Alasdair MacDonald

Thank you very much uncle Walt. I know it is a pain but I thought I was doing something wrong. This is for a newby that has the rifle and bayonette and scabard. He is delighted to have any and all information. Hope I can recp-rocate, cordially, Alasdair

Daryl, absolutely correct and that is a slam fire. cordially, Alasdair

I have two JSAR's and an extra 7mm barrel. I have fired both rifles using the 7mm barrel and they work flawlessly with heavy bullets. When I went to the 139 grain bullet, both of them doubled and once trippled. All the rifles have new recoil springs and new springs on the firing pin and no matter what I swapped, the problem persisted. When I put the old weaker recoil springs back in, it stopped. I think the lighter bullets with the new springs were slam firing. Great fun to shoot, but you do get raised eyebrows from fellow shooters. Still has me snowed. Cordially, Alasdair

I went to the Cow Palace gun show this past weekend and saw two JSAR'S. Rifle number one was very nice, "B" series, and sanded so much that the magazine well extended at least 1/4" below the magazine. Nice rifle and it was "used by the Marines in the South Pacific." Price, sit down, $11,000.00. Rifle number two was a Winfield, deteriorating butt pad and the usuals. No front sight, no rear sight, top of receiver had more holes than the local golf course and not enough wood left to sand. Price $2,000.00. Caveat Emptor(let the buyer be aware) Cordially, Alasdair

Forgot to mention that when asked what type rifle this is, the owner said it was an Iver Johnson. Good Lord! Cordially, Alasdair

I attended the big Reno Gun Show over the weekend and found three Johnsons. One was complete with bayonette and scabbard and was in very good condition. Asking price was $7500.00. It did not sell. The second was a sporter with wood plugged stock and blued with new front sight. Asking price $6500.00. It also did not sell to my knowledge. The third was another military with bayonette and scabbard listing price as $6500.00 to 7500.00. Attention Ed Johnson and Joeseph Scott:The thing that interested me is one of the vendors told me that Johnsons normally have their barrels removed for inspection and are inspected from the chamber end thus not disclosing barrel errosion for the approxamately ten inches of errosion from the muzzle. He said that the Dutch used tracer ammo that had lead plugged ports on the side of the bullets that when fired the lead melted and washed the last ten inches of the bore with corrosssive material that caused errossion. I have never seen or heard of this. Anyone else heard this or experienced this before? Cordially, Alasdair

Fantastic job Joe, interesting findings, Cordially Alasdair

The brass apears to have two problems in my opinion. 1. The brass is being deformed on the shoulder and neck consistent with violent brass ejection indicating a main spring that is weak from age and use. The spring out of the tube should measure 12". Anything less the spring is weak and has taken a "set". You can get these from Joe Scott this site and are cheap. 2. The second issue I see is premature bolt opening from battery before the gas pressure is acceptable before the bolt opens. This can also be from weak mainspring or headspace issues. It appears that the cartridge is not being supported on the sides and rear of the casing indicating that the chamber is not closed and locked. Keep us posted, Cordially, Alasdair

Joseph, I need a JSAR main recoil spring. How do I get. Cordially, Alasdair

Just got finished reading an article about the JSAR in this issue consisting of two pages. There are a few point that are not accurate but for the most part it is a good article. Cordially, Alasdair

I have a friend who has #0153 JSAR Request production information, Thank you, cordially Alasdair

In 1969 I was a sergeant in a local police department when we received an add from Century Arms for rifles available to us for "law enforcement use only." I immediately went to the chief and he signed for permission to buy on our letterhead. M-1 Garand was $85.00, M-1 carbine was $ 49.95 and the one I bought was a no prefix Johnson military .30-06 for $69.95. I still have it and what a deal even then. Cordially, Alasdair

I was at the Cow Palace Gun show over the past weekend and saw one Mil Tec going for $6000.00 and a second that was intriguing. The seller didn't want his info on this site but does want to sell these items. The military Johnson serial #8838 was the most pristine one I have yet seen. The seller has two the second is not as good. He said they were from the former Air Force Museum at Beal Air Force Base and that he has the bayos also. Asking price (SIT DOWN NOW) $10,000 This is for only those advanced collectors with this type of money. Leave a post if interested and I will give individuals the contact information. Seller is in California.

