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Did I screw up? Almost had a deal on an M1941 Johnson semi


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While setup at a local show, a gentleman walked in with an M1941 Johnson rifle. It was refinished, had the wrong but stock and front sight as the gun had been sent out west and sporterized back in the day. The seller was looking for $3,500 and i had no idea if it was a decent price to get it, make it right and flip. Thoughts?
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$3500 is a decent deal; but I think correcting it would be very difficult. Finding parts, like the stock, is difficult at best. I dont think there is a lot of room to fix it and make much of a profit especially with it being refinished.
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Agreed. The sporter Johnsons tend to go for $3500 or so more these days (refinished I would say lower end), so his price was probably "reasonable" at retail, but you're not going to have a lot of latitude to fix it. On the Johnsonautomatics.com forum, there was a gentleman that made really good repro stocks. I had a Johnson 5 or so years ago with bad damage in the rear stock area. I sent him the stock and he moved all the metal components over to his stock and sent both back. He even finished the repro stock to match my original stock so the repro would match the handguard; he did a great job. I later sold the rifle and wish I hadn't. If you are interested, I can dig through my emails and try and find his contact info.

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It bears mentioning that whoever refinished the gun that Got Uzi is talking about buffed the hell out of it before blueing it. The markings on the receiver were nearly illegible. It could not have been re-parked and returned to a reasonable resemblance of an original.

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I think you did fine to walk away. There were different levels of sporters and the higher the grade the more difficult to go back to military which is about impossible these days since the stocks are gone. Stocks that do pop up are in poor condition, so that leaves you with repro which adds near nothing to the overall value.

This is an example of a high grade sporter. High polish blue (buffed hard), reblued, all the military stuff gone, nice stock, sporter barrel. I kind of collect Johnson stuff, so it was on the list and here it is. It's kind of cool and a really nice low recoil shooter. The 4 barrel set was found separately and you can switch off IIRC 06, .270, 358 win. and 7mm. and since the case heads are all the same all you do is pull the barrel. Lower sporter levels would be easier to restore, but you'll never get back to original since the finish is gone among other things. I'd put the value on this one at 3k without the barrel set. That's still kind of a lot of money for a non military semi auto gun IMO. I got a "deal" on it probably 10 years ago and it didn't function and didn't look nearly as "nice" as it does now. I redid the stock, touched up the blue, made mechanical repairs, etc. at $2500. By contrast I bought two normal guns before this one at 3K each and they've gone up a good amount. HTH

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Edited by johnsonlmg41
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Thanks for making me feel better about not taking the plunge on this one. Its one of those things I either have the money and one never comes up OR one is for sale and I dont have the money. This was the first time i had money and one came up. Glad I passed now.
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  • 10 months later...

Thanks for making me feel better about not taking the plunge on this one. Its one of those things I either have the money and one never comes up OR one is for sale and I dont have the money. This was the first time i had money and one came up. Glad I passed now.

 

Old thread, I know. The problem with JSARs is usually their condition. What you want is an original unmessed with example in excellent condition, either in .30-06 or one of the 1,000 Chilean guns in 7mm Mauser. These are really rare today, as you know. Most guns that you see offered for sale saw hard foreign service during which they were worn out. They were then brought back to the US where they were refurbished. Refurbishing won't correct so many years of use, though. Such guns usually have reproduction barrels. Their action is generally violent, flinging brass 50 feet or so. An original, excellent condition JSAR cycles gently, almost as an afterthought, neatly piling brass right next to the gun. Such a gun is worth your patience in finding.

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I think you did fine to walk away. There were different levels of sporters and the higher the grade the more difficult to go back to military which is about impossible these days since the stocks are gone. Stocks that do pop up are in poor condition, so that leaves you with repro which adds near nothing to the overall value.

This is an example of a high grade sporter. High polish blue (buffed hard), reblued, all the military stuff gone, nice stock, sporter barrel. I kind of collect Johnson stuff, so it was on the list and here it is. It's kind of cool and a really nice low recoil shooter. The 4 barrel set was found separately and you can switch off IIRC 06, .270, 358 win. and 7mm. and since the case heads are all the same all you do is pull the barrel. Lower sporter levels would be easier to restore, but you'll never get back to original since the finish is gone among other things. I'd put the value on this one at 3k without the barrel set. That's still kind of a lot of money for a non military semi auto gun IMO. I got a "deal" on it probably 10 years ago and it didn't function and didn't look nearly as "nice" as it does now. I redid the stock, touched up the blue, made mechanical repairs, etc. at $2500. By contrast I bought two normal guns before this one at 3K each and they've gone up a good amount. HTH

 

Thanks for the pics of your Winfield. Just out of curiosity, what holds the recoil spring tube in the butt stock? The usual two recoil tube stop screws appear to be missing.

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IIRC there is a square dowel in the stock that the screws thread into? On the right side they must have skipped the screw and drilled a blind hole, but not all the way through. On the right side it appears they drilled it, installed one screw and installed a walnut plug over the top. The photo, not being the greatest resolution the plug is impossible to see, but it is there. With no hole on one side and a plug on the other, the dowel cannot work loose. I replaced the recoil pad when I redid the stock, but I don't recall what was under it.....it's been quite a few years. I don't know that this is a Winfield, but it could be?

Only two ring scope mount?

Sweet shooter, wish I had the time to take it out hunting.....or even to the range. So many guns, so little time!

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Right, hard to tell about the spring tube lug screws in the photos. I'd think that these are important, though, since the bolt fully depresses the recoil buffer that's on the spring tube cap on every shot.

 

I've noticed that the buffer is one of the parts most often missing from JSARs, along with the bolt stop, last shot hold-open latch, and front cross pin lock. Other problems often encountered are heavy internal wear, weak springs, heavily refinished or replacement wood, and badly worn or replacement barrels. Because of these things, acquiring a JSAR is a real crap shoot. Nice guns are seldom offered.

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