Send us your own comments about this object.

Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  U.S. RIFLE MODEL 1941 JOHNSON .30 SN# B2162
Maker/Manufacturer:	JOHNSON, MELVIN
Date of Manufacture:	1941
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 4455
Measurements:	OL:116.8CM 46" BL: 55.8CM 22" 9.5 lbs.

Object Description:

U.S. RIFLE MODEL 1941 JOHNSON .30 SN# B2162
Manufactured by Cranston Arms Co., Cranston, R.I. - Standard semi-automatic Model 1941 Johnson rifle. 4-groove rifling, right-hand twist. Spring leaf and ramp sight graduated to 1,000 meters. Muzzle velocity 2700 fps. Complete with 10-round fixed rotary magazine fed by stripper-clips or single rounds inserted through the loading gate. Semi-automatic fire only. Maximum rate of fire 35 to 40 rpm. Weapon weighs approximately 9.5 lbs. Some nicks and gouges in the stock otherwise complete and in good condition.

Markings:
Receiver: CAL.30-06 SEMI-AUTO/"JOHNSON AUTOMAITCS"/MODEL OF 1941/MADE IN PROVIDENCE, R.I., U.S.A. U.S./B2162. U.S. PATENT NOS./2,094,156 2,146,743+

Weapon transferred to the Museum on 29 November 1951.

Boston Globe, 1965 - "Melvin M. Johnson, Jr., business executive of New Haven, Conn., died on Jan. 9, 1965, in New York, N.Y. He was 55 years old.
A native of Boston. Mr. Johnson graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and taught criminal law at Boston University. It was during his spare time in the late 1930's that he climaxed a long interest in firearms by inventing the Johnson semi-automatic rifle and a light machine gun. These weapons were used by Allied troops in WWII.
Mr. Johnson established 2 companies - Johnson Automatic, Inc., of Boston and Providence, and later (in 1962) Johnson Guns Inc., of Hamden, Conn. He was employed in 1949 by Winchester, and in 1951 was appointed a weapons consultant to the Secretary of Defense.
Mr. Johnson published a number of books on guns. He wrote, with Charles T. Haven, 'Automatic Arms: Their History, Development And Use (1941), 'For Permanent Victory: The Case for An Arsenal of Peace (1942), and 'Ammunition: Its History, Development And Use (1943), 'Automatic Arms' went through three editions, the last being greatly enlarged over the original and issued under the title 'Automatic Weapons Of The World.' He also wrote 'Rifles And Machine Guns: A Modern Handbook Of Infantry And Aircraft Arms (1944) and 'Practical Marksmanship: The Technique Of Field Firing (1945).
Mr. Johnson served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1933 until he transferred to the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Reserve in 1949."

Notes: "Bitter controversy, denigrations and accusations, investigations, and whiffs of scandal: all these and more have attended the manufacture and issuance of a number of US Army Shoulder rifles since at least the first Allin conversion of the Springfield rifled musket in 1865. The whole process seemed about to begin again when the US adopted the world's first general issue semi-automatic rifle, the .30-06 (7.62x63mm) M1 Garand: many minds, military and otherwise, were far from convinced that the Army had made the right move.
The M1 was adopted in January, 1936. The following month, the original toolroom model of a new .30-06 short-recoil rifle mechanism was test fired for the first time. It was the brainchild of Melvin M. Johnson, Jr., a young man described in a later American Rifleman article as 'a well-heeled Boston lawyer whose passion was the design of advanced rifles and machine guns.' Johnson, as an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve, pursued the refinement and contract manufacture of several prototypes of his rifle, with all of the considerable private resources he could muster. Nor was he hesitant about calling for help from his fellow officers: in March of 1938 he was allowed to conduct a week-long field demonstration before the Infantry Board at Fort Benning, with his rifle 'serial no. 1'. For his pains he received the following reminder that the US already had a rifle: ...until the (Johnson) rifle can be subjected to intensive test firing, such as has been done with the US Rifle, M1, no sound conclusion can be made concerning the ability of the rifle or its parts to stand up.'
Meanwhile, predictably, Garand's newly adopted rifle was stumbling through some early 'growing pains' and manufacturing hitches. The original gas cylinder, which took off the gas right in front of teman noted, (Johnson's) comments, fairly or unfairly, intentionally or unintentionally, made the Army Ordnance officers appear to be either liars or incompetents.' Unchastened, Johnson appeared again in 1940 before the Senate subcommittee, which heard him out before deciding that, with Garands already coming off the assembly line of Springfield Armory at the rate of 100 per day, their only practical course was to continue appropriations for the M1. In a final desperate move by the Johnson camp, the chairman of the full Committee on Military Affairs actually presented a Bill in the Senate to adopt the Johnson rifle as 'United States semiautomatic rifle, M2, caliber, .30.' The Secretary for War himself had to recommend against such a move in order finally put an end to the Johnson/Garand controversy.
Although never officially adopted, the story of the indefatigable Johnson and his rifle doesn't end there. Due to the exigencies of World War II, model 1941 Johnson rifles and light machine guns intended for Dutch East Indies forces saw action with US Marine Raider and Parachute battalions on Guadalcanal, and later in Europe with the Canadian-American First Special Service Force (later dubbed 'The Devil's Brigade'). In addition, the Johnson Automatic Trust produced four models of a 20mm automatic cannon known as the EX-2 for US Navy trials during the period 1942-45. None went beyond prototype stage, however, and the project was terminated at the end of the war.
After the war, Melvin M. Johnson, Jr. continued his somewhat luckless involvement with military firearms by becoming a research consultant for the OPerations Research Office (ORO). This led to the development of the Johnson 'Spitfire', a sporting version of the Gustafson .22 caliber Carbine, but chambered for the necked-down .30 Carbine case. By the middle fifties, Johnson was also acting as the east coast military rifle consultant and publicist for the parent company of a small California armaments divisions called Armalite." - Stevens and Ezell

