Johnson at Epps

36 hamon said:
I remember those yes they were from the Philippines stocks were all cracked and the metal was pitted we had several at the old store i worked in many moons ago
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Those are the ones, I think they just keep re-surfacing. I think the dealers look at the prices in the US of nice original guns and think they are worth crazy money here too, personally I don't think jungle-rot Johnson's are worth anywhere near the prices I see them usually far sale for. Sometimes a half-decent one seems to come along.

-Steve
 
Steve1987 said:
It's my understanding at one point a bunch of Johnson's were imported to Canada that could not re-enter the US.

All of these Johnson's had some issues, mostly rotten from the jungle with rough stocks and lots of pitting. I've never seen one anywhere near mint condition. They came from the Philippines or somewhere like that.

Regards,
-Steve
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Why would they not be allowed back into the US? They were never officially issued for the US Military, and the ones that did make it by "loan" from Melvin Johnson were not marked with any us govt stamps
 
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IIRC they came from Indonesia formerly the Dutch East Indies which had contracted for their manufacture. They were rough but strangely the East Indies model Mannlichers imported at the same time were in much better shape.
 
US Marines used Johnsons in the South Pacific until M1 Garand production caught up with demand. They
dumped thousands of them into the Pacific when the Garand rifles were issued.
The ones that Century sold in Canada were Dutch. Some were vg, but most were just good.
 
can14 said:
US Marines used Johnsons in the South Pacific until M1 Garand production caught up with demand. They
dumped thousands of them into the Pacific when the Garand rifles were issued.
The ones that Century sold in Canada were Dutch. Some were vg, but most were just good.
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I have it from good sources (Canfield, and the son of Mr. Johnson himself), that only 23 Johnson Rifles were issued to the Marines, and then later on larger numbers were loaned to the SeeBees. You may be mistaking it with the Johnson LMG, also used by the 1st Special Service Force in Italy/NW Europe.

I do agree that most Johnsons are from the Dutch, and Dutch colonials (Indonesians), when Century brought them in decades ago and not US used.
 
The USMC received 23 Johnson rifles from the Johnson Co and 750 from Dutch contract.
The Johnson remained in Dutch service and was tested against the SAFN rifle in 1948.
Total production was 20400 0n Dutch contract and 1000 Chile contract cal 7x57.
 
sledge said:
I have it from good sources (Canfield, and the son of Mr. Johnson himself), that only 23 Johnson Rifles were issued to the Marines, and then later on larger numbers were loaned to the SeeBees. You may be mistaking it with the Johnson LMG, also used by the 1st Special Service Force in Italy/NW Europe.

I do agree that most Johnsons are from the Dutch, and Dutch colonials (Indonesians), when Century brought them in decades ago and not US used.
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I was thinking he was talking about the Reising. Those were dumped
 
The Johnson at the Wards Auction last weekend went for $2800 plus hammer fee (13%) and GST. It had been "restored" which meant someone varnished the stock and re-parkerized it. Still, the wood was in fairly good shape as was the metal. The bore surprisingly, was in excellent shape, which is extremely rare for these guns, so I'm assuming whoever owned it used a new Springfield 1903 barrel (which is what they use for barrels back In WW2 on this rifle) to make it more sbootable.
 
I remember seeing a news photo of counter-revolutionaries landing at the Bay of Pigs carrying Johnson rifles. Presumably they were supplied by the CIA. It would be interesting to know where they got them. It would also be interesting to know if the Cubans used them after they captured them, or passed them on.

I'm not sure about the rifle, but the Israelis used the Johnson lmg, which supposedly had a number of parts in common. I believe they called it the Dror.
 
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