Black Tom, yes it was SOG but the rifle had no letter prefix. He is always a little pricey. When I first made contact with a lady, she told me $9,000.00 and referred me to him who said it was $10,000.00 Kind of like you wear a size 9 that a 10 feels so good that you buy an eleven. Cordially, Alasdair

On second thought I believe you mean the cycling format? Cordially, Alasdair

Why would you want to duplicate this? This is a Johnson not a Garand. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Cordially, Alasdair

You don't mention whether your two rifles are regular military or Winfields. Joseph, couldn't the misplaced recoil buffer tube cause this as you have stated before assuming that they are Winfields? Cordially, Alasdair

Ridge Runner, the firing pin should be lightly oiled and no grease. Grease will cake up and eventually impede the travel of the firing pin. The firing pin spring has the job to prevent slam fires and also retracts the pin below the face surface of the bolt. If this firing pin is held extended out past the bolt face from dirt or caked grease, you stand the chance of having a premature primer strike setting off the round before the bolt is in the battery position. Cordially, Alasdair

Gentlemen, I own a 7X57 (7mm) barrel and have fired numerous rounds through it, no problem. It is identical to the one shown on this thread. It has the correct front sights and bayo catch. The forward collar is marked .30-06 at the 12 o'clock position and 41 at the six o'clock position. Rear lug on bottom marked 7888E. Chamber side stamped 7m/m, an X with a nondescript item in the upper part of the X, with a ___ and then a G. Then it has a circle with F above an NA. Above the circle is a semi square with a sun burst radiating around it. Then there is two L's arranged almost making a completed square with two parallel lines in the center of the uncompleted square. Those are some proofs huh? Cordially, Alasdair

ArtR, after seeing your photos of the receiver of one of these rifles, I was reminded of the fact that there is a clip slot cut in the top front area of the receiver to accept a five round stripper clip. Two fives would load this puppy up and ready to fire. This is important because that means no en bloc clip or "ping" at the end. I can just see them engineering this during the war. "Must get rid of honorable "ping", uncle Ito found that out the hard way on Guadalcanal!" "Sumimasen", (I am sorry) Cordially, Alasdair, currently studying Japanese.

licorice1207, If my memory serves me correctly, I believe only 7 known prototypes of this rifle were ever produced. One of them is in the West Point Museum. About 20 years ago I actually held one at the Reno gun show. I asked the owner if I could pick it up for examination and he said yes as he said I was the only person at the show who knew what it was. Although crude metal work, it was in 7.7 mm cal. and the magazine protruded past the bottom of the rifle about an inch. The owner said that was because it held 10 rounds instead of the usual eight. At that time the asking price was $20,000.00. Since I was only a frugal police sergeant it was way out of my pocketbook range. As I recall, the barrel also extended past the gas tube a little more than the Garand. They are extremely rare and bring high prices. Caveat emptor(let the buyer be ware) Make sure it is not a fake. Hope this helps, cordially Alasdair.

Brian, lovely stuff! Cordially, Alasdair

Correct Bob, never,never oil cases for firing. It would take volumes of pages and a lot of math to explain what happens, but here is the simple version. A car engine utilizes about 15 to 20% of the fuel where a firearm uses about 20-30% making it more efficient. Such factors as metal type, thickness, heat absorbtion rate, burning rate of the powder, metallurgy of the brass to create obturation (the ability of the brass to expand and create a tight gas seal in the chamber), bullet weight, pressure curves, are all designed to keep the internal ballistic pressure to an acceptable level for safety. Engineers figure safety by the shoe size formula, "if you wear a nine, a ten feels so good that you buy an eleven" and engineer firearms on the safe side. When you oil the cases, a burnable fuel, there is the possibility that the oil will diesel and detonate causing your chamber pressure to rise faster than the bullet is moved down the barrel and causing a very dangerous pressure. If the barrel can't handle it, you may have to visit your local plastic surgeon. You are also correct in that some firearms do use oil on the cases for facilitating the feeding function. These firearms are engineered for this. Keep in mind that this attracts dirt in combat and very quickly can put the gun out of action. The WW2 Japanese Model 92 7.7 heavy machine gun used this and had an oiler above the feed tray entrance on the left side. I remember as a child putting a drop of 3 in one oil in the base of a pellet and then pumping the gun seven times. When fired the instant air pressure compressed the oil causing it to diesel and that lead pellet went out of there with great celerity. It created such a vibration that it broke the muzzle strap holding the barrel to the pump tube below. Cordially, Alasdair

Good idea Joe, that could also be a possibility. The genius of Mel Johnson was the bolt rotating 20 degrees to lock up before the hammer could engage the firing pin. If this doesn't happen, then you could get an eight lug looking face. I also had a rifle that the machine work was too rough and when the double stage hook was to be caught by the sear, it failed because of vibrations caused by the rough machining. As to your springs recovery, been there,done that. While attending S&W armorers school we had a real problem with mortar rounds trigger rebound recoil springs flying across the room. The instructor said," the next mortar spring that flys, that student is going to buy everyone a beer after class." We then took to covering the spring with a towel while compressing it to save our pocket books. Cordially, Alasdair