"The Johnson rifle is the only recoil-operated military rifle to receiver field use. Although not officially adopted by any nation, it received some combat use during and after World War II. The recognition features of the rifle are the perforated metal jacket covering part of the barrel, and the unusual rotary magazine. The barrel jacket, an extension of the receiver, acts as a bearing sleeve for the recoiling barrel, it also mounts the barrel return spring, and barrel latch, and serves as an effective top handguard. The barrel's being exposed for its entire length allows efficient air cooling. The fixed rotary magazine offers several advantages: the cartridge-feed lips are not part of the magazine, but are machined into the receiver, thereby preventing jams caused by the feed-lips damage to which most box magazines are subject; moreover the magazine can be refilled, or emptied, while keeping the bolt closed and a cartridge in the chamber.
The Johnson is one of the few rifles with a quick-change barrel system. This feature, which is not as important in a semi-automatic rifle as in a light machine gun, is made possible by the recoil method of operation. The easily removable barrel offers a great convenience in cleaning. It also has
"...After things on the front settled down and it appeared that the armistice might hold, 7th Inf. Div. went into scheduled reserve. We moved some miles to an area east of Tong-do-chow-ni. We were to no longer be spread out tactically. All the trucks and tents were laid out in rows and life became like peace time. We even had wooden floors and bases in the tents. The date of the Armistice 27 July, also marked the half-way point in my tour in Korea. The second half was less eventful than the first. The second winter was also a little warmer, as Tong-do-chow-ni was further south and down of our mountain somewhat. There was more time for educational projects. I still retained 'my' gun collection, and continued to fire them as ammo became available. Sgt. Blatz brought some more weapons to shoot one day.... I brought out my guns and we conducted our first 'machine gun' shoot. Sgt. Blatz brought 'his' M1941 .30 cal. Johnson semi-automatic rifle. Several of these rifles had turned up in use by Chinese troops. Our best guess was they were the remains of rifles the U.S. sold to Netherlands East Indies forces (NEI) in 1941. The Japanese forces captured them, then the Chinese Nationalists captured them from the Japanese. Finally, the Chinese Communist Forces used them against us in Korea." - Bob Faris

"Special Note on he Johnson Rifle. The Johnson is the only recoil-operated military shoulder rifle which has been manufactured in quantity. It appeared soon after the Army had adopted the M1 and at the same time its backers claimed that it was far superior to the M1. A series of tests and demonstrations during the period 1939-40 indicated that the Johnson was not superior to the M1 and Springfield Armory was already tooled up to produce the M1. Therefore the M1 continued to be the basic U.S. shoulder weapon.
Quantities of the 1941 Johnson were used by the U.S. Marines for a limited period of time and significant quantities were made for the Dutch East Indies. The rotary magazine is the common version of the Johnson rifle, however, a vertical feed version was made as well." - Smith

References:
Johnson, George. INTERNATIONAL ARMAMENT. 2nd Ed. Ironside Publications Inc. Alexandria, Va. 2002.
Mullins, Timothy J. TESTING THE WAR WEAPONS. Palladin Press. Boulder, Co. 2001.
Smith, Joseph E. SMALL ARMS OF THE WORLD. Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, Pa. 1969.
Stevens, Blake & Edward C. Ezell. THE BLACK RIFLE: M16 RETROSPECTIVE. Collector Grade Publications, Inc. Cobourg, Canada. 1992.