pmangelos

I know that this is an older question but I too was interested in a “shooter” barrel for my Johnson. After digging through my junk I found that the threads on the Johnson barrel extension were 1.00x16 tpi which are a relatively common thread size. A Winchester model 70 featherweight barrel (post 64) makes an easy to fit barrel. The threads match the Johnson, the barrel guide is almost an exact fit, just took some polishing it to fit the Johnson barrel guide and the front sight pressed on well. Obviously the face of the barrel needs to be cut back into a cone and a cut for the extractor made, followed by head spacing the barrel. None of this was too difficult to do assuming you have the tools and know how. I did this one last night and tested it this morning, now I have a .308 barrel to go with my .30-06. Hopefully this can be of help to someone else. Paul

Thank you all for the comments, I will look into replacing the magazine spring as I don't see any other issues inside the magazine, regardless it is a really nice piece of American history.

I’ve shot it a bit, I’m feeding it Garand ammo (HXP and some modern M2 equivalent). It runs fine if I load five at a time but if I load 10 into the magazine it has trouble feeding the first couple of rounds. It ejects well, just has trouble lifting the new round up. I did give it a thorough cleaning and lube before shooting but something is still a bit amiss. Also, the bore is far from great, I imagine corrosive ammo is to blame for that.

Thank you guys for allowing me to join the forum. I’ve been in the milsurp world for many years but just had an opportunity to get my first Johnson. I’d like any comments on it that you’d like to share as to overall condition and originality. I don’t believe it has been restored back from being sporterized but hopefully you all can confirm or deny my thoughts. I picked up the Johnson book from Bruce last week and just finished reading it. Mr Johnson was a very fascinating man with a great story. Thanks in advance for your help. Sincerely, Paul