Ed Johnson

The Mondragon was covered by Alex MacKenzie in one of his columns recently in Man at Arms. The bolt is similar to the Johnson. I do not know if Dad borrowed the Mondragon principle or whether he designed it himself on one of his cocktail napkins. My guess is that he came by the multi-lug concept to save time on rotating the bolt on his own. We will never know for sure.  ej

As an aside, nothing stays the same for very long. Our Johnson book by Canfield was initially published by Stuart Mowbray in 2002, twenty years ago. The 2nd printing was in 2006 with no major changes. It is not likely that we will see any further revisions. But the research still continues, and the most recent Canfield book on weapons of WWII has the latest research on Johnson weapons included.. I strongly recommend buying it for that reason. Bruce gives the Johnsons a very decent spread and is even posed in a photograph in the front shooting his own very rare Johnson Carbine...which we believe was Torgensen's. You can't beat that.  ej

The description of R-13 includes the phrase " Born to a very affluent Massachusetts family, " By the time the war was over.....you could have fooled me.....  :-)))  ej

I am not familiar with "22/30 Blazer" and I have heard "22/30 Carbine" so proceed carefully as EB above suggests.

Could be used as a starting gun for a VERY large boat race......and based on the appearance, I'm assuming it is too heavy to fly it to PA in a Cessna 172.....

Frank, thank you for posting the above NRA article.

As for the question of the JLMG or FG 42, I doubt there was any copying between those 2 weapons. They are, as noted, very different designs.

The only thing that comes to mind is that somehow the German MG-42 (not sure about the FG-42) had a full-auto cyclic rate much higher than the 600 RPM of the Johnson....close to 1000 RPM, I believe.

I don't know if Art has Brian's replica Carbine listed on any of our previous serial number sheets. If so, and you came up with a match, and could establish Brian as the previous owner, this would not be a bad thing in terms of $$ value. Brian was a very well respected member of our team, and as a collector he was always reputable.

We do believe that Bruce Canfield is the owner of the Torgerson Carbine from WWII.....and we have not found any other originals.

I believe Joe Scott might still be selling his JSAR disassembly video, if you need help.

Welcome aboard. Rifle looks good, as does the sling. Stock looks new or not used very much. Let us know if the rifle has any "history" and how accurately it shoots, etc.

The 2nd photo that shows grooves from either side is what our new spitfires looked like. the first photo is the IAI and i don't think they modified the feed ramp properly. If you add braising material to a .30 M1 carbine receiver, you need to add enough so that it will grab the smaller .22 cal bullet and raise it up enough as the cartridge is moved forward by the bolt. Otherwise, the tip of the bullet might not be raised enough and simply slam straight into the face of the chamber, and not go up and into the chamber. It would appear that IAI didn't pick up on this problem. Oh, well......

Alex, I wish you the best, but thought I should mention that anyone who told you they received a Johnson Rifle direct from the Estate of my father, Melvin M. Johnson, Jr.,, is telling you a "story." I quote the paragraph at the beginning of the Johnson Rifle Message Board by our Webmaster:

" Over the years, certain auction houses or dealers claimed they had "Johnson Estate" items, or "special prototypes" with special serial numbers, available for sale at elevated price levels. These claims should all be considered as outright false. The only Johnson Rifle or deactivated LMG products and prototypes, that were in the personal collection of Melvin Maynard Johnson Jr, at the time of his death in 1965, have been directly handled by members of his family. These items are already in the legal possession of a few private collectors or museums and have never been available for sale to the general public.  "

At the time the above paragraph was written last year, this was still the case. Just recently, some very rare prototypes were actually sold to a private buyer via the Amoskeag Auction House in New Hampshire, but this is the only exception and we have records of those items. .

Some of us are aware of the activities of a certain California arms dealer who, years ago, made claims to have received Johnson weapons from the Johnson Estate. When I confronted this individual, he told me that he had actually purchased these from another dealer who claimed they were from the estate. No paperwork was ever submitted with any of these guns...

If you would like to e-mail me privately, at   edwardrjohnson610@gmail.com   and give me the name of the dealer who made this statement to you, I will confirm whether that was the person I confronted years ago. I am aware that he also sold some Johnson Rifles to other dealers who "bought the story" and then proceeded to sell to buyers.with that story.....but no written proof from the family.    .

WHIG above is accurate about RIA, unfortunately, as I discovered from personal experience some years ago. They seem to "push" the " story " over the gun itself. They will also try to ignore any comments intended to correct the error, regardless of who the comments may be coming from. It is certainly ironic that the price on Johnson bayonets has climbed so high, since Dad himself did not value them as very effective in most firefights. In addition, provenance is also rather difficult to prove with these bayonets.  ej

It sorta looks like a real JLMG......doesn't it?   ej

Not wishing to be repetitive, especially involving RIA. Buy the Gun. Do NOT buy the "story." And the matching numbers all the same? Nope.....

Dad himself had no problem and was actually flattered to receive a re-built Miltech JSAR many years ago. I think it had a sporter stock and scope sight but cannot remember to whom he gave or sold that rifle.

Excellent. Thank you for posting the link.  ej

If they are charging that much for a rubber replica, I guess I won't bother.

If you are interested in selling that replica, let me know.  Ed J

On the subject of serial numbers, Bruce Canfield has written a short summary of the Johnson Rifle serial number recording system which can serve as a very good explanation to collectors. I would not object if someone wants to re-print that explanation on our rifle page, crediting the AR and Bruce appropriately. Perhaps our Webmaster might even consider "freezing" the material at the top of the rifle page, as he has done with 3 other related topics. And, Bruce, thank you for writing it.  ej

20 hours ago, camstuff said:

I wonder if it could be an early prototype. No bayonet lug, so what barrel would it be? It has the same similar wood forearm as what is pictured on pages 106 through 109. 

It might be a prototype of the Johnson Auto Carbine, except for the barrel length and front sight. ej

I had not see this photo before. Obviously looks like Dad in the background. If he is holding a '41 JLMG, it looks a bit off. Fore-grip and front sight is rifle. Rear pistol grip is like a semi-auto pistol, not so much the JLMG style The rifle in the middle has a shorter barrel and I'm wondering if the rifle is a vertical mag type.  Puzzling.  ej

Duct tape.....love it !!

For Bruce above....since we do believe you own one of the originals, can you advise if there are special markings or serial numbers on your piece? This way, we can determine if any similar carbines are shown for sale, whether they might be "originals" or simply a modified copy, similar to what Brian Alpert had his gunsmith construct.

Yes, that makes sense to me.  ej

The stock with complicated checkering looks familiar. Have we seen this rifle previously?  ej