Johnson Automatics model of 1941 value?
- Thread starter ricohman
- Start date
That is a Beauty! They are very rare and I am not sure but that could be original finish.
In Canada there may only be a few 100 examples.
If I had to guess... $4 to $5 Thousand would be a ballpark. I saw one get snapped up for $4 and change a few years back.
In Canada there may only be a few 100 examples.
If I had to guess... $4 to $5 Thousand would be a ballpark. I saw one get snapped up for $4 and change a few years back.
The only problem with pricing a Johnson M1941 is: people confuse US prices on American auction sites with actual Canadian selling prices. The demand/prices tend to be higher in the US. They are interesting rifles, but the demand in Canada just isn't the same.....
Just my .02 cents
Just my .02 cents
The bore looks excellent. I still can't get my head around the recoiling barrel. Extremely interesting. I can see how the Garand beat it for the service rifle competition. Lots to go wrong here.
I wonder how that recoiling barrel would have worked with sand or grit in the shroud and action? It was nice just to be able to examine this rifle.
They were also adversely affected by the weight of an attached bayonet, which is an issue for a military rifle.
But a number were used in the Pacific Theater, in spite of never being formally adopted. Some marines destined for the big show, short on semi-auto rifles, "acquired outside of normal administrative means" (stole) a shipment of them that the Dutch had paid for, but unfortunately for the Dutch, hadn't got shipped in time before they were overrun, and so the rifles had been sitting in a warehouse ever since. The marines, ever the practical minded fellows they are, decided this was a terrible waste of a good pile of rifles, loaded them up and were en route before anyone realized what happened.
The Marines that got them, loved them dearly, and much preferred them over the Garand. They had some advantages - specifically, a 10 round internal magazine that you could top up on the fly, and the short recoil action made them softer shooting than the Garand.
One of the reasons that there are so few of these guns kicking around, is because the majority that were produced, ended up in the hands of the marines as a result of this "acquisition", and the guys that got them, held on to them. They got "used up" (along with their owners) over the course of the Pacific campaign. However, they were still in use all the way up to the end of the war. One of the very few guns still in existence that can be directly attributed to a Medal of Honor winner is a Johnson. Capt. RH Dunlap still had one in Feb 1945 when he earned his MOH on Iwo Jima, hung onto his rifle even after the war - it was never in USMC inventory, so he just plain kept it. It sold a few years back for over $21K US.
They were actually quite reliable in the field, as reliable as the Garand. They weren't perfect, but for a first gen semi-auto battle rifle, they were pretty darn good.
maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
If the rifle is an amnesty, then it was surrendered in a police program. Yes, a Johnson is worth upwards of $3k regardless of the stock finish. The metal finish is as good as you'll find. So, respecting the citizen's ignorance, I recommend this rifle be sidebarred away from IPSCO.
