Jimbocious

Maybe the 3rd highest bidder bought it for the current price?

Rock Island's recent premier auction had a supposedly "documented" WWII-used JSAR listed, but apparently it was either pulled out of the auction, per the "prices realized" list. I Wonder what happened? https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/88/408/wwii-us-johnson-1941-rifle-with-bayonet-and-manual But 3 others sold in the $9-10k range: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/88/1392/first-production-block-wwii-us-johnson-automatics-mode https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/88/1425/wwii-us-johnson-1941-semiautomatic-rifle-with-bayonet https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/88/3416/first-production-block-wwii-us-johnson-1941-rifle

I thought about the wax/scabbard/cosmoline/scabbard issue after I posted, but then thought they may have been manufactured separately and shipped together but possibly in separate boxes. Do any of the admins know whether the Johnson factory actually made the scabbards? They would have needed a separate leather tooling operation, which seems a bit unlikely??

I still don't get the whole wax thing and if it's even real. I don't recall ever reading anything about wax in any of the literature I've seen (but I'm far from the expert that others on this board are), and it makes no sense when you think about it. Why bother waxing a non-moving (essentially)-single-piece accessory (that was only added at the insistence of govt procurement pinheads) when that part was designed to be literally thrust into the mud, snow, blood and guts of battle? Did anyone really worry about it rusting during storage/shipment if it would soon be facing far worse rust-inducing conditions? And it was wartime, so extra steps and materials for something like that just doesn't seem like it would have passed any timing or budgetary tests in the day. If they were worried about rust in transit, why wouldn't they have simply used grease/cosmoline that they already had on hand for coating the rifles and that could be wiped off when received, instead of having to be melted off like wax? So none of this wax business makes any sense to me. I could be wrong, and I'd love to see any authoritative reference that bayos were ever actually waxed by the factory or others in the contemporary supply chain. Until then, I remain a skeptic.

Per Bruce Canfield (p. 145): "None of the Johnson bayonets or scabbards were originally factory marked with a serial number....." This listing says it has the number 1849 on the ring. So NOT "an original as issued Johnson Model 1941 bayonet... in new unissued condition" as claimed in the posting. I hate this sh*t!!

Art, you big tease! I'll check back in a few weeks. But given how you phrased your original post, my guess is that the secret does not relate to the barrel or the stock, which if accurate would narrow things down a bit, especially since the deeper internals are not pictured. Something about the bolt s/n perhaps? Love a good mystery!

So Art, can you disclose the secret you observed about this one? Readers want to know! "I did notice one thing in particular, which is a positive, which I will not note here, but will reveal to the potential buyer, if purchased."

This is a new one to me -- "unissued" and "in the wax" bayonet??? Is this for real??? https://www.gunbroker.com/item/964430220

A rare penny-auction/no-reserve listing for a JSAR -- will love to hear folks' assessments on this one! https://www.gunbroker.com/item/943076279

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/287/world-war-ii-us-johnson-model-1941-semiautomatic-rifle (estimated @ $11,000-16,000) Taft-Pierce #R-13, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/1451/r13-prototype-taftpeirce-johnson-semiautomatic-rifle (est $16,000-25,000) https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/1459/wwii-us-johnson-1941-semiautomatic-rifle-with-bayonet (est $9,500-14,000) https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/1461/us-johnson-automatics-model-1941-rifle (est $9,000-13,000) https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/3306/wwii-us-johnson-automatics-1941-rifle-with-bayonet ($11,000-16,000)

Let the nit-picking, analysis, and cross-checking begin! https://www.gunbroker.com/item/939103302

I was wondering about the magazine appearing to be blued, for one thing. And the recoil plate seems not to match in finish with the receiver.

SN 9364 looks suspicious to me as a supposed "mint condition" "collector quality" JSAR. Maybe that's why it sold for just over $6k?

In addition to the two $10K+ JSAR rifles sold last weekend @ RIA, a bayonet + scabbard went for over $1700... https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/85/1359/bayonet-and-scabbard-for-the-johnson-model-1941-rifle

Wow, Art, that video was over the top!

Interestingly, RIA seems to be very careful in its description, not making any claims regarding originality, backstory, or being a presentation rifle, etc. The listing states, for example: "professionally restored blue finish with a few small spots of very light pitting and defined markings in the metal. Wood is also very fine as lightly sanded and re-oiled with a few light scratches and light handling marks." So, if RIA is right about metal and wood being refinished, and MC is right in his recollection about a mismatched forend, and Joseph Scott is correct about the barrel, the main question seems obvious. no?

You got it Ryche! But you could have held out for 10%!

This probably signifies nothing of importance, but I noticed in Scott Duff's book "The M1 Garand: World War II" that he has a page discussing JSARs and has several pix of serial # B5253 from the "Craig Kirkup Collection." I noted this because I own JSAR s/n B5252. I assume this is a random coincidence and B5253 was just featured for convenience in the book, but if anyone has any great hidden facts about these 2 rifles I'd love to hear it -- you know, something I can retire on, like they were hand made by Melvin Johnson himself and were then given as personal gifts to President Roosevelt, and then were used as survival rifles on board the Enola gay during the atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima. Just minor tidbits like that!

I KNEW there had to be a backstory, THANKS! With Ryche's endorsement, I am now posting my rifle on GunBroker with a starting bid of $975,000! But for Board members, I'll cut you a break for just $750K!

Hi BDM -- Any chance you'd be willing to sell one of your spare firing pins? PM me if so. Thanks, Jim

In researching lend-lease Garands, I came across a fascinating government report (a book really) first issued in 1960 that has very detailed info and citations to other sources, on the JSAR-Garand procurement controversy (see page 165-168) https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-10/CMH_Pub_10-10.pdf. From hazy memory of reading Bruce Canfield's great book, this report seems like it might have details not covered by Canfield? (but I have not compared in detail). The 500+ page report is much broader than this topic, but fascinating in other ways too.

OMG! https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/1037/652/johnson-model-1941-semiautomatic-rifle-with-scope

Tastes and styles do change and are always individual. In the case of this gun, the auction market has now spoken, to the tune of $4,025 (buyer premium included). Two other JSARs sold at same auction: And now I'm curious whether this modded version counts as an abomination? :-)

I'm sure the senior members/admin of this board know all about this collection and what was paid for it in 2013, but there is a collection of Johnson related documents/photos, etc. from the Gary Roberts collection up for sale on Gunbroker.com, for $1,842. https://www.gunbroker.com/item/882046586