Original stock question

[Bob Walker 0]

I'm sure this has been covered in detail in the past. Do all original Johnson stocks have the splice behind the magazine? Most that I have seen do have it, including mine. Are there originals out there that were assembled with a solid, non-spliced piece of wood? Some people still refer to the splice as a repair. Thanks in advance.

[Joseph Scott 0]

Not all stocks had the laminated "cheeks". The early ones were solid but required a 3" thick blank which wasted scare wood. Not sure when they changed to the laminated style which used a standard 2" thick blank. It was not a repair, rather an ingenious cost savings.

[Bob Walker 0]

Thank you Mr. Scott!

[tricky9914 0]

I know I'm kind of late on this thread, but here is some information that might help - I had wondered the same thing myself.

In Bruce Canfield's book, "Johnson's Rifles and Machine Guns," copyright 2006, in the "Collector's Notes for the M1941 Johnson Rifle" section on page 252 he writes the following:

"The area of the stock behind the rotarty magazine will typically have a section of laminated wood inletted. This was neccessary because of the configuration of the stock in this area and does not indicate that the stock has been "patched" or otherwise altered. The chief reason for the laminated wood in the area was that it enabled narrower (2-inch) stock blanks to be used. It should be noted that some original Johnson stocks did not have the laminated wood which indicates that thicker wood blanks (3-inch) were utilized. While "solid" stocks were used on some original Johnson rifles, the laminated stocks are the most commonly encountered variety. Collectors today should realize, however, that most of the reproduction Johnson stocks, including the stocks used by Winfield Arms, do not have the laminated area. There does not appear to be any specific time frame or serial number range for original Johnson rifles that left the factory with laminated stocks or solid stocks. The use of both varities seems to have been interspersed during production and was likely a case of using whatever size stock blanks were on hand."

[Goodbye_Charlie 0]

^{Just a comment - I have an early numbered JSAR )2300's) without laminated cheeks - when I first saw them I thought they were armoury re-work but finally figured through this site that they are factory.
It would be a great piece of history to figure out when this happened in production - I'm assuming 1942.}