The M1 in the American Rifleman

[browningautorifle]

Johnson rifles had a poor butt stock.

Again agreed. I was still an Infantry Sgt when I had one so I took it along with an M1 to my Recon platoon to show them foreign weapons. They all chose the M1 over the Johnstone exclusively for various reasons and they were young infantrymen. They didn't know either rifle but they knew weapons and were experienced. I was surprised at the huge jump in value of the J, of course that happened after I sold mine. I only paid $600CDN for mine and $175CDN for the bayonet with scabbard.

[Mk VII]

This was the one I had. I think it came from the Dutch East Indies.

[browningautorifle]

the Dutch East Indies

I have no idea of mine, no serial numbers recorded, I had two. One was full military and the other had been sporterized a bit and was rough. I think they sold back about 1990 or so, no digital cameras and very little info available on them. I'm glad I had the chance to experience them for a while at least.

[RCS]

The early four digit handstamped serial numbers are not common to find, the A and B prefix on the serial numbers is found most of the time.

There was suppose to be a USMC front sight modification but could be faked

[browningautorifle]

the A and B prefix on the serial numbers is found most of the time.

I think that was what I had, alphanumeric.

[Mk VII]

Anyone else recall this piece by George Numrich, which used to appear in the Numrich Arms/GPC catalog?



... In the late '40s Winchester wanted Mel Johnson to go to work for them, and he agreed if they would buy the remains of his company. They did, and in about 1952, Winchester called us and asked if we would be interested in buying all the Johnson parts we had. At this point, one might ask “what's a Johnson?” - there were probably six in the United States … in any event, we bought the parts from Winchester, who needed the space they were taking up so badly, they shipped them to us in their own trucks. About two months after receiving the parts, we got a call from a Canadian firm requesting Johnson parts. The agent came down, inspected the parts, and purchased a huge quantity of them. It took about 18 months to find out why – Cecil Jackson of Winfield Arms had purchased some 16,000 from the Dutch government, shipped them to Canada, and 'sat' on them up there for a year and a half waiting for the next lot of 8,000 to come up. If he had advertised them immediately he would not have been able to purchase the next lot at the quite low prices of the first. In the meantime he needed the parts to get the first lot in order for mail order sales.

[RCS]

Also the final Johnson's during the post WW2 period, the Israel DROR LMG in 30-06 and I seem to remember 7,92mm too. Barrel
jacket all the way to the muzzle, Also a semi auto made with the LMG barrel and with a 20rd BAR magazine !

[browningautorifle]

Also a semi auto made with the LMG barrel and with a 20rd BAR magazine !

How about the sporter with a ten round vertical stack box mag?

[Bob Seijas]

They all came from the Dutch. The Pay of Pigs force that invaded Cuba was armed with them courtesy of the CIA and Sam Cummins.
I think Bruce Canfield wrote the definitive work on them, he said the parts numbers never matched, they were separate serial series.
Melvin Johnson was the best salesman for the rifle... evidently he was an extraordinary shot, used to demonstrate the rifle by throwing a tin can in the air and keeping it up with the whole magazine.

[Rick B]

Me and my Johnson about 25 years ago. I bought it for $425.00 Rick B