1941 Johnson

[Gyrene]

Jim K - We're COOL!

Gyrene OFC

semper fi

Information

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[fyrfinder]

New member to the board and a 1941 Johnson owner kind of by default. Mine came by way of a friend that picked it up at a gun show. I never asked what he paid for it, he passed it on to me for what I thought was a high price .. $500 .. but looking at the market on them I feel it was more of a donation. I'm almost afraid to take it out and shoot it .. heard people say that if you break it you can't get parts. I took mine into a gun shop and the owner brought to my attention that someone cut off the buttstock and installed a shoulder pad .. goes to show how much I knew about it. It is also missing the rear sight ... but it does have a quick attach scope that I thought might be a military feature. Anyone know if any of them had scopes in a military configuration? Need to come up with a good photo to upload.

[BarryinIN]

Sounds like a Winfield Arms rifle.
This company, Winfield Arms, bought a bunch of ex-service Johnsons from the Dutch in the late 50s and re-sold them through ads in the American Rifleman. Some were "sporterized" to various degrees. They might be sold as-is, or they might just have the new stock with recoil pad, or they might have the works including a scope mount. It looks to me like they could be anywhere from as-issued to having almost no part untouched.

I have no way of knowing, but I would guess that an awful lot of the Johnsons out there are/were Winfield Arms rifles.

I bought mine earlier this year, and judging from the stock and front sight, it was a Winfield. I just posted a thread here today about returning mine to military configuration.
It can be done. How much it takes depends on how much was done. Yours sounds like it needs more than mine, but you got it for so far below the going rate that I'd think it would at least be worth looking into.

The first thing I would do if I were you would be to contact Joseph Scott. He is a Johnson fanatic in TX who makes and sells parts to keep them going. He sells a DVD for $30 that takes you through a disassembly and reassembly of a rifle, and he makes comments about what he sees/does as he goes along that will tell you a lot about the use and upkeep.

The second thing I would do if you wanted to know the history of the design would be to get a copy of Bruce Canfield's book "Johnson Rifles and Machineguns". It came out a couple of years ago, and was written with the help of a couple of guys in the know (including M.M. Johnson's son).

[Jim K]

FWIW, I have never seen or heard of a Johnson rifle with a factory or military installed scope. If anyone has a Johnson "sniper", I think we all would like a picture.

Jim

[fyrfinder]

Haven't figured out how to post a photo on the board yet but as soon as I do I'll get some of the rifle with the scope mounted so everyone can see what I have going here. Managed to get an old shot up as the Avatar but not much can be seen on that.

[BarryinIN]

You are welcome. I'm still new to them and learning so the info is still fresh in my mind!
if you want Joseph Scott's contact info to get a DVD or look into a restoration, let me know.

It looks great in the avatar!

[fyrfinder]

Hauled out the rifle and took some better shots but still can't figure out how to either post or insert the pix. The scope looks a lot newer than the rifle in hindsight, so it presumably will be an aftermarket addition. Who ever put the scope on took off any preexisting sights from the rear of the weapon. The recoil pad butts up to a small peice of the remains of the metal butt plate so it would appear that the stock has been bobbed to some extent. Not knowing how the original butt plate was it is only a guess as to how much was taken off. There is about 3/4 inch of metal visible.

[fyrfinder]

Okay .... here goes a try to post photos It's not much but It sure is something that I can't complain about. Big Thanks to you Doug .. may never have gotten the photos up without your assistance.

[Jason]

Hello,

I am looking for a scoped Johnson (Winfield). I may be interested in yours (pending further information) if you would consider selling it.

Thanks,

Jason Walker.

[fyrfinder]

Think I will keep it for the time being and maybe even take it out and see how it feels. I have a few 30-06 rounds that I should burn up and I probably need to exercise an old Remington bolt action that I have tucked away somewhere too.