Tirediron

WTB Looking for a LMG Magazine Carrier (Bulk Carrier)

11 posts in this topic

I'm looking for the magazine carrier that carried a number of loaded magazines. I can't say I know if it was a metal can or a pouch of some sort. If anyone has one for sale or a couple good pictures...I'd appreciate it. I have accumulated a long list of all the cans the magazines "WON'T" fit in. ;)

Thanks

Jim Walters

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The issue "bulk" mag carrier held 12 magazines, but was made of canvas with canvas straps and some reinforcement. There is no way they would have survived given the weight of twelve mags and the resulting chaffing and tearing of the canvas. Probably not a lot were made as well. So, they are very scarce. I've only seen and handled one in many, many years of close-up involvement with MGs. I'd like one to go with my '41LMG. Julia Auctions just sold a Johnson '41 with a canvas 12 mag carrier, so you can look at their site where it is pictured with the gun.

Bob Naess

I'm looking for the magazine carrier that carried a number of loaded magazines. I can't say I know if it was a metal can or a pouch of some sort. If anyone has one for sale or a couple good pictures...I'd appreciate it. I have accumulated a long list of all the cans the magazines "WON'T" fit in. ;)

Thanks

Jim Walters

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Thanks Bubba,

I figured you'd be one of only a few people who would recognize one if they saw one (and a few experts on here). I always hope its an item that maybe is sitting NOS in a torn cardboard box somewhere un-identified. If I ever found more than one I'll keep you in mind, please do the same for me. I am slow in my scrounging...but the world is patient. Thanks and keep up the good work.

adios

TiredIron

The issue "bulk" mag carrier held 12 magazines, but was made of canvas with canvas straps and some reinforcement. There is no way they would have survived given the weight of twelve mags and the resulting chaffing and tearing of the canvas. Probably not a lot were made as well. So, they are very scarce. I've only seen and handled one in many, many years of close-up involvement with MGs. I'd like one to go with my '41LMG. Julia Auctions just sold a Johnson '41 with a canvas 12 mag carrier, so you can look at their site where it is pictured with the gun.

Bob Naess

I'm looking for the magazine carrier that carried a number of loaded magazines. I can't say I know if it was a metal can or a pouch of some sort. If anyone has one for sale or a couple good pictures...I'd appreciate it. I have accumulated a long list of all the cans the magazines "WON'T" fit in. ;)

Thanks

Jim Walters

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A bit late to the party here , but you might look at the 25MM can. It is built like the popular 20 and 30 MM big cans your familure with , just smaller.

It is long enough to lay them flat and stack them and high enough to house them upright , too.

Chris

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Photo of leather backpack is on page 137 of the book "Johnson Rifles and Machine Guns" by Canfield & Lamoreaux, modeled by my father. Walt Liss and I saw the later canvas pouch version as part of an excellent private collection a few years ago.

Edited by Ed Johnson
clarification of distinction of two different products

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Was going through my collection of stuff to see if there was anything I would like to take to a gun show. ( There wasn't )

Anyway , I came across a WW2 USGI issue rifle grenade bag . This is like the bulk 30rd Thompson Airborne mag bags ( and the later 30 rd Greasegun mag bags ) , but larger and with a strap and buckle rather than a lift-the-dot . It is sometimes called a general purpose bag .

Anyway , someone told me they also used them to carry a .30 cal can of belted 30-06. I found one in my stuff , and it does . The box of Johnson mags were back there , too , so I decided to try them.

The bag is too wide to work like a BAR belt , but it will hold 8 mags with the bullets pointing out quite nicely . The latch springs can hang a little , but if you alternate lip up / lip down ( if they had lips , but you know what I mean ) and pull lip ups out first , no problems.

This may be how some units carried them and they were just hidden in plain sight.

Chris

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Gentlemen, I have also been searching for the elusive magazine-carrier for the Johnson LMG. When I bought my M1941JLMG from the first Class III Auction James Julia ran, there was a magazine pouch offered as well. The catalogue figured around $2,000 or so dollars. I put a reserve of $3,150, figuring I had it. It sailed past me into the mid $4,000 and was gone!  The Bruce Stern Collection represented the vast majority of all the Class III stuff offered. My JLMG was a pin-up girl, unfired, from the Winchester Reference Collection which Stern owned. I had no idea how rare the mag-carrier was. This was years ago. Finally, I've got one! I have conversed with Bruce Canfield on numerous topics, this being one of them. He allows as how his example is virtually identical to mine, as well as the Julia Auction specimen. Canfield asserts that U.S. Military usage for these is dubious, opining Netherlands origin. As you all may have read, our soldiers employed whatever pack was handy, meat tin pouch, musette bag, etc. Correspondence also indicated a crying need for some formalized kit to be provided, but nothing was forthcoming. I am always open to hear anything else any of you might know on these to illuminate further it's usage, era pictures, etc)   Here is the piece:  (the last two pictures are from the Julia Auction Piece for reference)

 

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Julia .jpg

Julia 2.jpg

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Yup. That's the proper Johnson 1941LMG ammunition pouch. The one that Walt Liss and I saw, along with many other items, belonged to Bruce Stern. He visited with us in Connecticut for an afternoon photo shoot several years ago, and died about 2 years after that. Chances are, the pouch at the Julia auction (that you didn't get) was pobably from the Stern collection.

As for the pouch being used in combat, or how many were made, we don't really have too much info. For clarification, there were actually 2 versions of the magazine carrier produced, and I refer you to page 136 and the photo on page 137 of Canfield's JOHNSON'S RIFLES AND MACHINE GUNS. Note that my father modeled the leather backpack....I have never personally seen any of those and I think they would be considered very rare. The canvas pouch, developed later, is what Mr. Stern showed us....also a rare item.

Congratulations on your find. We should all keep our eyes open for such items.

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From most photos I've seen with Forcemen using JLMG's they typically had the 1923 cartridge belt loaded with stripper clips. I've tried looking for photos of this canvas carrier in use but have never seen one. It is likely that either an M8 lightweight gas mask bag or a general purpose bag was used for one or two full sized mags and then the rest was loaded via the clips. If anyone has any good combat pics of the Force or Marine Raiders using a container for the magazines please share it! As a Force reenactor I'm always looking for footage or pictures of the troops since they were a pretty well kept secret for most of the war.

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