BBBQ

Hi everyone. Thanks to the moderators for letting me join the group. I’m up in Saskatoon, Canada, just above North Dakota. I recently bought a full military 1941 Johnson in 30-06 at an online auction and I’ve dug into it over the Christmas break. This message board has been a big help already. I’ve now fully disassembled, cleaned, oiled and reassembled the gun. I could use some advice, and maybe a lead on a few small parts. First off, I was also wondering about the history of this rifle. It is receiver 0600 and I see that records are available for the non-prefix guns, perfect! I’m interested to know if any parts are original matching. The numbers are, Receiver: 0600 Stock: None that I can see Barrel and the extension the bolt locks into: both 1731A Hammer block: 1011 Hammer: 0801 Bolt: 5234 Locking cam: 2813 Firing pin: K7460 Extractor: E5760 Magazine: 6568 Received from: ??? Date received: ??? Disposition date: ??? Transferred to: ??? Other identifying features include, -It has the star mark above Cranston Arms (Dutch acceptance mark, right?) -The numbers 1 3 5 7 9 on the rear sight elevator are filled with red paint (original?) -The marking WBL 25943 has been electropenciled into the wood under the buttplate, and onto the bottom of the ventilated barrel shroud, between the two screws that hold the forestock on, on both sides. Is this something from a previous owner, or an actual armorers marking? Now the problems, from most to least critical, The long link between the locking cam and recoil spring is badly bent, so much that the hammer can’t fall. Too hot of a load used, or maybe someone tried to fire the gun while it was really dirty or gummed up? I thought I was screwed when I discovered this, but fortunately Numrich has this part and they ship to Canada. It is attached to the locking cam with a special rivet. Numrich doesn’t have the rivet… does anyone here have one? I’m thinking I can try to tap the rivet off with a hammer and punch, and hopefully reuse it. Any ideas or advice? The buttstock it pretty rough. Bad cracks behind the mag, missing wood from both sides or the mag, and someone did a bad sanding job on it, like they took 100 grit on an orbital sander to it. From what I read here, ebay is the only good option for a buttstock? I’ll make what I have work for now. My recoil spring was only about 10.5” long. I stretched it back to 12”. Is there any source of newly made recoil springs? I guess once I get that bolt link fixed I’ll fire it and maybe everything is fine. The tab on the rear takedown pin is gone, and someone re-installed this pin backwards, with the tapered end sitting below the receiver. What a pain to get that out!! Numrich didn’t have any rear pins but they did have the front take down pin, looks like it could work for now. Does anyone have a spare rear takedown pin? I could also use some screws not currently available from Numrich, -The two screws that center the recoil lug on the forestock are missing. -The screw for the center of the buttplate. Thanks very much in advance!

Very interesting to see the process, thanks for sharing!

Hi guys, surprise surprise, my new barrel is all assembled and I just got back from the range. I found this shop in southern Ontario to do the work: www.vulcangun.com . The owner Nick Kaikkonen has videos of his Johnson work on Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_I1HxiXtmM (Note serial numbers 5321 and 3002 in the video). Dealing with Nick was a pleasure. The cost and timeline of 6 weeks were exactly as he quoted, and the workmanship is high quality. This wasn’t cheap. The labour by Vulcan with taxes and shipping both ways was $1120. The parts (Rem 700 take off barrel ($25), set of barrel collars ($370), bayonet lug ($190), front sight ($100)) brought the complete product up to a grand total of $1800 (all prices in Canadian dollars). Thanks again to ryche_me for the collars and Joe Scott for the bayo lug. I’m glad I went for M48tankers advice and got the bayonet lug too. I shot 25 rounds and function with the Remington 700 barrel is perfect. I even put the factory bayonet on and took a few standing shots, this worked perfect too. With my old barrel I was getting 12 to 16 inch "groups" at 50 meters using surplus LC69 M2 rounds. Now a 5 shot group with the same ammo same distance is 4 inches. The result might be better with some new production M2 and a warm day. Its -10 C so I was shooting with winter gloves on. Its not a sniper, but back to battle rifle accuracy and I can hit what I am at. Still on the hunt for a NOS mainspring, and the two screws that hold the forend key in place... have cash

