"Tanker" Johnson

[Joseph Scott 0]

I had one of the shortened and engraved after-market rifles on my table in Tulsa and a Garand guru came by and asked if it was the Johnson version of the M1 "tanker" model. After a deep and hearty laugh, I told him it was not and was not original. He still said I should call it the "Tanker Johnson". Learn from the public, they are always fun.

[Brian Alpert 0]

Did you give him the "Queens Guard Carbine " tale? Any idea how many were done by our friend out West. You have one and I have one. Anyone else out here have a "W" crested carbine?

[Joseph Scott 0]

I have heard there were six done. I know of one good one and one no finish for sale several years ago. With ours, that's four known. Weren't there three at Houston during our get-together, my memory fails me. Another one there, had a Mexican crest as I remember. For new members, we are talking about guns which had crests engraved on receiver and short barrels with a beautiful blue/gray paint on metal. The story was they were claimed as specials for the Dutch queen's guard. We think we know who did the rework. Definitely not JAM work. Similar problem to the made up LMG fakes that showed up on an auction catalog about two years ago. Those were claimed as factory prototypes. I saw them up close and they were newly made.

[ryche_me 0]

I wish i had one of the W marked just for the notoriety. I also saw those LMG look a likes. I know who had them and met the other guy involved with them. They looked really good but not even close to real. Gotta love it a "TANKER JOHNSON" what will they come up with next????? Ryche

[Ed Johnson 0]

The Auction House who had those so-called JLMG "prototypes" never did respond to my correspondence which questioned the validity of those weapons. It appears that they were more interested in selling the guns at the highest possible price. As for the Queen of the netherlands JSAR, there was only one made by Johnson Automatics. It is described in Bruce Canfield's book "Johnson Rifles and machine Guns" on pages 112 - 113. So, as always, let the buyer beware. Buy the gun, not the "story."

[ryche_me 0]

Hey Ed: I met the welder on those pieces. Man did a beautiful job. i was trying to get him to weld my DROR, JSAR cut up rec. into the semi DROR hybrid. He was willing but we couldn't get the time together. Too far for me to travel at that time. So yeah it was all about the money. I also have had some problems with the auction house, their research on a couple of pieces (German decorations) was less than stellar, and i don't think they even looked at the research paperwork i sent them. They went on to group all three pieces into one lot and put the reserve at less than i stated, thankfully they did not sell due to the write up given in the catalog. With them, if it's cowboy guns they all seem to be one of a kind, but give them something out of their zone and they loose all ability to describe and market said piece. So it doesn't surprise me that they blew you off, God forbid they loose their cut on the expensive stuff. Anyway enough of that, i still like the term "Tanker Johnson" thats almost too funny and would be a way to easy sell on the general public. Ryche

[Joseph Scott 0]

One of the main goals of this website is to separate the facts from fiction. There are some out there that go for the "easy sell" and prey on the unknowing public. Making up "factory prototypes" borders on the illegal, but is just plain fraud.