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I recall reading or hearing somewhere that the anti communist fighters in Cuba were supplied with Johnson 1941 rifles by the US government-anyone else recall that? If that did happen and if things progress with our new relations with Cuba, wouldn't it be cool if...
I would also bet there are some Lend Lease M1 rifles in Cuba too. a lot of stuff was captured after the Bay of Pigs
I think we've all seen pics of the M1s. Carbines and rifles...Johnsons would make sense too. Just haven't seen them.
I recall reading that the U.S. backed Cubans involved in the Bay of Pigs were provided with caliber .30 ammunition packed in 5-round stripper clips, and they had to recover expended 8-round clips for the rifle M1 and manually reload them. Johnson rifles would have been a good thing to have given the circumstance.
I've seen a photo someplace of a 1941 Johnson rifle being used in Cuba. There is probably a huge cache of U.S. and foreign weaponry there. I'd have to wonder about the care they've had and condition they're in. There's absolutely NO chance of DDTC, US DOS allowing imports of these weapons even if trade opens up there. The POTUS banned retransfer authorizations for C&R U.S. military firearms in September 2013 by executive order because of the M1 Rifles and Carbines slated for return from Korea via Century Arms and possibly other surplus importers.
Hope springs eternal but how could firearms be imported from Cuba when the South Korean stockpiles of Carbines & Garands are being blocked?
I suppose we can all hope.
So, now we have this. After Brian's post I went searching a bit and in 10 seconds came up with this. http://www.historicalfirearms.info/p...41-on-the-17th
That's a different photo than the one I saw which was a lone rebel carrying one. Interesting. Forget the rifles. All those original bayonets are worth a small fortune!
I had the bayonet and scabbard with mine...the scabbards seem to be a whole 'nother thing themselves...
You're right Jim. They were leather and survivability is very small considering where they went. I still have a 1941 rifle and an original bayonet and scabbard. I've bought and sold several of the rifles over the years but was smart enough to hang onto the bayonet and scabbard!
Unfortunately, I let mine go along with the major part of my US collection about the end of '92. At the time, the money was OK...a converted auto M1 Thompson, an M1 carbine and the Johnson rifle all for $1500 CDN. Best part was, they all had full equipment with them...now the Johnson bayonet alone would almost make that...sad. I won't get into the Marlin Rockwell B.A.R.
Johnsons are specifically mentioned in Che Guevara's Reminiscences. (Long time since I looked at it)
I take another look at the picture I posted and find they have telescopic sights on the first few in the picture. I checked the original and they do...strange I didn't see that before. Scopes on Johnsons...