There happens to be 4 JSARs for sale in Canada on gunpost.ca right now, 3 from the same seller, Serial 0858 (?), https://www.gunpost.ca/firearms/rifles/calgary/ww2-usmc-johnson-m1941 Serial 1915, https://www.gunpost.ca/firearms/rifles/calgary/ww2-us-johnson-1941-service-rifle Serial 1072, https://www.gunpost.ca/firearms/rifles/calgary/ww2-johnson-m1941-30-06-semiautomatic One from a different seller, Serial 1040, https://www.gunpost.ca/firearms/rifles/markham-york-region/johnson-m1941-rifle

I did the stock repair just like he showed in the video and it worked for me. I put photos in an album attached to my profile. He also has a video about the Marlin 1898 which perpetuates inaccurate safety info about that gun (flicking the recoil lock does not mean the action is unlocked and the bolt flies in your face). Still from both videos I learned a lot.

I bought a spare firing pin several months ago. This week I had my JSAR apart, so I compared the pin I have (top) with the pin I bought (bottom). I noticed two things, For the area circled in blue, that circular piece has some wiggle to it and the spot weld holding it fixed the to the pin body is broken. For the area circled in red, this smaller diameter area is clearly longer than what I have. Did I get screwed? Is this firing pin any good?

The top firing pin is serial number K7460, bottom is 5447 (no prefix). The area I partly circled in red measures 0.95". But I can see a grind mark that shows the gap used to be 0.68". Now that I play with it a bit more the collar does slide I can slide it to the right, but it won't go any further left (closer to the part that hits the primer) than the correct position. Well for me its a spare, might never have to use it.

Nice looking rifle!

Hi guys couple of updates. I tracked down all the re-barrel advice and dimensions on this site, its pretty clear. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to learn to do this myself. I took the parts and instructions to my gunsmith, but he declined, he doesn’t rebarrel semi-autos. So now I need to find the right person in this country to do the work. I’ve held back on buying the taper pins and taper pin reamers… That stuff will cost me $200, and if I find someone with experience doing JSAR rebarrels, they should have those things. But if anyone has taper pins to spare (one #2 x ¾” and two #2/0 x 5/8”) I would gladly buy them off you. In the meantime I keep accumulating parts. Tanker, I got in contact with the legend Mr. Joe Scott and now I have a bayonet lug, many thanks. Then an original bayonet and scabbard came up for sale for a relatively good price. I don’t know why these get a hard time. To me its practically the same concept as a No4 Mk1 Enfield or Mosin Nagant Another thing I did with some sadness was pop rivet my magazine to 5 rounds, ‘cause it’s the law and I plan on keeping this awhile. Thanks Dutch2 for the dimensions of where to drill the hole. I used a 3/16” diameter rivet and I found you have use a long rivet about 7/8” long. A shorter one in the same hole allows 6 rounds. Still on the hunt for a NOS mainspring, and the two screws that hold the forend key in place... have cash

well I was convinced! Still surprised by the risks people have taken in the Johnson universe. It instantly reminded me of something I saw in China in 2008

ok yeah it was me... its going to a good home! I got this one, now I'm out. I was very close to spending $700 usd on a different one that came up on ebay months back, about the same condition but was numbered. Top 3 most expensive bayonets I bought to complete projects #1 1941 JSAR #2 Enfield No5 Mk1 jungle carbine #3 US Model of 1917

Merry Christmas! I splurged and got myself an original JSAR bayonet and scabbard to celebrate the holidays. Hey its snowless up here in Saskatchewan too, first brown Christmas since 1997.

