Ideally, he must have wanted to see it adopted as a “Substitute Standard” like the M1917 rifle of WWI. The rifle cost was $125 each.

The Ordnance Department completed the tests on Dec 30, 1939 and left Johnson feeling pretty good about the results. The Johnson rifle suddenly became well known, and gained a lot of support. Some were not. In addition to the good showing in the first head-to-head Garand-Johnson shoot, there was the hearing testimony. But the rifles made for the Netherlands government never got to the Dutch East Indies. Melvin Johnson didn’t have his first working model (built in a machine shop for $300) for testing the basic action until February 29, 1936. Composite stocks would trim more weight.

Nevertheless, it is one of the more interesting and enigmatic military rifles of the war. The Marines invited Johnson to participate in a test scheduled for November 1940, in San Diego. The Auto-5: Browning’s Biggest Achievement. The Garand was adopted in January 1936, after years of development and testing by Springfield Armory and the Ordnance Corps. Third, a civilian shooter from the onlookers asked permission to shoot the Johnson rifle. They had three rifles ready for him in early 1938 which used modified BAR magazines.

Contrary to what is sometimes claimed, there was never any such thing as a special “Marine Corps” Model of 1941 Johnson rifle.

These involved the LMG, but it had an effect on the later use of both the rifle and LMG.

On the six member USMC test board was Col Merrit Edson (that name again). Thanks again Clancy … And so it goes. What is less known is that there was another demonstration near San Diego in November 1940 before the big Marine test began. Those present were buzzing with excitement over the LMG. One early test was for accuracy by firing them from standard positions from 200 to 1,000 yards. Of course, there could have been isolated instances when a Johnson rifle was taken from a wounded or killed Marine paratrooper by a Marine in another (non-airborne) unit, but there was no official issuance to any unit other than the 1st Parachute Regiment. Rotary Feed Model, Used, Serviceable” to Johnson Automatics, Inc., for $5,000 ($50 per rifle). Select fire could be added, by using the LMG’s internals. But another semi-automatic rifle—the Model of 1941 Johnson—was also procured during the war by the United States, but its story was markedly different from that of the M1. The Netherlands Johnson semiauto rifles got scattered. It was now one month short of four years since the Garand had been adopted. The Winchester 71 and .348 Winchester Cartridge, M1941 Johnson Semiauto Rifle, Part 1, History. Knowing all the right people, serving as a Marine officer, and being in fairly close proximity to Springfield allowed Melvin Johnson to get the inside scoop on rifle developments. The (incorrect) story gets repeated over and over, but even a glimpse at the facts would show it couldn’t have happened the way most believe. The ParaMarines adopted the Johnson LMG. When we reached San Diego, Cal., I sent my weapon home.”.

A distraction came along in the form of a Congressional hearing. While documentation to confirm the reason for this modification has not been found, it can be speculated that removing the ears from the front sight resulted in a single blade that would make the sight picture similar to that of the ’03 Springfield rifle, with which the Marines would have been very familiar due to its use in basic training. The barrel is easily removed from the rifle and LMG, by popping a barrel latch, which swings down and clear. Captain Robert Dunlap was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on Iwo Jima (Feb-March 1945) and claims to have used a Johnson rifle. The Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) for the 1st Parachute Regiment listed an authorized allowance of 242 Model of 1941 Johnson rifles. They declined. Oct 16, 2007 #1 .

He had leased the factory only five months before. Similar things happen at ranges, gun shops, and forums all over.

No. The remaining 1st Parachute Regiment Johnsons that were not buried or otherwise disposed of “in theater” were turned in and sent back to the United States to be returned to the Dutch government, where they subsequently saw use with the Dutch Royal Marines and navy. On the other hand, while its use as a U.S. military arm was very limited, the majority of the Marine paratroopers who had occasion to use the rifle in combat were generally pleased with it. Two things doomed this idea. A Sgt in the 1st Parachute Rgt, Harry M. Tully, used an M1941 Johnson on Gavatu to kill 42 Japanese soldiers and earn the Silver Star. U.S. Marine paratroopers of the 1st Parachute Regiment string communication wire on Bougainville while armed with a Model of 1941 Johnson Rifle (l.) and a Model of 1941 Johnson Light Machine Gun (r.). For once, my timing was right on buying a gun. He then reflected on how nice the old Krag magazine was, because it could be topped off at any time by flipping the door open and filling it up. Bad blood remained for some time. At least one of these had a one-piece stock of nicely checkered wood and was a pretty nice looking rifle. This was coordinated by…Colonel Merrit Edson. BTW I know that … Johnson was invited to an “informal demonstration” at Coronado, CA for a small number of Marine brass. It is often claimed that the Johnson rifles were also used by U.S. Marine Raider units, but that is not correct. Stories abound that when the Marines became interested in Johnson rifles and knew they were sitting on a dock, they simply went and got them. The Johnson’s rotary magazine can be removed as a unit by pulling two cross pins and sliding the stock off.

They had a lot of trouble with those.” One thing I have wondered: If the M1941 Johnson had been adopted by part of the US military, would things have been different in postwar military small arms development?

One of the Winfield Arms owners reportedly bought 16,000 Johnson semiauto rifles from the Dutch government in the late 1950s. As the story goes, Johnson and some officers were sitting around the Ft Benning Officer’s Club after a day’s test throwing back some cold ones when one of the officers complained about the Garand’s magazine. It was from Col Merrit Edson (remember that name?) There weren’t but a handful in the world at that time, and I wouldn’t say any were superior to the Johnson or Garand. Those, plus whatever else they had scrounged up. While it would be a stretch to refer to the Johnson rifle as a failure, it never reached its full potential due to some laxness in the manufacturing process and the fact that it was not superior to the standardized M1 Garand. Discussion in 'Rifle Country' started by eclancy, Jan 18, 2008. It seemed to me that he wanted to see it approved for use just in case it was needed if the Garand’s problems couldn’t be solved or production couldn’t be met. The Japanese were too quick, and overran the Dutch East Indies while most of their Johnson rifles and LMGs sat on a San Francisco dock awaiting shipment. Jan 18, 2008 #1 . His desire was to have it easily produced, to the point that components could be made by small machine shops all over the country if necessary. The USMC Parachute Regiments and Raiders got approximately 750 Johnson semiauto rifles (around 3.5% of total production), but not through regular channels. The “shootout” between the Garand and Johnson to name the army’s first semiauto service rifle simply didn’t happen.

I bet the story went something like this: They tell us it had a recoil operated action, the magazine is a rotary type holding ten rounds, and it went up against the Garand to see which would become the US’s first semiauto service rifle (they can’t resist using the term “shootout” to describe the competition). Johnson would argue for a long time these were not failures, but stoppages, and were caused by the damaged magazines and bad ammo. They wanted a semiauto NOW, and the quickest way was to get Garands that were already developed and tested.

The standardized American service rifle during World War II was the M1 Garand. I have a couple of American Rifleman magazines from that period, and Ness made it clear he was no fan of the Garand and apparently these articles followed that course. But at this time, there was still the Marine hope. Mine was evidently an ex-Winfield gun.

From the commentary of the test board, and from my eye, they shot about the same and positions could have shuffled if the test were repeated.

It was not unusual for manufacturers to make a number of arms beyond the contracted sum in the order to have additional guns available for other customers or in the event the original contractee decided to acquire more guns. The rifle had 22 stoppages. I am even more sure of this, but that simply isn’t how things worked out. This was when the rifle got the M1941 model name: The M1941 Johnson Semiautomatic Rifle. Not to knock the guy, because I know the info simply wasn’t available before. Together, the three of them got the story straight and put into the book.

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