rebuilt, refinished, with new barrels.

I DO remember the ads in the early '60s.... and I WAS reading them, then!
 
then there were the weatherby ads that said you could hit an animal anywhere and the massive shocking power of the weatherby cartridge would kill it.
 
Total M1941 production was 21400, 20400 for NEI in 30-06 with a few hundred of these diverted to US and 1000 in 7x57 for Chile.
 
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