A3169 is being auctioned in Canada, https://www.icollector.com/JOHNSON-AUTOMATICS-Model-1941-Caliber-30-06-SPRG_i51006132

Thanks for this analysis it is interesting, wow average price is so high. I'm also curious how much supply is really out there.. how many serial numbers are known to exist today? Not number produced but actually observed from watching listing and postings, thanks

Hooo yeah boys... Thanks to ryche_me, I now have a set of collars from the USA. Like I mentioned above, parts were declared on the package for shipping from USA to Canada, Canada border service opened the package, assigned a tax of $40 CDN, away it goes to my door thats it thats all. THANK YOU! Help out those Canadian gun owners in need eh! We are under pressure with the current Liberal government, who earlier this year tried but failed to ban over 1,500 models of firearm, and that list included the JSAR. My other experiences with re-barreling were buy a barrel, take it and the gun to my gunsmith (AC Douglas Gunsmithing in Saskatoon), and he does it all. This is more involved so I want to get the instructions. Looking through this message board, there are a few stories of doing re-barreling. All the info is on this board I think, but not really in one place in my opinion. Should I break out this project into its own new thread?

Thanks! PM sent. To clarify shipping (and keep in mind this just my experience not legal advice!) For parts shipped from USA to Canada, I can buy/import a small amounts of parts (I think under $500 at a time) with some exceptions, no problem. All that happens is when the package arrives, I pay a small import tax. I have bought/imported all kinds of stuff like firing pins, extractors, magazine parts, triggers, iron sights, springs, screws, stocks, bayonets, for rifles, shotguns and pistols. I just bought some nice JSAR parts from a USA member here, everything declared when shipping no problems. The parts can be sent from an individual or a business. The things that I know are exceptions are bare receivers, bolts or really the part called the bolt body, barrels, and magazines or really just the main body. For example a JSAR rotary mag shell can't be sent, but the follower and springs is all ok. The barrel parts are ok, just not the tube itself. Canadians can still get these exception parts, they just have to go a different way. That involves paperwork and more taxes, but there are importers like Aztech Armory that do that all for you for a fee.

Sir, that would be awesome, please let me know. I'm in no hurry either. For this project, having the bayonet lug or getting exactly the right barrel taper is not important to me. And thanks to other members, I'll soon have a nice set of key spare parts including extractor, firing pin, mag door spring. Enough to keep this gun going for a long time.

Since my barrel is pretty much burnt out, I am slowly collecting parts for a second barrel for accurate shooting. I got a practically new Remington 700 22" 30-06 take off barrel, and an original front sight. Anyone want to sell me a set of the collars?

I saw that too but was shamelessly trying to keep it to myself if the price is right I hope to snag that and find out... Looks like it would have the two collars needed to assemble a new barrel.

First one I've seen at auction in Canada this year, A2456 https://www.icollector.com/6-10-JOHNSON-AUTOMATICS-MODEL-1941-CALIBER-30-06-SPRG_i49739440

Bayonet on ebay now. Rough patina and presumably Dutch added numbers would match my rifle, but do you guys think the bayo and scabbard are the real deal? Thanks https://www.ebay.com/itm/225698061273?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20221115143302%26meid%3D9a08874deafe4774bc79ff815ae0d199%26pid%3D101613%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26mehot%3Dnone%26itm%3D225698061273%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2Mobile&_trksid=p4375194.c101613.m4236&_trkparms=parentrq%3Abccc246f1890ab8fbc8af146ffff2f1a|pageci%3Af9e57f36-3230-11ee-bb6b-a22c6c8ee00b|iid%3A1|vlpname%3Avlp_homepage

Warpath I noticed something about the machining on your front sight. Yours has what looks like machining to prevent glare? Some kind of early/late variation of this part?

Thanks Dutch2 I would be up for that some day. My barrel appears to fit tight in the receiver. Swapping barrels should reveal where the problem is.

I took the rifle to the range today. It was not operable when I bought it. I had replaced my link with a NOS part, did the Mark Novak-style stock repair, and stretched my mainspring from 10.5" back to 12" (still can't find any sellers willing to ship a mainspring to Canada). So I wasn't sure how this might go. I ran genuine surplus LC69 M2 ball ammo, single rounds, then stripper clips... 35 rounds fired from a bench or standing and......... Function is perfect! No issues at all. The bolt catch works on the last round every time. All the repairs have held. Some cases had a slight ejector mark on the case head, some didn't. Accuracy was bad, like 12 inch groups at 50 meters. I was expecting this as its an original barrel, the rifling is very worn, and at the muzzle there's not much left. But hey it actually runs now. Overall I'm relieved and quite pleased! Hopefully this info is helpful to other members.