Gunbroker 1941 Johnson LMG Bipod ????

[oldtirediron 0]

Just saw the auction starting on gunbroker for $500.00 ?? Be aware that that bipod is a high quality Repro that R.J. Perry from Park Ridge Illinois had made in the early 1980's, he sold most of them as originals ! JUST FWIW ! Don't be fooled !! The original bipods had better welding than this bipod has !! The original bipods had welds like that on a M3 greasegun; thin and distinct not rough and ground down!!

[ryche_me 0]

What do you figure a good repro would be worth? I would still be interested at the right price.

Thanks

Ryche

[Brian Alpert 0]

The seller has visions of this going for $5000 or $6000! The complete LMG parts set is hardly worth that much.

[oldtirediron 0]

For a REPRO Bipod?? Please !!

[amish-bob 0]

Did you see the parts set that he had for sale before?

[ryche_me 0]

I spoke with the seller and he was pretty convinced that it was real. Claims he never heard of the guy you mentioned.

Oh well good luck to him and buyer BEWARE!!!. I'm going back to my BAR bipod set up.

If anyone knows of a repro avlb. for a decent price let me know. I don't mind a repro as i cannot afford a orig. unless i get really lucky.

Ryche

[Joseph Scott 0]

I made nine sheet metal style bipods per original blueprints and two of the early BAR style. Each was stamped "JS" in several places. Ed arranged for me to examine a known original for several weeks. The welding was rather rough and not professional looking. When they were made, appearance was not greatest factor. When I see wartime products made to modern quality, I examine it very closely. I have one in progress but can't finish it due to time and eye problems.

[oldtirediron 0]

Never heard of R.J. Perry and associates in Park Ridge Illinois?? Count your blessings !! Sold more questionable items than anyone else I ever saw; just knowing the goof caused me more problems than I care to talk about !! ---- I saw the originals and also saw the repro's and I know for a fact that he sold a bunch of the repro's to Kent Lamont when Kent lived near the Midwest ! This was over 35 years ago when Johnson stuff was almost valueless ! The bipods were made to fit on Class three guns that the bipods were missing on. and most were in those days ! It was my understanding the bipods were mostly lost or thrown away by users in the user and testing field ! At one time you could buy dealer sample 1941 Johnson LMG's for real reasonable (cheap) money but the bipods were missing and most needed cleaning or repair-- A lot of them had the aux. sear block that holds the bolt open on full auto ground down or sawed off; for whatever reason, the parts to repair these guns were purchased from Numrich and they had plenty of the parts !! The really poor and very rusty condition m1941's were cut up for parts kits and sold through Armex-- this was in the early 1980's if I remember correctly ! Peter Wilke in Canada had a bunch of 1941 rifles, M1941 LMG's that were cut for parts in the same time period-All of the parts were rusty under the wood line and the M1941 LMG's were all rusted in the buttstock area and most of the buttstock's were frozen onto the recoil tube ! I worked on a bunch of the M1941 LMG parts kits, and believe it or not, the parts kits were a better way of getting most of the parts to repair firing guns at the time, All of them were heavily used with little or no maintenance, most would not fire in semi or auto fashion !! I personally refinished at least 20 LMG's and all were lightly to moderately pitted, when they were shipped the repro bipods were installed on them- I liked the simplicity of the LMG's but reliability was always a problem as I remember, especially feeding from the 30 rd magazine!!