Printable View
Does anyone have a copy of the "Johnson Rifles and machine guns..." book by Bruce N Canfield?
I understand it has a section on US marine and FSSF transfers of specific firearms and their serial numbers. I'm hoping to find info on a specific JLMG in the book, but I cannot get hold of a copy in time.
If anyone has a copy and could look up a serial number for me I'd be extremely grateful.
Cheers,
Burton
I've attached (I think) photos of the relevant pages for you. Let me know if the zoom is sufficientQuote:
Originally Posted by BurtonP
That's fantastic! Thanks so much StratA. The Johnson I'm interested in is not on the lists, but SNs on either side are, which leaves me uncertain as to its history. I find it hard to believe that a whole block of SNs was transferred and one was held back, but who knows. Maybe that's why it survived.
What we've found in past is that with military rifles, if the number isn't on the list it wasn't there. The number on each side was but it wasn't.Quote:
Originally Posted by BurtonP
I'd agree, but the Marine Corps transfers are noted as incomplete, and the adjacent numbers are mostly there. The FSSF list on the other hand, which the JLMG in question was attributed to, is definitive. So it doesn't have a FSSF history.
Another question. I've read that bipods for the JLMG are rare and so there are a number orf reproductions out there. The JLMG I've seen in person has a bipod that I think is original but it faces in a direction opposite to many pics online. The looped catch is too long to fit against the forestock so will only attach the other way. Some pics online show it deployed in this orientation, including this early pic where the loop is facing forward and the notches backward. Like this:
Attachment 136394
To me at least this seems strange as the the notches that allow different positioning of the bipod legs face backwards and therefore the bipod can only be upright or with the legs angled back towards the user.
Attachment 136396
On a Bren LMG by contrast they are angled forward, away from the user.
Most modern pictures however show the bipod like this.
Attachment 136395
I'm left wondering if the bipods, or more specifically the foregrips, were modified in service to permit this alteration. In which case the one I've seen is not modified. Or the bipod is repro and just doesn't fit well ...
Can anyone shed any light on this?
Johnson company photos of the M1941 LMG with later (non-BAR style) bipod fitted --some show Maynard Johnson himself shooting the gun, so presumably he knew which way was correct-- invariably show the bipod mounted so that its legs fold rearward for stowage. The adjustment notches at the hinges that provide different elevations face forward, so that at the lower settings the legs extend toward the muzzle. Thus the wire loop/dismounting catch faces rearward; the wooden forend is slotted to make room for it.
The bipod generally seems to have been an afterthought; there is a reference in Johnson sales literature to its being offered as an optional accessory, not included. Maynard probably envisioned it conceptually more as a machine rifle than as a base-of-fire light machine gun --which was also how many soldiers later used stripped-down BARs.
M