WTS 1941 Johnson Rifle

[BillinBama]

I have a Johnson for sale, its been re-blued as far as I can tell, nice looking gun but not original.  $7500 is anyone is interested.  More pics available.

[johnsonlmg41]

Johnson sporter

[BillinBama]

Please explain. I thought my gun has the standard stock, I thought a sporter would have a replacement stock with cheek piece, etc. I had another Johnson a few years ago and this one appears identical. 

[johnsonlmg41]

Lower grade sporters had plain stocks, as you upgraded you got monte carlo stocks with recoil pads, etc. as the price went up.   I'd guess yours has no bayonet lug and a maybe a hooded front sight?  The key is the high polish bluing on all of them.  Sometimes guys are trying to put them back to military, but once they get buffed like that, there is no going back.

Pictured is a deluxe sporter with a selection of barrels in various calibers that you just swap out and drilled and tapped for scope mounts, etc.   I cleaned this one up a few years back since it had been neglected and didn't function at all.  The barrel set I found separately which was likely a custom one off set all packed in a roll up case. 

[BillinBama]

No, mine has no hood and the bayonet lug is still there. I've tried without success to load pics of it, I'll try from my computer later.

[BillinBama]

 

Here are pics of the muzzle showing the front sight and bayonet lug.

 

[BillinBama]

Here's a couple more of other features.

 

 

[TSMGguy]

You probably have a Windfield Arms "standard sporter". The stock if original should also have recoil tube lug retaining screws just to the rear of the pistol grip. Most M1941s had stocks laminated at the butt stock magazine swells on each side. Winfield sold M1941 rifles in three grades. Two had newly made stocks.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by TSMGguy

[BillinBama]

My gun has a barrel stamp "Navy Arms", which I'm assuming is an import stamp so the gun was re-patriated from somewhere. Ive got Bruce Canfield 's book and am reading it so I see that they produced civilian models, but I still am not sure what I have. Everything looks like the military version, but some pics in the book for civilian versions don't look any different from military. 

[BillinBama]

I've been learning a lot about the Johnsons from Canfield's book, very informative reading.  I am still uncertain of my rifle's origin or history.  The rear sight has been modified identical to the pic in the book of a field modified one that opened up the sight by filing down the peep to a notch type sight. I'm almost convinced the bluing was done sometime after production, probably long after the war. It was buffed such that much of the markings is almost gone.  More research needed.

I was interested to learn of all the battles the Johnsons participated in, i was always under the impression that it was only Guadalcanal.  Too bad it was so hated by the Army and the top brass, it deserved a better fate.

 

[johnsonlmg41]

The rear sight mod is common.  It was blued and buffed post war to cater to the sporting crowd.  Yours might be an early sporter in that the bayonet lug/barrel was original before they had to make new "sporter" barrels which don't have the step cut to accommodate the bayonet lug?  They may have just blued the barrel as is, because taking off the lug leaves the step and the cuts for the taper pins....which would not look good, and requires work?  Or the barrel was a replacement and if the gun has a "no-prefix" serial, you could get that verified by the number on the barrel? 

I don't know that it was hated by the army, but really late to the game after piles of time and money had been dumped into the Garand.  Done by a Marine probably did not help at all presenting to the army, regardless of the gun?

The book is a great read.  Shockingly, you cannot find all that info on the internet😉

[BillinBama]

Well, I've finished Canfield's book (excellent, BTW, I recommend it), and I still have no idea exactly what I have in my 1941 Johnson.  It's blued, obviously been polished before blueing, but other than that it doesn't have any of the features of the civilian models sold by Winfield.  I was hoping maybe something was inside the stock, but removing the butt plate revealed only empty holes. (sigh)  The bun has a "B" prefix to the SN so supposedly it was made later in production, but as I understand it that doesn't always mean anything.  The stock has been repaired at the wrist, but the job was professionally done, and probably makes it stronger than original.  I was hoping the book would give me enough clues to determine for certain the provenance of my gun but no such luck.

[TSMGguy]

All you really know at this point is that your gun doesn't have its original phosphate finish. Same for the barrel though it appears to be in its original configuration.

I believe that the butt stock is original as well as repros do not normally have the two lightening holes under the butt plate. There are original butt stocks that do not have the two laminations at the magazine swell.

Right, JSAR production was not strictly sequential by serial number. 

Absence of an importer's stamp may mean that the gun came back into the US prior to GCA 1968, though that's not certain.

[BillinBama]

I don't know why I didn't notice before,  but the barrel has a light stamp "7" on the rear which I took to mean a 7mm barrel for the Chilean contract. Sure enough,  it is a 7mm, at least a 30-06 cartridge won't chamber, I don't have any 7mm ammo to check right now. So I'm assuming Navy Arms re-imported it after it was originally sold to Chile. I know barrels are easily swapped but it would make more sense to swap in a 30-06 barrel instead of a 7mm one. Why it is blued, I guess somewhere down the line it got polished and blued, not unusual in the 60'-70's I would think.  I used to buy stuff from Navy Arms, 80's and maybe early 90's, they are still around selling surplus guns and other stuff,  mostly under the Old Western Scrounger name.

[BillinBama]

Just updating this post, nothing new to add in what I've found out about my rifle, definitely 7mm barrel, I need to find some ammo and try it out.  I'm still interested in selling if anyone wants a go, $6100 would do it.