Joseph Scott

Looks like an unfinished home made job. The holes through the originals are to vent the air when cycling and the two rings are to reduce friction. The small cross hole on left side connects with a hole through from the bottom and these must be cleaned with small wire or drill. I have found many plugged with grease.

Yes, you can use same gages. In the gun, hook extractor over gage lip first and close gently. Operating handle should close on go gage (1.946") and not on no-go (1.950"). Do not force handle. If you do it out of gun, it is little tricky to get alignment. I have seen a replacement barrel which had a short chamber and would not close on 1.940" minimum gage. Every original barrel were within specs. A more common problem is superfine pitting in chamber making extraction difficult and preventing cycling.

Years of experience determined that each bolt catch was fitted to each rifle. The little fingers vary from the drawing dimension. I am of the opinion that the catches were removed by the importer when they had thousands to clean. When they put a gun together, they installed a catch. If it worked, good to sell. If it didn't catch bolt, they left them out and sold the guns without catches. Some years ago I obtained a small lot of these short catches that had been removed. I have reworked these and test them in my gun. They have worked in all sale cases but one which I exchanged. Approximately 1/2 to 2/3 of rifles were sold without catches. Message me for prices.

Alasdair, BDM check your mesages, Joe

If it was truly a torched machine gun that was rewelded, it is probably illegal unless it has papers on it. If it was made on a semi-auto rifle receiver, it is probably legal. However there are certain requirements on using the lmg lower. It has to be modified so it can't go full auto by switching out parts. Several of our members have built these semi-lmg's and can provide details.

I am out of replacement barrels and can't see to cut the threads. I have lugs but no sights currently. Hope to have some in 1-2 months. Can see to machine for those items whenever I get sights. To remove a sporter ramp sight, you must remove blade as there is a small hidden screw under the blade. Some come off easy but some are also soldered on. Sometimes you must grind them loose. The straight steps are .565" for sight and .591" for lug.

The Tulsa show is this weekend (4000 tables). I will be downstairs at 12LA, same location as last time. Will have a lot of Japanese/ German military items. Free inspections of Johnson's. Come visit. Joe

I don't have any hammer nor trigger sear bars. Joe

I will look to see if I have anything. Most likely you need the hammer as it was easiest to modify.

It sounds like someone modified the hammer/trigger sears so as to give full auto by holding back the trigger. This was common years ago mostly by old veterans who learned it in service. It is very dangerous. It takes just a little filing to give this and is hard to see by looking. I test the trigger group loose in my hand by cocking the hammer back and pulling trigger and holding it back. Hammer should come up and catch on the secondary sear If it releases and goes up, sears have been altered. Hold hammer so you don't get pinched. replacing parts is only solution.

The large head screws are supposed to have a internal star washer under the head and a flat washer against the wood. The flat washers screw onto the threads until they get to the reduced diameter under the head. This allows the screw to rotate while the flat washer bears against the wood without turning. Check that the wood is flat under the washers and not deformed. Also check that the square recoil keys are in place over the trigger, in forearm and that star washers are not flattened.

I would suggest checking your rear and front sights for looseness. It is unlikely that your timed shooting is overheating the barrel. Also check that all the bottom screws are tight. Even worn barrels don't vary like that.

I believe I found the reason for use of the glued-on "cheeks". I have trouble from the mill getting 3" thick wood per the original style stocks w/o "cheeks". The reason is that 12/4" wood takes a minimum of three years to dry/season for gun stocks. The saw mills are reluctant to cut it this thick and hold it for drying. 8/4" wood (2") is usual for stocks, now and during ww2, there was a large demand for US stocks of 8/4" and it dries quicker. It seems that force drying walnut weakens it and causes internal splits. Glueing on "cheeks" from small scraps seems the only answer. I bought some 12/4" wood locally (Tx) and sealed the ends with wax per recommendations and it is already starting to split internally. Drying walnut for stocks can take up to 10 years for premium wood. I am going to Missouri to the mill and see if we can work something out. Lots of information on the internet. Little did I know.

Went to two companies in Mo. about thick wood. Just not available unless order $10,000 worth and wait to dry. Finally settled on 2" thick and I will add the "cheeks" myself. Hope to have a new batch ready in 2-4 months. Will post notice when ready.

There were only two other Johnson's for sale. Vendor had excessive value on them. No bayonets. Overall, sales were slow for everyone. Sold some E2 stock hardware. Tables are going up to $175 next show.

Even the WW2 Germans had to wait for their walnut to dry. There is a picture of blanks stacked for drying in 1945. This is likely why they went to laminated stocks during the war. The cheeks were definitely cheaper (scraps) vs another board foot of walnut.

The use of the inserts to convert to .308 was considered unsafe years ago as they would come out and the next round has excess head space and would rupture. The original specification was for those to be "locked in" by use of a high pressure round made by White Labratories. Even this procedure was not considered successful. To set back a .30-06 barrel for .308 requires the rear collar to be moved forward two complete turns (1/16" x2= .125) so that the sight and lug comes out on top again. Then the center collar must be moved forward the same amount. This keeps the proper spacing of chamber in relation to the bolt face. Then the chamber can be reamed for .308 which is 1/10" shorter than .06. Even when surplus 7.62 ammo was available and cheap, the ammo savings did not justify the cost. If someone does it, mark the barrel .308/7.62 out where it can be seen to prevent future dangers in years to come.

I believe he died. I also bought one from him many, many years ago. Someone else tried to pick up his work but could not get them right. Haven't heard about them in long time. They tried to sell some unfinished wood some years ago.

I believe the previous discussion had to do with the mag door spring being installed wrong. Check yours and reverse if needed.

Use caution when trying to buy an original barrel. Most Johnson owners will not sell a good barrel but keep it for their next purchase. I have purchased, at a show, what I thought was a good one with excellent bore but it had a bad chamber. Gun show sellers usually don't know condition and go only by bore condition. Johnson's are very sensitive about chamber condition especially very fine pits which cannot be seen. As they do not have a gas pushed extraction rod, they depend on bolt momentum to extract the cases. Do not buy a barrel unless you can return it for refund after trying it. Another caution is about a "stubbed" barrel. This is where they cut off in front of the chamber to save the factory lettering, bored it out and stubbed a different barrel into the chamber section. Usually a weld shows. One I found had only a seal weld, not a strength weld. This technique is very dangerous. When I started making barrels, it took three years and lots of money to get together new high quality parts. Many used rear collars have damaged lugs or have been faced off in error trying to get correct headspace. Used sporterized barrels are usually in good shape and can be converted back with lug and sight. Original,barrels with ugly bores sometimes shoot great because the muzzle is not worn from the GI screwed together cleaning rods. No longer making barrels due to bad vision.

Thanks for the comments. Joe

The highest serial number that I have heard of is around B8000 +/-. This gives a number somewhat over 28000. Exact data is lost with the A and B production logs.

I heard a story in Dallas than Winfield Arms was owned (or financed) by Winchester to circomvent restrictions against them buying surplus weapons. Has anyone heard this story?

I finally got 12 butt stock blanks and six forearms. It has been a very long delay for several reasons. I have six butt stocks ready to sell and have emailed all the old inquiries, so check your emails. They get them first if still interested. Should have the others ready in about two weeks. Will give them until month's end to reply. The other six are open for ordering. Still not machining new parts but selling what original parts I have. Will be at Dallas Arms Collectors show this weekend. Joe

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