Joseph Scott

I have rifle #4782, .30-06, with import marks on barrel and left rear of receiver. Marked- IA SAC. CA. Who was this importer, when? Rifle has an original, no-cheeks- stock, stamped with 5/8" number "6" on left side rear and painted "18" on bottom of grip. My opinion is it is original military wood. Type 1 rear sight. Numbers: Rec-4782, bolt-no numbers, locking cam-4675, barrel & rear collar-5117E, extractor-3541, magazine-A3895, firing pin-E6131, hammer-7652B, hammer block-1868. Another example proving no-cheek stocks were issued. Bob, could you check log on this one, Thanks.

Until the other production logs are found, there is no way to tell if numbers are as assembled.

The ramp front sights have a hidden screw and are sometimes soldered onto barrel. Drive out the small pins holding blade and drive blade forward to remove. Under rear of blade is a hidden screw which goes into barrel. Remove screw. Clamp barrel in smooth jaw vise just behind sight, using a 12" Cresent wrench, try to rotate sight. If it does not move, it may be soldered. Heat with propane torch while twisting. It should come loose, drive it forward. Barrel then needs machining for lug and sight. I am currently working on a sporter putting it back to military. New stock, hardware, barrel work approximately $500. Cost varies somewhat with needed parts. The old sporter stock was beautiful but internally, it was not made right. You could see where link had been impacting on end of recoil tube. Many of the old jobs were just not done correctly. E-mail me for more details.

The bluepints call for the finish to be "Blacken". The metal was not polished and was machined smooth only on the outer surfaces. The sides tend to show roughness from the forging die. Polished metal usually indicates a rework at some time. Color is usually a dark gray-black, sometimes with a hint of brown from age/oils. We had several nice originals at the Houston show and you could even see the heat-affected zone of the radiator weld. The magazines have a different look because they were made of cold rolled sheet and were smooth. The color factory film showed wood being dipped in a dark oil or stain, then buffed quickly. So many stocks have been replaced or refinished, I would have to see the wood to form an opinion. I am reasonably sure the really dark stocks you see occasionlly are original. Since the factory dipped the stocks, they should have the same color all-over inside also. Thank goodness, Johnson collectors have not become as "picky" as the Garand and carbine nuts.