Luc

Hello, I went to the SOS and National Gun Day Show at Louisville, KY this past weekend and thought I pass along a few things. At the SOS was a sporter Johnson, polished and blued, sporter stock, scope, yada, yada, I think the asking price was about $3700. I also saw a bayonet with scabbard in a case, I didn't look at it close but appeared real. I didn't ask about the price. Saw another Johnson in the gun show, really nice looking A prefix, $7000, I didn't inspect it but it didn't appear to me to be a Miltec. I took my Johnson to show it to Brian Alpert who had a table. I was pleased when he told me it was an original stock and finish. He recommended I get the video Joe Scott offers, I told him indeed, I did need to get it and will after my pocket book recovers from the weekend! Brian will attest that my Johnson is still a little "blood thirsty" even after all these years. At the time I talked with Brian, he had sold two of his Johnsons, I think he had three still there. One thing is for sure, those are both big shows! All for now, BKW

Isn't it interesting that the more you learn about something, the more you know you don't know? That sentence makes sense to me, does anybody else understand it? I guess that is what makes collecting anything so much fun! Finding out that you need to find out more. If you knew it all I guess you would be board and move on to something else. BKW

Thanks for the response. Is there an easy way to tell if they are US made? The only markings I find on mine is at the bottom of the spring bar that holds the round in the magazine, below the rivet. It is marked "9-NE-45". The "NE" marking is possibly a logo as the right vertical line of the "N" is also the left vertical line of the "E". Is that a date code of September 1945 with a maker mark? Were they still being made that late in 1945? I'm still happy with the $40 I paid. BKW

I attended the Indianapolis 1500 Gun Show last Friday (6-3-05) and saw a Johnson LMG mag priced at $45, I bought it for $40. I figure it will be the closest I will get to owning one of the MG's. It's in pretty good shape, no rust, the park is a little mottled in color, probably from storage in cosmo. I obviously thought it was worth $40 to me at the time, but is that about what they usually go for? Are there a lot of them out there? BKW

I made photo's (I still have them somewhere) of a custom(?) made Johnson rifle with a couple of different barrels,and was fed from a detachable box magazine, if my memory is correct. It was engraved with the name of the owner. It was in a Ft. Wayne, IN gun shop about 1980 for about $1000. Too much money for a collage kid to buy. I really wasn't that interested as it wasn't the military model. I think it was sold to some one in Alaska. BKW

It's amazing what one can accomplsh given the proper motavation! Do you have a photo of a Johnson in front of you when your eating the PB&J? If your lucky, there's a bakery nearby that sells "second day" bread so you even save more! Welcome to the club! BKW

Funny, I think I might have see the Johnson for the first time in my "Small Arms of the World, probably about 1976. The JSAR I bought was the first military one I had ever seen. I wonder if the $500 asking price in 1980 or '81 was the "going rate" for an average condition JSAR. BKW

Hello, Just found this site, I thought I'd pass along my Johnson story. As a high school kid in the late '70s, I was (and still am) a WW II history buff. I read alot about the firearms and bought a few as I could afford them. I read somewhere about the Johnson Rifle and thought it was an interesting historical piece. I heard about one of the civillian rifles with a couple of different caliber barrels and detachable magazines for sale in a gun shop in Ft. Wayne, IN. I went up to look at it, I really wasn't interested in purchasing it, although I did want to photograph it for a school project. It was priced at the very high price of $1000! I later heard he sold it to someone in Alaska. A couple of years later I stopped in a small gun shop about 40 miles south of Ft. Wayne and low and behold, there was a Johnson M1941 rifle! He said the guy he got it from was a WW II Marine Veteran. He wanted $500 for it. A lot of money to a college kid at the time. So I went home and dug out some guns I didn't mind parting with (a Marlin 30-30, a Rugar .22 revolver, a Winchester shotgun, and a chrome plated M-1917 rifle I had bought from my high school band) and whent back up there to do some trading. I ended up with the Johnson, he ended up with the other guns and some cash to boot, I think about $100. He knew I wanted the Johnson bad. The Johnson is an "A" series, the bayonet lug was missing and the mag cover spring was broken. I got the replacement parts from Numrich and "restored" it. Restored meaning I only replaced the parts, I didn't refinish it. I did have to get another spring as I broke the first one when I was trying to install it. It's in adverage condition, I shoot it once in a while. Not long after, I found a bayonet with scabbard at a gun show in Indianapolis and it really pained me to pay $50 for it, but I don't regret it now! So, about 25 years later, I traded guns probably worth today about $1200-1500 for a rifle worth at least $3000 on a bad day. Whats your "Johnson" story! BKW